The class-blind approach to South African schooling: A reappraisal
Date
1985-10
Authors
Morris, Alan
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Abstract
This paper's primary endeavour is to redress partially a pervasive tendency in analyses of South African schooling. This tendency involves deemphasizing or neglecting the crucial role that social class plays in shaping the pedagogical process and academic achievement in the schools. This deemphasis takes two forms: either social class is ignored and the emphasis is placed solely on the racist structuring of the educational system or alternatively social class is taken cognizance of but is conflated with race. The main argument of this paper is that both approaches seriously hamper our ability to understand the dynamics of schooling in the South African social formation and that to understand the pedagogical processes operating in the schools cognizance has to be taken of social class as a central factor interacting with/ but concomifantly distinct from race.
Description
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented October 1985
Keywords
Schools. South Africa