P.S.:
“In the early 1980’s, a Soviet archaeologist of my acquaintance said that Sumer was the most totalitarian society of all time. If the model of education to which it gave rise continues to dominate the world, it bodes ill for us all because that form of education has brought us to the brink of self-extermination. But whether, and how, a more horizontally organized, distributed, democratic and locally controlled form of societal interaction and enabling forms of education can compete with the Leviathan of history is highly uncertain.” – Mike Cole “The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace." - The Freedom Charter “VC” From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dominic Tweedie Sent: 09 April 2016 09:58 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [YCLSA Discussion] COURSE, EDUCATION: SADTU'S QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN Dear Cde Sam, I have at last been able to spend a bit of time browsing the Google Books links that you sent, focussing on the contradiction between Dubois and Booker T Washington. As well as being enjoyable, my browsing confirmed for me that there is something there that we need to have, but also that Google Books is a very slow and difficult field to plough, and an almost impossible one to harvest for later selective use or separate distribution. I would like to say a bit more about this Communist University project as it has grown over the last 13 years (i.e. since June, 2003). The whole course archive can be accessed from this link <http://studycircle.wikispaces.com/Communist+University> , which also displays an index. The explicit course on Education was one of the last to be done. By the way, all of the courses remain work in progress. The archive is a snapshot of the current state of the material. I don’t think the courses as a whole can be fairly called Eurocentric, or devoid of “intersectionality”. I would want to defend our material, and our South African revolution, against such charges. Taking “intersectionality” first, this is a word that is new to us, but the meaning of it is the interrelation of different problems, such that it is not possible to conceive of the solution of one problem without the simultaneous solution of the other problems. I must say that we in SA arrived at this kind of thinking, before the word “intersectionality” reached our shores. We have placed the simultaneous solution of the class, race (“national question”) and gender at the centre of what we are about, which you will find, for one example, at the beginning of the Constitution of the ANC. The resolution of the national and class questions together, is the reason behind the design of our alliance between the communist party, the national liberation movement, and the labour movement. This alliance got a very notable theoretical and practical boost in the late 1930s and is consequently always associated with the late Moses Kotane. The historical work of Frederick Engels, especially, shows how the problems of race, class and gender had a common beginning in the moment of “civilisation” of ancient Sumer (Mesopotamia), or Egypt, and in any of the similar transitions that continue to happen, because they are not quite over. This moment is also the beginning of written history in any given society, and the beginning of the law of contract, and of schooling, and of the crushing of the women. Not the beginning of education, but of schooling as a state concern, as the concern of a state that is a class dictatorship. Education is the growing-up of people to be responsible adults. It has always been there, in human society. Remnants of the older kind of communal education still exist in South Africa. So we have considered all those things. The explicit course on education only reflects and problematises the whole project, insofar as we are looking for a way to raise the entire population, which is a political project, no doubt about it. >From this angle, I hope that one would see, given the time to read and >criticise the collection of courses altogether, that education, most >especially the Freirean pedagogy of the oppressed, is the topic from the >beginning and all the way through our courses. Which gives me a cue to round off this appreciation, Cde Sam, because Freirean pedagogy is critical pedagogy. The most valuable thing is criticism, because it makes the thing work. Therefore I thank you for your criticism, and hope you will take my response in a similar spirit, as another necessary turn of the wheel, in anticipation of the next one. Thanks for being with us. Please stay. “VC” From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of S E Anderson Sent: 29 March 2016 16:04 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [YCLSA Discussion] COURSE, EDUCATION: SADTU'S QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN Thanx for your response. Here are a couple of reference books by WEB DUBOIS that may be helpful (I think you'll need a google acct to access them): • http://tinyurl.com/hbubxmz • http://tinyurl.com/glq5k4h • http://tinyurl.com/zrgy3gs • http://tinyurl.com/j2grvwe • http://tinyurl.com/zjj2tly • http://tinyurl.com/zualbd6 In struggle, Sam •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• *s.e.anderson author: "The Black Holocaust for Beginners" a Writers & Readers Publication Visit: www.blackeducator.org* On Wed, Mar 23, 2016 at 11:55 AM, Dominic Tweedie <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of S E Anderson Sent: 23 March 2016 16:33 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [YCLSA Discussion] COURSE, EDUCATION: SADTU'S QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN Comrades, I've looked thru you education material and find it quite Eurocentric. Most of the references on education theory stems from Europeans. Of Course, Freire and Fanon are the exceptions. But, there are African, Asian and African American education theoreticians who would be more in line with advancing postApartheid South African education. Asa Hilliard, Joyce King, Linda Darling Hammond, WEB Dubois, Dr Mary Emma Graham are but a few education-activists that you can tap into. I've also noticed that there is little discussion/study of the intersectionality of race and gender within the public Education process of learning and teaching. Specific references to how African culture and history can play an intellectual affirming role thruout the various levels and subjects of education do not seem to be a core aspect of your set of education policies. For example, we can learn a lot of pedagogy from many of the South African/African traditional ways of learning. How is that incorporated into your education framework? We can see how various African Peoples adapted to the myriad cultural interactions and created centers of learning... from, for example, Ancient Egypt (the Cradle of Civilization) to PreColumbian/Precolonial Timbuktu to Zimbabwe and Dar Es Salaam of centuries ago (where interaction with the 12th Century Chinese merchants help lay the foundation of the Swahili language and its cosmopolitan culture). The works of Mozambiquan math educator, the late Prof Paulus Gerdes <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0315086016000173> , in math education should be an essential component of 21st Century South African curricula and pedagogy. Finally, the Marxist approach to education has grown from the significant contributions of scholar-activist of color from all over the world. I think your education research and actions should reflect this reality while fully embracing in this context the contributions Europeans and EuroAmericans have made to the struggle for Education for Liberation. In Struggle, Sam Anderson www.blackeducator.org Suggested resources: http://www.rethinkingschools.org www.blackpast.org •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• *s.e.anderson author: "The Black Holocaust for Beginners" a Writers & Readers Publication Visit: www.blackeducator.org* __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 13307 (20160408) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. 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