Q .,v- ■ ? (S[atmH Intoetattg ffiibrarH 3tl)aca, SS^etti ^ntrfc (-."M. ...fcxa W"M.a.fc.. Y- Mil DOOKs are subject to recall after two weekS: Olin/KroGh Library DATE DUE juit^ g-4ge & SHS99- PRINTED IN U.S.A. LCTaOB-sTLBe"""""^ """^ The education of the South African nativ oiin 3 1924 030 619 716 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92403061 971 6 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE BY m CHARLES TEMPLEMAN LORAM SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 1915 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE BY CHARLES T. LORAM B. A. (Cape), M.A., LL.B.(Camb.), Ph.D. (Columbia) OMETIME FELLOW IN EDUCATION, TEACHERS* COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS, NATAL LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON FOURTH AVENUE AND 30TH STREET, NEW YORK BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS I917 - A '/J ■ \if5H?d |\'<; TO MY WIFE HILDA V. LORAM PREFACE In his famous address before the Congregation of the Uni- versity of the Cape of Good Hope in 1909 on the Native Question, Lord Selborne, then High Commissioner for South Africa, said, " I believe that everyone who loves South Africa is bound in honour to make what contribution he can to the solution of the problem." As a native-born South African, I feel that the call is a direct one to me, and in the following pages I have attempted to deal with one phase of the problem, although fully aware of the diffi- culties of the task. It is commonly said in South Africa that no one who has lived for more than a year in the country would dare to write on such a complex and diffi- cult subject as the Native Question. When it is known that the present writer was born in that province which is most thickly populated by Natives, that he was brought up with Native attendants, and that he has spent all but seven years of his life in the country, his temerity may excite all the more wonder. I believe, however, that those very circumstances, coupled with exceptional opportunities of studying a similar problem in the United States, make it incumbent upon me to do what I can towards the solution of the greatest problem confronting my native land. The difficulties which have confronted me have been very real. First and foremost is the absence of any scientific viii THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE account of the ethnology of the Bantu. Books describing Native customs and habits there are in abundance, but no adequate accounts of the particular physiology and psychology of the Bantu have appeared. There is a good deal of opinion on the subject, but nothing which can altogether be relied on as a basis for the structure of an educational practice. A few studies on the physiology, craniology, and psychology of Negroes in other parts of the world have been made, but very little agreement of opinion has been reached. A second difficulty is the absence of any definite policy on the part of the governing Europeans towards the Native people. The difficulties of race adjustment have been so great, and the problems so unique, that the governing Europeans, busy with the absorbing struggle with their natural environ- ment, have not succeeded in estabhshing a uniform Native policy founded on principles. Their non-success is the less to be wondered at when it is realised that other and older countries have failed in the same respect. A third diffi- culty is the fact that until 1910 the four colonies had separate governments, separate Native policies, and separate schemes of Native education. A fourth difficulty, and one that has militated against the completeness of the present study, is the inadequate treatment of Native education in the annual reports of the Education Departments. In the Cape reports, which are more detailed than those of the other provinces, statistics regarding Native educa- tion are lumped with those of other non-European peoples under the term " Coloured," and it is impossible to separate them. The incompleteness of the Transvaal, Orange Free State, and Basutoland reports has been a serious hindrance. These very real difficulties have tempted me more than once to abandon the study in despair, but the vital necessity PREFACE IX for some such study at the present time has induced me to continue. Since the Union, Native affairs have become a national and not a provincial concern, and the five years during which, and " until otherwise determined by Parliament," Native education was to be a matter of provincial administration, have elapsed, so that the time seenls to be peculiarly appro- priate for a consideration of the relation of education towards the whole problein, for it is in the proper education of the Native that the greatest hope for the settlement of the Native Question lies. A few words as to the methods used in the investiga- tion are necessary. Such a study should be based on unassailable facts, but what should be the procedure when the facts are not available? The method here used has been that advocated by Principal J. C. Maxwell Garnett of the University of Manchester in his address before the Educational Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1915 : " Where facts are available we should use them. . . . When facts are not available we should, if possible, ascertain them by direct experiment ; and, if that is not possible, we should have faith — ^that is, we should ascertain the facts indirectly by acting on a hypothesis with a view to its verification or modification by subsequent experience." There can be no finality in educational theories and practice ; this is particularly true of Native education, where we are only at the beginning of our knowledge ; and although it is believed that this study is sound so far as it goes, and points the way to action on approved lines, further research may upset our conclusions. In any case, the march of civilisation among our Native peoples wiU compel us to revise our educational practice from time to time. X THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE In arriving at my conclusions I have made use of : — (a) Reports of Government Commissions. — ^The European method of surveys by commissions is followed in South Africa. Of the educational surveys of this nature an American writer, Mr James Mahoney, in a report to the United States Bureau of Education, says : " The scope of the foreign survey is in general wider ; it looks less to local conditions than the American survey. The method of the European survey is (a) by oral testimony of school directors, inspectors, and others who have knowledge of schools ; (6) pergonal investi- gation of the schools by recognised experts ; (c) by circular letters or questionnaires (i) to all persons directly concerned with the schools in question, (2) to eminent men competent to judge of educational matters; (d) through personal investigation of schools resembling those under investigation in all the other progressive nations." ^ Similar methods are followed by other than educational commissioners. (6) Reports of Government Departments. — Although these reports leave much to be desired in what they include and in their arrangement, the figures are trustworthy and the opinions expressed worthy of consideration. (c) Reports of School Superintendents and Government Officials in the United States, India, and elsewhere ; and the very valuable Special Reports issued by the English Board of Education. {d) Books, Pamphlets, Articles in Periodicals. — ^The value of these depends upon the experience, sincerity, and methods of presentation of their writers. (e) Statistical and Experimental Investigations. — ^The writer has made several studies on what he believes to be approved ' " Some Foreign Education Surveys," United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1915, No. 37, p. 5. PREFACE XI scientific methods. The difficulty of framing tests for Natives which do not depend on school training and comprehension of EngUsh has been only partially overcome, but the writer hopes shortly to derive a series of tests free from these disabilities. (/) Personal Experience and the Experience of Colleagues. — As an inspector of schools in Natal, and as a member of a special commission appointed to investigate Native training colleges, I have had experience in matters connected with Native education. I have been fortunate in having been in close contact with feUow-inspectors, missionaries, and teachers who have devoted their lives to supervision and instruction in Native schools. I have a]so received replies to a questionnaire from forty-two of the most experienced missionary teachers in South Africa. During the fifteen months which I spent in the United States I took every opportunity to obtain a first-hand knowledge of Negro education. The results of my observations at Hampton, Tuskegee, Virginia Union University, and various types of Negro schools in Virginia, Alabama, and Maryland, are incorporated in this study. My obligations are numerous and varied. In footnotes I have attempted to acknowledge all the sources of my information. My deep gratitude is due to the Honourable F. S. Malan, Minister of Education for the Union of South Africa, and the Executive Committee of the Natal Provincial Council, who very generously extended the period of my leave of absence, and made it possible for me to undertake the study ; to Mr C. J. Mudie, Superintendent of Education in Natal, and Mr George Hofmeyr, Under Secretary of Edu- cation for the Union, for encouragement and interest in my studies ; to the Secretaries of the several Education Depart- xii THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE ments, and to my colleague Mr S. B. Theunissen, Inspector of Native Schools, Natal, who have suppUed me with valuable data ; to the principals of the training institutions and schools, both European and Native, who have replied to my question- naire, given me additional information, and assisted me in the tests. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to several mission- aries : in particular to the Rev. J. Henderson and the Rev. J. Lennox of Lovedale, the Rev. David Stormont of Blythswood, the Rev. F. J. Briscoe of Kilnerton, the Rev. J. Arnt of Bloemfontein, the Rev. E. Jocottet of Morija, the Rev. F. R. Bunker of Durban, the Right Rev. Bishop Roach of Pieter- maritzburg, and the Rev. A. E. Le Roy of Adams Mission Station, Amanzimtoti. To the last mentioned, and to Mr B. M. Narbeth of the Durban Technical College and Mr G. Rees of Addington School, Durban, I am particularly grateful for help in the supervising and scoring of tests. My indebtedness to Mr Maurice Evans is not limited to the extracts from his well-known book. By the loan of books and pamphlets and by friendly encouragement he has helped more than he knows towards the completion of my under- taking. Mr Evans, Mr James Dick, and the Rev. Father Bryant have kindly read the book in manuscript and have made valuable suggestions. The study was first undertaken as a doctorial dissertation at Teachers' College, Columbia University. To Dean Russell and the authorities of the College, to Professors Dewey, Monroe, Strayer, Thorndike, M'Murry, Kilpatrick, and Bonsor, under whom I studied, my sincere thanks are due for countless kindnesses. Professor Strayer in particular has given me the benefit of his wide knowledge of administrative systems, and has shown as much interest in our South African problems as if they were his own. Among my fellow-students at Teachers' College, Messrs Eaton, Spencer, Marquard, and PREFACE XllI De Villiers (the last two being South Africans) have kindly helped in the scoring of the papers. I should like to take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to my good friends Mrs W. R. Poynton, Dr S. G. Campbell, and Mr G. A. Payne of Durban for their constant encouragement and generous help. The assistance rendered by my wife in the completion of the manuscript and in countless other ways is but imperfectly acknowledged by the dedication. C. T. L. XVI THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE CHAPTER IV MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND THE HISTORY OF NATIVE EDUCATION PAGE Sect. I . The History of Native Education in the Cape 46 2. The History of Native Education in Natal 53 3. The History of Native Education in the Transvaal 62 4. History of Native Education in the Orange Free State 65 5. History of Native Education in Basutoland . 66 6. The General Situation of Native Education at the Present Time .... . . 69 7. Statistics of Native Education, 1912 -71 8. The Missionaries and their Work . . -73 CHAPTER V THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION OF NATIVE EDUCATION Sect. I. Government Gran ts-in- Aid . . . .80 ,, 2. Government Certification of Teachers . . .82 ,, 3. Government Syllabuses . . . -83 ,, 4. Government Inspection and Examination , 84 „ 5. Supervision in American Rural Negro Schools . 89 CHAPTER VI THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION Sect. I. Criteria for the Instruction in Native Elementary Schools 93 2. The Origin and Development of the Present System 95 3. The Course of Study .g 4. Uniformity and Inflexibility in School Work 102 5. The Teaching .... .106 6. The Supervision . . . . _ 106 7. The Results . . . . " 108 Sect. CONTENTS XVll CHAPTER VII E PRESENT SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION I. 2. 3- 4- 5- 6. 7- Native High Schools Theological Institutions Training Institutions and Students Methods of Training Teachers The Courses of Study in Training Institutions The Subjects of Instruction The Methods of Instruction PAGE . 128 . 130 • 131 • 134 137 139 . 142 8. The Examinations for Teachers' Certificates • 144 CHAPTER VIII THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING Sect. I. The Provision for Industrial Training in Special Schools 151 ,, 2. The Financial Support of Industrial Institutions . 151 „ 3. Industrial and Manual Training in Elementary Schools 152 ,, 4. The Objections of Industrial Training . i55 CHAPTER IX THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS COMPARED Sect. I. The Ages of the Pupils Compared . . .163 2. The Test in Writing . . . . 164 3. The Test in Composition . • .171 4. The Tests in Arithmetic . -177 5. Speed and Accuracy .190 6. The Educational Significance of the Results in Arithmetic 191 7. Conclusions . . . • .192 CHAPTER X THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION Part I. — The Mental Development of the Native Sect. I. General Studies in Racial Psychology . -195 2. Studies of School Children of Different Races in the United States . . . -195 XX THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE APPENDICES PAGE A. Specimens of the Test Cards used for the Inspection of Native Schools in Natal and the Cape . . .318 B. Examination of Native Candidates for Deacon's Orders, 1916, Diocese of Natal ...... 320 C. Specimen Examination Papers for Native Teachers' Certificates 326 D. Ordinary, Standard, and Superior Schools . . -331 E. Maize Competitions for Native Schools . . . 335 F. Proposed Scale of Grants to Native Institutions in the Transvaal ....... 337 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE CHAPTER I RACE CONTACT AND ITS LARGER EFFECTS The thesis maintained in the following pages is that the best hope for the solution of the problem of race adjustment in South Africa, the so-called Native Question, hes in the edu- cation by the dominant Whites of the black race in the hght of its past history and institutions, its mental and moral make- up, and its poUtical, social, and economic future. An attempt will first be made to estimate broadly the effects of race contact ; next, the efforts already consciously made by the Europeans to educate the Natives will be critically examined; and finally, a scheme of education, based upon the accepted principles of modern pedagogy, our knowledge of the psychology of the Native people, and the probable destiny of the race, will be suggested. In this introductory chapter the larger effects of race con- tact are tquched upon. Section i. — ^An Historical Outline Although the Cape of Good Hope was discovered in 1487, it remained for more than a century and a half a mere land- mark and place of call for passing vessels. It was not until 1651 that the Dutch East India Company determined to establish a settlement at the Cape, aijd despatched Jan van Riebeek with three ships and a hundred men to build and garrison a fort on the shores of Table Bay. From the first I 2 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE there was conflict between the European and the Native. The Hottentots, who had been on more or less friendly terms with the crews of passing ships, perceiving, as was perfectly evident, that now the Dutch occupation was to be permanent, and fearing the diminution of their pasturage, took up arms against the invaders. From this, the so-called " war of 1659," until the present day, the history of South Africa has been largely a matter of race conflict. The white man, expanding northwards and eastwards, after subduing the cowardly Hottentots and almost exterminating the treacherous Bush- men, disputed the possession of the soil with the waxUke Bantu on the banks of the Kei, in the Transvaal, and in Natal. The issue was often in doubt, but at length the superior*)* intelligence of the white man conquered, and the Native settled down more or less wiUingly as the white man's vassal. At first the relationship between White and Black was patri- archal, but, for reasons which wiU be pointed out later, the influx of immigrants from over seas brought the question of race adjustment into the region of necessary pohtics, and created a problem which has increased rapidly in complexity, and which is to-day undoubtedly the most difficult confront- ing South Africa. The common opinion that the present Native tribes were the original owners of all the land in South Africa, and that the European peoples have dispossessed them of their ancestral birthrights, is historically untrue. While it is im- possible to speak authoritatively in the absence of records, there is evidence to show that the original inhabitants of South Africa were the pigmy Bushmen. The Hottentots, mentally and phjreically a superior people, invading the country from the north, disputed the land with the Bushmen, and at the time of the coming of the white men in the fif- teenth century had gained the upper hand, and had driven their pigmy opponents to their mountain fastnesses.^ Be that as it may, it is certain that it was the white man who saved Hottentot and Bushman ahke from being ex- terminated by the invading tribes of the great Bantu people, who, travelling down from Central Africa in many streams 1 See Theal, History and Ethnography of South Africa before 1795, vol. i. chaps, i., ii., iii., for a conjectured account of these migrations. RACE CONTACT AND ITS LARGER EFFECTS 3 at divers times, were overrunning the sub-continent. Had it not been for the resistance offered by the Whites along the Kei River, the Hottentot and the Bushman ahke would have been swept into the sea by these warrior invaders. Not only in the Cape, but in Natal and in the Transvaal, the European has stood between some conquering Tshaka or Umzihkazi and his victims.^ Both European and Bantu are in South Africa by right of conquest, and in the matter of race adjustment neither can claim the right of original ownership of the soil. The historic fact, however, as Lord Selbome has clearly pointed out, does not mean that the Natives have no rights in the soil of South Africa. Apart from their rights as human beings, and as subjects of the British Empire, the Natives possess a pecuUar right to the Protectorates of Basutoland, Bechuanaland, and Swaziland, and to the several reserves and locations. Basutoland was never conquered by white men, but came voluntarily under the aegis of the British Crown. Bechuanaland, Swaziland, and the other reserves were the results of pacts made between the races, and could not now be alienated without manifest injustice.* It is the opinion of some authorities, with whom the writer is incUned to agree, that not only should the present reserves remain inviolate, but that their number should be increased, so that a large portion, if not the whole, of the Native population may be able to live in a state of semi-segregation from the Europeans. Section 2.— The Increase in the Native Population A situation unique in the history of race relationship is found in South Africa in the rapid increase of the Natives 1 " In consequence of the extenninating wars of Chaka, late King of the Znloos, and other causes, the whole country included between Umzincoola and Togala Rivers is now unoccupied by its original posses- sors, and, with a very few exceptions, is totally unijiliabited. Numbers of natives from time to time have entered this settlement for protection, the amount of whom at this present moment cannot be less than 3000. These aU acknowledge us as their chiefs, and look to us for protection, notwithstanding which we are living in the neighbourhood of powerful native States without the shadow of a law or a recognised authority among us." (From the Petition of the Householders of the Town of D'Urban, Port Natal, 1835.) • Aidress before the University of the Cape of Good Hope, p. 16. 4 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE since they came into contact with the Europeans. The splendid physique of the Bantu people, the fewness of their needs, t];ie comparative ease with which a living can be obtained, and the fact that sons and daughters are desirable, not only to speak with the enemy in the gate, but as sources of revenue for their parents and as supports in their old age, have all tended to an increase in the population. The inroads made into the number of males by the constant intertribal wars and faction fights, which were universal before the white man gave the country a settled goveriunent, and by wholesale murders on the score of sorcery, were made good by a custom which proAdded that every adult female should be married.^ If the conditions favouring prolificness were great in the past, they havenncreased very considerably since the coming of the white man. Not only have the old customs tending to productiveness continued, but by suppressing intertribal wars, by preventing murders for witchcraft, by spreading information regarding hygiene and sanitation, and by check- ing the losses due to infant mortality, the white man's govern- ment has tended to increase the prolificness of the Native people. Official returns show that the Native population has doubled itself in the Cape in a Uttle less than twenty- eight years, and in Basutoland in less than twenty years.^ How far this phenomenal increase will be checked in the future by economic pressure, by the adoption of the white man's habits and vices, and by the ravages of diseases such as sjrphilis and tuberculosis, which appear to be spreading rapidly among the Native people,* cannot be estimated with ^ " Provision was even made by custom for widows to add to the families of their dead husbands. In some parts the brothers of the deceased took them, in others male companions were selected for them by their late husband's friends ; in each case the children bom thereafter being regarded as those of the dead man." (Theal, Yellow- and Dark-Skinned People of South Africa.) ' Evans, Black and White in South Africa, p. 64. * In his monograph on Tuberculosis among the South African Natives (Townshend, Taylor & Snashall, Cape Town, 1908), Dr. Neil Macvicar, of Lovedale, gives some interesting and alarming statements regarding the spread of tuberculosis among the Natives. In the th&ty-five cities and chief towns of the Cape Province the average death-rate from tuberculosis per 1000 of the population for the three years 1903-5 was i-48 in the case of the European population and RACE CONTACT AND ITS LARGER EFFECTS 5 any degree of exactness; but in view of the tenacity with which the " raw " Natives cUng to their customs, and the efforts which are being made to safeguard them from the diseases mentioned, it may be assumed that the population will still tend to increase rapidly. Even now signs are not wanting that the black population will soon be greater than the amount of land available for Natives can carry, at any rate under the present sjretem of Native land tenure and cultiva- tion. The South African Native question will not be solved by the extinction of the Blacks ; for the Bantus, unlike the aboriginals of North America, Australia, and New Zealand, show no sign of decreasing in numbers, but rather appear to increase when brought into contact with the ruhng white race. Section 3.— The Enclosure of the Lands The most far-reaching effect of the European colonisation of South Africa has been the change it has wrought upon the Native's mode of Hfe. The Native was originally a pastoral- ist. Before the days of the white man, when the Natives were fewer, the black man grazed his flocks and herds on the unoccupied countryside. Around his kraal would be found the small, ill-cultivated patches of maize, Kafir com, and pumpkin, which provided his daily sustenance ; but this was only a minor and toilsome concern to be looked after by the women-folk. The wealth of the Bantu consisted in the cattle, sheep, goats, and (later) horses, which grazed on the natural pastures. The coming of the white man served at first to improve the lot of the black, in so far as it gave him some measure of protection from his enemies. Freed from the dread of tribal raids and massacres, he was able to live his hfe of ease and gaiety. His women-folk cultivated the gardens, his sons herded his flocks and herds, and he, the lord of creation, could spend his time in hunting, feasting, and sleep- ing. To be sure, he sometimes owed certain services, such 7-20 in the case of the Coloured and Bantu population. Exact returns for the other provinces and for the rural districts were not obtainable, but from the reports of the district surgeons it can be seen that the mortality is very great. It is noticeable that the mortality is greater among Natives who have adopted European dress. 6 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE as ploughing and reaping, to the white man on whose farm he lived ; but these were generally light, and in any case, if they became burdensome, he could move on to the unoccupied Government or Crown lands, where he could live rent free. This idyllic state of affairs was destroyed for ever by the new settlers from Europe, who, fired with zeal for more improved methods of farming, demanded that the farms be cultivated more intensively, and that the Crown lands be opened up for European settlement. While the Governments agreed to this, they wisely set aside tracts of land as locations or reserves exclusively for Native occupation.