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AFRICA'S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.   Term Paper ID:29661 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses issues of race and gender.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Discusses issues of race and gender. Oppressive practices of racial and gender discrimination by European colonization. Colonial schools; issues of segregation and limited curriculum. Examples in Kenya and South Africa. End of formal colonization. Gender issues and limited curricula for females from 1960s on. Male domination. Paper Introduction: Race and Gender in Africa’s Educational Systems Historically, cultural associations in African societies have been divided along race and gender lines. Colonial societies in Africa were arranged on the belief that race fundamentally divided the world’s people and that the White races of Europe were superior to all others. Separation of the races was advocated and institutionalized throughout Africa by the colonial governments, who believed that each race had its own culture and destiny that could not be fulfilled if races intermingled in a common society. But even after the break-down of the legal and cultural systems that institutionalized racial segregation in African societies, Black women in Africa have continued to be oppressed based solely on their gender. Only within the last fifty years, or so, have African governments begun a con Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Race and Gender in Africa's Educational Systems Historically, cultural associations in African societies have beendivided along race and gender lines. The Whites in Africa, therefore,needed the majority Black populations to participate implicitly in thesystems of racial segregation if the systems were to work. There, the majority Black African student population in theTransvaal and Orange Free State republics received just over six percent ofthe education budget while approximately 93 percent of the budget in thoserepublics was distributed to White students (Davidson, 1994, p. 49-1 1) have argued, Kenya's educationsystem for Blacks was really a means to control them and instill withinthem "a sense of inferiority" that would keep them permanently in aposition secondary to Whites (Natsoulas, 1998). In Kenya,Blacks were not educated in subjects that could prepare them for civilservice or business positions. Also, thegirls of the Bandu society in Sierra Leone, while still being trained fortraditional domestic roles, have also received training in basic medicineand agricultural skills, crafts, and leisure activities such as music anddance (Bray, p. 85). Whites in Africa were always a minority population. Education as cultural imperialism. In addition, they have been permittedto attend college in North Africa to study the Islamic faith. References Bray, M., Clarke, P. Natsoulas, T. Native Black Africans have always outnumbered Whites of Europeandescent in African countries. 153). These governments needed to use every means within their power tolimit agitation for equal opportunity and representative government by themajority Black populations. (New York: 1974). Traditionally, curricula in African schools has been oriented tointerest women in and train them for their duties as wives and mothers.For example, under the British colonial system in Nigeria, young women weregenerally encouraged to leave school when they became of marriageable age(Nolen, p. Nonetheless, the treatment of women in African schools has not been asuniformly discriminatory as was the treatment of Blacks in colonialschools. 1994. Blacks in colonized countries in Africa, therefore, were educatedaccording to a curriculum thought to be appropriate for their racialinferiority. Such segregation not only enforced the White government'sposition that the races were inherently different, it also made it easierfor the governments to control the curricula for each race. For example, over recent years, women in Islamic schools havebeen trained for teaching careers. (Nairobi: Transafrica, 1978). For example, 7 percent of South Africa's population is Black. Race against time. A look at the distribution of the education budget in Kenya and SouthAfrica is illustrative of the colonial view of the insignificance ofeducation for native Black Africans. Much has changed in Africa with the end of formal colonization duringthe 196 s and thereafter. & Schilling, D. "The Kenyan government and the Kikuyu independentschools: From attempted control to suppression, 1929-1952." The Historian,6 :2 (Win 1998), 289-3 6. InKenya, for example, Richard Frost noted that Europeans were "almostunanimously opposed to any infiltration of non-Europeans into Europeanschools" (1978). Thus, they have actively beenseeking help from foreign countries to better the educational systems inAfrica. During the early 196 s, inparticular, UNESCO sent almost 8 teachers to the Congo to teach studentsand train local educators (Nolen, p. One way theWhites