“I believe that children are our future. Teach them well…” ~ A look into the condition of the youth in both the Detroit, and South African context- PART 1:

This week while at University of Cape Town (UCT), we heard presentations from several people, from different contexts, all speaking about the condition of the youth in South Africa. After hearing of the lack of quality education, poor living conditions, and safety concerns, the stories began to ring very familiar to me. While Detroit is thousands of miles away from South Africa, many of the same concerns expressed by the educators and researchers in South Africa parallel the issues currently being discussed by leaders of the community in Detroit, MI.

           

            I read an article in the Cape Town newspaper that says “Textbooks shortages to be investigated.” Another article with a picture of the Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga titled: “Blame game follows the textbook debacle.” There is much criticism and apprehension about the current administration in control of providing quality education to the students of South Africa. From the perspective of many teachers, they feel that they are a “soft target,” and get all the blame for the lack high achieving student outcomes. However, their response is to place the blame on the department that doesn’t provide schools with adequate resources, or teacher pay.

            Similarly, with all of the foolishness that is the structure of Detroit Public School System, many teachers have felt the pressures of the lack of academic resources, and financial support. With the implementation of the EAA, which has taken full control of several schools previously a part of DPS, many people in the community feel that this “take-over” is evidence that DPS has failed the city. With the growing concern with the school systems in both contexts (South Africa and Detroit), it is clear that there is much to be done to revitalize the educational systems. While there are many people that one can blame for the state of public education (parents, teachers, administrators etc), as long as there are deficiencies within the structure, students a.k.a. OUR FUTURE will continue to suffer.

Furthermore, another article that I read in South Africa read “Zille (Western Cape Premier) calls on army to help stop gang wars.” The city was described as having experienced 23 deaths in the past 5 months as a result of gang violence in the “townships” (severely impoverished communities heavily populated with black people), so they feel that the only way to curtail this issue is to bring in army patrols. My heart went out to the communities affected by the heightened levels of gang violence and crime in South Africa. Feeling the personal affects of family/friends murdered in Detroit, helps to put the issue in context for me. However, when I read this article, and heard coverage on the radio, I talked to my friend Jenise, and we both agreed that this “army invasion” is such a BAD IDEA. Understanding that Detroit has been cited as the “Murder Capital” of the world, and many of the issues in South Africa parallel those in Detroit, we always ask a hypothetical question “What if this happened in Detroit.”

And the answer this time is HECKY NAW THIS COULDN’T HAPPEN IN DETROIT!! If the army were to come in to the city of Detroit to “help with violence,” it would be another 1967 Riot. The idea an armed army coming in to an impoverished community to help with violence is problematic on so many levels. How I feel about this issue would take an entirely additional post alone. In short, I would not assume that having army tanks riding in one’s community would lend to a community’s sense of security. Perhaps “security” in the sense that they feel like they are in jail… or a warzone….I don’t even see this going over well with any other part of the world watching internationally…but like I said, that’s a whole different post all together.

           

These are the first of many parallels that I see between the two communities. From the historical residential zoning by race, to the education gap between city and suburban districts, there are residual affects of history that still remain issues in both. Through it all, our youth are unfortunately hanging in the balance. Perhaps the two cities (Detroit, MI, and Cape Town, South Africa) and countries could learn from one another in order to better serve their respective populations. Even if the elected leaders don’t, I know 1 leader who will….and that leader is ME!