^ Three Unes of action were now open to the Native. He could either remain on the white man's farm as a rent-pajdng or service-giving tenant; or continue to dwell on the less fertile and unaUenated Crown lands in return for a small rental paid to the Government ; or go into one of the loca- tions where until quite recently he was allowed to live rent free, subject to occasional compulsory service on the roads (Isibalo). In any case the area of land now at the service of the Native was but a small fraction of what it had been before. This fact, together with the ravages of animal diseases, which became more potent in the congested areas, tended to change his mode of life. If he remained on the Crown land or entered a location his opportunities for pastoral farming decreased, and, unwilling to take up the women's work of agriculture, he would generally prefer to leave home and enter the service of the white man in the city, leaving his wife and children to fend for themselves on the location, with what little financial assistance he was able to send from time to time.* ^ The extent of land available per head in the reserves is Jis follows : — Province. Acres. Province. Acres. Cape 12-8 Basutoland . 19-0 Natal 8-8 Bechuan aland 819-2 Transvaal 4-8 Zululand I2-0 Orange Free State 4-8 » The extent to which the Natives go to service in the cities can be seen by referring to the table on p. 14. Thirty-four per cent, of the inhabitants of the cities and towns of Africa are Natives who are residing there while working, but who return periodically to their homes in the country. RACE CONTACT AND ITS LARGER EFFECTS 7 Section 4. — Breaking up of Communal Tenure Concomitant with the enclosure of the lands and the more intimate relationship between white and black have come marked changes in the social organisation of the Bantu people, the passing of the system of communal tenure of land, and the rapid growth of individualism. In the old days tribaJism was the universal system of social organisation among the Bantu, as it is, indeed, the prevaiUng system to-day. Each member of the tribe recognised and gave willing alle^ance to the chief as the hereditary representative of the tribal spirit. The individual was nothing, the tribe everything. Apart from the tribe the individual had no rights. This almost superstitious reverence for the chief was accompanied by strong family discipline and a close attachment to one another of members of the same tribe. While not a communist in any organised way, the Bantu was alwa5rs ready to assist his f eUow-tribesman in time of need. The cattle of the tribe roamed the hills at wiU ; fences were unknown. No special provision was made for bad seasons, for it would always be possible to borrow from a more fortunate neighbour. So long as he had enough to eat and drink and a hut to sleep in, the Bantu was happy. There was an entire absence of the spirit of competition which seems to be inextricably bound up with European individualism. Failure to comprehend the Native's social views has led to much misunderstanding. The white individualist, striving to increase the wealth and happiness of himself and of his family, and working hard to improve his social condition, is amazed at the want of attention given to these things by the black tribalist. It is a very common experience in South Africa for the Native, while working on the white man's farm, to become familiar with all his superior way of agriculture and stock-farming, or from the white man's homestead to learn how to make his own home clean, healthy, and comfortable ; then to go back to his kraal, take off his European garb, and return to the manner of living of his fathers. When you remonstrate with the Native, as the writer has often done, he will admit the superiority of your methods, but with a shrug of his shoulders will declare that he is but a Native, and that those are the white man's ways. 8 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE The difference of view-point between the European indi- vidualist and the Native sociahst needs to be emphasised, for many of our criticisms of the Native as lazy, stupid, un- teachable are due to a failure to comprehend his outlook on life. We have failed to realise that the Native does not feel the need for such virtues as punctuaUty, appUcation, and thoroughness, which are essential to success in our European sense of-the word. While tribalism remains the social system in the remoter and less enUghtened parts of the country, there are abundant signs that it is breaking down among the more inteUigent and better informed Natives as a result of the conscious or un- conscious influence of the white man. Basutoland, the Trans- vaal, and Zululand remain on the whole true to the old tribal S3rstem, whereas the Natives in the Transkei and in Natal are rapidly tending towards individualism. Chiefs deplore the limitation of their influence and the disappearance of tribal loyalty, while parents admit their lack of control over their sons and daughters.^ The decUne of the communal land sj^tem is seen in the Transkei, where the Natives are exercising their option and in increasing numbers are voluntarily coming under a system of individual tenure. This matter is of importance in any consideration of Native education ; for if our system is controlled by conscious ends, what are these ends to be in the case of the social future of the Black ? The writer is convinced that individualism must ulti- mately prevail. The influence of the white man's example and the work of the missionaries both lead in that direction. It is urueasonable to expect a trained and educated Christian Native to subject himself wiUingly to the capricious rule of a heathen and barbarian hereditary chief, nor is it possible to expect any great interest in education unless such education wiU bring material as well as spiritual advantages. Under the tribal system there is no inducement for the Native to advance. Any attempt at improved methods of agriculture is apt to be resented by the conservative chief as an undesirable innovation.^ ' Report Natal Native Commission, section 50. ' _" It should be borne in roind that the individual Native cannot be indiscriminately blamed for this [lack of progress in agriculture]. RACE CONTACT AND ITS LARGER EFFECTS 9 As will be demonstrated later, the social adjustment of the two races demands that a large portion of the Blacks remain on the land. For this to be carried into effect with the limited amount of land available, better methods of agriculture must be taught in the schools. Along with the primitive methods of agriculture the primitive method of tribalism must die, if we are to expect our educated Native youth to return to the land. The successful working in the Cape province of the Glen Grey Act, which gives the individual Native lease in perpetuity of land, and the sjTstem of modified local self- government given by the District Native Councils of the Transkei and Pondoland, seem to the writer to point the way to a settlement of the Native question through education.^ Section 5.— The Native in the Towns Forced by economic pressure to go to the towns, the Native has adapted himself in his own way to this new environment. While httle affected by the finer side of the Ufe of a nineteenth- century European city, he has not been slow to assimilate its more primitive and less worthy features. As labourer in the mine, or domestic servant in the house, he has been under influences for evil too potent for his powers of resistance. The South African Native Affairs Commission of 1903-5 reports gloomily on this point : " It must apparently be accepted as an axiom that contact with what we are accustomed to regard as civihsation has a demoraUsing tendency as its first effect upon primitive races. It is clear that the Native year by year is becoming famiUar with new forms of sexual immorality, intemperance, and dishonesty, and that his naturally imitative disposition, his virihty, and escape from home and tribal Instances have come to light from time to time of a Native who has planted trees or otherwise taken a step in advance being penalised by the Chief even to the extent of the land being allotted to someone eke ; and even a few such cases or the threat of such action will effectively discourage enterprise. . . . Tribal tenure is, no doubt, the root cause of much of the backwardness complained of, but it was one of the conditions of, annexation that the Glen Grey Act should not be introduced without the authority of an Act of Parliament." {Report British Bechuanaland : Bluebook on Native Affairs, 1910, p. 8.) ' In 1910, seventeen out of the twenty-six districts where it may be applied have voluntarily adopted the system {Union Bluebook on Native Affairs, 1910). Since then other districts have done likewise. 10 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE influences provide a too congenial soil for the cultivation of acquired vices." ^ So bad, indeed, can the moral effect of a large mining centre be, that a prominent South African states- man, the Honourable John X. Merriman, in speaking of the responsibility of the white race for the Native, referred to Johannesburg as a " Criminal University." ^ As a rule the Native returns to his kraal after his term of service has expired, and too often disseminates disease and inculcates evil habits among his fellow-tribesmen. There is, however, an increasing number of Natives who hve more or less permanently in the city, and this number is Ukely to increase as the demand for labour increases and as provision is made for married men in the urban locations. At present the hfe of these town Natives is thus characterised by the Commission on Assaults on Women : "A large number of Natives of both sexes, especially of those who live iri towns, have practically forsaken their own people, cast off all tribal restraints, and do not return to their kraals. They as a rule become demoralised, and form a very undesirable part of the population. In the absence of recognised authority, equivalent to the Chief's influence, the Native on arrival at labour centres '■ Report, section 284. Mr P. A. Barnett, late Superintendent of Education in Natal, remarks in tMs connection : " But when their [the missionaries'] pupil goes into the town, or anyTvhere comes in contact with the baser whites, he finds that the virtues which he has learnt to regard as the peculiar marks of the white man are at least not so conspicuous as some mean and base things to which his own primitive instincts and immemorial customs are more akin. And if the pupil is a girl, the dangers that assail her multiply a thousand times, and they are directed against her not entirely by her own people." (Report of the Superintendent of Education, Natal, 1904.) ^ Abundant evidence of the demoralising effect of life on the mines could be adduced ; e.g. : — ■ " From Johannesburg, on the other hand, they (the Natives) go back impoverished in wealth and health, and usually moral degener- ates, and from their influence flow the physical degeneration as well as the growing uneasiness among raw Natives who have not left their kraal. It is responsible for the growing criminaUty, and the systematic undermining of the best traditions not only of the Native kraals, but also of respect for the white man's authority and loss of faith in his good intentions." (From an interview in the Cape Argus with Mr C. J. Levey, I.S.O., senior member for Tembuland in the old Cape ParUa- ment, at one time C.C. and R.M. for Wodehouse, and magistrate in Tembuland and the Transkei.) RACE CONTACT AND ITS LARGER EFFECTS II loses his social and tribal unity, and, imitation being one of his chief chciracteristics, he soon conforms to his environment." ^ In some European homes, on the other hand, the employers take thought for the physical, moral, and spiritual welfare of the Natives ; but these are the exception, and indifference is the rule.2 We see, then, that the Native's mode of life has been largely affected by his contact with the European. Originally a pastoralist, he has been compelled by the enclosure of lands to occupy localities where pastoral farming is difficult. Eco- nomic pressure has forced him into the white man's service, where his character and mode of Ufe have been affected for the worse by an environment for which he was not ready. Section 6. — ^The Effect on the Whites In the preceding section we spoke of the unconscious in fluence which the white man was having upon the Native, and cited evidence to prove that this influence was, on the whole, harmful. What of the reverse process, the influence of the Native upon the European ? Visitors to South Africa are struck by our complete dependence upon cheap Native labour. No one is too poor to have a Zulu " boy " to do the housework which is done by mother and daughters in the European countries ; the " boy " carries the school-girl's satchel of books and the workman's bag of tools.* Everywhere there is the ' Report, section 103. For futher evidence of demoralisation see sections 46-70, 87-121 et passim. • The unsuitable housing provision for female Native domestic servants, the lack of supervision on the part of most employers, and the consequent danger of demoralisation of the girls, are the chief obstacles towards securing a supply of trained female domestic servants in European homes. As things are, the parents are afraid to allow their daughters to enter domestic service, and thus the chief avenue of useful and suitable employment is closed to the products of the Mission Industrial Schools for Girls. ^ As early as 1804 this tendency to rely on Black assistance was deplored. In that year De Mist, the vigorous Commissioner-General of the Batavian Republic, founded a boarding and day school for girls, " to teach them female handiwork and domestic housekeeping ; above all, to discontinue the needless and uncivilising custom of being at- tended by female slaves from their earliest infancy, and on the contrary to accustom them to help and clothe themselves, to provide for their 12 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Native servant to save the white man physical exertion. The evil effect of this upon the European is seen in his disuke of manual work, his readiness to regard so many tasks as ' Kafir s work," the general attitude of " It's too much trouble so noticeable among the younger people, and a loosening of the moral fibres, which seem to need to be braced by hard and even severe physical exertions. The further we progress from the centres of civiUsation the greater the amount of physical and moral degeneration, until we come to the helpless and hopeless "poor white " of the Dutch and the "white Kafir" of the British. It was not without reason that a storekeeper in Zululand told the writer that he would rather his son broke stones on the roadside than followed his father's lucrative but demoralising occupation. The moral and social dangers to the Europeans of contact with uneducated Natives are dealt with later.^ Here it is enough to point out how it is possible for a large group, weak in its standard of social hfe, to drag down a stronger group through its very weakness. The backwardness of the Southern States in the United States of America is partly attributable to the presence of masses of uneducated Negroes, who are drjigging down the Whites to a lower level, socially, poUtically, and economically.* Signs of a similar degeneration on the part of the Whites in South Africa are not wanting.' That they wiU become more common if the Native remains uneducated is inevitable ; and that the Whites will ultimately have to educate the Blacks, if only in self-defence, is certain. own necessities, etc." (Quoted by Muir in Special Report on Educa- tional Subjects, vol. V. p. 8.) ^ See p. 34 et seq. ' " Low standards in the services rendered by the Negro to the community are not so serious as the low standard of the service he exacts." (Murphy, The Basis of Ascendancy, p. 124.) " The only real peril of our situation is, not in any aspect of the Negro's wise and legitimate progress, but rather in the danger that the Negro will know so little, will do so little, and will increasingly care so Uttle about knowing and doing, that the great black mass of his numbers, his ignorance, his idleness, and his lethargy, will drag for ever like a cancerous and suffocating burden at the heart of our Southern life." (Murphy, The Present South, p. 61.) • Several instances are ^ven by Mr Maurice Evans in his Black and White in South-Easi Africa, chap. viii. CHAPTER II THE NATIVE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTIONS PROPOSED The question of the relationship of Black and White in British South Africa is probably the most difficult current problem in racial sociology. In other parts of the globe— in India, in Egypt, and in many of the European colonies in Africa — ^we find a handful of white men ruling vast masses of blacks, but in these countries there is no thought of white settlement. The white man is there as an official to rule the country for the black man, to maintain peace and order so that the black may enjoy the benefits of settled government and the white man may carry on his trade. It is only in the United States of America, where the two races exist side by side as co-inhabitants and citizens, that we have in the South a problem at aU comparable with that of British South Africa, and there the presence of a vastly preponderating white population in the Central and Northern States and in Canada precludes any possibility of a struggle for race supremacy. How difficult it has been to find a basis for race adjustment even in a country where the whites out- number the blacks in the proportion of nine to one, the history of the Southern States since 1863 can tell. How much more difficult mtist that question be in British South Africa, where there are five Natives to each European ! According to the last census (1911) the numbers of Euro- peans, Natives or Bantu, and Mixed and other Coloured in the Union and in each province were as in the following table. For convenience of reference the figures for Basutoland are added : — 13 14 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE TABLE No. I Showing for the Union and for each Province the Number OF Persons Classed according to the Three Main Races AND the Proportion per cent, of each to the Respective Total Population, according to the Census taken May 7, 1911. 1 Urban and rural. Total- all races. Persons. European or White. Bantu. Mixed and other Coloured. ^4 ao S Persons. Persons. I'^l P< The Union of South Africa. Cape of Good Hope. Natal. Trans- vaal. Orange Free State. Basuto- land. Total . Urban . Rural . Travel- lers. Total . Urban . Rural . Travel- lers. Total . Urban . Rural . Travel- lers. Total . Urban . Rural . Travel- lers. Total Urban. Rural . Travel- lers, Total . 5,973,394 1,477,868 4,490,233 5,293 2,564,065 619.577 1.942.949 2,439 1,194,043 152,988 1,040,302 753 1,686,212 599.509 1,085,526 1,177 528,174 195,794 421,456 924 405,903 21-37 44-54 13-70 55-32 22-71 46-66 15-01 65-85 8-22 41-00 3-38 35-59 24-94 41-95 15-51 58-45 33-19 51-97 28-46 39-61 -3 1,276,242 658,286 615,028 2,918 582,377 289,107 291,664 1,606 98,114 62,732 35,114 268 420,562 251,468 168,406 688 175,189 54,979 119,844 366 1,396 67-28 34-38 78-14 36-97 59-26 18-26 73-38 22-79 79-84 23-51 88-15 55-78 72-34 52-82 83-16 37-39 61-67 40-03 67- IX 37-29 99-7 4,019,006 508,X42 3,508,907 1,957 1,519,939 "3,143 1,406,240 556 953,389 35,967 9i7,oxx 420 1,219,845 316,686 902,7x9 440 325,824 42,346 282,937 541 404,507 11-35 2X-08 8-x6 7-71 X8-03 35-08 X2-61 xi-36 11-94 35-49 8-47 8-63 2-72 5-23 1-33 4-16 5-14 8-00 4-43 1-84 678,146 3II,44i^ 366,2911, 408 462,649 2x7,327 245,045 277 142,531 54,289 88,177 65 45,805 31,355 14,401 49 27,x6x 8,469 18,675 17 THE NATIVE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTIONS PROPOSED I5 The following points are worthy of comment : — I. Although the mass of the Native people are living in the country, a considerable migration to the towns has taken place, 34-38 per cent, of the town-dwellers being Natives. T00% so!! 40% 20% aZ ORANGE UNION OF TRANS-. FREE BASUTO-, SOUTH NATAL. I -VAAL. | STATE. -LAND AFRICA i European, Mixed, or I I or^ Whir-e. Coloured. Banru, orH Narive. Fig. 1 . — Showing in percentages the distribution among races of the population of South Africa. These, of course, are only temporary dwellers in the towns ; their famihes and permanent homes are in the country. 2. The comparatively large percentage of Coloured people in the Cape and Natal is due to the presence of large numbers of half-castes in the former and of some one hundred and fifty thousand Indians in the latter province. 3. The smaUness of the mixed and other Coloured popu- lation of the Transvaal and Orange Free State is due to the anti-Asiatic laws of these provinces. l6 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE The problem of race adjustment resolves itself into social, economic, and political problems of great magnitude. On the social side there is the question of the effect each race is having, and will continue to have, upon the other. We have seen that in tie past the social contact of the two races has been harniful. We must attempt to provide a development for each race so that contact, when it takes place at all, should take place at a high level. On the economic side our problem is two-sided: how to secure the supply of constant unskilled labour which South Africa needs, and how to employ the remainder of the Natives to the advantage of themselves and of the country at large. For the upUft of the Native race it is necessary that they should make progress along manual and industrial lines, and part of our problem is to enable them to do this without enter- ing into " unfair " competition with the Europeans. The political problem is one which is already causing anxiety, and which wiU cause more as the years go on. The patriarchal system of governing the Natives is breaking down, and the question of how to allow the Native some share in his own government has arisen. In the Cape Province some six thousand Natives possess the parUamentary franchise, and until recently a Coloured man has been a member of the Provincial Parliament. No further parhamentary franchise is to be given, but the success of local self-goverrunent in Basutoland and in the Transkei suggests a way out of the difficulty in areas where Natives can be segregated. THE NATIVE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTIONS PROPOSED I7 Section i.— The Attitude of White South Africa The general attitude of the people of South Africa towards this gigantic problem has been one of indifference. It is only when the farmer feels the scarcity of labour or the city work- ing man finds the Native competing with him, or when there is a rebellion among the Natives, as occurred in Natal in 1906, that the average South African realises the existence of this problem. Even then the magnitude of the problem appals him, and he is content to return to his attitude of laissez faire. Since 1905, however, there has been a revival of interest in the problem. The famous Report of the Native Affairs Com- mission of 1903-5, the Natal Native Rebellion of 1906, the outspoken Report of the Natal Native Affairs Commission of 1906, the pubhc utterances of high officials Uke Lord Selborne and Sir Matthew Nathan, the pubUcation of Mr M. S. Evans's book,. Black and White in South-East Africa, and the institution of Native Affairs Reform Associations, and, above all, the Government's Natives' Land Act of 1913 and the Native Affairs Administration Bill of 1917, have all served to bring the question before the attention of the public. Three schools of thought on the problem can be distin- guished, which we may call the Repressionists, the Equalists, and the Segregationists. Similar schools of thought exist in the Southern States of America. Section 2. — ^The Repressionists Under this name must be classed the majority of the Whites in the Southern States of America and in South Africa. Their view is that the black man is an inferior creature, and that he cannot escape from that inferiority. With naive omniscience they say, " God meant the black man to be a hewer of wood and a drawer of water for the white man. If you attempt to raise him from that position you interfere with God's plan, and bring trouble on yourself and him." ^ The * They contrast the old " raw " or " kraal " Native with the half- fledged product of our schools, much to the discredit of the latter. The illogicality of this frequently-made comparison needs to be pointed 2 1 8 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Repressionists are not necessarily harsh in their treatment of the Native. In both America and South Africa some of the kindest masters, to whom their black servants are devoted, hold this view. The South African Repressionist regards the Native as a troublesome child. So long as he " behaves him- self " {i.e. keeps quiet) he is to be left to lead his simple life of semi-barbarism in the Native Reserves, or on some remote corner of the white man's farm, provided always that he comes out at regular intervals to provide the white man with the cheap unskilled labour which is needed for the mines, the railways, the stores, and the kitchens. So long as he does this, he is to be treated with fairness and indeed kind- ness ; but the moment he wishes to " assert his rights," to attempt to raise himself in the social scale, to profit by the white man's example, and to turn to his own use the latent powers within him, then he is to be sternly repressed as im- perilling the supremacy of the white man. As regards education for the Natives, the only education he needs is to be taught to work. The " dignity of labour " is the lesson he needs to learn — labour, by the way, which the white man cannot or will not do himself. Native schools are a mistake,^ but, if they must be estabhshed, let them teach nothing but the three R's.^ out. To ninety per cent, of the people who make it, the so-called " raw " Kafir is the old trained Native servant — ^unable to read or write or even speak English, to be sure, but trained by good masters and mistresses for practical life in the house, the shop, or the farm. In so far as he received that training, the Native was educated in a way impossible, alas ! in our own day. The illogicality also of com- paring iie best products of the old system with the worst of the present should be noticed. ' "So that by educating the Na.tive you have been guilty of an injustice to the white man by taxing Mmjto pfovide funds for the purpose of raising a competition against himsefi and so ousting him from the country, and you have been guilty of an injustice to the Native by forcing upon his race a civilisation which has involved misery and death to him." (F. S. Tatham, The Race Conflict in South Africa, p. 27.) ^ " Voor gekleurden is lesen en rekenen genoeg, en verder moeten ziy leeren werken." (Philipstown School Board, Cape Education Commis- sion, Appendix, clxx.) " We are of opinion that State-aided education for Natives should be of a purely elementary character, and that in connection with it, THE NATIVE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTIONS PROPOSED I9 Industrial education finds favour with this school of thought, but the Native must not learn to do more than the heavier manual work. Anj^hing more would bring him into unfair competition with the white man.