English Prelim

I think we can find that information out...might take a bit of digging though.
 
Let's dig.

It would be interesting to see the teachers' guide too. There is one for this text. That usually provides some insight into what should be stressed in the classroom.
 
Its the 2002 paper, not 2003 I wrote, that also had racist vibes to it, I forgot my matriculation year.
 
'In search of History'

What an interesting title. Maybe they meant, 'In search of our own version of history', but it wouldn't fit nicely on the cover?

People make a big point of the great trek being covered year in year out. When I was at school in the UK we did the Romans many times over, but each time in more detail. Thats the point here. Every subject covers the same ground year in year out, but in more detail as the pupil learns the basics.

Is maths biased because you do algebra and calculus over and over?

While History when I was at school was possibly the most NP biased of the subjects, substituting one skewed version of history for another skewed vision does not make it right. I would be interested to see what the current textbooks have to say on the topic of the great trek and how it happened just after the Zulus had expanded their kingdom and wiped out many competing tribes and created a vacuum almost into which the trekkers moved into.

The whole history of SA from both a black and a white perspective is filled with violence. One cannot say that before Jan van Rebeek turned up SA was some sort of utopia in which everyone was at peace as this is quite clearly false. The Zulu history is a good example of this as is the history of a great many Southern African tribes.. They all engaged in acts to conquer and subject their neighbors.

I wonder how this view would go down if I were to write my History finals over again?
 
Professor Nigel Worden- (@ UCT?)

His research focuses on slavery and post-emancipation labour in the Western Cape, the social history of 18th century Cape Town, and heritage studies in South Africa and Southeast Asia.

He is head of a major research project on Social Identities in VOC (Dutch East India Company)....

- on editorial board, International Journal of Heritage Studies

Undergraduate teaching:
Indian, Southeast Asian and Australian history
Social history of Dutch art
Historiography and historical research methods
Heritage studies

Postgraduate teaching:
Social history of the VOC Cape and Asia
Indian Ocean history
Click to expand...

http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/history/newsite/worden.htm


Jean Bottaro & Pippa Visser- @Westerford High (in 2003 at least - http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA-IMMIGRANTS-BRITISH/2003-10/1066635482)

Jean Bottaro - History teacher at Cedarhouse (21 Aug 2007) - http://cedarhouse.co.za/index.php?id=10,5,0,0,1,0&hashID=571d7ac982a7d4540ae5554865c6fa4e - Cedarhouse (Kenlworth, CT) - Tel: +27 (021) 762 0649

- 1998 article wth comment from Pippa Visser- tad ironic - http://www.dispatch.co.za/1998/01/28/editoria/HISTORY.HTM
 
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Professor Nigel Worden
MA PhD Cantab

Room 237
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 021 650 2951

Research interests:
Indian Ocean slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries; slavery and post-emancipation labour in the western Cape; 18th century Cape Town; public history
 
Debbie2 said:
Professor Nigel Worden
MA PhD Cantab

Room 237
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 021 650 2951

Research interests:
Indian Ocean slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries; slavery and post-emancipation labour in the western Cape; 18th century Cape Town; public history
Click to expand...

Congrats to Debbie2 for her pro-active initiative :D
 
email-

Dear Professor Worden,

My name is Debbie [wits polisci]... I am also a member of the South African MyBroadband online forum.

Yesterday one of the members of the forum, a matric student, mentioned that he had found their English prelim paper to be geared in a particular taste:

K, just wrote my english prelim and I gotta say you gotta love our nice non racist government!

Every passage,comprehension,summary was about how great black people are and they are the driving force behind our economic growth and how we must not be new south africans but rather remember our race and South African history & that Apartheid is the reason everyone is so racist today...

Isn't this like propaganda or something???

(EDIT) For the record, im not racist and have tons of black friends and have no problem with any of them
Click to expand...

In the context of the above post, another highschool student responded by posting his school textbook's definition of 'racism'-
http://img411.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01170fq7.jpg (photo of the textbook)
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/5208/dsc01171bz8.jpg (photo of the page)

This second student mentions that you are one of the authors of his textbook. After googling you appear to be the most qualifed of the authors, thus I thought I would contact you with regard to the definition of 'racism' in your book.

As in the photograph, it appears that the defnition given is as follows-
Racism The belief that Europeans were superior to Africans and Asians.

