DESCRIPTORS: emancipation, reform, poverty, apartheid, oppression, segregation, desegregation, equality, ‘re-segregation, Brown vs. Board, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), accountability, civil rights, indigenous people, white flight, white harm, Model C schools, townships, UNICEF, HIV/AIDS
SYNOPSIS:  The author attempts to summarize a sample of research and history touching on educational reform post emancipation in the United States and post apartheid in South Africa.  Though time and geographic distance are contrastive, the author draws comparisons. National approaches to the struggles and the evolution of inequitable race dynamics in both demographics similarly create barriers that hinder and divide public education.  Past to present delays and progress unite race and poverty issues as widely paramount and contentious topics within education and academic achievements for all. 

Publications and studies about educational reform throughout America’s lengthy, and South Africa’s recent history, are abundant.  Throughout a variety of documents, articles and reports several themes are consistent.   Inequality, poverty, and non-school influences affect school systems and student achievement past and present.  Equity in public school systems remains a problem in the United States (US) and South Africa (SA) today.  These distant parts of the world have lengthy and complicated socio-economic (SES) history along with the ubiquitous influence of race and poverty.  Centuries have passed and the US has progressed further to ease widespread racial respect and transitions compared to South Africa, though effectual comparisons are evident and could be influential.

Two vastly distant geographic regions have comparable race and poverty issues influencing systemic reform and educational progress for all children.  The US is an industrial, wealthy and diverse nation of 300 million with a radical ethnic past. South Africa, a large and developing country of 50 million—comparable size to our southern US— is naturally resourceful but still freshly divided racially and tenuous politically.  Class and race distinctions, democracy and capitalism, and education accessibility create troubling inequity socially, economically and within education systems (Jester, 2005).  The current and long-term effects continue to hamper progress. Without grass roots change and more equitable transformation, the scope of what can be achieved gets broader.  With a brief historical summary as a fading but ever-present backdrop, the issues of education reform post-emancipation in America and post-apartheid in South Africa can be compared and discussed further.

Education and Reform in the US Post Emancipation

America’s disturbing history of the African slave trade and legal oppression of Black men, women and children, though almost 400 years old, created an arduous process of human turmoil.  This included degrading segregation then uncomfortable integration, long awaited acceptance of change, and still awaited, equal education for all. After the first Dutch slave ships set on North America’s shores in 1619 two and a half centuries passed before these displaced and castoff people were allowed or given the opportunity to learn to read and write (Foner, 2012).  That necessity and innate aspect of all human civilization’s desire to adapt, to learn and thrive stirred the racial and equity pot in an expanding and potentially thriving nation.

Through the tumultuous years post emancipation (1865), Jim Crow laws (1876-1965), Brown vs. Board (1954), continuing through the height and remaining boundaries of the modern civil rights movement (1948-1963), and ongoing immigration (18th-21th centuries), America, rooted as a settler society has taken years to become a more racially equitable nation of men, women and children in a democratic society (Jester, 2005).  With steadfast advocates and the advancement of education in all of its informal and formal systems, Americans have started to intellectualize the profits and value of working and living together. This is seen today in the successes and contributions of many African American people including our second term President of the United States.  Meanwhile, America’s 21st century public schools are an unsettled, incomplete work in progress (Willie & Willie, 2005).  Statistically and narratively education post-emancipation, segregation and civil rights shows there are still scars, inequalities and struggles for many Black populations.

Inequality in US Schools

As formal and public schooling (1870) in America grew (17th-19th centuries), thrived and became law, African American Blacks were treated separately and definitely not equally. In a very candid article by Charles Black Jr. (1960) about the lawfulness of the segregation decision written six years after Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), Black speaks of the social meaning of segregation as the “putting of the Negro in a position of walled-off inferiority” (Black, 1960, p.427).  He clearly states that the 14th amendment (1868) “declares equality and segregation as we know it is inequality” (Black, 1960, p.428).  As a respected expert of constitutional law at the time, he reflects historically that the entire issue of instilled segregation was defended on the premise that the “Negro is not fit to associate with the white, segregation imposed one race upon another race” (Black, 1960, p.425).  As this relates to schools and education, the inferior description of human beings living as merged community or integrating equality in and out of school would take another half century.