^ If the .Repressionist would listen it might be possible to convince him that his policy cannot be carried out to-day, even if it were ever desirable. Contact with the White has educated the Native, and to attempt to prevent him from getting a better education is as wise as screwing down the safety-valve of an engine. The following extracts from Sir Bernard Mandeville's essay on Charity and Chanty Schools, written in 1714, when the ancestors of the Repressionists themselves were asking for education, represent the present views of that party so well that space must be found for them. After stating that "it is impossible that a society can long subsist and suffer many of its members to live in idleness, and enjoy all the ease and pleasure they can invent, without having at the same time great multitudes of people that to make good this defect will condescend to be quite the reverse, and by use of patience inure their bodies to work for others and themselves besides," Mandeville proves the necessity for a body of men never used to ease and idleness and easily contented as to the necessities of hfe, " such as are glad to take up with agricultural labour should be fostered and encouraged in every way possible. It also seems to us that coloured children are frequently allowed to remain too long at school, certainly it is not desirable that they should remain after they have passed the third standard, or attained the age of fourteen years." {Report of a Select Committee of the Cape Legislative Council on Education, 1896, quoted in The Natives of South Africa, p. 332.) ^ A similar illogical attitude is taken up by the Repressionists in the Southern States of America. " He [the Southern Repressionist] tells the Negro he must make shoes, but that he mustn't make shoes which people can wear ; that he may be a wheelwright, but that he must make neither good wheels nor saleable wagons ; that he must be a farmer, but that he mustn't farm well. According to this fatuous philosophy of our situation, we are to find the true ground of inter-racial harmony when we have proved to the Negro that it is useless for him to be useful, and only after we have consistently sought the Negro's industrial contentment on the basis of his industrial despair." (From a speech by E. G. Murphy reported in the Southern Workman, March 1903.) 20 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE the coarsest manufacture in everything they wear, and in their diet have no other aim than to feed their bodies when their stomachs prompt them to eat, and with Uttle regard to taste or relish, refuse no wholesome nourishment that can be swallowed when men are hungry or ask anything for their thirst but to quench it." If, then, says Mandeville, there must be such people, it is the part of a wise legislature to cultivate the breed, for " in a free nation where slaves are not allowed of, the surest wealth consists in a multitude of labourous poor ; for besides that they are the never-failing nursery of fleets and armies, with- out them there could be no enjoyment, and no product of any country could be valuable. To make the society happy, and people easy under the meanest circumstances, it requires that great numbers of them should be ignorant as well as poor. Knowledge both enlarges and multiplies our desires, and the fewer things a man wishes for, the more easily his necessities may be supphed." Every hour which children of the poor people spend at their books is so much time lost to society. " Going to school in comparison to working is idleness ; and the longer boys continue in this easy sort of life the more unfit they wiU be when grown up for downright labour, both as to strength and inclination." We should bring these people up to a hard and painful hfe, for if we do otherwise it will be the greatest cruelty to submit them to it later. The danger of teaching people a little reading and writing is that tliey will think themselves above their fellows, " as if they were of another species," and will look with contempt upon downright labour, i.e. " labour performed in the service of others in the lowest station of hfe and for the mean- est consideration." Section 3. — ^The Equalists With views diametrically opposed to those of the Repres- sionists we have a second school of thought, who, basing their arguments on a common humanity, plead for equality of treatment for White and Black. Two distinct parties are found holding this view. On the one hand there are the well-meaning philanthropists living for the most part over- THE NATIVE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTIONS PROPOSED 21 seas/ or in those parts of South Africa where the absence or paucity of the Native population makes it difficult to imagine the existence, far less the consequence, of race con- flict.* This party is paralleled in the United States by the Northerners, who subscribe so handsomely to Negro univer- sities and institutions in the South, and blame the Southern white man for the race feeling which exists. On the other hand, we have a section of the European missionaries, whose adherence to the doctrine of the equality and brotherhood of men makes it difficult for them to understand, and of course impossible for them to sympathise with, the repugnance of the Whites, and their determination to " keep the Native in his place." To this school of thought the physical, mental, and moral qualities of the Natives are potentially equal to those of the Europeans, and, given the same educational advantages, the Natives will rapidly prove themselves the equal of the Whites.* * The Aborigines Protection Society, known from the place of its meetings as " Exeter Hall," has frequently opposed vigorously the policy of the British and Colonial Governments regarding the Natives. • It is the Cape Province which has been most liberal in its treat- ment of the Natives, and has extended the franchise to some of them. ' That the Natives are physically the equals of the Europeans would be generally conceded ; morally their standards are so different that comparison is difficult (see p. 27). With regard to their mental abilities, the view of Rev. P., Blessing Dahle, an experienced missionary and training institution principal, would find much support among a section of the South African missionaries: " On the average. Native children are just as well gifted as European, but circumstances affect them generally in such a way that their mental development is checked from a certain age. Still, we may say that in most educational subjects Native children are not inferior to European, and in some few — singing, writing, needlework, etc. — ^they seem to hold a better average endowment than white children. In any case, it is evident that the Native is far more capable of learning foreign languages than most Europeans." {The Zulu's Future, p. 3.) In this connection the following extract from an appeal for funds for the training of preachers and teachers within the United States and elsewhere, published by the Synod of New York and New Jersey in i8i,6, is interesting : " In those days which are yet to come . . . the descendants of Ham . . . will attain to an elevation and dignity which will give them a rank among the polished nktiohs of Europe and America. Africa will yet boast of her poets and orators. Eloquence will play on the tumid lips of her sons, and sable hands will strike the lyre and weave the silken web." 22 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE The Equalists would encourage education. The training given should be the same as that given to the Whites. Indeed, any attempt at differentiation is construed by this party (or at least the Coloured section) as an attempt to keep down the Natives. A similar situation is found in the United States. The Negro has been receiving the same education as the White, and when men Uke Dr FrisseU of Hampton and Booker Washington of Tuskegee admit that the Negro is at ^present " backward " in his development as compared with the Whites, and stands in need of a different kind of educa- tion, they are opposed by Negro Equalists like Du Bois and KeUy Miller on the ground that the backwardness, if present at all, is only due to lack of education, and that an acceptance of industrial training as the staple of education would be a confes- sion of inferiority. One of the reasons why the Cape Province adheres to its poUcy of identity of curriculum for European and Native, is that past attempts at differentiation have been opposed by the Natives themselves, or at least their leaders.^ The believers in race equality need to be reminded that there can be no real equality between a people with many centuries of civilisation behind them, and a race which is just »/ emerging from barbarism. The question, however, is of academic interest only. The govermng class in South Africa has decided that for the present, at any rate, there can be no talk of equality between the two races.* ' The absurd lengths to which this opinion is sometimes carried was well illustrated at the Native Convention held at Lovedale in 1908 to decide on the educational policy of the proposed Inter-State Native College. The sound proposition, " that the College should from the commencement adapt itself to the existing educational needs of the country, and, proceeding where necessary upon tentative lines, be developed into a College of recognised University standing," was strongly opposed by certain educated Natives, who felt that tiiis was an insidious attempt to repress their people. One of these Natives said that this proposition meant that they were to get a stone instead of bread. They were anxious to get higher education. Where did they see it ? Among the white people. They wanted that same education, not a bastard education, not to begin with new experiments. Even if this curriculum was bad, it was not their place to patch it up and correct it. They wanted the same higher education as the white people. (See The Christian Express, Aug. i, 1908.) ' " Society, indeed, puts a marked line of demarcation between the two great groups ; European and African aborigines. No legis- THE NATIVE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTIONS PROPOSED 23 Section 4. — ^The Segregationists Midway between the Repressionists and the EquaJists stands a third party, wliich, wliile recognising the tremendous difficulty of the problem, believes that a solution may be found in recognising the right of the Native to develop, but beUeves that any Such development must be a slow progress, and that it is not necessary that the development should take place entirely upon European Unes. This school of thought would attack the problem in a scientific fashion. It would have exhaustive inquiries made into the social, poUtical, and economic progress of the race in the past. It would seek the advice of anthropologists, ethnologists, and psychologists in its endeavour to obtain a thorough knowledge of the people. With this knowledge, and the facts culled from investigations into race problems, it would endeavour to give the Bantu race every assistance to develop on the Unes of its racial genius. The present views of this school, which is gaining ground rapidly in South Africa since the estabhshment of the Union of South Africa in 1910, may best be expressed in the words of its ablest exponent. Mi: Maurice S. Evans, who in his book Black and White in SouthrEast Africa formulates its funda- mental principles as follows : — ^ 1. The white man must govern. 2. The Parhament elected by the white man must realise that, while it is their duty to decide upon the Une of pohcy to be adopted, they must delegate a large measure of power to those specially qualified, and must refrain from undue interference. lation, no opinions about identity of origin, no religious sentiment about the efEacement of the distinctions of white and black, can delete the line. It is drawn in bold, ineffaceable lines, and the demarcation will last because it is in accord with the natural instincts of the two groups of people." (Sir Langham Dale, Report to Cape House of Assembly, 1890.) The late Transvaal Republic, indeed, declared in its Grondwet or Constitution that " the people will sufEer no equality of white and blacks in either Church or State." This law died with the Republic, but its spirit is still potent in South Africa. • Pp. 310 et seq. 2/) THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE 3. The main line of policy must be the separation of the races as far as possible, our aim being to prevent race de- terioration, to preserve race integrity, and to give to both opportunity to build up and develop their race hfe. The Segregationists have been much encouraged by the success of their policy in the Transkei and in Basutoland, and beheve that if this policy could be extended it might be possible for the Natives to evolve a civiUsation of their own.V more suited to the character and needs of the people than the European civihsation which they are receiving at present. Apart from the difficulties of carrying out anything hke a strict segregation in a country whose very existence is said^— to depend on a supply of cheap black labour,^ it is too late in the day to expect the Natives to build up a civilisation of their own, now that the European Government and the European missionaries have to a great extent destroyed their primitive customs and beliefs. In the old days the individual Native had his small share in the making of tribal custom and law ; to-day his law is handed to him ready-made by the European Government. Then his energies were taken up by the absorbing pastimes of war, faction fighting, and hunting ; now war and faction fighting have been put down, and hunting has been reduced to the destruction of rabbits, porcupine, and other " vermin." In times past they could show their disapproval of tyrannical government by open revolt ; now the fear of the white man's armed forces will lead them to submit to any laws. In the old days much care and skill were devoted to the manufacture of weapons and utensils of all kinds ; now these are " made in Germany " and sold to the Natives by traders. The arts of govern- ment, of war, and of peace are quickly being forgotten, and nothing but a passive reUance on the white man has taken their place. If segregated, would these people evolve a civilisation of their own ? It is more than doubtful. The breakdown of the tribal system, the disappearance of parental discipUne, > In referring to the practicability of the policy of segregation, Booker T. Washington is reported to have said : " If your segregating wall be high enough to keep the black man in, will it be high enough to keep the white man out ? " THE NATIVE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTIONS PROPOSED 23 the desire for the excitement, gaiety, and less worthy parts of the white man's life, the tasting of which has made the kraal life a monotonous existence, would unite to prevent any return to the old practices, which would need to function strongly if they were to form the bases of an independent civilisation. It seems inevitable that any degree of civilisa- tion which the Native people in South Africa attain must he j^ the product of conscious or unconscious European example^' and guidance. CHAPTER III WHY EDUCATE THE NATIVE? " Why educate the Native ? " is the question asked repeatedly by the Whites in South Africa. In his " raw " state, they say, the Native leads an Arcadian existence. His simple wants — food, cattle, women — are easily satisfied. He is more moral than his educated brother. His few savage virtues — courtesy, charity — shine in use, and above aU he is no trouble to the white man. As soon as he goes to school, he puts on unhealthy European clothes, he despises his " raw " parents, he becomes dissatisfied with his position without knowing how to improve it ; his thin veneer of European civihsation makes him wish to consort with low-class white men, from whom he learns many vices; Tip rpfngpg f^ he su^fietvje^t to the European, and becomes the swaggering, Impuaent, and universally detested "school Kafir."! If it were necessary to controvert this argument at length, it could be shown that the Ufe of a people hving in mental and spiritual darkness and in constant fear of the spirit world, terrorised by cruel chiefs ahd cunning witch-doctors, and ' Mr Robert Plant accounts for the conc^t of the " school Kafir " in these words : " True, the transition state from barbarism to civilisa- tion in which these people are found to-day is not altogether satis- factory. There is much that appears forward, conceited, and insolent, but it is not fair to expect to jump in a single generation from barbarism to refinement, and the objectionable features referred to are not infre- quently the natural exuberance arising from a consciousness of new power or an outward attempt to ' do the correct thing ' and not un- frequently the direct result of evil example set by Europeans. It is a noticeable fact that the farther removed from the larger centres of European civilisation the more respectful, industrious, and obedient the partially civilised Natives are." (Report of Inspector of Native Education, Natal, i88g.) 26 WHY EDUCATE THE NATIVE ? ^^ ^^bjected to periodical famines, can hardly be termed Arcadian. It does seem necessary, however, to refer to the alleged superior morality of the " raw " Natives. This common generalisation is based on insufficient evidence. What more natural than that the European city-dweller, who mistakes the " town Kafir " with his European clothes and his broken English for an educated Native, and who sees signs of his degeneration in the iUicit drinking which takes place in the suburbs of cities, and of demoralisation in the presence of Native prostitutes, should contrast this objectionable upstart with the respectful " raw " Native, with whom he is acquainted chiefly through the superficial accounts of travellers. If he could study the " raw " Native at first hand, he would find that, judged by our European standards, the morality of the unciviUsed Natives is low. In their relations with people outside their tribe, Ijdng, thieving, and deceit of all kinds are very common. On the question of sexual morality let the unbiassed Commission on Assaults op Women speak: "As regards sexual matters, however, the code of morality is low in the extreme, viewed from a European standpoint. It is stated by witnesses that the ' raw ' Native is born and brought up in an atmosphere df immorality and lust ; his thoughts and speech are lewd ; the topics of his ordinary conversation from an early age are sexual matters ; even in the presence of the other sex his talk in this respect is unrestrained ; his jokes with his female friends and acquaintances have reference to these matters. Persons who.do not understand the Native language, it is said, can hardly realise how low, according to European standard, the state of morality is amongst them. Several missionaries and others have declared that whilst their work lay amongst a Native population they would not on any account aUow their children to acquire a knowledge of the language spoken by the Natives, for fear of the pollution of their minds." ^ As we have seen, much of the objection to the education of ' Report, section 39. Mr Dudley Kidd deals with the question at length, and asserts : " The man who poses as an authority on the Kafirs, and. repeats the statement that the Natives are moral and right enough if only missionaries would leave them alone, is either a knave or a fool." (TAe Essential Kafir, pp. 228 et seq.) 2.8 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE the Native is due to a mixture of ignorance, indifference, and fear. There are, however, some honest sceptics who raise the question. To these we would reply : We must educate the Native because : — (i.) We cannot help educating him, if not intentionally then unintentionally, (ii.) The dictates of humanity and Christianity demand that we educate him. (iii.) He means to be educated, and we have no right to refuse him this boon, (iv.) It is the educated Native who wiU help most to solve the " Native Problem." (v.) It is to the moral, social, and economic interest of the Europeans to educate him, and we dare not face the consequence of faiUng to do so. (vi.) Wherever we have given him anything in the way of real education the results have been satisfactory. Section i. — Can we help Educating the Native? We cannot help educating the Native. Among the most potent forces operating on the life of human beings are the imitative tendencies. These tendencies are often inhibited among ad- vanced races by a more fully developed reasoning abihty which enables its possessor to ju(%e of the intrinsic value of actions ; but among more primitive people they are extraordinarily strong. It is mainly through imitation that the primitive man adjusts himself to his environment, which is but another way of saying that it is through imitation that he receives his education. Before the coming of the white man the education of the South African Native consisted in his adjustment to the narrow environment of his tribe through direct imitation of his elders. With the coming of the white man an entirely new environment was created, and the Native's response to this new situation has been a gradual absorption through imitation of as much of the new as he could comprehend. Unfortunately for him, those aspects of the new environment to which he could most easily adjust himself were not usually the best. Hence the common charge against the Natives that they have WHY EDUCATE THE NATIVE ? 29 absorbed most of the white man's vices and none of his virtues. While this statement, hke most epigrammatic remarks, is not wholly true, few would deny that contact with the white man, as it takes place in the country store, on the farm, at the mines, in the towns, has not tended to improve the Native's habits, morals, or outlook on Ufe. The kind of " education " which the Native is " picking up " from the white man is certainly bad.'- Shall we not then cease to give him this education ? Yes, if we can ; but seeing that our daily contact with the Native is the school in which this harmful education is being given, and that we ourselves are the teachers, we can only cease to give this education by retiring from the country or by segregating ourselves entirely from the Natives. Are we prepared to do either of these things ? I think not. We have made our homes in South Africa, and we need the Natives for work in the house, the shop, the mine, and on the farm. In so far, then, as we bring the Native into contact with us we are educating him.* The late Superin- tendent of Education for Natal, Mr P. A. Barnett, puts the illogicahty of our attitude very forcibly but truly when he says: "We ought not to refuse to teach him to speak to us and to understand us, and then denounce him for stupidity ; deny him the means of being clean, and then gird at him for filthiness ; lodge him in a pig-stye, and then complain that he * " The very moment that a Native comes into contact with the white man his education has begun, if it is only with the storekeeper in the Government location ; much more when he lives on a farm ; and still more when he comes into domestic service, say, on the Wit- watersrand. There his education goes on with a. vengeance ; and if that is the only education he receives, who in his senses will believe that the Native, uninstructed and unguided, will pick up anything from the white man but what is bad ? " (Lord Selborne, Address before the Congregation of the University of the Cape of Good Hope, p. ii.) » " The many thousands of Natives constantly employed on farms, railways, and public work, and in mines and workshops, are inevitably being brought under what is, in the wider sense of the word, an edu- cational influence, and are thereby becoming more useful and pro- dluctive members of the community. These occupations involve considerable travel, removal for longer or shorter periods from their home environment, and contact with civiUsed conditions, all of which have the effect of stimulating mental activity and widening their intellectual outlook." {Report of South African Native Affairs Commis- sion, 1903-5, section 326.) 30 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE lives like a pig and disseminates disease ; plant him in the centre of temptation and atrocious white example, and marvel that he falls into vicious courses." ^ If then we cannot help educating the Native by our contact with him ; if this casual and indirect education is doing harm, not only to the Native, but to us ; and if we are not prepared to segregate ourselves from him — how can this vicious education be stopped ? The answer is clear : only by a counteracting, purposeful, good education, such as can be given in good homes, and principedly in schools, which are the institutions estabUshed by society for conserving and handing on that part of its tradition which has been proved to be worth keeping. Section 2.— The Calls of Humanity and Christianity The dictates of humanity and Christianity demand that we educate the Native. To Christian peoples the work of convert- ing the heathen has always been a solemn task imposed upon them by the Founder of their teUgion. Missionary zeal has always been one of the chief objects of exploration and colonisa- tion, and the Christianising of the Hottentots was one of the avowed objects of van Riebeek's settlement. It is impossible that the Europeans in South Africa, mindful of the blessings which have fallen to them through education and the Christian reUgion, would wish to exclude those blessings from their less fortunate fellows. So we are not surprised to find that several of the missionary societies at work in South Africa are manned and supported by South Africans. It has often been suggested that the Natives be converted to Christianity without being educated. This, however, is impossible with the younger people. Conversion means so complete a change from the former manner of Ufe that it must be accompanied by the disciphne and ability to stand the change ; in other words, by education.^ 1 Report of Superintendent of Education, Natal, 1904, p. 8. • " To teach a mass of barbarians the great moral and ethical truths of the most enUghtened religion of the most civiUsed part of the -world, without, at the same time, training their intellectual powers to grasp the truths taught them, means that they must inevitably degrade our religion to their own low state of mind." (A. F. Caldecott, The Government and Civilisation of the Native Races of South Africa, p. 10). WHY EDUCATE THE NATIVE ? 3I One of the greatest blessings which education could bring to the Native would be to free him from the dominance and deadening influence of the spirit world. The " raw " South African Native has a profound belief in the potency of spirits. All the calamities which befall him or his tribe are due to malignant spirits. Any Native whose life is out of the ordinary runs the risk of being suspected of witchcraft. This is one of the reasons why Natives are unwiUing to practise at home the arts they have learnt in the service of the white man. To remove this blighting influence is one of the tasks of education.