[This is too ridiculous for words. The wastage and mega-cost of this may not be obvious to people who only speak English. Let me explain. We have 11 official languages – to make everyone happy – even teeny weeny, backward tribes. Of these languages, one is English and one is Afrikaans.

We have 45 million million people in this country. Many of these languages are spoken by small numbers of people. The languages most spoken in South Africa are probably: English, Afrikaans and Zulu – and one or two other “black” languages.

Let me explain something about languages which may not be obvious. Firstly, these languages are very backward, and they have no real terms – especially for maths, science, etc. So how are you going to teach Blacks, say, physics or maths or geology or astronomy in a language that has no words for these things? What invariably happens… is they will end up bastardising some english words to end up with a “new word”. For example, eGoli – which is really just a bastardised version of the english word “Gold” is a name Blacks will use for Johannesburg – meaning “city of Gold”. Similar bastardisations will have to be done for every conceivable technical word… for most of those 11 official languages. Dictionaries will have to be compiled, text books will have to be written from scratch using words and concepts they invent as they go along.

Do you realise how much money this is going to cost?

You know what should be done in this country? If we had any brains, we would force ENGLISH to be the compulsory language. Why English? Because English is the language of business, of computers, of science, of the world. Most people can speak English anyway – even the vast majority of Blacks. English today, is what latin was in Roman times and beyond. English is the language of science – of politics – of the world. Computer languages are based on English. We should cut the cr*p and teach EVERYONE ENGLISH. Then we’ll move forward as a country. We won’t need to write books – instead we could buy books, written by the greatest experts in the world – right off the shelf. In no time at all, and with little cost, we could pass on real knowledge to people in this country.

But, instead, we’re going to waste money on stupid languages… for whom White men had to invent alphabets and spelling rules… and now we must invent masses of words for them. Remember this: 90% or more of the words in the English language are scientific and technical words and thousands of new words are added annually as scientists discover new things. So here we are… a small nation… which will attempt to update 9 languages simultaneously and keep them going. Oh the COST!!!

This is going to be such a waste of money, and what will the result be? The result will be that we will have less chance of talking to each other than ever before. I think this is too ridiculous for words.

Plus… they want to force one of the Black languages to be compulsory. So students, including White kids, must waste a good portion of their school life studying some stupid language they will never use – or which will have absolutely no value outside of our small country. Remember, Africa has hundreds of languages and dialects. Many of these languages will have absolutely no value – even elsewhere in Africa – even across our borders

Heck… I learned some Shona at school. Shona… Mugabe’s language. Yes, I can still remember a few words in that language… like “Mangwanani” – which means good-morning. And how did my knowledge of Shona contribute positively to my life? Zero. Zilch. Big waste of time. Yes, keep it and study it for historical purposes… by why foist it on people when it brings no benefit?

But… the ANC just loves boosting the Black ego, even if it means doing something completely pointless and wasteful and leaves us worse off than before. Honestly, the money could be better spent on so many other things. But for them, boosting the Black ego and creating a racial divide is much more important.

I shake my head. But let them do this. It will be a huge waste of money. Wait… just wait… we’ll keep watching this one, and then you’ll see what comes out of this in the years to come.

Oh yes, the ANC is going to introduce free schooling in Govt schools. Mugabe did that too. Mugabe, to his credit, probably did it better than the ANC ever will be able to. And let me make it clear that in Southern Africa, Black Zimbabweans are better educated than any other Blacks – under Black rule. YET… note too… that Zimbabwe, despite having this excellent free education also happens to be the fastest collapsing economy in the world. Take note that their education system did not stop them from voting for an evil monster and making stupid decisions and destroying a fine country. So let the ANC engage in its education… let it teach the children socialism and assorted rewritten history which bears no relation to what happened. Let’s see where this leads to.

Let us remember that ever since the ANC touched education it has become an utter mess. Children are failing like never before, and Universities, for the first time in South African history, are having to give students entrance exams, because a school certificate has become meaningless.
Jan]

The time has come to make the learning of an African indigenous language compulsory in all our schools, Education Minister Naledi Pandor declared on Tuesday.

The statement during her budget speech drew applause from visitors in the National Assembly gallery.

Pandor also said no-fee schools would be introduced from next year and she would be improving funding support for poor pupils.

Fee exemptions would still be provided in fee-based public schools.

‘All languages must be promoted and allowed to thrive’
Referring to news reports that English might become optional in schools, Pandor said requirements of the Further Education and Training Curriculum stated that at least two languages, one of which had to be the language of learning and teaching, had to be taken by pupils in their last three years of school.

She said the new FET policy opened up the possibility of developing other official languages into languages of learning.

The minister said that this was in no way an anti-Afrikaans campaign. “All languages must be promoted and allowed to thrive.”

Pandor did not indicate a time frame in which an African language would become compulsory.

Although the language issue was one of the most contentious, Pandor spoke about other challenges facing the education system.

She said it was clear that despite plans, an act, several initiatives and a quality assurance system, adult-based education and training targets for improving adult literacy were not working.

She would therefore establish a ministerial committee to investigate other countries’ models of mass literacy.

“I have signed a letter of intent with my Cuban counterpart, Dr Luis Gomez, which included an intention to investigate South Africa’s adoption and adaptation of a Cuban-inspired mass literacy model currently in use in Venezuela and New Zealand.”

Funding of adult learning centres was being finalised.

Pandor said she was awaiting feedback from the South African Union of Vice-Chancellors about the department’s proposals on limiting student enrolments to institutions of higher education. – Education Reporter

This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on May 17, 2005

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>