UP closes campus after student clashes

supersunbird said:
Then let us pay.

My opinion:
I wish just one university would be Afrikaans only, make the rest English, it would be representative of the "National Demographic" that the ANC loves, slowly phase out any government funding. Let the people who want to be there (and university through its patents and such) finance it. If it becomes a pocket of excellence, so be it. If it crumbles, so be it.
Click to expand...

http://akademia.ac.za/

...
 
I suppose there's advantage to learning in your mother tongue. The lecturer can just give an afrikaans explanation for any words or concepts that don't translate directly.

And the previous government did invest heavily in afrikaans over a long time. I don't really see the need to develop curriculum in the other 9 official languages though. It'd benefit after better if we taught a more solid foundation in English so that everyone gets to tertiary fully conversant in the medium of instruction
 
OrbitalDawn said:
http://akademia.ac.za/

...
Click to expand...

Yes, but having to start from scratch and build a name from scratch sucks, but if that has to be the way then so be it, it would be simpler if they give us one of those colonialist universities built by the Afrikaners, with an established name and "decolonise" all the others to their hearts content..
 
Last edited:
hawker said:
and then? You go work in the engineering sector and everything is done in English anyway?
Click to expand...
The French built the gautrain in the English engineering sector. The Chinese are building some mega city in the English engineering sector. A lot of the top mining engineers in sa are from Europe. Like I said. If you can speak English then fine but you don't have to learn something in it.

These afrikaans okes who get engineering lectures in afrikaans at stellies seem to be doing quite well in the English engineering sector.
 
Last edited:
supersunbird said:
Yes, but having to start from scratch and build a name from scratch sucks, but if that has to be the way then so be it, it would be simpler if they give us one of those colonialist universities built by the Afrikaners, with an established name and "decolonise" all the others to their hearts content..
Click to expand...

I dunno. I'm not particularly comfortable with this idea of 'assigning' large public institutions to specific groups in the country.
 
einad5 said:
It only sounds illogical until you have some first hand experience. For many subjects it does not matter, but then something like calculus comes along. When I got to university I found that the English calculus lectures fit my schedule much better, so I went. That was this a mistake. I quickly released that having your foundation knowledge in Afrikaans and then trying something more advanced in a different subject was not fun. Yes the textbook was still English but first sitting in an Afrikaans lecture helped bridge the gap so that the text book made sense.
Click to expand...

Nothing to do with you not having a proper command of the English language maybe?

I would never willingly go to lectures of a technical nature in Afrikaans, I find them much easier in English.
 
supersunbird said:
Then private it is and government mustn't come interfere with it...
Click to expand...
I'm sure they won't as long as it is an excuse to exclude by race or whatever. If people are prepared to learn in the language of that private institution and can afford it they should get a fair shot
 
ponder said:
Nothing to do with you not having a proper command of the English language maybe?

I would never willingly go to lectures of a technical nature in Afrikaans, I find them much easier in English.
Click to expand...

Well I guess you could argue that not knowing all the mathematics terminology means you do not have a proper command of English. But then most of the English speaking world does not have a proper command either, if that's the case then so be it. Still does not detract from the fact that I found the Afrikaans class tremendously helpful.
 
The root of the problem is that there are not many native Zulu speaking academics who can give these lectures, whereas there are a lot of qualified Afrikaans and English lecturers, it's easy to find a 50 year old Afrikaans qualified Engineering lecturer but it's nearly impossible to find someone with the same knowledge and years of work experience to lecture in Zulu. Unfortunately trying to get this point across our friends in the red berets is close to impossible. They are like toddlers, as soon as they hear "No" they cease to listen to reason, they just feel cheated and start throwing around race cards and calling on apartheid. As a student at Tuks it's becoming highly frustrating, our exams were delayed at the end of last year and now it seems to be flaring up again and the added security presence makes one feel uneasy.
 
Protest-hit University of Pretoria proposes new English language policy

The University of Pretoria has proposed that all its lectures be offered in English only, according to a statement on its Facebook page on Monday morning.

After days of protests against its language policy, the university announced: "Following many queries, the University wishes to clarify that the proposed way forward on the language policy is that all lectures should be offered in English only.

"To promote multilingualism and student success it is proposed that Afrikaans and Sepedi be used to provide additional support to students.

"Changing the language policy is a statutory process. These proposals have been supported by consensus of the Senate and will be considered by the Council. Any changes to the language policy also have to be submitted to the Minister of Higher Education and Training."

Dozens of students were arrested for protesting at the university's Groenkloof and Hatfield campuses last week.

The group is expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Monday morning and several of their supporters have used social media to call for protests outside the court building.

Source:

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/N...proposes-new-english-language-policy-20160222
 
OrbitalDawn said:
Protest-hit University of Pretoria proposes new English language policy

The University of Pretoria has proposed that all its lectures be offered in English only, according to a statement on its Facebook page on Monday morning.

After days of protests against its language policy, the university announced: "Following many queries, the University wishes to clarify that the proposed way forward on the language policy is that all lectures should be offered in English only.

"To promote multilingualism and student success it is proposed that Afrikaans and Sepedi be used to provide additional support to students.

"Changing the language policy is a statutory process. These proposals have been supported by consensus of the Senate and will be considered by the Council. Any changes to the language policy also have to be submitted to the Minister of Higher Education and Training."

Dozens of students were arrested for protesting at the university's Groenkloof and Hatfield campuses last week.

The group is expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Monday morning and several of their supporters have used social media to call for protests outside the court building.

Source:

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/N...proposes-new-english-language-policy-20160222
Click to expand...

1+1=5

They are not even hiding it now.
 
"Protest-hit University of Pretoria proposes new English language policy"

So the tantrum worked. Great.

I am wondering. Let's say two groups throw tantrums for the opposite sides of an issue. How would they determine the victor? How does the scoring work? Loudest, head count, total cost of destruction, time the thing in question is out of order?
 
shack-32 said:
Classes suspended indefinitely, things are getting out of hand..

https://youtu.be/tNZpcQFWQB8
Click to expand...

This is Pretoria man...

No way they are going to let the UP do away with Afrikaans. Things are going to get much worse before they get better, just wait for the Afrikaans people to stop playing the placid opposition. The EFF barked up the wrong tree this time ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X