The decision was an ominous blunder
2008-05-15
NOW that it appears that both education and crime are in the public’s sphere of profound criticism, it reminds me of a letter I directed to the authorities through your paper some years ago. The authorities had announced that the Paarl Training College (OKP) would be closed as a training college for teachers and that a police training centre would replace it instead. I suggested that the college be retained for training teachers and that it be opened for all races. Apartheid was still in vogue. They were not only closing OKP but also intended to close the Athlone Training College. This decision was an ominous blunder and I warned them that their actions would cause a severe shortage of teachers in the future. I also suggested that Athlone College would be transformed into another secondary school, for all races of course. Education was sacrificed for crime prevention. The very foundation of civilisation had to vacate its primary importance to a secondary cause that of necessity should prevent the ills and transgressions of the first. Of late all sorts of unwanted restrictions are placed on school staff, so much so, that through no fault of their own, discipline as we know it, does not exist anymore. Too much emphasis is placed on the rights, but too little on responsibility of the pupil; also in public the welfare of the criminal receives undue attention. Capital and corporal punishment are forbidden. All very well; it reflects signs of a humane and civilised (sic) society in the years to come. Finally let us also learn from the mistakes of the omniscient Dewey who wanted to reform the educational system in America by psychological means and in so doing made a horrible, (albeit temporarily) mess of things. Maybe the Afrikaans idiom “ ’n Pak slae op sy tyd is soos brood en konfyt” still holds true. TPA Carolissen
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