Augsburg Landbougimnasium
It’s Wednesday and I am off to spend the day at the “Fee paying school”. It is called “Augsburg Landbougimnasium”. It is a Grade 1 – 12 school with a huge catchment area. There are approximately 550 students here with 150 or so staying in dormitories. The school is specifically geared to agriculture and part of the curriculum here includes operating a working farm.
I began my day here as I had at the no fee school, with a meeting with the Principal. We spent about and hour and a half talking about many of the same things that I had spoken to the other principal about and it was very interesting to hear a different perspective on the same topics.
To send their child to this school, parents must pay approximately 20,000 rand (approx, $3,000) per year. Books and school supplies must be purchased over and above this and all children wear school uniforms. A discussion of the funding mechanism for schools evoked a different response from this principal.
This is a school that is rated a Quintile 4 school so it is deemed to have a more affluent school population. Because of this, they receive significantly lower funding than the no fee school which is only about a mile away on the other side of the town. According to this principal, to send a child to the same school as this if it were located in Paarl, a more afluent area, would cost 40,000 rand (approx. $6,000) because it would then be deemed a Quintile 5 school. Get the picture? It was interesting that the school for less privileged students was happy with their funding while the more afluent school felt it was unfairly penalized.
The discussion of social issues at this school was somewhat different. In post-apartheid South Africa, any child, regardless of colour may attend any school; however, the reality is that it will take some time for a truly blended society to emerge. This school is, for the most part, populated by whites and most of those are Afrikaner (whites of Dutch and European descent rather than English descent). Approximately 10% of the school population is coloured but these are primarily from mixed marriages or fortunate coloured families with a reasonable income. The simple fact that they must pay to attend this school makes it unattainable for the majority of coloureds. There are no black students.
Discipline is very seldom a problem at this school according to the principal, other than the normal childhood mischief. The reason is simple. If children do not toe the line they are invited to leave and attend the “No fee” school down the road. As no white student wants to do that, they quickly shape up.
It was interesting to note that the principal has a fair degree of latitude with school organization and class structure. At this school, class size is limited to 25 – 30 with some classes being as small as 15. He had no compunction about telling me that he often groups underachievers together in a small class while separating the strong academic students into a different class, his philosophy being that the smaller class size allows more individual attention to bring the underachievers up to a more even level and separating the academics allows them to be challenged to their full potential. He was very proud of the fact that last year’s Matric class (grade 12) did very well on their final examinations. The Matric exams are rated on a scale which indicates the post-secondary path that students should take. Out of 68 students, I believe he said that 60 passed with the university rating, 8 with the college rating, and there were no failing grades.
To my absolute delight, when I asked if I might tour the school, the principal linked me up with two Grade 11 students, Sue Ann and Neline, two absolutely beautiful Afrikaner girls. I was immediately struck with the difference in the demeanor of the students at this school as compared to the no fee school. These girls exuded confidence and privilege. They knew they had a future and that there were expectations and responsibilities that they would have to live up to. It’s not that the students at the no fee school were depressed, in fact quite the opposite, but here there was the promise of a future where at the no fee school there was just an air of unquestioning acceptance of their lot in life.
The girls were excited to tell me about school life at Augsburg. All students there must take the mandatory courses of Afrikaans, English, Math or Math Literature (a less advanced Math program) and Life Orientation (life skills, study habits, etc.) In addition to these core subjects they may choose to take Science, Biology, Accounting, Consumer Studies, CAT (computers), Agricultural Economic, Agricultural Technology, and Agricultural Management. Their day starts at 7:45 a.m. and ends at 2:45 p.m.
We began the tour with the common areas of the school. The interior courtyard is where the children enjoy recess, there were several tennis courts, a rugby field and several netball courts. (Netball is similar to basketball except that you cannot move while holding the ball. If you are in possession of the ball you must stand still and there is no jumping to shoot.)