achieved this was to curtail opportunities for Blacks to participatein the government by first limiting their education. & Stephens, D. 78-82, 113-55) and Donald Schilling (1984, pp. In particular, African governments, nowrepresentative of their Black majority populations, are more interestedthan the colonial governments were in preparing Black Africans forleadership roles in business and government. World Almanac. Rather, they were educated in agriculturalskills, hygiene, and limited reading and writing skills by the missionschools so they could become "good Christians" as well as a semi-literatevocational labor pool for their own "peasant-based" societies (Natsoulas,1998). Colonial societies in Africa werearranged on the belief that race fundamentally divided the world's peopleand that the White races of Europe were superior to all others. 8 9). Historically, in virtually every country in Africa, womenhave been disadvantaged by an education system that insists on preparingthem for stereotypical motherhood roles. Even after the end of formal colonization, the Africangovernments began to segregate schools according to gender to ease thedistribution of curricula thought to be appropriate for each group, as thecolonial governments had done by segregating schools according to race.Single-sex male schools prepared their students in a variety of subjectsfor well-paying jobs in business, government and other sectors. Frost, R. Asian and "mixed-origin" students, who numbered7,995, received 23.5 percent of the budget. The continent's history of colonization,however, meant that the minority Whites held the positions of power ingovernment, including education. Thus,White southern children in America were taught they were superior and whenthey grew into positions of power they reinforced these beliefs. Africa is people. 55). Nolen, B. 221). For example, the United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organization (UNESCO) has been actively involved in providingAfrican schools to countries in central Africa. Carnoy, M. Thus, as Martin Carnoy (1974, pp. The cultural assumptions on which Kenya's education system was basedwere representative of beliefs held by colonial governments throughoutAfrica. The politics of education in colonialAlgeria and Kenya. They were not offered any university preparatory courses for fearthat such education would foment political activism (Natsoulas, 1998). (Athens, Ohio: 1984). In South Africa, forexample, the Bantu Education Act stated that "there was no place for theNative in European Society above a certain form of labour" (Nolen, p. It is likely that suchbeneficial changes will continue as Africa continues to move into thefuture. Separationof the races was advocated and institutionalized throughout Africa by thecolonial governments, who believed that each race had its own culture anddestiny that could not be fulfilled if races intermingled in a commonsociety. Whites made up only 16percent (World Almanac, 1994, p. In Kenya during 1935, 1,889 Europeanschool children received 29.2 percent of government education money(Davidson, 1994, p. Single-sexfemale schools, however, limited their curricula to skills necessary fordomestic roles, such as child-bearing, cooking and home economics.Moreover, textbooks throughout the educational system tended to reinforcemale dominance in African society by depicting women only in domestic rolesand by placing more emphasis on the significance of male roles over femaleroles. 55). 221). 55). Harik, E. Education and society in Africa. But Black women in Africa, even after the deconstruction ofcolonial governments, have been educated according to assumptions based ontheir gender. The situation was even worse in SouthAfrica. The samewas true of Africa. The remaining 47.3 percent ofthe budget was then distributed among the 1 ,72 native Black Africanstudents (Davidson, 1994, p. By educating Blacks as totheir inferiority, and demonstrating the White governments' belief in theirinferiority through the distribution of substandard education, the Whitegovernments hoped to control the minds and, thus, the behavior of Africa'sBlacks. But even after the break-down of the legal and cultural systemsthat institutionalized racial segregation in African societies, Black womenin Africa have continued to be oppressed based solely on their gender.Only within the last fifty years, or so, have African governments begun aconcerted effort to repair the damage wrought by the discriminatory andoppressive practices of racial and gender discrimination. Colonial schools in Africa were strictly racially-segregated. The result was a stronger self-image for African males and alimited self-image for African females from a very young age. As demonstrated by the United States' ownhistory of legally-segregated education, particularly in the South,inaccurate assumptions about race can be disseminated to and inculcated inan entire region's collective psyche through its educational system. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.