Brown vs. Board (1954) has had positive effects and challenged the nearly ninety-year-old manifestations of local Jim Crow laws prior, though it has been slow and the work must continue today (Willie & Willie, 2005).  In an article about the Brown decision and Black schooling Jerome Morris states that without a map or road previously paved a decade passed before many strides were made, all people in the US were deemed equal, but mainly under written law (Morris, 2008).  “Desegregation (1951)—the legal formation of racially balanced public schools-—became the primary method by which Brown was implemented” (Morris, 2008, p. 717). Along with desegregation and still an issue today are the problems of effectively educating African American children.  In particular, low-income and working-class Black students.  Equity amongst socially and economically disadvantaged children is still clearly fictional equality as seen in recent socio-economic data from United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF, 2012) and International academic data from Organization for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD, 2010). The past structural racism and educational system has not caught up with our progressively diverse population and dramatic social economic extremes.  

Upon reflection and compared to today, Argun Saaatcioglu, in an article about high school dropout problems, refers to the progression of education reform going through segregation, desegregation and more recently, ‘re-segregation.’  Recommending possible re-segregation, he refers to the modest level of academic gains for poor minorities and further, dropouts, in American urban schools today as a strong reason (Saatcioglu, 2010).  In contrast to US dropout rates at 43% for Blacks, Morris writes about the “Brown decision” and summarizes the research surrounding successful schools today as educating low-economic African American children from statistically fragile inner-city and urban schools have strong principals, committed teachers and staff, community and culture, and a “love-ethic” for Black children (Morris, 2008).

The authors of Black, White and Brown: The Transformation of Public Education in America reflect upon the changes in U.S. education since the U.S. Supreme Court decision designed foremost to promote diversity in all public settings.  School settings labeled just and equal are relative and contextual when reviewing transformations because of the need for widespread social change, equitable national leadership and community and cultural involvement (Willie & Willie, 2005).  Willie & Willie state that in the 21st century the gap between Blacks and Whites in educational achievement is closing slightly and equality and justice as defined in our constitution, is being attained by people of color in the US more readily, although, as reiterated, there is still a long road ahead.  They conclude with three needs towards improvement currently exacerbated by No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2001) and standards and accountability race. Progress and improvement for schools would include equitable and effective schooling for all low-income African American students, inclusion of parent and community involvement, culture and social support at all levels and schools, and a review of the implementation and messages of Brown compared to our progress today (Willie & Willie, 2005).

Poverty and Non-school Influences

A New York Times author from Columbia University writes recently (2013) about national equality myths and that America has less equality of opportunity than many other industrial countries.  He explains the reason as persistent discrimination and lack of quality education for all.  Stiglitz believes trends, cutbacks and just giving more money to poor schools are all affordable and imperative steps for a truly free and equal America (Stiglitz, 2013).  David Berliner (2006) who writes about poverty and school reform states that, “most children in poverty and most schools that serve those children are not doing well” (Berliner, 2006, p.972).  He believes in building a two-way system of accountability, a principal and an agent.  This involves community to educators (including administrations) and educators to community immersed in the surrounding culture or context.  Educational views by Berliner related to poverty are clear and concise.  For children in the U.S., poverty is high; it is connect to race and is very hard to escape (Berlinger, 2006).  According to the most recent UNICEF Report Card on the rights of children (Adamson, 2012), as an economically advanced country and one of the world’s richest nations at a relative poverty level, the USA shows 23.1% of children age 0-17 living in poverty.  The only country below the USA is Romania at 25.5% (Adamson, 2012).

Relative poverty is defined as, “living in a household whose income, when adjusted for family size and composition, is less than 50% of the median income for the country in which they live” (Adamson, 2012, p.7).  This current and enlightening report clearly shows that the US is struggling still with social and economic issues for children post recession (2008) but also unchanging little since 2000 (Adamson, 2012).  The report clearly outlines the effects poverty can have on children’s health and day-to-day existence.  Education possibilities, progress and success are delayed and hampered.  The disparities, still present today, between White and minority students are striking and discouraging.  Not surprising is the connection of minorities with poverty and low or lacking student achievement.  According to the National Center for Education Statistics, (NCES, 2004) 47% Black students attend high-poverty schools and the high school dropout rate is 43% for Blacks as compared to 22% for Whites.  As a nation, high school dropouts are at 25% according to www.boostup.org, a regularly updated resource on high school statistics in the US.  Past achievement findings from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA, 2009) are telling when coinciding with the state of children in our country.  The U.S. academic standings amongst OECD countries are, 14th on overall reading, 17th in science, and 25th in Math, which is below the OECD average (OECD, 2010).  Our history of racism and SES figures are certainly part of the cause for the effects on academic achievements in the US.

