A View from the Center
Back to School: South Africa Education Trip Educates Me about the United States
by Michelle Sedaca, Program Associate
South Africa Partners
 A staff member of a NonProfit Center tenant organization, Michelle writes this monthly column on life at the center, and the unique culture of a multi-tenant center created specifically for nonprofits. Photo:Michelle (left) meeting with Jackie Cefola, program coordinator at the NonProfit Center
Classes chock full of around 40 students. Libraries with more shelves than books. Mostly black and brown faces in the under-resourced schools and mostly white faces at the better resourced schools. The similarities between impoverished, segregated classrooms in South Africa and in the United States are undeniable.
Education Trip to South Africa
This summer, I traveled to Johannesburg, East London, Mthatha and Cape Town as part of South Africa Partners’ tour Overcoming Apartheid’s Legacy: Education Reform in the New South Africa. A group of 15 public and private school teachers from the United States participated to deepen their understanding about education in South Africa. Visiting a nascent democracy just 13 years old, I was impressed by the schools’ spirit where dedicated teachers and eager students warmly welcomed us into their classrooms.
Connections to U.S. Classrooms
Witnessing the grave challenges and humble progress of South African schools made me wonder how far the United States has traveled since our country’s abolishment of segregated schools. Over 50 years since legalized desegregation, our classrooms still struggle to free themselves from the historical legacy of “separate but equal."
Having attended private school my whole life, I grew up ignorant of the reality of unequal education at an institutional level. Although I knew that some public schools were better than others, I didn’t understand the systemic causes of such disparities. Visiting classrooms in South Africa reminded me of my responsibility to educate myself about my own country.
The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education
 In Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America, author Jonathan Kozol comprehensively evaluates several U.S. urban schools to illuminate the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education and the current issues confronting urban schools across the country.
First, Kozol points out the early predicament which preschool (or the absence thereof) presents. Since preschool is not provided by most public schools, only wealthy kids can afford those early years of academic preparation and pruning. “Children who have been in programs like the ‘Baby Ivies’ since the age of two have been given seven years of education by this point, nearly twice as many as the children who have been denied these opportunities,” Kozol writes.
Beyond preschool, Kozol enters the inner chambers of schools to speak with students, teachers and administrators about their daily lives. One student in a neglected Los Angeles high school questions, “‘Why is it … that students who do not need what we need get so much more? And we who need it so much more get so much less?’”
The Impact of Standardized Testing
Rather than preparing underprivileged students to excel, schools increasingly gear their curricula towards standardized tests due to stringent laws like the Bush Administration’s “No Child Left Behind.“ As a result, curricula negate critical thinking and creativity. “Teachers also tell me that these numbering and naming rituals are forcing them to sacrifice a huge proportion of their time to what are basically promotional, not educational, activities,” Kozol writes. When the testing schedule subsides, little time exists for other lessons. According to Kozol, testing can devour more than a quarter of the year in some schools.
Coinciding with the test-driven curricula, many underprivileged schools steer students of color to the workforce rather than college. “A tall black student, for example, told me that she hoped to be a social worker or a doctor but was programmed into ‘Sewing Class’ this year,” writes Kozol.
Tackling Unequal Schools in Both Countries
Although both the South African and the U.S. educational systems evade easy solutions, clear steps exist. In the United States, Kozol underscores the importance of integration and equal funding in public schools. In his new book, he shares comments made 10 years ago by Jack White, a columnist for Time Magazine. “Before we gave up on integration, we should have tried it,” wrote White. Public schools, he charged, are “so separate and vastly unequal that Plessy v. Ferguson, not Brown v. Board of Education, might as well be the law of the land.” Kozol recommends addressing school desegregation by reexamining affordable housing policies and maintaining student-transfer programs.
Moving Forward
In South Africa, years of inequity must be redressed. Libraries represent a major area of need. According to research compiled by South Africa Partners, 93 percent of schools in the Province of the Eastern Cape (where we focus our work) lack libraries. Through SA Partners’ Masifunde Sonke book project, we sell culturally competent South African children’s books in the United States and utilize the proceeds to purchase a second book to donate to an underresourced school in South Africa. In this way, the organization fosters multicultural learning for American children, while building libraries in South African schools.
Invariably, much work remains. As South Africa confronts its recent past of unequal education, perhaps the country can learn from the United States’ sluggish pace. Through recommending the integration of schools and fair distribution of resources, Kozol engenders a vision of hope and possibility.
Have a comment about this article? Interested in learning more? Email Michelle at MSedaca@sapartners.org, or read her Bay State Banner article about one of the teacher trainings on the South Africa trip.
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