^ A further reason why we Europeans should educate the Natives is because it is through our coming to South Africa that formal education has become necessary. We have intro- duced a new European environment to which the Native must adjust himself. For example, we have introduced an economic sjTstem in which the uneducated Native is at a serious dis- advantage. The danger of the exploitation of the ignorant Native by the unscrupulous educated European or Native is very great. On the whole our duty seems clear. God made the Native a man. We cannot and we dare not make him less. ^ "At present the vast majority of Native children when they go to school are already superstitious. . . . Much of the education . . . fails even to disturb the underlying superstition. It ought surely to be possible so to contrive that even the elementary education should do something to loosen the hold that superstition has over the children's minds. ... At the present time in the Cape Colony there are young men holding teachers' certificates, and others who have passed the School Higher Examination, who yet remain quite unconvinced of the fallacy of their ancestral behef in witchcraft. . , . The superstitions of the Natives constitute the dangerous feature of Native Ufe. Under the influence of superstition sane men lose their judgment, and any leader who is clever enough to appeal to some deeply rooted superstition can move his hearers to acts which they would never otherwise com- mit. . . . Every Kafir war had its false prophet who professed to be able to bewitch the enemy and to impart strength to the Kafirs to overcome the Europeans. . . . The only way of getting rid of that dreadful theory, which can be really called the curse of the Natives, is to replace in their minds the primitive and dangerous animism by the spiritual, highly moral, philosophical theism of Christianity." (Dr Neil Macvicar, Medical Officer to the Lovedale Mission, in The State, June 1909.) 32 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Section 3.— The Natives' Demand for Education The Native demands education, and we have no satisfactory reason for denying him this boon. From the estimate on p. 76 it will be seen that in 1907 there were over 160,000 Natives at school. The number has probably increased to 200,000 by now. In other words, one Native school child out of five is receiving some kind of education. The figures in the following chapter show how marked has been the rate of increase in the number of schools, and the demand for schools and still more schools goes up from all parts of the country .1 The inspector in charge of Native schools in Natal recently informed the writer that he could open sixty new schools in a week if he had the teachers and the money. The efforts made by the Natives themselves to secure an education are extraordinary. No matter how old the Christian convert may be, he is desirous of learning to read and write. Masters and mistresses in towns are often astonished at the requests of their old retainers, who ask to be allowed to attend school in the evenings. One of the difficulties in the adminis- tration of Native schools is to exclude grown-up men and women from the infant classes. 1 The education of the Negroes in the United States shows a wonderful advance. The decline in illiteracy can best be seen from a comparison of age groups. Percentage of Illiteracy in the United States, 1910 Age period. All classes. Whites. Negroes. 10 years and over 7-7 3-0 30-4 10 ,, to 14 years 4-1 1-7 i8-9 15 .. ,. 19 ,. 4-9 1-9 20-3 20 ,, ,, 24 ,, 6-9 2-3 23-9 25 ., ., 34 -. 7.2 2-4 24-6 35 .. ., 44 .. 8-1 3-0 32-3 45 .. .. 64 „ IO-7 5-0 52-7 65 ,, and over 14-5 7-3 74-5 (Abstract, Thirteenth Census, 1910, quoted in The Negro's Progress in Fifty Years.) WHY EDUCATE THE NATIVE ? 33 Surely we, who affect to prize education so highly, have no right to deny it to the Native. Should we not, rather, encourage tWs laudable ambition by every means in our power ? The answer is not altogether in our hands, for the Native means to receive education, if not in his own country, then abroad. All recent Commissions on Native Affairs refer to the increasing number of Native students who proceed to the United States for their further education. This tendency is deprecated, in that it is felt that the Natives get out of touch with their own people, and imbibe ideas of social organisation unsuitable for South Africa. The Commission for 1903-5 is emphatic in its condemnation of this practice. "Asserting, as they do, that they are denied in South Africa opportunities for higher education, the independent Native (reUgious) bodies have sent or have encouraged the parents to send youths to America for a course of instruction in the Negro colleges. The character of the education at these colleges, with the accompanying grant of ' degrees ' on low qualifications, and the atmosphere of racicil animosity in which the education is acquired, render an exteilsion of this practice undesirable." ^ Section 4.— The Native Solving His Own Problem We must help the Native to help himself. Common sense as well as experience from America would advise us to make use of the Native himself in any attempts to solve the Native problem. In America it is a Negro, Booker T. Washington, who has done more to solve the Negro question than any dozen white men. However sympathetic he may be, the European cannot see the question from the same point of view as the Native, and we shall be wise if we educate the Natives so that they may attempt a solution themselves. A race is what it is, largely through the efforts of its great men. As has well been said : " The ability of a hundred of its most gifted repre- sentatives often counts more for a nation's or a race's welfare than the ability of a million of its mediocrities."* Our present European civilisation is not the result of the ' Report of the South African Native Affairs Commission, section 329, See also Report of the Natal Native Affairs Commission, 1906, section 83. ' .Tbom^ke, Educational Psychology, vol, iii. p. 210. / 3 34 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE mass of the people, but of the few bright geniuses who have enabled us to advance in their steps by leaps and bounds. So will it be with the Native people of South Africa. They will be raised by their own fellows, and it is but the part of prudence to educate the people, and so enUst in our difficult problem the assistance of those most concerned. Section 5.— Advantage to Europeans in the Education of the Natives It is to the moral, social, and economic advantage of the Euro- peans to educate the Natives. (A) Moral. — In an earlier part of this chapter we have shown that, judged from our European standpoint, the standard of morality of the uneducated Native is very low. The European in South Africa comes into contact with this low standard of morality every day of his life — if not the intimate contact of the farm or the house, then the more remote contact of the street. We have seen that this contact is not without its ill effects on adult Europeans ; on young children the evil effects are still greater. The greatest hardship which missionaries face is the necessity of bringing up their children among " raw " Natives. Some, as we have seen, refuse to allow their children to learn to speak the Native language, for fear of contamination. On the farms the position is much the same, and in the towns it is not much better. Comparatively few famihes are able to afford a European nursemaid. Native boys, and to a lesser extent Native girls, are the nursemaids of the majority of our children. A common sight, even in such a comparatively wealthy town as Durban, is a dozen Native nurse boys and girls sprawling on the grass while their charges run about and over them. In many cases the conversation of these Natives is indescribably filthy. The strongest argument which has been used in urging the lowering of the age of admission to the European infant schools has been the baneful effects of the " Kafir Kindergarten." The South African Commission of Inquiry into Assaults on Women is frank in its condemnation of this practice : " When the disgusting sexual practices in which a large number of natives indulge from early youth are borne in WHY EDUCATE THE NATIVE ? 35 mind, the danger of entrusting girl children to male Natives is obvious. The existence of these faractices is unfortunately not so widely known among white people as it should be ; and it would be well if all mothers, in areas where Natives are employed, made themselves fully informed in regard to them. Boys, too, may be easily contaminated by the conversation and practices of many of these young Natives." ^ If, as seems cbmmonly accepted in South Africa, the employ- ment of Native servants in our houses, schools, and shops as well as on our farms and mines, is unavoidable, we should certainly take steps so that their contact with us is as little harmful as possible. Since the mental, social, and moral development of ourselves and of our children is inextricably bound up with that of the Natives, we must, if only in self- preservation, see to it that the " essential Kafir " is educated. The ravages of disease among the Natives have already been referred to. The dirty and ignorant Native is a danger to the health of the Europeans. The Native quarters in our towns can only be kept from becoming centres of contagion by the activity of our sanitary authorities. It will be more effective and more economical to educate the Native to be clean. What can be accomplished in this direction can be seen by anyone who compares the clean and healthy homes of the educated Natives with the stuffy, dirty, and insanitary Kafir huts.a (B) Social. — Not a few South Africans otherwise well dis- posed towards the Natives oppose their education because they fear that with the advance of the Native will come race mixture with the Europeans. The prospect of a mixed race or a " half- caste " South Africa is a very real nightmare to them. Into the argument for and against race admixture it is unnecessary ' Report, section 121. ^ "An ignorant and untrained Negro is very much more apt to be filthy and unhygienic than is the one who has had at least an ele- mentary training. The prevalence of t3T)hoid, tuberculosis, hdokworm, and other diseases which are such a present menace to the entire South, can never be greatly lessened until the Negro is taught the meaning of sanitation and cleanliness." (Dr W. D. Weatherford, in an address delivered at the Conference of Education in the South, Nashville, April 1912, published in the Southern Workman, October 1912.) 36 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE to enter. South Africa has decided with no uncertain voice that she will have none of it.^ Our purpose is rather to show that education, instead of increasing rax;e mixture, will cause its decrease. In the early days in South Africa marriages or unions be- tween white men and Native women were not uncommon. The men were of the rougher type of European professional hunter, Kafir trader, or pioneer farmer, and the women were, of course, utterly ignorant. Sometimes the marriage was by Native custom, and the man settled down to lead the life of a Native. As the country became more settled, and as civiUsing influences began to work, these unions became less common. They still exist in some of the remoter parts of the country, but it is found that wherever there is any body of public opinion the man who marries or cohabits with a Native woman is ostracised, and the example serves to deter others from following his example.* The impression that education leads the Native to the perpetration of " black peril " outrages is totally unfounded. On the contrary, as the Commission on Assaults on Women suggests, the chief predisposing causes are the barbarism and superstition of the Native people.* In the United States assaults upon women is not a common Negro crime. Monroe N. Work, in his elucidating article on " Negro Criminality in the South," says : " Of those committed 1 Not only the Europeans, but the Natives themselves, despise the Eurafriccin. Their attitude is exemplified by a dramatic incident reported by the Natal Native Affairs Commission : " One old Native, in vehement and passionate language, suiting gesture to words with dramatic effect, asked, ' What are these white things, which their girls were bringing home on their backs in such numbers ? What did the Government mean by allowing their girls to bear so many white children ? Did they want to breed mule-drivers .' ' — in allusion to the fact that men of mixed race invariably drive Government con- veyances." (Report, section 70.) ' A decrease in mixed marriages is reported from the United States. Ray Stannard Baker, in liis book Following the Color Line, reports that in Boston, a city singularly free from race antagonism, the total of mixed marriages as recorded in the Registry Department was 35 in 1900 ; 29 in 1903 ; 19 in 1905 — and this in a city of more than half a million inhabitants. (Reported by Murphy, The Basis of Ascend- ancy, p. 75.) = Report, sections 38, 39, 40. WHY EDUCATE THE NATIVE? 37 to prison for major offences in 1904, the per cent, committed for rape was — for coloured {i.e. Negro) i-g, all whites 2-3, foreign whites 2-6, Irish 1-3, Germans i-8, Italians 4-4, Hungarians 4-y. The commitments for assaults upon women are low in the Southern States. In the South Atlantic division the rate per 100,000 of the population in 1904 was 0'5, in the South Central division it was 07. Some would suppose that the low rate of commitments for rape in the South is due to the fact that the most of the perpetrators of these crimes are summarily lynched ; but if, however, all the Negroes who were l3mched for rape in the South were included, the rate for coloured would be changed less than one-fourth of i per cent." ^ The seduction and debauchment of Native girls by white men of a certain class was one of the principal grievances laid before the Natal Native Affairs Commission of 1906-7.^ Here again the men are " generally of a low class, and the women almost entirely uneducated. While settled marriage and concubinage between the races are diminishing, there seems to be an increase in illicit and promiscuous intercourse between white men and black women, and in a few cases (confined almost entirely to Johannesburg) between European women and Natives. Illicit and promiscuous intercourse between men and women of different races takes place at its lowest level, and becomes rare as the people rise in the social scale.' It is not claimed that education will stop this intercourse entirely, but in South Africa, just as in the United States, it seems clear that » The Negro's Progress in Fifty Years, p. 76. In this connection it is- interesting to learn that no graduate of Hampton or Tuskegee (the famous industrial schools for Negroes in the United States) has ever been charged with assault upon a woman. ' Sections 69 and 70. The Commission on Assaults on Women admits that there is ample cause for this grievance {Report, section 18). " Outbreaks of immorality among Amakolwa girls and near mission stations have occurred in South Africa (for a bad case see Izindaba Zabantu, June i, 1914), but these are almost always due to the fact that no employment has been found for the semi-educated Native girls, whose veneer of education makes them refuse to work in the fields as their " raw " sisters do. An adequate scheme of education will see that its participants are trained for some occupation in \yhich there is opportunity for honourable emplojrment. 38 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE education will develop pride of race among the black people ; and just as the Jew from racial motives segregates himself from the Gentile, so pride of race will increase the present dis- inclination of the Natives for marriage with the Whites.! (C) Economic. — In a previous section it has been pointed out that much of the apparent laziness and lack of enterprise of the Native is due to the fewness of his wants. A man's wants determine his progress. Through wants the arts and sciences arise. The more we can increase the Native's legiti- mate and satisfiable wants, the happier and better we shall make him. To effect this no agency is more powerful than education. The educated Native's wants are considerably more than those of his " raw " brother. To meet these wants he must work. If he 'works for the white man, we have a better and more permanent servant .^ If he works for him- self, we have a more efficient tradesman or farmer. Not only do the Natives and the individual white man benefit from the increase in the Native's wants, but the State through the Native's improved producing and purchasing power receives a greater share of revenue. Magistrates' reports abound with references to the improved spending power of the educated Native throughout South Africa,* but the reports from the Transkei are particularly elucidating in this connection because of the advanced state of education in that district. In the twenty-seven reports from magistrates in the Transkei published in the Union Bluebook on Native Affairs, 1910, marked improvement in trade is reported by fifteen of ' " The impression that the development of the Negro race, its enlarging efficiency and intelligence, will in itself add to the frequency of intermarriage, or will itself increase the impulses of racial fusion, is, so far as one can now determine, totally unfounded." (Murphy, Basis of Ascendancy, p. 76.) ' The irregularity and inefficiency of Negro labour in the South of the United States is attributed to the fewness of the Negro's wants. " These wants can be supplied by half-time labour, and consequently it is impossible to get many of the Negroes to work full time. In order to meet the situation the standards of living for the Negro must be raised. He must be made to want better homes, more comforts, some reading material, better clothes, better food. To this end there must be a raising of standards through better training of the masses of Negroes." (Dr W. D. Weatherford, op. cit.) ' See Bluebook on Native Affairs, 1910, pp. 179-192. WHY EDUCATE THE NATIVE ? 39 the eighteen reports which deal with this question. The magistrates regard the improved purchases of the Natives as the result of education. " The people are more civilised in this part, conse- quently their requirements extend to a much wider range of articles than in districts where the people are mostly heathen." (R.M., Xalanga.) " Evidence of progress is clearly manifest and proved by comparison of the class of goods now stocked in local stores with the old order of twenty years ago." (R.M., Kentani.) " Trade ... is a very remunerative business. The wants of Natives have increased very greatly in the past twenty years, and become more and more expensive." (R.M., Engcobo.) " The progress of the people is amply evident in trade. Twenty years ago the hoe was the only agricultural implement used ; now every kraal possesses its plough. In those days trade was entirely by barter, which is now extinct. Astonishing increases in the sale and con- sumption of tea, coffee, sugar, matches, soap, paraffin, and other groceries, as well as in the purchase of clothing and saddles of much higher value, and of such commo- dities as jugs, basins, and bedsteads (single and double), point to the steady progress going on. The sale of wool in the time referred to has increased tenfold." (R.M., Tabankulu.) In the absence of statistics it is impossible to give the amount contributed by the Natives in indirect taxation, i.e. through customs dues; but it is generally admitted to be considerable.^ The following statement of expenditure by the General * " The imports of this small community [Basutoland] approximate annually to a quarter of a million sterling, almost" entirely for clothing and goods manufactured in the United Kingdom ; the exports to a similar value of agricultural produce for consumption in South Africa. No white population could produce as much in the space available." (Sir Godfrey Lagden, quoted by Evans, Black and White in South-East Africa, p. 447.) 40 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Council shows the improved earning and spending power of the Natives in the Transkei: — ^ Transkeian Territories General Councii Expenditure Educa- tion. Agricul- ture and industry. Forests. PubUc works. Roads. Hospitals. i i i i I i 1910 15,193 9,354 1921 18,111 11,495 800 igii 18,001 13,861 2229 21,270 12,085 800 1912 19,579 24,090 1498 17,055 13,021 1000 1913 20,425 33,555 1708 19,306 15,829 1050 1914 21,872 59,500 1917 19,093 16,000 950 (estimated) As producer the Native has in the past done httle, because he needed httle, but it is clear that as his wants increase he will be driven to greater productiveness. It is estimated that there are 5,000,000 acres of land under regular cultiva- tion in South Africa— an acre for each head of population, white and blaclc. Many times that amount of land could be put under cultivation, but the Native wiU not be willing, nor indeed able, to do more, without education. Section 6. — ^The Success of Real Native Education Wherever we have given the Native anything in the way of real education the results have been satisfactory. At the out- set we must distinguish between the really educated Native and the one who is often classed as educated because he wears European clothes and has learnt a few English words and phrases from a European employer. The latter type is very common in our South African towns. He is very much in evidence on Sunday afternoons, when he swaggers up the street in his squeaky boots, j'ostUng passers-by, and carrying on a conversation with his friends in broken English. To 1 Reproduced from Kingdon's " The Emergence of a Nation, "a paper read before the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, 1914. WHY EDUCATE THE NATIVE ? 4I regard such a Native as educated is to do the Native schools a rank injustice.^ If, however, we regard as an " educated " Native one who has passed such a comparatively easy educational test as the fourth standard in our schools, we have direct evidence to prove that, so far from spoihng the Native, education has done him positive good. On the general question of the success of the Native educa- tion we have much weighty and impartial opinion. "The consensus of opinion expressed before the Com- mission is to the effect that education, while in a certain number of cases it has had th6 effect of creating in the Natives an aggressive spirit— arising, no doubt, from an exaggerated sense of individual self-importance, which renders them less docile and less disposed to be con- tent with the position for which nature or circumstances have fitted them — has had generally a beneficial influence on the Natives themselves, and by raising the level of their intelligence, and by increasing their capacity as workers and their earning power, has been an advantage to the community." {South African Native Affairs Commission, 1903-5 : Report, section 328.) " The witnesses are generally agreed that education has the effect of making the Native more intelligent, more civiKsed, and more loyal, and of increasing his wants. It is also widely, though less generally, admitted that education makes the Native more moral and more in- dustrious. Your Committee can, however, find no evidence in support of the theory that education has a tendency to induce crime. Your Committee submit that the primary objects of Native education must be the development of inteUigence, the training of character, and in particular the promotion of industry, and that if these objects are duly kept in view throughout, and ' The same misconception exists in the United States. " The typical educated Negro in the eyes of the white man is a Negro with a high hat, imitation gold eye-glasses, a showy walking-stick, kid gloves, fancy boots and what not— in a word, a man who has determined to live by his wits." . (Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, p. 151.) 42 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE nothing is done to force development unnaturally, Native education cannot fail to be to the advantage of the whole country." {Cape Select Committee on Native Education, 1908 : Report, section 4.) The belief that the educated Native tends to become criminal is very widespread in South Africa, because of the prominence given in the press to criminal cases in which literate Natives are concerned, and because of the unfortunate fallacy of classing the overdressed, swaggering, insolent street Native as educated. To argue from a particular instance to a general law is easy, when the thought is fathered by the wish; and because one or two educated Natives have been guilty of criminal offences, generalisation such as " eighty per cent, of the pupils turned out as educated on mission stations have turned criminals " are made. In 1906 the Rev. A. E. Le Roy, principal of Amanzim- toti Seminary, the largest educational institution for Natives in Natal, investigated the charge and proved its falsity.* Three methods were used : — (a) Inquiry at six of the largest prisons in Natal and Zulu- land produced the following statistics regarding the number of literate Native prisoners : — Prison. Date of report. Total No. of prisoners. No. literate.* Durban Pietermaritzburg Eshowe Three smaller prisons . Admitted April 7 to May 6. Confined May 19. Confined May 19- 260 507 214 43 2 31 13 1024 46 * Literate here means able to read and write English or Zulu. The number of educated Native criminals is much less. Of almost 2000 Native criminals received at Durban Jail during the two years ended December 31, 1905, only 5, or "25 per cent., were sufficiently educated to be able to read in the fourth reader. » Rev. A. E. Le Roy, " The Educated Zulu," a paper read before the South African General Missionary Conference, Johannesburg, 1906. WHY EDUCATE THE NATIVE ? 43 (6) According to the Census Report, there were confined in the prison of Natal, on the day the census was taken, 1862 Natives, of whom 83 were able to read and write. This percentage of 4-4 corresponds almost exactly with the figures under (a) above. (c) Of the 800 ex-pupils of Amanzimtoti Seminary (Mr Le Roy's school), only 11, or i'4 per cent., have ever been convicted of crime .^ The further charge that the educated Native was lazy, disrespectful, and unfitted for work was also refuted by Mr Le Roy. The employers of the 91 ex-students from Amanzimtoti Seminary working in Durban and Johannesburg were questioned as to the worth of the bojrs. Were they good workers ? Were they respectful ? Were they trustworthy ? How did they compare with the " raw " Kafir ? Unqualified approval was given of 82 of the boys, 5 were satisfactory in spite of minor weaknesses, while 4 were unsatisfactory. Some of the comments of the employers, all of which are given by Mr Le Roy, are interesting : — " Good and trustworthy." " The best boy I have." " All rattUng good boys, never had any trouble ; hard workers." " Good boys, but exceptions. Mission Natives worthless." " Was here a year, but knew too much." " A credit to missionaries." " Not a word of complaint." " Very good boy, respectful and willing." " Absolutely the best boy I've had; gets drunk occasionally just like a • The argument that to educate a Negro is to make a criminal ot him is frequently used in the Southern States. It has been refuted again and again. Thus Dr Weatherford says : " The facts do not bear out this statement. It is estimated that 67 per cent, of the Negro criminals to-day have had no training. If the South wishes to be free from its fearful harvest of crime, it is none too soon to deliberately start on a more definite plan for Negro training." (Op. cit.) " Not a single graduate of the Hampton Institute or of the Tuskegee Institute can be found to-day in any jail or State penitentiary. After making careful inquiry I cannot find a half-dozen cases of a man or a woman who has completed a full course of education in any of our reputable institutions like Hampton, Tuskegee, Fisk, and Atlanta who are in prisons. The records of the South show that go per cent, of the coloured people in prisons are without knowledge of trades, and 61 per cent, are illiterate." (Booker T. Washington, Working with the Hands, p. 235.) 