These non-school effects and issues for children counter desegregation.  Non-school influences broadly include the problems of economics, family and neighborhood according to Saatcioglu’s work and evidence collected from an urban school district from 1977-1998 (Saatcioglu, 2010).  School reform can alter within school conditions and processes, however, out of school context, which is where children ultimately spend most of their time, may be the cause of many detrimental effects on a child’s progress in school.  These may be issues that schools can do nothing about.  The theme of equity versus inequity is woven throughout this recent study.  Education reform is discouraging and misleading and the racial achievement gap is widening again since the 1990s (Saatcioglu, 2010).  This empirical study shows that integration may not be enough to provide equity in achievement for all U.S. public school students.  In another part of the world South Africa is going through proportionately different though similar struggles in education reform due to familiar racial inequities the US has faced. 

Education and reform in South Africa Post Colonialism and Apartheid

South Africa is the 25th largest country in the world by population located at the Southern tip of the continent.  It is about twice the size of Texas with a population one-sixth of the US.  The first Europeans from the Netherlands arrived in South Africa in 1652.  Trade and exploration were ultimate quests, though Eurocentric intellect, business drive and strength soon seized the Cape of Good Hope in 1806.  In summary, flourishing natural resources such as diamonds, gold and an accessible port town, Cape Town today, took over as rationale to subjugate livelihoods of the indigenous people and take away their land.   With such precious and marketable commodities to pilfer from the people of South Africa, turmoil and greed amongst the Europeans ensued culminating in war.  The British and Dutch fought over African land, its resources and oppressed people from 1899-1902.  South Africa belonged to Europe.  Their ultimate power and colonialism lead to the National Party, which instituted the policy of apartheid in 1948 followed by the whites-only referendum in 1961.  The Africans past and present became slaves, servants and laborers in their own country.  According to Statistics SA (2012) dramatic percentages about the population in 2010 still show the percentage of Africans to Whites as 79.2%-8.9% or 37 million Blacks compared to 4.4 million Whites (Gilmore, Seudan & Donald, 2005).  This imbalance of race and helm of control make very little sense and builds a weak foundation for educating all South Africans.

Basic education in South Africa for the indigenous people after colonialism and apartheid became a form of abhorrent propaganda, control and oppression for nearly fifty years under the National Party regime (Gilmour et al., 2005).  Under apartheid, schools were separate and very unequal for White, Indian, Colored and Black students (Johnson, Monk & Hodges, 2000).  The above order of discrete races also dictated the quality of the school setting, resources, teachers and teacher quality and location.  The indigenous people with their enforced historic disadvantages were forced into desolate rural and desert settings and school sites as compared to what were labeled Model C schools for Whites (Johnson, Hodges & Monk, 2000).  Townships were also created by the segregation policies.  Races could not mix or integrate in public.  A comparison of South African townships to the US disadvantaged settings would be the inner-city urban ghettos today and the segregated system of our past (Schwartz, 2010).

In an article about teacher development post apartheid, Model C schools are explained as well equipped and comparable to the best schools in the U.S., Australia and Europe (Johnson et al., 2000).  This elitism strengthened barriers and boundaries within the distinct separation of all ethnic groups under governmental oppression.  Africans were resettled out of urban and “White” areas of South Africa.  There was completely separate infrastructure and departments controlled by apartheid’s central policies for each of the four groups.  According to Gilmour et al., 72% of schools are non-urban and student to teacher ratio has been as high as 1:80 in 1996 for Blacks and 1:20 for Whites (Gilmour et al., 2005).  According to another study about the effects of poor schools in South Africa, White and Indian schools outperform black and colored schools in exams, though as a whole, South African educational quality lags far behind other poor and historically disadvantaged countries (Van der Berg, 2008). 

Long Awaited Democracy in South Africa

Democracy finally became a reality for South Africa in 1994 after fifty years of apartheid (Gilmour et al., 2005).  As a process, it can be compared to the U.S. civil rights of the 1960s with Martin Luther King (1964) forward.  In South Africa there was the powerful and tragic 1976 Soweto student uprising in some ways similar to the Children’s Crusade (1963) of Alabama.  Like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and his comrades within the African National Congress (ANC) began years of protest and expansion of African political reform to fight apartheid well before his imprisonment in 1963. Though Mandela’s imprisonment lasted 27 years his work and fight for freedom of the African people and their land continued to fuel the fire of inequity within the country at all age levels, including the children. In 1990 Mandela was released and four years later millions of South Africans were given the right to vote and the new leader of democracy became Nelson Mandela (Gilmour et al., 2005).  With this powerful and long awaited change educational reform was a top priority.  It is still a slow and formidable process of reestablishing equality and balancing change after years of enforced oppression and poverty.

