English Prelim

JK8 said:
We moved on. We wont forget the past alot of people still remember it still have scars from it, till that generation fades so will everything else.
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If only that would happen. Africa at large still suffers "stuck in the past" syndrome...

I doubt South Africa is different. That would mean we are totally different from the rest of the continent.

We have an uphill battle JK8 and it seems many folks live in lala land when it comes to this reality.
 
True reconciliation does not consist in merely forgetting the past.
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Would you mind asking your ANC mates to leave us whiteys with something of our past too and stop renaming things, writing lies in the history texts, pulling down statues etc. Unless, of course, this whole "reconciliation" bit is just a cover-up for wealth-grabbing, in which case I do understand!
 
JK8 said:
We moved on. We wont forget the past alot of people still remember it still have scars from it, till that generation fades so will everything else.
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The bulk of the feedback I got from the kids who wrote this exam was their anger at other races viewpoints white/coloured/indian which were not included in the paper more than the content itself.

No one said you should forget the past, but the past cant become a noose around your neck either. If you have scars don't pick at them, and for the love of Pete theres no reason to inflict a new generation with the same scars. That generation you speak of IS fading, let the new generation be, they don't like this kind of thing, or want it, or need it.
 
saw a doccie on Palestine the other day. They have a similar school system about their interpretation of history and their neighbours. What's sad is that these poor kids get fed such tripe that they blow themselves up.

..on the other hand I have fond memories of high school in the 70's where we were shown movies like "Aanslag op Kariba" about the communist invasion and these films were introduced by Voster if I remember correctly.

Still doesn't justify the current tripe our kids are taught. Two wrongs don't make a right!
 
BTech said:
saw a doccie on Palestine the other day. They have a similar school system about their interpretation of history and their neighbours. What's sad is that these poor kids get fed such tripe that they blow themselves up.

..on the other hand I have fond memories of high school in the 70's where we were shown movies like "Aanslag op Kariba" about the communist invasion and these films were introduced by Voster if I remember correctly.

Still doesn't justify the current tripe our kids are taught. Two wrongs don't make a right!
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Agh they were not taught about this it was just an article that was used!!
None of the questions were about who did what when.

Its a comprehension they give a story (fiction/non fiction) you answer the question.

Am I missing something?
 
JK8 said:
We moved on. We wont forget the past alot of people still remember it still have scars from it, till that generation fades so will everything else.
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Remembering your past is one thing. Rubbing it in everyone's faces and trying your damnest to bring our kids up to have nothing but racial issues on their minds is quite another.
 
antowan said:
If only that would happen. Africa at large still suffers "stuck in the past" syndrome...

I doubt South Africa is different. That would mean we are totally different from the rest of the continent.

We have an uphill battle JK8 and it seems many folks live in lala land when it comes to this reality.
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Yes it is, its only been 13 years...
 
koffiejunkie said:
Remembering your past is one thing. Rubbing it in everyone's faces and trying your damnest to bring our kids up to have nothing but racial issues on their minds is quite another.
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Its not something to forget.
The jews still havent gotten over the Holocaust.
 
JK8 said:

Agh they were not taught about this it was just an article that was used!!
None of the questions were about who did what when.

Its a comprehension they give a story (fiction/non fiction) you answer the question.

Am I missing something?
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Aah c'mon... that's like saying it's OK to put Broederbond/AWB/Nazi/Marxist articles in comprehension tests for kids.
 
schitz011 said:
The response to this argument no doubt will be - but apartheid-era schooling did the same. Maybe so in the 60/70's, I cannot say, but when I joined school here from the UK in 84 I found nothing in, certainly the history books at least about how inferior the black man was. There was a lot about the great trek, sure, but that is to be expected. It was a major event in SA's history. There was also a lot, and I mean a lot, about the black history as well and certainly it wasn't - ' in 1865 the noble white voortrekkers went forth and smote the foul evil savage hordes' type crap. It was actually very informative about black culture and so on and in a pretty positive light I may add...
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I can confirm this. In my whole school carreer ('86-'97) the only "negative" content about black people were in the context of the battle of Bloedrivier, and a little bit a bout Dingaan. Black people were never painted as evil or savage or anything like that.

Another story that is consistently served up as a fact (even respected journalist/writer Allister Sparks is guilty of this), is that under the old regeime school was free for white kids. This is a blatant lie. I remember my parents had to pay school fees for myself and my siblings (it did get cheaper per child if you had more than one child) and it wasn't cheap either. And no, this wasn't a private school either - ordinary TOD/TED school. Books to write in, text books, and stationary weren't free either. The only "free" stationary was those thick TOD/TED rulers, which weren't for keeps either - they stayed at school.
 
JK8 said:

Agh they were not taught about this it was just an article that was used!!
None of the questions were about who did what when.

Its a comprehension they give a story (fiction/non fiction) you answer the question.

Am I missing something?
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What you miss is that inflammatory racist prose, in a situation where you are suspicious of the motives of your examiners, is very difficult to "comprehend" as it were. It will anger many students by its controversial claims. The students will be double-guessing the examiners because they will expect that any non-politically-correct answers will cause punte af ( see Dominic Rooney's post at #7 in this thread ).

For example, if you answer q.1.3.1 by saying that "OK, he claims to have been a Rhodes Scholar < Oh the irony!! > , but the rest of what he wrote demonstrates a stupidity at odds with this claim - he probably bought his degree cheap over the internet." you will be toast!

It is completely idiotic to pick such a passage for a comprehension exam given that the one single most inflammatory, emotive and divisive issue in the country remains race.
:eek:
 
Nigel Worden <[email protected]>
to Debbie2
cc pipvis@XXX
Jean Bottaro@XXX,
XXX@oup
date Aug 22, 2007 10:25 AM
subject Re: Attn: Professor Worden
Dear Debbie,

Thank you very much for drawing this to my attention. The 'key term' boxes in the book were added at a later stage and clearly the misrepresentation in this one slipped us by. I think it happened because the term is being defined in the context of this chapter rather than in general - but it obviously suggests a more general application which is open to misrepresentation, as in this case.

I will certainly bring this to the attention of the other authors and publishers and we will rectify it in the next printing. I like your definition, slippery as the concept indeed is!

regards
Nigel Worden
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I am impressed with Nigel Worden.

Straight answer, and to the point. Hopefully the next printing does fix this issue.
 
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