44 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE white man, but good worker and respectful." Mr Le Roy estimates that of the 800 ex-students of his institution 10 per cent, are worthless, " both from a Christian and industrial viewpoint " ; 20 per cent, are good workers but are not lead- ing Christian hves ; while 70 per cent, are to-day reliable men, a credit to the school and to the Church. Although it is almost certain that similar satisfactory results could be obtained from other missions, it is a pity that they have not been collected, as the contrary impression still prevails to a considerable extent.^ The experience of the United States shows that even the inadequate education provided for Negroes in the Southern States has produced good results. Dr Weatherford, after quoting statistics to prove his points, sums up the results as follows : — " It has never been found in all the world that a sane and thorough intellectual equipment has been detrimental to morals or to industrial efficiency. The Negro is no exception to this rule. It is not the educated Negro that fills our penitentiaries and jails, works in our chain gangs, and fills our poorhouses. These places are given over to the ignorant and depraved. It is not the educated Negro that makes up our idle and vagrant class, that commits our murders and despoils our women. Here, again, it is the illiterate and degraded Negro. The trained Negro hves in a better home, wears better clothes, eats better food, does more efficient work, creates more wealth, rears his children more decently, makes a more decent citizen, and in times of race friction is always to be found on the side of law and order. These things seem to be worthy fruits, and whatever system produces them should have our approval. If we are to be fair to ourselves, fair to the section in which we Uve, and fair to the Negro race, we must see that a common school education is provided for all, that industrial * The calendar of Lovedale Institute contains the names of thousands of educated Natives who are a credit to their school training and education. Many similar proofs could be adduced from American reports. WHY EDUCATE THE NATIVE ? 45 training is given to the majority, and that a more thorough and complete training shall be given to the capable few who are to become the leaders of this race." ^ Our own experience in South Africa has been the same, so that the proper reply to the question, " Can we afford to educate the Native ? " would seem to be, " Can we afford not to educate him ? " ' Negro Life in the South, p. 113. CHAPTER IV MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND THE HISTORY OF NATIVE EDUCATION The history of Native education in South Africa is the history of South African missions, for it is due entirely to the efforte of the missionaries that the Natives of South Africa have received any education at all, and to this day all but three of the several thousand Native schools are conducted by missionary agencies. The authoritative history of South African missions has been written,^ and all that we propose in the present chapter is to examine the state of Native education at different stages in its development, and where possible to show the attitude of the several Colonial Governments to the question. Statistics show- ing the growth of Native education and its present position are given, and finally the work of the missionaries is considered. Section i. — The History of Native Education in the Cape' One of the avowed objects of the first settlement of the Cape in 1652 was to bring the benefits of Christianity and civilisation to the heathen. The Dutch lost no time in carrying out their intentions, and in 1656 a school, the first to be estabUshed in South Africa, was set up in Cape Town for the instruction of slave children from the West Coast. At first white and coloured \yere taught together, for we hear of a school being opened in 1663 with 17 ' Du Plessis, History of South African Missions, Longmaas, Green & Co. ■ Based on the account by Messrs G. B. Muir and M. E. Sadler in vol. V. of Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Board of Education, London. 46 MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 47 children, of whom 4 were slave children, i a Hottentot, and 12 Europeans. In 1676 a movement towards separa- tion took place, but pending the establishment of the Coloured school the brighter Coloured children were allowed to attend the school for Europeans. At the end of the seventeenth century there were, according to Mr Muir's estimate, three school centres at Cape Town, Stellenbosch, and Drakenstein, where small groups of children received a semi-secular educa- tion under the care of the Church. These schools were prob- ably attended by the European children and the best of the Coloured pupils. Progress in the provision of educational facilities mu^ have been slow, for a century later, in 1779, the School Commission reported the existence of only eight public elementary schools, containing 696 children. Slave children were in attendance at these schools, and there were also a special " Slave Lodge " school of 84 children, and a few private schools. The educational efforts of the Dutch and English Govern- ments were directed towards the establishment of Govern- ment " Latin and Dutch Schools " in Cape Town, and the Government-aided but locally controlled " Church Clerk Schools " of the country districts.^ The Churches everywhere, however, gradually began to establish " mission schools " for those who could not afford to pay school fees. These schools were attended by a few poor Whites, but principally by slave children and Hottentots. In 1824 a Commissioner speaks of having inspected four mission schools, two for slave and two for Hottentot children ; and the historian Theal speaks of a " considerable number " of mission schools as existing in 1825. We see that the mission schools were intended for the Coloured children in the Colony proper, but towards the be- ginning of the nineteenth century an entirely different set of " Native " schools came yito existence. The strong missionary movement of that time resulted in the rapid establishment of schools for Coloured and particularly for Bantu children. Mr Muir, writing of the position about the year 1837, says : — " It is almost certain that by this time the number of mission schools for Coloured children considerably ex- ^ Muir and Sadler, op. cit., p. 18. 48 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH^AFRICAN NATIVE ceeded the number of all kinds of schools for White children. The missionary movement begun by the Moravians in 1792 had been taken up by the London Missionary Society in 1799, the South African Society about the same time, the Wesleyan Church in 1816, the Glasgow Society in 1821, the Rhenish Society in 1829, the Paris Society in 1829, and the Berlin Society in 1834. It had thus gradually assumed large proportions, and we are consequently not surprised to learn that at the time now reached there were over fifty European missionaries at work in the Colony. All of these, with their numerous helpers, interested themselves in the education of the Coloured races, no fees being charged, and the training being in most cases similar to that given in the schools attached to churches in England. In almost every village, we are told, a branch of one or other society existed, by means of which the education of Coloured people, both children and adults, was fostered. Stations also had been founded, such as Lovedale in 1824, which afterwards came to be almost exclusively educational in character. Theal is therefore probably correct in say- ing that at the close of the period now under considera- tion much better provision was made for the Coloured people than for the White." 1 In the year 1854 Sir George Grey came out to the Cape as Governor. One of his first tasks was to attempt to settle Native affairs, so as to prevent the recurrence of the Kafir wars on the Eastern frontier. " After visiting the frontier and making himself thoroughly familiar with the facts, he resolved upon a plan of ' peaceful subjugation ' in which education was to play an important part . His idea was ' to gain an influence over all the tribes inhabiting the borders of the Colony, from British Kaffraria eastward to Natal, by employ- ing them on pubhc works opening up their country, by estabUshing institutions for the education of their children and the rehef of their sick, and by introducing amongst them laws and regulations suited to their condition.' ' Muir and Sadler, op. cit, p. 18. MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 49 He therefore sought and obtained from the Imperial Government a large annual sum for the furtherance of his scheme, and of this sum a goodly portion was devoted by him year after year to education. One or two Church institutions for the training of Natives had, as we have already seen, been for some time in operation in Kaffraria, and these he utiUsed ; but his view was that the kind of instruction given in them was too bookish, and that what was most needed was instruction in manual work. Grants were consequently given to develop industrial education at Lovedale, Healdtown, Lesseyton, Salem, and a numb^ of other places, the total expenditure varying from year to year, but in the year 1857 reaching almost £10,000. As the Imperial Government gradually withdrew its support, these grants-in-aid from ' the sum reserved under Schedule D ' of course fell off ; but while the support lasted it set agoing a movement in the industrial educa- tion of the Natives which has never since come to a stop. It must be noted carefully, however, that the institu- tions thus aided were as yet in no way connected with the educational system of the Colony, but were directly under the care of the High Commissioner himself." ^ In 1854 the Cape Colony received representative govern- ment,* and in 1861 a Commission was appointed to inquire into the sjretem of education and to suggest a revision of the scale of grants. The result of this Commission's report formed the basis of the system of education in the Cape Province which has continued down to the present day. The points affecting Native education are the recommendations which resulted inthe continuance of grants-in-aid of Mission Schools and the official recognition of a new type of schools for the Natives in the eastern parts of the colony, namely, " Native Institutions and Schools (Aborigines Border Department)." Both Mission Schools and Aborigines' Schools were classified into three grades on the basis of staff and enrolment. The annual grants-in-aid, which were to be expended on teachers' 1 Muir and Sadler, op. cit., pp. 28-29. ' A special provision required that the sum of ;fi4,ooo annually be reserved for " Border Department (Aborigines)." 4 50 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE salaries only, were: for Mission Schools, £75, £30, £15 for Classes I., II., and III. respectively; and for Aborigines' Schools, £140, £40, and 3^20. AU were to be under the management of Church or missionary bodies, and subject to Government inspection. The subjects of instruction were reading, writing, and arithmetic for the Mission Schools, and " suitable elemen- tary education in English or the native language, or in both " and " suitable industrial training " for the Aborigines Schools. A maintenance grant of £15 per annum was made to each of a Umited number of male Natives who apprenticed them- selves to the authorities of the institution for a period of not more than four and not less than two years, in the wagon- maMng, blacksmith's, tailoring, shoemaking, and printing trades, and a grant of £10 per annum for girl apprentices to " household work." An allowance of from £10 to £12 per annum was offered towards the maintenance of boarders, other than apprentices, who had " besides the ordinary school work some industrial occupation such as field or garden labour, or special training for pupil teachers." This favourable treatment in the way of financial assist- ance, and the inclusion under the operation of the Act of the districts of King William's Town and East London in 1867, districts thickly populated by Natives, led to a rapid increase in the number of schools. Whereas the number of Public Schools for Europeans increased from 147 in 1863 to 169 in 1873 (an increase of 22), the corresponding increase for Mission and Aborigines' Schools was from 206 to 346 (an increase of 140). The syllabus of instruction, which was binding in the Mission Schools, and which was followed by the Aborigines' Schools, sets out the requirements in reading, writing, and arithmetic for the four standards. In Standard IV., for example, the pupils were required to be able to read any orcU- nary narrative fluently and correctly, to write freely to dicta- tion, and to do sums in practice, proportion, and vulgar fractions. In 1877 the liberal policy of the Cape Government towards Native education was again exemplified in the estabUshment of a grant of £120 per annum in aid of the salary of a com- petent trade teacher, and a special grant of £30 for the purchase of tools, fittings, and materials for industrial work. MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 51 Mr Muir draws attention to the fact, that better provision was made for the manual training of Natives than for Europeans. In the schools for European children " the industrial education given amounted to little more than a weekly lesson or two from the village carpenter, whereas the class in an Aborigines' Institution consisted of apprentices who, with their teacher, devoted practically the whole work- ing day to their trade." ^ The principle underlying this encouragement of industrial training among Natives is con- tained in Sir Langham Dale's special report to the Cape House Assembly in 1889 : — " The only way to enable the groups {i.e. Europeans and Natives) to do their parts respectively in the social world is to provide instruction adapted to the needs of each : for the Native races ordinary school instruction and training in the workshop and in domestic industries. You may thus send forth into the labour market from year to year a fair supply of ordinary artisans and domestic servants, while the mass of the Coloured races must fulfil the humbler tasks of agricultural labourers and shep- herds ; and climatic considerations point to the necessity of securing Coloured labour for outdoor occupations under a semi-tropical sun. If the European race is to hold its supremacy, the school instruction of its children must not only be the best and most advanced, but must be followed by a systematic training of the young colonists in directive intelligence to be brought to bear on aU the industrial arts. As the future employers of labour, they need themselves to have practical experience in the productive interests as well as in the mechanical arts, which if supplemented by a good commercial education wiU enable them to take their places as superintendents, foremen, and ultimately as masters in trade, agriculture, manufactures, and the constructive Ranches of the arts. " The majority of the natives may be, at the best, qualified to do the rough work of artisans ; but even this work must be under the direction of the guiding eye and hand of the skilled European, and it is the paramount ' Muir and Sadler, op. cit., p. 33. 52 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE duty to see that the colonist is as well fitted for the exercise of this directive intelligence as the stranger who comes hithei- with the cultivation and energy and de- veloped in the populous beehives of European industry." * It would be difficult to find a better expression of the present-day attitude toward Native education of the more Uberally-minded section of the European inhabitants of South Africa. The cautious policy of the Government with regard to the extension of facihties for Native education is shown in one of the terms of reference to the Education Commission of 1891, which states that the Government does not wish to encourage among the Aborigines any expectation of large additional subsidies for their institutions and schools, and therefore in- structs the Commission to restrict its inquiry to the present status of industrial training among Aborigines. In its report the Commission pointed out that only a very small percentage of the Native population (viz. those in Native institutions) were receiving manual training. " Probably in none of the 269 schools has any serious effort been put forth to provide ' manual training ' for the boys. In their case the whole of the four hours of daily attendance required by the bye-laws of the Department is devoted to ' literary ' work." The reasons for this neglect were (a) the lack of equipment and facilities for industrial training; (b) the disinclination of Natives for " bodily toil " ; (c) the fact that many missionaries thought that it was no part of their " high vocation " to under- take such elementary and menial forms of industrial work as were possible ; and (d) because the Government had not made manual training a condition precedent to the pajmient of the Government grant-in-aid. It recommends that one-half of the school time should be devoted " to such manual training as can best be followed in the locality," and also that the Natives should be required to contribute towards their educa- tion in the form of a school tax. The former recommendation was not acted upon, partly because of the lack of suitable forms of industrial training possible for the Natives, partly because of the opposition of 1 Quoted by Muir and Sadler, op. cit., p. 72. MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 53 certain influential educated Natives who wished to have the " white man's education " for their children, but chiefly because of the laissez faire policy which has characterised the attitude of the South African Governments towards Native education. The recommendation that Natives should be taxed for school purposes was partially put into effect by the passing of the Glen Grey Act in 1894, which provided local self-government with local taxation for school and other purposes in certain specified areas. It is in these areas that Native education is most flourishing to-day. This sketch brings us down to present-day regulations and practice in Native schools, to which reference is made in different parts of this study. In estimating the number of Native children attending school in the Cape Province a serious diificulty arises from the fact that both Coloured children and Natives attend the Mission (or " B ") Schools, and that these are not separated in the published returns. In the Aborigines' (or " C ") Schools all but a negligible proportion are Native pupils. The recent growth of Native education is shown in the following table : — Year. B schools. C schools. No. of Enrol- Attend- No. of Enrol- Attend- schools. ment. ance. schools. ment. ance. 1890 442 39,859 28,388 256 14.718 11,381 1895 536 46,582 31.764 337 19.483 13.590 1900 590 50.856 36,633 547 39.028 29.615 1905 697 54.771 43,829 701 44.843 35,855 1910 716 51.701 42,313 846 51,850 42,826 1915 S25 64.794 53.518 990 68,169 57-954 Section 2.— The History of Native Education in NataP Up till the year 1848 there is little to record regarding Native education in Natal. Politically Natal was pal-t of • This sketch of the history of Native education has been compiled by the present writer from the official records in the library of the Ftovincial Council of Natal. 54 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE the Cape, but the constant intertribal wars and the frequent raids by Zulu kings prevented anything Uke a general system of education.^ The few missionaries who were at work among the Natives of Natal maintained small and struggling schoob, but these were few in number and unimportant in result. At the outset we must notice a difference between the treatment of Natives in Natal and their treatment in the Cape. In the Cape, as we have already seen, it was a definite part of Sir George Grey's policy to break up the tribal organisation. In Natal, on the other hand, no such attempts have been made. In the Letters Patent of 1848 by which Natal became a separate colony it was laid down that there should be no interference with Native law and custom except in so far as these were repugnant to the prin- ciples of humanity. In the Cape the restricting clause was that Native law and custom should not be repugnant to the law of England. The difference is important. The poUcy in Natal has always been to preserve as far as possible the racial and tribal characteristics of the Native. Hence we have the authority of the Native chiefs maintained (at least in theory), a separate code of Native law', separate schools for Natives, and the retention in the schools of the Native language. In the Letters Patent of 1848 it was expressly enacted that the sum of not less than ^f 5000 raised from the general revenue of the Colony was to be expended for the benefit of the Natives.^ A portion of this money was spent in grants to the Mission Schools at work among the Natives, but there was no Government control of the teaching in these schools. In 1832 a Commission was appointed " to inquire into the past and present state of the Kafirs in the District of Natal " and " to report as to their future government." The report of the Commission advocates a measure of Native education * Indeed, the country was so troubled that in 1846 the British Government seriously considered whether or not Natal should be retained as a British Colony. The determining factor was the obliga- tion of the British not to abandon the Native population, which had taken refuge in Natal from the fierce Zulu tribes (see Sir Bulwer Lytton's despatch, dated August 19, 1858). * As Sir Bulwer Ljrtton pointed out in his despatch, the tax col- lected from the Natives averaged annually from ;{io,ooo to ;£i2,ooo. MISSIONAKY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 53 which we have not achieved even to-day. Industrial schook were to be established in every village ; the attendance at school for three years of Natives between seven and twelve years of age was to be compulsory in the Native locations and later " on private occupied farms or elsewhere " ; the English and Dutch languages were to be taught ; infant schools were to be encouraged ; rehgious education was im- perative, but should be left in the hands of the Christian Churches. The Commission's report was fruitless as far as Native education was concerned. In 1854 Sir George Grey was appointed Governor of the Cape of Good Hope. During his tenure of office he came into contact with Bishop Colenso, who had been made first Bishop of Natal in 1853, and was already upholding the cause of the Natives against what he held to be European aggres- sion.^ The5!e two powerful men influenced the Natal Legis- lature, which, as we have already seen, was thinking in the same direction, and in 1856 the first legislation regarding Native education was passed by the Legislative Council and approved by the Secretary for the Colonies. This " ordinance for promoting the education of Coloured youth in the District of Natal " made it permissible for the Government of Natal both to establish and maintain schools for the education of Natives (a scheme which, with the exception of the ill-starred Industrial School at Zwartkop, to which further reference will be made, has not yet been put into operation), and to con- tribute to the support of Native schools otherwise estabhshed. The schools were to be placed under the superintendence and management of the missionaries, but were to be inspected and reported upon by a Government inspector of schools. The whole ainount of the money contributed was not to exceed one-fifteenth part of the estimated revenue of the District for the year. The subjects of instruction were to be (a) religious education, (b) industrial training, and (c) instruction in the English language. Although this ordinance passed the Legislative Council and received the confirmation of the British Government,it remained inoperative, partly because of the opposition of a certain ' It is estimated that the population of Natal at this time con- sisted of 10,000 Europeans and 130,000 Natives, 56 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE section of the colonists,^ and partly because it was not man- datory on the Lieutenant-Governor to put it into operation. Although the number of Native schools steadily increased and the Government expenditure in grants in aid of schools established and conducted by missionary agencies grew con- siderably greater, no further legislative action appears to have been taken until 1884, when the Council of Education, which since 1877 had been entrusted with the administration of educa- tion,* was given the following powers and duties : — ^ («) Its membership was increased from ten to twelve by the addition of two persons acquainted with the Zulu language and Native habits and customs and taking an interest in Native education.* (b) It was empowered to appoint teachers in the Govern- ment Native schools which were contemplated, and to pay grants to the existing Mission Schools provided they conformed to the syllabus, rules, and regulations of the Council. (c) The Natal Native Trust, the body which controlled the Native Reserves, was empowered to alienate and make grants of land to the Council for the purposes of Native education. (d) The Council was authorised to appoint an Inspector of Native Schools to carry out its instructions regarding Native education. (e) The Council was required to present to the Legislative Council an annual report, which was to include the report of the Inspector of Native Schools and a financial statement. (/) The financial provision for Native education was to be made from the £5000 reserved annually under the charter for Native purposes, and from such further sums as might be voted from time to time by the Legislature. ' A strong protest was sent forward by a section of the community in Durban who, while sympathising with the purpose of the bill, objected to the absence of Government control. » I-aw No. 15 of 1877. * Law No. r of 1884. ♦ The clause requiring an acquaintance with the Native language was withdrawn by Law No. 17 of 1884. MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 57 (g) The syllabus of instruction was to consist of : (i.) Reading and writing in the English language, (ii.) Reading and writing in the Zulu language, (iii.) Aritlunetic, up to and including the " rule of three." (iv.) The elements of industrial training.