E. B. Sargant

“ Nothing will so certainly conduce to this end as the adequate training of all South African teachers, each staff of teachers in its own Colony. No wise man wishes colonists in their youth to be taught to take the purely British point of view. But if thoroughly trained colonial teachers cannot be found, it will always be necessary to introduce many such teachers from home, and so to provoke a reaction on the part of one section of the population by too great insistence in schools upon the views of the Mother Country. ”

“ At present one of the most marked educational tendencies in South Africa is to break away from the restraints of the examinations of the Cape University and to develop such teaching institutions as the South African College and the Transvaal Technical Institute into independent Universities in all but name. In lower education the same erroneous idea of the value of accurate measurement still affects the character of the inspection of primary schools in more than one of the South African States. ”

“ There is always more or less retardation, so that when, for instance, a vicious principle has been rejected by educationalists at home, it may still be found bearing unsound fruit in South Africa, or, indeed, in any other Colony. ”

“ In the distribution of schools it was manifestly the first duty of the various South African States to make provision for the white population, and from what has been said it should be clear that this was no easy matter, and that it is still imperfectly accomplished. The provision of schools for natives and other coloured people has been left mainly to various missionary agencies, the first society to undertake such duties being the Moravian. Before the British occupation there appear also to have been slave children in the public elementary schools of Capetown. ”

“ It is not easy to anticipate in which directions the town will extend, and even if school accommodation keep pace with the increase in children of school age, the constant change in the actual families living in any one district makes it difficult for teachers to obtain a real knowledge of individual children. In Johannesburg the failure of the South African Republic to provide suitably for even the barest educational needs of the Outlander population made the task of the new Government still more difficult. ”

“ Such a college devoted to the higher education of present members of the coloured races for all practical careers open to them would have an immense influence in assimilating to one another the school aims of the various education departments so far as natives are concerned, and in making them feel that behind all attempts of the white man to ameliorate their condition is to be found an essential unity of purpose. ”

“ But for the full realization of these common aims, and for the preparation of South Africa to act as a unit in any general discussion of the educational ideals of the different parts of the British Empire, one condition, to which allusion has already been made, must be kept steadily in view. The aims of each State must not be distorted through denominational or racial antagonism, but must present, as far as may be, a homogeneous character. ”

“ In the first half of last century, as the rapid advance in the means of scientific measurement led to triumph after triumph in modern engineering, it was hastily assumed that the educational results achieved by every class of teacher could also be accurately determined through such agencies as examiners and inspectors, and that in that way rapid strides in the progress of scholars might easily be secured. ”

“ In the past nothing has been more conspicuous than the want of union of States between themselves (and of Churches between themselves) as to the right means to be used for the advancement of the native population. ”

“ The abnormally large extent of country necessary to carry a given amount of stock had led to farms being placed far apart, and thus to the creation of very small towns at the furthest limit from one another which would allow the farmers to dispose of their produce and to complete their marketings in a reasonable time. Thus, while schools could easily be provided in such villages—often distant thirty or forty miles from one another—it was a task of extreme difficulty for Government to extend any sort of educational help to farmers living at a distance from centres of population. ”

“ A revolt against such conditions of work is a marked feature of educational thought in these Colonies.
A second remarkable instance of change in ideals within the period under consideration is the view now taken by many thoughtful colonists as to the education of aboriginal natives. In the early days of last century the doctrine of the brotherhood of man and the cause of the emancipation of slaves were steadily gaining ground. ”

“ To this cause must be assigned the constant and bitter struggle for the control of the schools, the evil effects of which have been experienced by generation after generation of the South African population. ”

“ Her policy is more and more to adopt a Government system of schools, in which teachers occupy the position of Civil Servants, and this course is warranted by the small number and the distribution of the white population. In Cape Colony the general tendency has been to encourage voluntary effort on the part of parents and others, and by means of grants of public money to bring each school so formed into direct relation with the Education Department. ”

“ These views can never be properly inculcated unless the schools are staffed chiefly with colonial teachers, and this is one of the main reasons why each State should make the adequate training of teachers born and educated within her own borders the primary consideration in her educational system. ”