Poverty in Non-school influences in SA

According to a paper on moral ecology and moral capital as studied in South African education, the moral injustices of apartheid including segregationist policies, took a very heavy toll on the education, livelihood, goals and economic futures of the African people.   Apartheid’s oppressive influence can be blamed for the lack of moral capital in the young past and present This includes partial schooling, partial parenting, inequality and pervasive poverty (Swartz, 2010).  In more general themes, moral capital (Bronfenbrenner, 1992) can be explained as the economic, cultural and social situations of youth, including school and non-school influences (Bronfenbrenner, 1992).  The healing and repair will take decades.  In particular Swartz states the transition and move from African’s tribalism and indigenous livelihoods to colonialism, apartheid and now “living in a nascent democracy” will be a struggle (Swartz, 2010).  Servaas Van der Berg, a South African economist and research analyst, discusses the factors that inhibit progress and in particular poverty and educational outcomes in his paper about the effects of poor schools.  South Africa’s divided past has caused unending socio-economic (SES) issues effecting the equal distribution of education (Van der Berg, 2008).  As of 2000, rich schools far outperform all other schools as far as achievement.  The study in Van der Berg’s paper concludes that SES of the past is the largest systematic roadblock in education especially in so many poor, below functioning schools.  Once again, and compared to the US today, improved funding, accessibility, functioning and accommodations for poor schools in “essential and urgent” (Van der Berg, 2008).

Within a thorough country report entitled, The SACMEQ III Project in South Africa: A Study of the Conditions of Schooling and the Quality of Education, several Southern and East African nations are studied which in its turn allowed to put together a detailed description about the state of education in their country.  The Department of South Africa Basic Education published the most recent country report (2010) on South Africa’s condition and quality of education since 2007.  In summary and within the scope of this comparative paper a few important issues are reported.  The study is cross-national South Africa and affirms the plight for Blacks and Coloreds as it pertains to their livelihood and education (Chetty & Moloi, 2010). Grade level 6 is the sample surveyed covering comprehensive aspects of school and non-school factors.  Successes include a slight increase in Math scores 2000-2007, a 99% enrollment rate of 12 million learners in schools as reported in 2007 and slow but sure transformations in teacher to student ratio, 1:37.   There is now a necessary focus on “pro-poor” initiatives, and the streamlined more equitable structure of the education system as a whole to facilitate all children both equally and side by side (Chetty & Moloi, 2010).  Challenges will continue towards equity of resources and facilities, eradicating grade repetition, and strengthening education and literacy for the next generation of parents.

Along with poverty parents and children in South Africa are still extraordinarily impacted by HIV/AIDS pandemic statistics. South Africa carries a large number of people infected with HIV (UNICEF, 2007).  Educating children on this topic including resources was included in all education goals, statistics and conclusions in the recent SACMEQ III report and others.  Considering South Africa’s political past, its diverse and dramatic race issues of such unbelievable proportions, which are in some ways similar to the US, it is hopeful to see the new government working and researching best practices and curriculums for comprehensive and unified education for all in South Africa.

Conclusion

From the trends and unsettling effects of slavery and segregation in America to the implausible meaning and difficult weaning of an African nation of apartheid, the education of all children equally gets lost in human, economic and political shuffling.  The racial achievement gaps are high within the empirical statistics and qualitative anecdotes of researchers past and present.  Bewildering concerns of white flight (Coleman, Kelly & Moore, 1975), white harm (Saatcioglu, 2010) and fleeing integration combined and in contrast with the dispassionate African diaspora and oppression of Black people in both parts of the world, America and South Africa continue to be haunted and education stunted for too many children.  With such difficult human related pasts to overcome combined with modern economic inequities it is fortunate to read and hear about progress for both flourishing countries of natural resources, industry, and strong national pride.  The empowering theme of getting children out of poverty and fully immersed in education has to continue to drive in the 21st century and with future generations in both settings, within each plausible timeframe.  There will always be struggles and inequities—it is part of human nature.  The goals and objectives of the dedicated, experienced educators and outcomes that occur should drive these nations to continue to change for our children and our future.

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