^ (v.) Sewing and plain needlework in girls' schools, (vi.) Instructions in the principles of morality " in a manner adapted to their capabiUties." {h) The age Umit for pupils was fixed at from six to fifteen. The passing of this Act and the subsequent appointment in April 1885 of Mr Fred B. Fynney as Inspector of Native Educa^ tion gave a strong impetus to Native education. A block of land fifty-two acres in extent was set aside in the Zwartkop Native location near Pietermaritzburg^ for the purpose of establishing a Government Native Industrial School. A short account of this ill-fated school will be given later. In 1885, according to Mr Fynney's report, there were seventy Native schools in receipt of Government grants-in-aid. The total enrolment of these schools was 3817 pupils,* of whom the following particulars are given : — Number of pupils receiving instruction in English . 2341 Do. do. receiving instruction in Zulu only . 1454 Do. do. able to read English words of two or more syllables .... 791 Do. do. able to write a fair small hand . 837 Do. do. able to work sums up to simple sub- traction only . . . . 537 Do. do. able to work sums up to simple division only .... 354 Do. do. able to work sums up to compound (money) rules only . . . 231 Do. do. able to work sums in the higher rules 142 Do. do. doing plain sewing .... 1016 ' In X885 the clause requiring instruction in the elements of industrial training was relaxed to suit schools where this instruction could not be given, but at the same time the age limit was extended from fifteen to seventeen in the case of pupils attending schools where such instruction was given (Law No. 13 of 1885). • Boys, 978 under twelve years of age : 1 159 over twelve years of age. Girls, 987 under twelve years of age : 693 over twelve years of age. 58 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Details are also given of the number of pupils receiving instruction in other subjects, which include singing, drill, drawing, gymnastics, Bible history, English history, geography, grammar, translation, physics, physiology, chemistry, elementary Latin, and French. The industrial subjects taught include farming, housework, carpentry, garden- ing. An interesting feature in this and subsequent reports details the " means taken to encourage conformity with European habits." These range from such profound measures as " constant reflection upon the infallible truth that Europe, though the smallest of the four quarters of the globe, is the greatest in spiritual, scientific, and military power " ^ to such matter-of-fact methods as " a daily bath and a weekly washing of clothes." * The subjects prescribed are reading, writing, arith- metic, geography, and grammar. Mr Fynney bears testimony to the desire of the Natives for education, and refers in eulogistic terms to the civilising influence of missions. He deplores the lack of properly trained teachers, and doubts the advisability of placing Native teachers in sole charge of schools. " When under direct supervision these teachers appear to do very well, and the scholars have shown remarkable progress ; but when left entirely to themselves, there has appeared to be a want of energy, system, and discipUne," He is emphatic on the need for industrial training, and adds : "No training can be regarded as industrial which does not provide for the teaching of trades or agriculture or some productive labour that would enable the student to earn a living." In 1886, teachers' examinations of the first, second, and third class were estabUshed. The syllabus consisted of the subjects of the Native school syllabus, and in addition manual work, and an ambitious course in science.^ The steady advance in the standards of education is indicated by the following table of passes in the inspector's examina- tions : — ' St John's School, Ladysmith. * Adams' Training College, Amanzimtoti. * The Science syllabus for the second class certificate required " some knowledge of one or more of the following subjects — Chemistry, geology (elementary), physiology, agriculture"; and for the first class, " Astronomy, more advanced physiology, political economy, chemistry, geology " (one or more of the above subjects). MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 59 1886. 1887. 1891. 1892. Standard VII. 4 13 VI. , , 28 34 V. 4 14 88 87 IV. 12 41 146 184 III. 87 121 241 283 II. 158 192 431 446 „ I. . . 377 332 470 443 In 1887, on the representation of those in charge of Native schools, the Council of Education amended the standards in Native schools, " in order to assimilate them more closely with those in use in European schools," and the syllabuses of the two types of schools became identical.^ The formal nature of the work from which our Native schools still suffer is indicated by the following excerpts from the syllabus in English : — Standard I. : Read from Standard I. Reading Book, English and Zulu. Translate words and know their meaning. Standard IV. : Read from Standard IV. Reading Book or History of England, and explain words and allusions. Parse simple sentences and illustrate the use of the parts of speech. Detailed, phjreical, and poUtical geography. Standard VI.: Read from Standard VI. Reading Book or some standard author. Recite fifty hues from some standard author approved by the inspector, and explain words and allusions. Prefixes, affixes, and Latin roots. More detailed, physical, and poUtical geography. Manufacture and commerce. Circum- stances which determine cUmate. In 1888 the Council of Education was authorised to classify all schools receiving Government grants-in-aid into three classes, as follows : — Class I schools, which were to receive the highest rates of grant, were industrial schools at which regular instruction was given in trades or industries. Class 2 schools were those in which manual or field labour was regularly performed by the scholars. » Except that the recitation of English poetry is not required in Standards I. to V. of the Native schools. 6o THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Class 3 schools were those which offered no instruction in industrial or manual work. This evidence of the Government's beUef in industrial educa- tion is also shown in the establishment in 1887 of a Government Industrial School in the Zwartkop location. This school, which was erected at a cost of £612, 17s. 3d., was opened with a staff of three teachers, viz. a superintendent, an industrial teacher, and a Native teacher. The initial enrolment was 13, which increased to 19 before the end of the year. Mr Fynney speaks well of the academic performances of the pupils at the annual examination. On the industrial side he reports the making of 40,000 bricks, the erection of a new workshop by the pupils, the cultivation of between 9 and 12 acres of land, and the planting of over 1000 trees. Mr Fynney states that the young Natives hving in the neighbourhood do not take advantage of the school, but he is very optimistic as to the future. Soon doubts began to appear as to the success of the institution. At one time the whole of the boarders absconded owing to some disagreement with the management ; the cost of the institution (£22, i8s. 6d. per pupil per annum) began to alarm the Government, and the absence of local support from the Native people continued. Finally, in 1892 the institution was closed. Mr Robert Plant, who on the death of Mr Fynney had become Inspector of Native Education, commenting on the failure, says : " From the first it was seriously handicapped by its unfortunate position, and that it has died so soon will astonish no one who is acquainted with the facts of the case. It has cost a considerable amount as an experiment, but may have a distinct value as a lesson." ^ The lessons to be learnt from this costly failure would appear to be : (a) the necessity for close co-operation with the Mission Societies in all educa- tional work connected with Natives ; (6) the importance of inducing the support of the powerful Native chiefs in such enterprises ; ^ (c) the need to work up gradually to such a 1 Report of Inspector of Native Education, June 1892. « " When I urged them (the Natives) to send their children, the reply I got was, ' Our chiefs are the mouthpiece of the Government to us ; we have not been told by them to send the children, and until we are told we shall not send them.' " (Extract from the Report of the Inspector of Native Education, 1889.) MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 6l comparatively advanced scheme as an industrial school for Natives ; and {d) the economy and efficiency of making use of the voluntary efforts of missionaries. Since the failure of this undertaking no further attempts have been made in Natal to conduct a Government-managed institution, but a Govern- ment school for Natives will be opened in Durban in 1917, the progress of which will be watched with interest. The praise- worthy, but not altogether judicious, attempts of the Council of Education to foster industrial education were checked in 1894, when a popular agitation against the industrial education of the Natives, coinciding with a general election, led to a modification of the regulations regarding grants in aid of in- dustrial work. The decision of the Government is stated in the Report of the Superintendent of Education for 1895 : "No Native school now receives Government aid if the products of the industrial work done in that school are allowed to be sold or disposed of in such a manner as to compete with general trade, or if the school be in any way responsible for or asso- ciated with the printing and publishing of any Native news- paper. The object of the Government in making grants to the Native Mission Schools is to assist the advancement of simple rudimentary education among the Native population, and to accustom the Natives to such regular habits of industry as may be best calculated to promote their contentment and happiness for the future." This represents the position with regard to trade work in the Natal Native schools to-day. In June 1894, on the estabUshment of responsible govern- ment, the Council of Education ceased to exist, and the control of education passed to the Minister of Education. This brought about a change in the administration of Native educa- tion. The Inspector of Native Education, who had hitherto reported to the Council, now became a subordinate officer under the Superintendent of Education, although he was allowed wide discretion in his work. An important change in the method of pajmient of grants-in-' aid was made at the same time. The system of an annual fixed grant to the schools, irrespective of their size, was abandoned in favour of a per capita grant on the quarterly average attendance. This altered the amounts which the several schools were receiving, and adjusted many inequalities. 62 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE The unsuitable syllabus of 1887 continued in operation until 1893, with slight and unimportant modifications in 1889. When the three higher standards, VI. to VIII., were ehminated, a further modification took place in 1904, and in 1910 the syllabus assumed its present form. The growth of Native education in Natal is shown by the following table, which refers to Government-aided schools only. Average Government Native Year. No. of Average attendance grant to contribu- schools. enrolment. in per nearest tion in cents. pound. fees, etc. i i 1877 42 2,390* 63t 1,938 174 1887 54 2,943* 67t 2,286 489 1897 157 8,542* 75t 4.853 711 1907 170 12,246* 67t 7,319 2248 1908 168 i4.°56* 66t 7.594 2885 1909 178 12,484 80 8,914 2774 1910 175 13.452 82 10,431 3293 1911 198 15,186 87 11.773 3505 1912 231 17.852 88 14.170 5308 1913 267 20,098 88 17.304 4729 1914 296 21,595 89 21.574 6138 1915 302 21,700 89 21,587 6941 * Total enrolment. t Calculated on total enrolment. Section 3.— The History of Native Education in the Transvaal Educational work among Natives in the Transvaal dates from 1857, when the first mission, the Hermannsburg Evan- gelical Lutheran Society, began work. No financial support or official recognition was given to the schools by the RepubUcan Government. After the Boer- War the Government made a survey of the schools conducted by the various religious bodies, and instituted a scheme for the payment of grants-in-aid. A great number of schools were unable to meet the conditions and continued to operate as unaided institutions. Thus in 1906 there were 177 unaided schools with an enrolment of MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 63 8492 pupils, in addition to the 197 aided schools with their enrolment of 11,730 pupils. Of the work of these schools it has been said : " The ofl&cial reports and the evidence given before the Native Affairs Commission show that most of the Native schools are in a state of deplorable inefficiency. They are generally held in church buildings iU adapted for educa- tional purposes. In many cases seats and desks have not been provided, ' squatting room ' for the children having been thought sufficient. The education given is often of an ex- tremely rudimentary kind. In 114 schools inspected during 1904 no less than 85"5 per cent, of the children in attendance were in the sub-standards, and only 1-5 per cent, had passed or reached Standard III. In 1905-1906 only 65 out of the 305 Native teachers held certificates ; and the unsatisfactory condition of these schools is largely due to the inefficiency of the teaching staffs. Many teachers are incapable of giving instruction beyond Standard I., and comparatively few are competent to bring the pupils up to Standard III." ^ The highest standard to which pupils could proceed was Standard III., and the syllabus of instruction was but an abbreviation of the syllabus in use in European schools. A special officer to inspect and supervise Native schools was appointed ; but in 1909 this post was abolished, as it was found that no one man could adequately supervise the numerous Native schools in so large an area as the Transvaal, and the inspection of the schools was transferred to the officers who inspect the European schools. The Education Law of the Transvaal empowers the Depart- ment to establish as well as to aid Native schools, but lip to the present there is only one Government school for Natives, that in the KUpspruit location. The whole of the regulations governing Native education have recently been revised by the Council of Education, and new syllabuses drawn up. This new code is to come into operation in 1916, provided that the Legislature grants the necessary funds.* The chief features of the new code are : — > The South African Natives, 1906, pp. 169, 170. • Up to the present (Feb. 1917) the legislature has not given the financial assistance recommended, but many of the schools and institu- tions are making an effort to carry out the syllabus. 64 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE (i) A very liberal system of grants-in-aid to missionary- conducted schools and institutions. (2) The division of school work into " training " and " in- struction," the latter to comprise the usual subjects taught in primary schools, and the former to include " religious, moral, physical, and industrial training through appropriate exercises and activities." At least one-half of the school time is to be devoted to this side of education. The object of the distinction is obviously to emphasise the permanent habit-forming side of education, but it is nevertheless unfortunate, as it will tend to set up a distinction, which should not exist, since all subjects of instruction should possess a definite and discernible training value if properly taught. No subject of instruction which does not show itself in action is worth inclusion in a syllabus. (3) The non-requirement of school fees as a condition of Government support. (4) The institution of a two-years' preparatory course, and of a seventh-year or teacher preparatory course. The educational reforms proposed are thus summarised in the report : " The Native is to have an extra year's schooling where the conditions warrant it ; his own language is to be recognised as the original vehicle of instruction ; such of the elements of Uterary subjects as he can assimilate and take profit from are to be taught, while the whole fabric is to rest on a hberal scheme of training aimed at developing a healthy, moral, and industrious member of the community. To achieve these aims, a hberal measure of assistance must be forthcoming from the Government, and,Iwhat is equally if not more necessary, a liberal readjustment of views on the part of teachers and superintendents responsible for Native education, so that the relation between training and instruction as conceived in the revised curricula may be a Uving reality in the schools." The whole report represents a liberal attitude towards Native education expressed in sound educational theory, and if put into operation will do much to set Native education on the right fines. The following table indicates the enrolment and attendance MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 65 in Government-aided schools, and expenditure on Native education for the past ten years : — Year. No. of schools. Average enrol- ment. Average attend- ance. Govern- ment grant {£ only). 1906-7 1907-8 1908-9 1909-10 June iQio-Dec. 191 1 1912 1913 1914 1915 197 221 243 230 236 251 253 260 267 11.730 12,091 11,664 11.703 12,839 14.743 15.179 15.138 15.428 9,896 10,332 9.922 9.795 10.738 12,109 12,670 12,677 t 12,748 7.942 9.152 10,408 10,979 19,107 * 13.961 17.074 14,099 X 16,168 * Expenditure for eighteen months. t Exceptionally severe malaria in northern districts. X Grants curtailed owing to financial conditions. Section^. — History of Native EdueationHn the Orange Free State Although missionary societies have been at work in the Orange Free State since 1833, it was not until 1878 that the Government of the Republic recognised their educational efforts by giving a grant of £45 per annum to the schools conducted by the Dutch Reformed Church at Witzie's Hoek. This grant was increased to £145 in 1893. In 1890, grants of ^^50 and £30 per annum were made to the school at Moroko and Bethany respectively, and these aided schools were placed under the supervision of the Education Department. No syllabus or course of study appears to have been drawn up by the Depart- ment pf Education. Since the late war a considerable advance in Native educa- tion has been made. A Government Industrial School for Native girls has been estabUshed at Moroko, and grants in aid of school work have been paid to the various mission societies operating in the Orange Free State. These grants have been paid in lump sums on a capitation basis on the returns sent in 5 66 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE by the missionaries. The schools are not inspected, and no syllabus is prescribed, although, as a matter of fact, most of the Native schools work on the excellent permissive code drawn up by the Department in 1912, which, however, failed to receive the endorsement of the Orange Free State Provincial Government. The following figures will indicate the growth of Native education in the Orange Free State : — ^ Year. Enrolment. Government expenditure. 1903 ;£2000 1904 1500 1905 1500 1906 1700 1907 2000 1908 2000 1909 2000 1910 9,281 2000 1911 9,945 4000 1912 10,444 4000 1913 10,898 4000 1914 11,864 4000 1915 i?,056 4000 Section 5.— E.isU>ry of Native Education in Basutoland ^ The history of Native education in Basutoland is largely the history of the Paris EvangeUcal Mission Society, although valuable educational work has also been done by the Roman Catholic and EngUsh Church Missions. From the time of the first settlement of the Paris missionaries at Mori j a in 1833 until the present day, the missionaries of this society have exercised a great influence on the political and social history of the Basutos. Moshesh, the able and far-sighted chief of the Basutos, ' Owing to the records of the Department having been destroyed by fire, no information regarding the enrolment prior to ign is avaUable. * This short sketch of education in Basutoland has been compiled form the Livre d'or de la Mission de Lessouto, the official history of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, and from Mr Sargant's reports. MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 67 welcomed the missionaries as a force who would not only instruct his people, but would increase his own power in the troubled and rebellious districts around Morija. He made use of them as counsellors and as intermediaries in his discussions and disputes with the Colonial Governments. In return for these services he gave them his protection and encouraged them in their work, although he himself never embraced the Christian faith. A Native school was opened at Morija shortly after the coming of the missionaries, but in the troubled times of tribal warfare little progress was made. By 1838 three other stations had been established at which elementary schools were doubtless conducted. At one of these, Beersheba, there were over 300 pupils by 1842. In 1846 the need for catechists and Native preachers became pressing, and a secondary school or seminary for the training of Native ministers was founded. In the troublesome years from 1848 to 1868 the work of the Mission was curtailed by panic withdrawals of support from Paris, and by the quarrels of Moshesh with the British and the Boers. In 1865 a " central school " was estabUshed at Morija for the training of catechists. In 1871 Basutoland came under British control, and was placed for administrative pur- poses under the Cape of Good Hope. In that year the number of pupils enrolled in the several schools was 1876, as against 726 in 1864. In 1868 the Mission established a secondary school for boys at Morija; which in 1873 became a training school for teachers to supply the new requirements of the Cape Education Depart- ment. This school has become the chief training centre for Basutoland. In 1873 a preparatory school for the training school was established, but by reason of the progress made by the ordinary primary schools this institution became un- necessary, and was converted into the Bible school in 1880. In 1878 an industrial school was estabhshed by the Mission at Leloaleng, where a site and buildings were given by the Government. In spite of its unsuitable location, this school has done good work in turning out a number of fairly competent carpenters and masons. By 1880 the Mission had already eighty schools. A printing press was set up at Morija, and school-books in Sesuto, as well 68 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE as religious books, were published. In 1882 a theological school was established. In 1884 Basutoland came under the direct administration of the English Government. The grants in aid of Native educa- tion which had been paid by the Cape Government were with- drawn, but in 1885, when the new Government was settled and the taxes were paid, the grants were resumed. The number of pupils steacfily increased from 2180 in 1884 to 4560 in 1888, and 7869 in 1892. In 1904 Mr E. B. Sargant was sent by the High Commissioner, Lord Selborne, to report on education in Basutoland. As a result of Mr Sargant's report, reforms and changes were intro- duced into the system, the chief of which were : — (a) The establishment of an Education Department with the necessary staff to administer education through the three missionary societies. (6) The constitution of a Central Advisory Board, consisting of officials and representatives from the mission societies. (c) The la3dng of emphasis on instruction in and through the medium of the vernacular, and a strong (but not entirely successful) attempt to foster Native arts and crafts. (d) A regrading of schools, and the dehmitation of the nature of the work to be attempted in each type of school. The present system of education is obtained in other parts of this study. In the following table the growth of Native education in Basutoland is indicated : — Year. Average Amount attendance. expended. 1908 9.279 ? 1909 9.498 ? 1910 'ii.651 ? 1911 13.417 ;£9.804 (9 months only). 1912 15.271 14.657 1913 17,070 16,771 1914 17.643 18,544 MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 69 Section 6. — ^The General Situation of Native Education at tlie Present Time In the table on the following page a conspectus of the general position of Native education in the year 1912 is given. The year 1912 is chosen because that is the latest year for which complete figures are available. The fact that in the Cape Province Native children are not separated from other Coloured children makes a satisfactory comparison of the situation in the several provinces very difficult, but it has been possible to obtain separate figures for the Transkeian Territories, where the " Coloured " cHldren are almost entirely Natives. The way in which the table was derived is as follows : — (i.) Column i gives the four provinces of the Union and Basutoland. It was felt that the Basutoland figures should be included, as reference is frequently made in this study to educational affairs in that country. The figures for Basutoland are for the year 1913- 1914. (ii.) Column 2 gives the Native population as determined by the last census. (iii.) In column 3 the estimated number of Natives between the ages of seven and eighteen is given. (iv.) Column 4 shows the number of children in average attendance in 1912. (v.) The figures in column 5 were obtained by finding what percentage of the children who might be expected, by reason of their age, to be at school, were actually enrolled.'- (vi.) Column 6 shows the anount of money expended on Native education in each province. » In response to an inquiry as to the best method of calculating the number of Native children of school age, Mr Joseph A. Hill, in charge of the Division of Revision and Results of the United States Bureau of the Census, writes : " I know of no way in which any very exact or reliable computation can be made, but I should think that the percentage of children from seven to eighteen years of age in the total Negro population of the United States would furnish a fairly good basis for an estimate. This percentage is 25-9, representing a fittle over one-fourth of the total Negro population." 70 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE TABLE No. 2 Conspectus of the Present State of Native Education in THE Union of South Africa and Basutoland, showing the Number of Native Children, the Amount of the Govern- ment Grants-in-aid, and the Amounts contributed by the Natives in Direct Taxation for the Year 1912 (I) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) 8) (9) (10) Province. '■§ i ■g S. a" U ■s . Mi B in 1 " 1 si H (D M 1 < fit li iz; 1 1 P4 If 3 (D « g.£;S, ■li fiss" ^ £ SIS 1 Cape, in-"! eluding I Tern- ( 1,982,588* 495.647* izo.atgt 24-9 £only. 83,320 s. d. 13 10 £ only. 304.073 27'4 s. i. 3 4 tories ; Cape 1 Trans- keian Terri- tories. 889,946 222,261 59,oo8t 26-5 •• •• 213:467 Natal . 