We began touring the classrooms and again, as I entered the room, all the students would rise in unison and greet me in a very polite manner. We concentrated on the primary classes in the morning as they have a shorter school day than the higher grades. They were so excited to engage me and loved hearing about Canada. Most of their questions centered around the snow and the management of it. It was inconceivable to them that we have to “dig out” and traverse through snowdrifts. One little fellow wanted to know how we would get out if the snow was so high that we couldn’t open the door to our house. There was much more of a sense that these students appreciated this exposure, being much more aware obviously that there was a world beyond South Africa.
Still, Geography and History do not appear to be part of their regular curriculum, so much so that they do not even receive instruction on their own history, a fact that I find astounding given the political and social history here. It seems that there is a concerted effort on concentrating on building a new future without dwelling on the past. They are anxious to put the legacy of apartheid behind them and perhaps this influences their philosophy. Still, I am reminded of the adage, “Those who fail to understand history are doomed to repeat it,” and the concept of not exploring the past in the non-judgemental and tolerant environment of a classroom is a little disconcerting to me. But alas, no-one asked me to write their curriculum for them so I will move on!
At break time, I was invited to join the staff for tea. They were most welcoming and I enjoyed speaking with them about their system. We exchanged travel stories and I was again struck by how South Africans (white South Africans that is), despite rather isolated and self-contained beginnings, so often venture out into every part of the world. With very few exceptions, most of the staff had a member of their immediate family who either were living or had lived abroad at some point in time. It was amazing to me how independent these people are. They are extremely self-assured and self-reliant. It is somewhat sad that they found it surprising that I absolutely love this country. Clearly the feedback they receive from the outside world is that we perceive them negatively and shy away from them.
As I explained the two systems of education in Canada (the Public and Catholic systems) they were absolutely shocked that in the public system we do not begin our day with a reading from the bible, as this is a very important part of their daily routine. Religion still clearly plays a huge role in the Afrikaner culture. I was somewhat surprised that despite the Afrikaner culture being strongly patriarchal, the Afrikaner women are very strong. The ones I have met are confident, capable individuals who do not hesitate to state their mind. I get along extremely well with them (surprise, surprise). It is an interesting dynamic and I would love to get a glimps of Afrikaner home life to see how this translates in their relationships.
In the afternoon, I was paired with a different set of students, Marichelle and Terina. Again, two lovey young Afrikaner ladies. As we ventured into the more senior classrooms I was still struck by the level of respect and discipline I saw exhibited there. Absolutely delightful children, or more appropriately, young adults, clearly well equipped to venture out into the world. The math lessons I observed were complex and well taught and beyond my comprehension (Okay! Okay! So Math is not my strong suit.) The science was interesting, practical and very hands-on.
I think I had the most fun observing in the English room as the children were anxious to demonstrate their command of the English language to me. One class even going so far as to sing a song for me in English. Absolutely enchanting! They were fascinated to hear about Canada and when the professor (oh, by the way, many of the teachers at this school have their doctorate) told them that French was our second official language, the can of worms was opened! Now … my limited grasp of Afrikaans (about six sentences) is only marginally surpassed by my knowledge of French but the children were fascinated. They quizzed me unmercifully on how to say things in french and eventually I had to confess to them that my knowledge was somewhat limited. Still, we had great fun and I was able to wow them with the basics.
All instruction at both the no fee school and the fee paying school is given in Afrikaans until Grade 3 when they begin to study English as a Second Language. A particular challenge for the system is assimilating a wide language background into one English curriculum. There are 11 official languages in South Africa and many more tribal ones that are spoken. Language is hugely geographical and here in this rural part of the Western Cape, Afrikaans is spoken almost exclusively as the first language. Having said this, many children speak more than one language and the second may or may not be English. Combining all of these children with such a varying command of the language into one program is challenging but in the resilient way of children, they seem to cope very well and, like the little sponges they are, pick up so much by osmosis.
It seems that just when I feel completely satisfied that I have squeezed every possible moment of wonder and awe from South Africa, she unexpectedly gives me a little more. Something mystical and captivating to cap off my day and today was no exception.
As I travelled the old road home, blissfully content, ruminating on the spectacular day I had had, the most beautiful rainbow appeared among the mountains. Again, another perfect end to a perfect day!
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Morag