I can understand that, in the context of the page or topic under discussion the type of racism being referred to might pertain exclusively to the general type of racism perpetuated in Sourthern Africa by people of European descent. However, to state this limited view of racism as a definition of the word is, as the first matric student mentioned, bordering on 'propaganda'.

Identity issues are something that fascinate me too. In particular I see the current importance of forging something resembling a common South African identity. To me, this is central to a maturing of our national politics. To this end, it is important to present history to school learners as accurately as possible. Despite media presentations and, er, even the defnition in school textbooks, racism is not only, to put it colloquially, a "white on black" thing (not to mention the problems inherent in referring to blacks as 'Africans' and whites as 'Europeans'!). It would be nice if learners viewed their textbooks with a critical eye, but reality is that they don't. We cannot- should not- teach kids that racism is a 'one-way street'.

We would like to humbly request you to request your publishers to change this defnition in future printings of the textbook? [Perhaps a more acceptable and universal definition would be-
Racism The belief that one race of people are superior, or inferior, to another race.
I understand it's difficult to define this term because it is, at heart, a fluid social construction; and whilst the definition I give might not be perfect, is it not at the end of the day a more encompassing definition.....?]

Sincerely,
Click to expand...

Let's see if he responds.
 
Haha, nice Debbie, never would have thought this much of my little thread & that was the comprehension & then another 2 articles after that.

@ JK8 - You seem to be the only 1 with a problem with this thread, if you aren't going to add anything worth while then don't post on the thread, you really aren't helping much and I'm not bothering to fight with you about any of this.
 
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Dastrix said:
Ok, I only got faxed these 3 pages, but as I understand it this is the part of the paper that dealt with race and that everyone is most upset about:

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/435/01ay8.jpg
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/3264/02mo1.jpg
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/5762/03ht8.jpg

I have this in pdf too if anyone can suggest somewhere to upload it.
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This is not on.

Who set this paper? Was it set by the school, or a wider exam board?

Edit: This paper is very much not on.

I would have walked out. (I once walked out of a history paper in std 9- yes I was a sh1tstirrer ;))
 
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Debbie2 said:
This is not on.

Who set this paper? Was it set by the school, or a wider exam board?

Edit: This paper is very much not on.
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Agreed. This was set at provincial level I think, school did not have a hand in this. All I know is the papers arrived "in plastic envelopes fresh from the government".
 
Dastrix on the cover of the paper should be the name of the examning board, the people it was set by, etc etc- can you ask the person who faxed this to you if they have this info? I am curious to see.
 
Debbie2 said:
Dastrix on the cover of the paper should be the name of the examning board, the people it was set by, etc etc- can you ask the person who faxed this to you if they have this info? I am curious to see.
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May be difficult but I will try to get that info for you!
 
*blink*

That is so not on... Jees.

I matriculated a LONG time ago, and none of the questions in my papers where ever based on such openly racist material.
 
Debbie2 said:
This is not on.

Who set this paper? Was it set by the school, or a wider exam board?

Edit: This paper is very much not on.

I would have walked out. (I once walked out of a history paper in std 9- yes I was a sh1tstirrer ;))
Click to expand...

Lol they just quoted an article and asked enlish related questions.
"Adapted from the Weekend Review"

IMO if its from a public newspaper there nothing wrong with the paper. Its current affairs let it be lol, there worst crap on this forum lol!
 
JK8 said:
Lol they just quoted an article and asked enlish related questions.
"Adapted from the Weekend Review"

IMO if its from a public newspaper there nothing wrong with the paper. Its current affairs let it be lol, there worst crap on this forum lol!
Click to expand...

JK8, I come from a place that says 'just because it's in print doesn't mean it's true!'

You display exactly the lack of critical thinking I mentioned in my email.
 
Debbie2 said:
JK8, I come from a place that says 'just because it's in print doesn't mean it's true!'

You display exactly the lack of critical thinking I mentioned in my email.
Click to expand...
True. That counts for the good ol' wiki as well. ;)

Also, in SA it seems that all govt has to do is pass a few $$ on to the relevant papers and bam, they're portrayed as saints in the next article. Sunday Times recent actions show that they're probably the most 'independant' paper out there right now.

I wonder what the student's thought of of the question. Is there a "students" forum in SA where they go to discuss the aftermath of their papers?
 
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Its the Gauteng paper i think.. cause we do certain set work.. well i know a few of my friends at other schools did it.. so Probly Gauteng pre lim :)
 
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