953.389 238,347 17,852 7-5 14,170 15 10 274.447 5-2 I 2 Trans- ) vaal ; 1,219,84-5 304,961 14.743 4-8 13.961 18 II 453.880 3-0 II Orange \ Free j- State ; 325,824 81,456 io.444§ 12-8 4,000 7 8 100,205 3-9 I Basuto- land 404.507 101,127 17,0701 i6-8 16,771 ig 8 161,41711 10.4 3 4 • Including Coloured. t On roll ist September, including Coloured. t On roll ist September. § On roll second half-year. II Average attendance. it The total revenue, including that from European sources. MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 7I (vii.) The per caput expenditure in column 7 is obtained by dividing the i%ures in column 6 by the figures in column 4, (viii.) The estimated amount of public revenue derived from Native sources {column 8) was obtained from the Report of the Department of Native Affairs for 1912. (ix.) In column 9 is shown that percentage of the revenue derived from Native sources which is expended on the education of Native children, (x.) In column 10 is shown the amount of money which each province is allotting to the education of each Native child of school age, whether attending school or not. The figures are obtained by dividing the figures in column 6 by the figures in column 3. In connection with this table the following fa:cts are worthy of special attention : — 1. The comparatively liberal attitude of the Cape Province towards Native education. 2. That part of South Africa in which there is the highest percentage of children of school age actually attending school is the Transkei, where a form of self-government with local taxation for education obtains. 3. The highest per caput expenditure on education is in Basutoland, where the Native people tax themselves for education. Section 7.— Statistics of Native Education, 1912 In the following table are shown the nature and number of educational institutions for Natives, their enrolment, and the number and percentage of pupils in each standard of the elementary schools. The figures are for 1912, the latest year for which such details are available. The most important developments since that date have been the establishment of the South African Native College in the Cape Province, and the increase to six of the number of training institutions in Natal. 72 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE TABLE No. 3 Showing Number of Educational Institutions for Natives in 1912, THEIR Average Enrolment, and the Percentage oi> Pupils in each Standard of the Elementary Schools.* Cape. Natal. Trans- vaal. Orange Free State. Basuto- land. Colleges Training institutions . Industrial schools and 12 3 4 }^ departments . 27 5 I I / High schools I Elementary schools . i,68ot 232 251 121 236 Pupils in training in- stitutions 1,203 72 237 ) Pupils in industrial [631 schools . 1,034 P 27 46. J Pupils in high schools 56 Pupils in elementary schools . 97,65zj 18,172 14,954 10,444 20,211 No. Per cent. No. Per cent. Number and percent- age below Standard I. 61,396 62-8 11,391 6i-o Number and percent- age in Standard I. . 11,928 12-3 2,376 13-0 Number and percent- age in Standard II. 9,950 10-3' 1,619 8-8 Number and percent- age in Standard III. 6,705 6-8 1,089 5-9 Number and percent- age in Standard IV. 3.769 3.7 1,047 5-9 Number and percent- age in Standard V. . 1,844 1-9 378 2-0 Number and percent- age in Standard VI. 785 ■8 240 I-I Number and percent- age in Standard VII. 6 32 •I • Compiled from the 1913 Repont of the Under Secretary of Education for the Union and the British Government's Report on Basutoland {Colonial Reports, No. 313). t Including " Coloured " schools. % The number of pupils, including " Coloured," present at inspectors' examinations, 1912. MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 73 Section 8. — ^The Missionaries and Their Work It is said that a certain wise old Native chief divided Europeans into two classes, viz., white men and missionaries. The distinction is significant. To the thoughtful Native the white man is the disintegrating force which has broken down his tribal customs and sanctions, and has replaced them with nothing but innumerable and vexatious governmental restric- tions introduced for the benefit of the white man. On the other hand, he knows the missionary to be his friend. It is the missionary who educates his children, who writes his letters, who cares for him in sickness and sorrow, who acts as a buffer between him and the local storekeeper or Government official, and whose motives are alwa37S altruistic. It would be difficult to find a nobler record of heroism than the history of missionary enterprise in South Africa. One needs to know the Hfe of the missionary from the inside, as the writer has seen it, to appreciate the sacrifices made by these devoted men and women. The isolation from society, the absence of the amenities of life, the inevitable deprivation of educational advantages for their children, the want of- sympathy often shown by Government officials and their fellow-colonists, are but part of the price they pay for their self-imposed devotion to the task of regenerating the Bantu. That they have made mistakes the missionaries would be the first to admit. No- restrictions have been placed upon the work of a missionary, with the result that a number of men, unfitted by nature and training, or lack of training, have taken up mission work.^ In the early daj^ the missionaries did not realise the necessity for the stern measures which the colonists took to protect themselves from Native aggression, and accused them (unjustly in many cases) of inhumanity.* Some, in their zeal to preach the gospel of liberty and the brotherhood of man, have failed • In the writer's opinion missionaries and teachers should be required to take out a licence before being allowed to practise among the Natives. It is highly desirable that the Government should know who are educating the Native people. ' The rash charges made by such men as Vanderkemp and Philip did much to create ill feeling between the colonists on the one hand and the missionaries and Natives on the other. 74 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE to realise the difference between a Native jiJist emerging from y^ barbarism and a European with two thousand years of civilisa- tion behind him. Many have prepared iheir charges for the narrow Ufe of the mission station rather than for that of the larger world outside. They have branded as " sins " such practices as smoking and snuff-taking, and the Native is per- plexed when he finds decent white men — ay, and sometimes even clergymen — indulging in these " sins." Many again have thought that all that was necessary in the way of education for the Native was an abiUty to read the Bible, and that a Christian Ufe would follow as a matter of course. Their greatest rqistake, however, was in breaking down all the organisations and customs of the Native people without waiting to discriminate between the good and the bad. Had they studied Native life they would have found some good qualities which would have served as a basis for the superstructure of Christianity and European civiUsation.^ As it was, they often destroyed what they were not able to rebuild, and left many of the Natives in a worse state than they were before.^ Reference should here be made to the harm done to mission work by denominationalism. The jealousy and unedifying quarrels of missionaries of different denominations have brought their work into disrepute in many parts. Attempts at proselytising are not unknown, and sometimes material advantages are offered to Natives to induce them to join a particular church. The overlapping of mission stations also betrays the jealousy of the denominations. The writer knows of a place where one Protestant denomination stepped over a hundred miles of untouched country in order to establish a station at a place where another Protestant denomination had 1 At the third Missionary Conference held at Bloemfontein in 1909 Dr W. C. Willoughby, then Principal of Tiger Kloof Native Institute, made a strong plea for the retention of those Native beUefs and customs which were not inimical to Christianity. From the discussion it would appear that missionary opinion to-day is divided on the question. ' " Thrpugh the relaxation of one set of moral restraints before the other set has been brought sufi&ciently into play there is a very real danger that the Native boy will evade every sort of responsibility. In this way, indeed, the name of Christian Native has too often become a by- word with employers." (Sargant, address at South African Society for the Advancement of Science, Johannesburg.) MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 75 been conducting a flourishing station for many years. When remonstrated with, by the writer, the missionary replied, " Yes, but some of our people have gone to Uve up there." The question has been brought up at Missionary Conferences, but the evil still continues.^ In connection with school work the same evil exists. Complaints of poaching and even of touting are often made to the Education Department in Natal. In Basutoland Mr Sargant found three competing schools, all of them unsatisfactory, at a single Government camp. Similar trouble occurs in the private Negro schools in the United States. Mr W. T. B. Williams, the field agent of the John F. Slater Fund, cites fifty cases of duplication, illustrating the over- lapping with a diagram ; ^ and Dr James H. Dillard, in com- menting, says : " The bare sight of the facts contained in this publica- tion should be sufficient to lead to some action. What stands in the way ? The main answer must be, denomi- nationalism. Denominations in religion will probably continue to exist as long as the thoughts and tastes of * The following spirited protest by Rev. E. Jacottet deserves reproduction : " How can a Native Christian understand the real differences of the various denominations ? How can he be even supposed to understand them ? Instead of one Church, he is confronted by a score of them. It means as many diflferent organisations, all of them generally modelled according to the most approved European or American pattern. The EpiscopaUan regime, which is perhaps so well suited to England, is to be saddled upon the poor Native, who does not know who are Cranmer, Laud, or Pusey. The Presbyterian system, which is said to have worked so great wonders in Scotland and elsewhere, is imported wholesale. What do the Kafirs or Basutos know about Knox or Chalmers ? Why should they be obliged to accept a system which, for all we know, may be unsuited to their own minds and ways of Ufe, only because the course of history has made it prevalent in Edinburgh or Geneva ? Because in the sixteenth century there has arisen in Germany a great man of God called Luther, and in France another great Christian called Calvin, who did not agree on some minor theological points and thought a little differently about the Lord's Supper, the Basutos and the Kafirs are to beloiig to different Churches and to be kept for ever in separate ecclesiastical bodies, foreign and perhaps hostile to each other. Why force upon the simple- minded Native the consequences of a historical past which weighs only too heavily upon the home Christian ? " (Quoted by Sargant, Report on Native Education in South Africa, part iii. p. 53.) • Duplication of Schools for Negro Youth. 76 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE men differ ; but when denominationalism leads to such waste of money and effort as is shown in the efforts to aid in providing education for the Coloured people of the Southern States, it is the part of wisdom and true religion to seek some basis of co-operation rather than to continue in wasteful competition." The following statistical summary will indicate the extent of missionary activity in South Africa (the Union of South Africa with Basutoland and Swaziland) : — ^ Protestant. Catholic. Missionary Work. Missionary societies operating 52 6 European missionaries 1,589 2-463 Ordained Natives 401 Native workers (ordained and un- ordained) ... 8,680 Principal mission stations 610 -\ 4-790 / 258 Sub-stations . , . . Communicants " 322,673 Baptised Christians 622,098 Native Christian adherents (all ages) 1,145,326 62,478 Amount of Native contributions . ;£l37.689 Educational Work. Societies 43 6 Theological and normal schools and training classes .... 41 Boarding and high schools 43 \ 16 ; Industrial schools and classes 299 Elementary schools 3.029 Enrolment, theological and normal schools and training classes ■ 964 Enrolment, boarding and high schools 5-433 \ Enrolment, industrial schools and 17-893 classes I-137 J Enrolment, elementary schools 168,213 ' Compiled from the statistical tables in the World's Atlas of Christian Missions, 191 1, the figures representing the position in the years 1907, 1908, or 1909. The compiler of the statistics informs the writer that the figures are now (1916) being brought up to date. MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND NATIVE EDUCATION 77 The work of the missionaries has received ample, if some- what tardy, recognition. The Report of the South African Native Commission contains the following restrained but none the less sincere remarks : "To the Churches engaged in mission work must be given the greater measure of credit for placing system- atically before the Natives those higher standards of belief and conduct. ... It does not seem practicable to propose any measure of material support or aid to the purely spiritual side of missionary enterprise, but the Commission recommend full recognition of the utiUty of the work of the Churches which have undertaken the duty of evangelising the heathens." ^ Mr P. A. Barnett, after criticising the attitude of the Europeans towards Native education in general and mission- aries in particular, says : " In the meantime, while there are certain missionaries who are not missionaries, and missionaries whose theology is a two-edged and dangerous weapon, the country is deeply in debt to many devoted men and lonely women who live a hard hfe on poor rations in the wilderness, trjdng to train the blaclra to contribute their share to civilisation. To help on the work so far as it is ' secular ' is the privilege and duty of the Education Department." ^ Mr Maurice Evans, who regards the missionaries as one of the three main forces acting upon the lives of the Native people (the others being custom and unconscious white influence), thus speaks of them and their work : " Their work has gone far beyond the preaching of the Gospel and such hterary instruction as would enable their disciples to read the Bible. They have entered into the hfe of the people, have taught trades, encouraged thrift and industry, made efforts to teach better methods of agriculture, induced them to build better houses and use furniture, and among the women have given instruction ' Report, sections 288, 289. ' Report of Superintendent of Education, Natal, 1904, p. 9. 78 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE in house and laundry work and taught them some simple industries. . . . The missionary stands to the Native for religion, education ; for all help he may get to make his life cleaner, more moral, and more in keeping with the ideals of the white man at his best." ^ Lord Selborne takes up the cudgels on their behalf : " Missionaries, like other people, make mistakes. Natives have often been educated on unsound Unes. But, instead of the missionaries and the teachers being the subjects of reprobation by their South African fellow- whites, they, in fact, should be regarded as the people who have saved the situation, because they are the people who have taken far the most trouble, and who alone have sacrificed themselves in order to ensure that the education of the Native, inevitable from the moment that he came into contact with the white man, should contain something good." " Further evidence in support of missionary enterprise could be adduced from studies of the Native question and from official bluebooks.* The missioharies of South Africa are working strenuously, and for the most part wisely, for the uplift of the Native people. Ideals of efficiency and economy,* if not of gratitude for work nobly done, should compel us to make use of this force in any efforts we may make to extend or modify the system of Native education. 1 Black and White in South-East Africa, p. 97. * Address before the University of the Cape of Good Hope, p. 11. ' South African Native Affairs Commission Reports, section 339 ; Natal Native Affairs Commission, 1906, section 85 ; Report of Select Committee on Native Education, Cape, 1908; Report of Superintendent of Education, Natal, 1914. Without exception the South African Commissions on Native Affairs and on Native Education recommended the use of missionary agencies in the uplifting of the Native people. * " What the value of the missionary is to our work from a financial point of view may be seen in the fact that while the average cost per child inspected of the 2676 connected with mission work is ^i, 3s. 2d., the average cost of the children at the Zwartkop [Government Indus- trial] School is £22, i8s. 6d." (Minute on Native Education, Noted, 1889.) CHAPTER V THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION OF NATIVE EDUCATION In the preceding chapter it has been shown that the present system of Native education is almost entirely tlie product of missionary enterprise. The different Governments have supported the efforts of the missionaries by financial grants- in-aid; but these, although they have been steadily increased of late years, are still insufficient for the needs of the schools, and have been and are still supplemented by donations from mission societies in South Africa and abroad. The erection and equipment of buildings, the securing and payment of teachers — ^in a word, the responsibiUty for the maintenance of the schools-^-still devolves upon the missionary superinten- dents. It might be expected, then, that the missionaries would have a large share in the administration of Native education, but as a matter of fact the control and administra- tion of the system is almost entirely in the hands of the several Departments of Education. In Natal an attempt has been made to secure the co-opera- tion of the missionaries ^y the formation of a Missionary Board of Advice. In recommending the establishment of this Board, the Natal Native Affairs Commission of 1906-7 said ; " Not being financially able to erect even a fair number of central schools, the aid of the various missionary societies is indispensable for the continuance of the work of education, and, having regard to the work already done and to their close and abiding connection with the cause, the formation of a small Board of Advice, upon which all the denominations might be directly or in- directly represented, is strongly recommended. This 79 8o THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE would be a graceful act of recognition of the services rendered by these societies in the cause of education for so many years, and be helpful in the settlement of general principles and broad rules for the guidance of the Educa- tion Department." The Board of Advice meets with the inspectors of Native schools a,nd a representative of the Native Affairs Department in a two- or three-day session every year. Criticisms of the work of the Department are made, and present and future pohcies discussed. The results of the deliberations are sub- mitted to the Superintendent of Education. The scheme has commended itself to the missionaries in Natal, and the Missionary Boards in the other provinces are urging the estabUshment of similar Boards.^ There is a growing opinion in South Africa that such an important undertaking as Native education, which is so vital to the interests of the ruling class, should be a national under- taking under Government control, and the missionaries frequently complain that the amount of Government assistance given at present is not proportionate to the extent of the control exercised. Government control over Native education is exercised through the following agencies : — 1. Financial grants-in-aid. 2. The certification of teachers. 3. Courses of study. 4. Inspection of schools and examination of pupils. Section I. — Government Grants-in-Aid This system of financial grants-in-aid is a relic of the earUer system of England, when education, at least so far as the masses were concerned, was the work of philanthropic religious agencies. In that country the two great educational societies, the Nonconformist British and Foreign School Society and the Church of England National School Society, which since the beginning of the century had been educating the masses by means of voluntary contributions, were in the year 1833, after a long and bitter agitation, financially assisted by 1 For a criticism of the scheme see footnotes on pp. 83 and 264. THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION OF NATIVE EDUCATION 8l Government grants-in-aid. This was the beginning in England of the recognition of education as the function of the State. This sjretem, Church control with increasing financial assistance and oversight from the State, continued until 1870, when the first elementary schools, the so-caJled " board schools," organised, supported, and supervised by the State, were established. The Native schools in South Africa are very much in the position in which the English elementary schools were prior to 1870. The general indifference of the ruling Europeans to the question of Native education, the expense which would be involved in undertaking the work as entirely a State function, the difficulty of inducing European lay teachers to undertake so difficult a task, and the fear of possible pohtical compUca- tions, will account for the fact that they have not yet become State institutions. It is clear that for some time to come the State must continue to make use of missionary enterprise, and it is to be hoped that a close and friendly relationship between Native educational institutions and the various religious bodies will always exist ; but it is certain that it will ultimately be necessary for the Government to take up the question of Native education as a definite State function.^ As evidence of the impending and inevitable change we may refer to : (a) The increasing demand for Native public and un- denominational schools,* or schools controlled by committees on which representative Natives have a place, such as have ahready been established in the Transkei.* {&) The active opposition by certain Natives to the pro- posed South African Native College as a missionary- controlled enterprise.* ' As far back as 1891 the Cape Education Commission, in recom- mending that the State should assert its authority by making industrial education compulsory, urged a greater measure of State control over Native education: " Existing rights and agencies are to be interfered with as little as possible, but we think it scarcely right that the Govern- ment should leave the whole of this gigantic work to volunteers." * Cape Select Committee on Native Education, Evidence, sections 1390 et seq. See also Report of Native Affairs Department, 191 1, p. 18. ' Jbid., Report, sect. 7. * Ibid., Evidence, sect. 1691 et seq. 6 82 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE (c) The complaint of the Natives in Natal that the Govern- ment has State schools for the Indians, but not for them.^ (d) The fact that the Churches, especially in the towns, are wearying of the burden of Coloured education because of the financial burden involved.* (e) The multiplying of Native schools of different denomina- tions in the same town or place, where one public school would serve the needs of all.^ (/) The fact that the present system is breaking down in the towns and that some measure of compulsion is necessary to induce the Coloured people to send their children to school.* Section 2. — Government Certification of Teachers ^ The importance attached to the certification of teachers is seen in the grant regulation, whereby a considerably higher grant is paid for certificated than for uncertificated teachers. While all the provinces are still compelled to employ uncertifi- cated teachers, the tendency is to require all head teachers to be certificated, and gradually to impose this requirement upon assistants. The training institutions for Native teachers are accordingly compelled to follow very closely the syllabus prescribed by the various Education Departments, and the methods advocated by the Departments' inspectors, if they wish to secure their tale of passes at the end of the year. While the officials who frame the regulations are no doubt sometimes influenced by the opinions of the teachers in the training institutions, no Government-recognised method exists whereby the teachers and instructors in the training institutions, the men and women who are primarily concerned with the working of the syllabus, and who should know the ^ Natal Native Affairs Commission, 1906-7, Report, section 83. ^ Cape Education Commission, 191 1, Evidence, section 7742, and Report, section 56 (6). ' Cape Select Committee on Native Education, 191 1, Report, section 56 (6). ■> lUd. ' No teachers' certificates are issued in the Orange Free State. In Basutoland the examinations for the Cape Pupil Teacher Certificates are taken. THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION OF NATIVE EDUCATION 83 special needs and limitations of the pupils, are consulted in the preparation of the syllabus, or in the examination of the candidates. Some of the unfortunate results of this method of procedure are pointed out later.^ Here it is sufficient to say that in a subject so new as Native education, where we all are feeling our way, to neglect to avail ourselves of the experience of those who come into such close contact with the problem is a peculiar mark of ineptitude.* The principle of Government certification is sound, and indeed necessary in South Africa. All that is pleaded for is teacher-participation in the preparation of syllabuses, and in the examination of candidates. Section 3.— Government Syllabuses All the provinces and Basutoland issue syllabuses of instruc- tion, which must be followed in the Native schools.* In the Cape Province the syllabus is the same for Natives as for Europeans, but all the other provinces and Basutoland issue a special syllabus more or less suited to the Natives' needs. These special syllabuses also emphasise the attitude taken by the authorities towards education. The insistence on manual training in the Transvaal, the provision made for instruction in the vernacular in Natal, and the identity of the European and Native syllabus in the Cape, reflect pretty clearly the official attitude of the different provinces. These syllabuses have been prepared by the officials of the Departments without any direct representation of the views of those who have to teach them.* In view of the fact that many of the Native teachers are not competent to assist in the fram- ing of a syllabus, there is not the same chance of co-operation ' See p. 137 et seq. ' Such a body as the Missionary Board of Advice in Natal is not sufficient. What is wanted is a meeting of the teachers, or of their representatives, with the officials of the Department to discuss the syllabus. The members of the Board of Advice are not necessarily the teachers, and it is the teachers' co-operation which is needed. " The syllabus issued by the Orange Free State is not compulsory, but its use is general throughout the province. * The new (191 6) Transvaal regulations were referred to the repre- sentatives of certain mission societies. 