Savitri on education

There’s a lot more to learning than you might think. For one, resources are always a key player in discussions about education. That school has limited resources, that school is misusing their resources, how can we channel more resources to these school children? When I borrowed a book from the central public library in town and returned it two weeks past its due date I was surprised to find that the fine was only R3. That’s roughly a third of an American dollar. I remember when I would refuse to borrow any books from our library in high school because the librarians were stiff about fines and they grew hefty real fast. On the surface, this is a wonderful thing, a great step towards making learning materials more accessible to students. But it’s not all is it?

On a couple occasions I tutored a young woman in life sciences. She is a junior at a high school in town and commutes via train every day from her home near Mandela Park in Khayelitsha. It was easy for me to remember the information in her textbook, years of biology will do that to you. But even still I was accustomed to looking up answers and explanations on the internet, researching via Google and making outlines for myself to remember key facts on Microsoft Word. She didn’t have any of these things, however. All she had was a blackberry with tiny font and an internet café near home that she rarely bothered going to because it closed soon after her return commute. She was expected to cook meals for her family every day and wash her uniform two to three times a week because she only had a few pairs. And where I had the privilege in high school of exploring my interests and taking classes in (mostly) whatever I wanted she had been pressured by family to pursue a strictly science-based path because that would open the most doors and opportunities for employment.

I can’t even begin to imagine how she balances everything and stays happy and excited with life. Her passion is theatre and the humanities and she is so appreciative I can’t help but feel happy when we’re hanging out. When I was in high school I was very often feeling stressed because I had so much homework to do. I wanted so badly to “excel” that finals were like a bludgeoning to my psyche. How could I have lost so much perspective on reality during these times when I still had so much relative comfort? I had access to all the information I could ever want; my co-educators felt compelled to fund and prepare a library this semester because so many high schools here are without books. It’s confusing and frustrating and I often don’t know what to do or how to feel about it. Even if enough resources are made accessible to more learners, how do you account for things like pressure to cook and clean? How do you interrupt a broader cultural system of gender roles in order to address the insane divide in education privileges?