84 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE as in the case of the Teachers' Training Courses ; but had it been thought necessary or desirable, competent committees of advice could have been formed.^ The Government also as a rule recommends or prescribes the text-books to be used. Section 4. — Government Inspection and Examination The system of the annual individual examination of pupils by a Government inspector which obtains in the Cape, in Natal, and in Basutoland is a relic of the EngUsh system of payment by results.* When the elementary schools in England were managed by the philanthropic societies, the grants paid by the Governnient depended on the number of pupils who " passed " the examina- tion of His Majesty's inspector. At the end of each year the inspector came round to see if the conditions of grant had been fulfilled, and to examine the children individually in the three R's. The teacher's reputation and salary depended almost entirely on his percentage of passes, so that he availed himself of every artifice to secure a good result. The children were 1 E.g., each of the principal mission societies could have nominated a competent man. ^ In the Orange Free State a better system is contemplated. The Draft Regulations state that promotions are in the hands of the principals, who are also required to " make provision for advancing as rapidly as possible scholars of more mature age who are backward in their work," by reducing the curriculum to the more essential subjects. The duty of the inspector is "to test the efficiency of the school by an inquiry into the organisation, the classification, and the methods of instruction pursued, and also into the progress made by the pupils as evinced by their exercise and examination books and by the results of a general class examination. He will, however, if he deems it neces- sary, hold in greater detail an individual examination, in order to ascertain the condition of any of the classes. He will be asked to report as to the thoroughness of the teaching, and as to the ability of the pupils to apply to practical purposes the knowledge acquired. He shall also satisfy himself that in the ordinary management of the school all reasonable care is taken to bring up the children in habits of punctu- ahty, of good manners and language, of cleanUness and neatness, and to impress upon them the importance of cheerful obedience to duty, of consideration and respect for others, and of honour and truthfulness in word and act." (Draft Regulations, 11, 12, 13.) The italics are ours. THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION OF NATIVE EDUCATION 85 coached and crammed in the type of question asked by the particular inspector ; teachers and children were impressed with the importance of the occasion, and in many cases the teaching was directed solely towards the passing of the inspector's examination. This is the system which exists in the majority of the South African schools to-day. Its inherent wrongness is that it puts teacher and inspector in a wrong relation to one another. There is a suspicion of espionage — especially when the so- called " surprise " visits are paid — ^which is hurtful to education. The objective of both teacher and inspector should be the same, and the inspector, from his superior training, experience, and knowledge, should take the attitude of friend and adviser, and not that of detective. The school conditions at an inspector's examination are not normal. Teachers and pupils are in an unnatural state of excitement ; the inspector is hurried, and perhaps out of sorts. The Native, being more emotional than the European, suffers greatly from the tense atmosphere. The time at the inspector's disposal is all too short for anything like a thorough examina- tion. The result is that the teacher's work for a year is often inadequately estimated in a few minutes. To save time the inspectors have printed test cards in arithmetic, and in some cases in history, geography, and grammar.^ The procedure at a typical inspection in Natal is as follows : — Notice has been given. The children are in their best clothes. The schoolroom has been washed out, perhaps for the first time that year. As the inspector rides up he is saluted on all sides. After prayers the inspector looks at the registers, and sits down at the table with his schedules before him. " Standards I. and II., do these arithmetic cards; Standard III., do this composition; and Standard IV., this grammar." " Infants, draw me a hut on your slates." " Primers, bring up your reading books and read." The whole day is spent in this kind of work, the inspector assiduously filling up his schedules, and the trembling teacher standing idly by. At three o'clock the children are dismissed to play, while the inspector adds up the marks and decides on the passes and failures. Sometimes the inspector consults the teacher about the pupils, generally not. At half- '■ Specimens of these cards are reproduced on p. 318 et seq. 86 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE past fom the children are reassembled. The inspector mounts the platform, and in a voice of much solemnity reads the names of those who have passed. " Hallelujah, praise God," ej aculate some of the pupils who are among the passes. A sigh, a cUck, sometimes a sob, from those who fail. At five o'clock the inspector, thoroughly tired out, mounts his horse and hurries on to the next mission station, where he will repeat the performance next day. Of the advice or encouragement of which the teacher stands in such need there is very little. There is not time for that. The system is wrong in principle and practice. It is wrong to the inspector to require him to do such work ; it is wrong to the teacher, who is relieved of a responsibility which should be his, and who loses respect in the eyes of his pupils ; it is wrong to the pupil, whose work is often misjudged.^ While inspection is much the more profitable way of be- coming acquainted with the work of a teacher or of a school, examination should not be aboUshed altogether. To examine a class is sometimes the only means of finding out its points of strength and of weakness, the necessary bases for praise, criticism, and advice; but this examination should be of the class as a whole, and not of the individual members. The teacher knows best which pupils should pass and which should fail. Any mistakes he makes will become apparent in the class examination, and will be properly censured. Pro- motion is the teacher's privilege and his responsibility. It may be argued that the teacher is not competent to make promotions. To this it may be replied that there are hundreds of Native teachers who are competent, and that many of the others can be made competent by being required to shoulder this responsibility. The inspector will be there to advise in doubtful cases, and to prevent external pressure from being brought to bear upon the teachers. The present inviolability of the " standards " must be broken 1 It is not only the Native teachers and pupils who dread the visits of the inspector. The following is the opinion of Miss , principal of Training School : " This session we have had one inspector after another, and, as we cannot get away from them after school, the strain is great. Sometimes there have been two in one week " (Report of Mission, 1913, p. 14). THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION OF NATIVE EDUCATION 87 into, if education is going to progress. They do not deserve the respect with which they are treated, since they are nothing more than a convenient device to enable us to carry on mass teaching. A standard represents the amount of work which the framers of the curriculum (in the case of Native schools, men not actually engaged in teaching) think can be accom- plished by the average child within a certain period, generally a year. In each standard there will then be a number of children for whom the work is too much, or too difficult, and a number for whom it is too httle or too easy. If aU remain in the same standard for a year, the former will be overworked, the latter will waste valuable time. How the standards over- lap can be seen from the tables and diagrams in Chapter IX. The object of all classification is to arrange that each pupil is doing the work which best accords with his maturity, his ability, and his needs. An exact accordance is impossible with mass teaching, but the nearer we can get to it the better. Nowada}^ the best schools in Europe and America are break- ing away from the lockstep standard sjretem, and are re- grouping the children in accordance with their ability in each subject. This system, known as the " set " system, has long been in use in England in the case of mathematics, and is now being applied to other subjects, with the result that more and more often the pupil is doing the best work of which he and she is capable. To be sure, this system makes individual examina- tion difficult, because the same pupil may be in three different standards at the same time, and perhaps that is why it is experiencing some difficulty in making an entrance into State systems of education. Such a system in its entirety is frankly impossible in our Native schools, and the nearest we can get at present to a more suitable adjustment of the pupil to his work is to aUow the teacher to promote or demote as he thinks necessary. An immediate and complete break away from the present system is not advised. After being brought up and trained in a restrictive system, many of the teachers must be taught to bear the responsibility, and the change must be gradual. Let the inspectors furnish a list of those head teachers who, in their opinion, are competent to make promotions. Let this list be 88 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE published in the official Gazette, and let it be added to as more teachers demonstrate their competence. Let the inspector restrict himself more and more to class examination. If, after careful inquiry, he finds cases of wrong classifications, the teacher's right to promote might be withdrawn. So far we have spoken of the inspector as examiner. While examination is necessary, the inspector's main function should be that of supervisor. The chief function of supervision is to continue the training of teachers. The need for adequate supervision in any system of schools, if the system is not to stagnate, is generally con- ceded, but the following special reasons make it imperative in Native schools : — 1. As will be pointed out later, ^ the training of Native teachers, especially as regards practical school management, has necessarily been defective. The work of the method- master needs to be supplemented by the inspector or supervisor. 2. The isolation of teachers in Native schools renders friendly intercourse and discussion with fellow-teachers and recourse to hbraries impossible. Too often the teacher is the only educated person in the district. The inevitable tendency towards mentd and sometimes moral retrogression could be checked by a sympathetic and understanding supervisor.^ 3. The newness of the subject of Native education, and our inadequate knowledge concerning the needs and capacities of the Native, make it very desirable that the opinions of super- visors, the trained and experienced teachers who come into daily contact with the actual teachers' problems of Native schools, should be available in developing Native-school policy. From what has been said before it is clear that the inspectors have no time to undertake the work of supervision. As a » See pp. 139-145. ' " The relative efficiency of these (Native) schools is proportional to the amount of personal supervision the superintendents find it possible to give them." (Inspector Mr White, Report of Transvaal Education Department, 1912, p. 247.) " These (trained teachers) leave the difiEerent training institutions full of zeal and quite competent to give the necessary instruction, but after one or two years' life in a Native stad there is a distinct danger of deterioration, more especially as regards knowledge of English." (Inspector Mr Mills, ibid., p. 226.) THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION OF NATIVE EPUCATION 89 practical solution of the question it is recommended that the inspector continue to be the administrative and general super- visory officer ; that he be required to visit and inspect his schools at least once a year ; and that he confine his activities to a general inspection, or (if need be) to class examinations. The work of supervising the instruction or continuing the training of the teacher, of introducing better methods, should be relegated to a special corps of Native supervisors, chosen from among the most successful teachers in the schools, each of whom would be responsible to the inspector for the oversight of a limited number of schools.^ The reasons for suggesting that the supervisor be a Native are that a chance for further promotion is thereby afforded to Native teachers ; the relation- ship between teacher and supervisor will be more cordial and helpful when both are of the same race ; the practical difficulties of lodgment for the Native supervisor will be less than for the European inspector ; and the development of suitable forms of industrial training in ordinary day schools can best be carried out by Natives. Section 5. — Supervision in American Rural Negro Schools In connection with the proposal to appoint supervisors in the Native schools of South Africa, the success of a similar movement in the Southern States of America is useful and encouraging. In 1908 a philanthropic lady. Miss T. Jeanes, left the sum of £200,000 for the improvement of Negro Rural Schools. These schools were for the most part taught by untrained teachers, without any kind of supervision. The buildings were generally one-roomed shacks, the equipment was very meagre, the teachers were untrained and ill paid, and the school year not more than six months. The trustees of the Jeanes Fund thought that the best way of improving the conditions was to appoint supervising teachers of industrial work. These teachers are Negroes from the Negro universities, institutions, and training colleges, such as Fisk, Atlanta, Hampton, and Tuskegee. These teachers, although paid wholly, or in part, ' Tl)e training of a selected group of teachers as supervisors might be undertaken at the South African Native College (see infra. Chap. XV.). 90 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE by the Jeanes Fund, are selected by the county superinten- dents, and work under their direction. Their duties are to visit the schools, introduce suitable forms of industrial work, advise the teacher with regard to her daily work, organise parents' clubs, interest the Negro community in the schools, and induce them to take steps for the improvement of educa- tional facilities. The average annual salary paid to a Negro supervisor was, in 1913, £72 for men and f,6^ for women, for seven months' work a year. The success of the plan was immediate and continuing. The number of supervisors rose from 65 in 1908-9 to over 130 in 1912. The salaries of 109 of these teachers, amounting to £7000, were paid by the Jeanes Fund. The salaries of the others came from the funds of the States, which had begun to realise the value of the work. The contributions of the Negro people themselves were expended mainly on building and equipments. The following extracts give some account of the results of the work of these supervisors : — " Complete statistics are not at hand at the time of writing, but the following record of work for the session 1912-13 in the State of Virginia is indicative of the spread of the movement. Twenty-three supervising industrial teachers were working in the Coloured schools of 25 counties. Of the 591 Negro schools in these counties, 417 were visited regularly, and a total number of 2853 visits were paid by the 23 supervising industrial teachers. One hundred and eighty-nine schools extended the term an average of one month. Twenty new buildings were erected costing £4762, and 15 buildings were enlarged at a cost of £443. Forty-six buildings were painted and 81 white- washed, and 102 sanitary outhouses were built. The 428 School-improvement Leagues raised in cash for new build- ings, extending terms, equipment, and improvement, the sum of ^4532. This does not include labour or materials given. The whole cost of the salaries and expenses of the supervising teachers was less than £2000, so that as a result of their efforts they have brought into the school funds of the State more than twice the amount expended. " These figures, however, but dimly estimate the value THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION OF NATIVE EDUCATION 9I of the work done. It was the privilege of the writer recently to visit Negro rural schools in three of the counties of Virginia in pompany with Mr Jackson Davis and the county superintendents of schools. The interest and pride of parents and pupils alike in the schools, their belief in the form of instruction given, and the co-operation of the Whites, who are beginning to regard the Negro as an asset and not as a burden to the country, were eversnvhere apparent." ^ " In regard to these supervising teachers, it is a sur- prising fact how few have been found lacking in earnest- ness, competency, and devotion to duty. They are appointed by the county superintendent, work under his direction and supervision, and are considered members of his regular corps of teachers. With very few exceptions, they have done their work with an intelligence and devo- tion that deserve the highest admiration. It is hard for us to realise the difificult conditions under which many of them have to carry on their work in passing from school to school. The mere problem of transportation is a difficult one. In many instances they depend upon the kindness of some patron of one school to take them on to the next. Some counties have made an appropriation for the travel- ling expenses. A few of the teachers own their team. Many of them walk long distances to keep their appoint- ments, carrying with them their bag of materials . Looking over the whole range of noble pioneers and missionaries, I do not find any to measure ahead of these humble workers. When I think of their spirit I am not surprised that their influence is being felt wherever they go, not only in the schools, but in the churches and homes. I am not surprised when I receive now and then a letter from some county superintendent bearing testimony to their good influence, and expressing appreciation of their work." * In the writer's opinion it is in the appointment of such teachers that the chief hope for the betterment of our Native schools in South Africa lies. ' From an article by the writer in the Christian Express, April 1915. " Jeanes Fund ; Report of President, 1914, p. 3. CHAPTER VI THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION In general the term " elementary " or " primary " education is used in contradistinction to " secondary " or " higher " education. It then implies an instruction in the elements of knowledge, to be supplemented later on in higher institutions. In the framing of curricula, this narrow connotation of the term has been generally unfortunate, since the courses of study in elementary schools have been based on the assumption that the pupils would proceed to higher institutions, where the " essentials " would be extended and supplemented to fit the pupil for the life of the world outside. As a matter of fact, however, it is only a very small percentage indeed of pupils in any country who proceed beyond the elementary school, and the chief problem confronting educators to-day is to frame an elementary-school curriculum which will serve as a preparation for the further education of those few who are able to proceed to secondary schools, and at the same time serve as a well- grounded basis of education for the vast majority of pupils whose further education can only be received in the school of life itself. The solution of the difiiculty would appear to lie in bringing the school into intimate relationship with real Ufe, in framing curricula in terms of present-day needs, and in making school activities a rephca of those of the world outside so far as the development of the child enables him to com- prehend and participate in them. A glance at the table on p. 72 of this volume wiU show that the number of pupils proceeding beyond the elementary-school stage is less than 3 per cent., so that it is in the elementary schools that all but a few of the Native children of South Africa must be prepared for their future life. We need, then, to 92 THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 93 examine the system of elementaxy education in some detail, and to apply to each of its constituent parts — courses of study, teaching, supervision, and results — criteria acceptable generally to modern pedagogy, and applicable in particular to present- day conditions in South Africa. Section i. — Cdteria for the Instruction in Native Elementary Schools A. The Courses of Study. — The courses of study must be based upon the pecuUar instincts, capacities, interests, past and present experiences, and probable future of the pupils for whom they are intended. They must represent in epitome the present and, as far as can be foreseen, the future lives of the people, and as such must be subject to change in respect to both the exclusion of the useless old and the inclusion of the necessary new. They must demonstrate clearly the well- thought-out aims of the authorities, but these must be expressed in terms sufficiently broad to allow supervisors and teachers to adapt them to the needs of particular schools and pupils. They must also take into account the agencies at present at the disposal of the system; for to impose upon the poorly equipped and ill-taught Native schools courses of study which would be difficult of accomplishment in the infinitely superior schools for European children, is but to court failure, or at most shallow and superficial work. In South Africa we find that the courses of study in Native schools are either identical with those prescribed for the European schools, or are abbreviated modifications of them ; that no account has been taken of the peculiar characteristics of the Native people ; that no adequate provision for the prob- able life-work of the pupils has been made ; that they include a good deal of matter which is useless as far as the Native is concerned, while they omit certain very necessary subjects ; and finally, that at least three of the five courses would be difficult of accomphshment in the best schools for Europeans. B. The Teaching. — The primary function of teaching is to supply stimuli which are meaningful to the child, necessary for his growth, and based on sound moral and psychological principles. This implies possession on the part of the teacher 94 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE of real and useful learning, knowledge of child nature, and freedohi to adapt methods to suit the needs of individual pupils. To expect all these qualities in the Native teachers in the present stage of the development of Native education in South Africa is unreasonable ; but we shall find that the system of training teachers is not even tending in the right direction, but is producing men and women ignorant of facts significant for Native pupils, loaded with a mass of useless academic knowledge, and unpractised in the handling of children. We shall see also that even the competent teachers are bound hand and foot by regulation, course of study, inspection, and examination. C. Supervision. — ^The objects of supervision are to see that the conduct of the school is in accordance with the governing regulations in spirit, if not in letter ; to supplement the training of the teachers by helpful and sj^mpathetic criticism ; and to bring to individual teachers the results of deeper study of educational problems, superior training, and wider experience. Adequate supervision is perhaps the strongest factor in the betterment of a school system. In the Native schools of South Africa supervision in the full sense of the term is almost un- known. There are no supervisors for Native schools, and the European inspectors of schools, who might be expected to per- form the functions of supervisors, are too busy with other duties, even where they have the necessary sympathy and qualifications for Native work. D. The Results upon Pupils, Teachers, and the Public. — The results of an adequate system of elementary education upon the pupils are a regiilar progression through the school in accordance with their mental development, absence of an excessive retardation and elimination, and an abihty to adjust themselves easily and readily to the responsibilities and opportunities of the Ufe after school. The teachers show signs of professional growth, become more and more capable of bearing responsibiUty, and remain longer in the profession. The parents and the general public express their approval by keeping the young people longer at school, and by providing the necessary moral and financial support. How far the Native schools fall short in these respects will THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 95 be shown by an elimination and retardation unique, so far as the writer is aware, in school systems ; by an education which, for the most part, unfits the recipients for their hfe-work; and by a general mistrust of the system on the part of the general pubUc. Section 2.— The Origin and Development of the Present System We have seen that the system of Native education originated in the rehgious zeal of missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These devoted but unscientifically- mifided men and women could not be expected to observe any of our fundamental principles. To them the original make-up of the Bantu was wrong. Not only would the missionary not make use of any of the Native's original instincts and interests, but he would do his best to stifle these as instigators to depravity.^ Nor would he endeavour to help the Bemtu to adjust himself to the society in which he lived. The Natives' Ufe after death was his chief concern, and any education given in this world was but in preparation for the hfe in the world to come. In its origin, then, the system of Native education was diametrically opposed to what are commonly accepted to-day as the basic principles of education. When the missionary teacher succeeded the mere evangelist he followed the set which Native education had received. In so far as he introduced new methods of teaching, these were based on European tradition. The S3retems of literary education which had been evolved in Europe were transplanted to a people differing widely in original nature, in environment, and in future opportunities.^ When the time came for the different Governments to support Native education, it became a condition of financial support that the schools observe the Government codes of instructions. Seeing that the Native schools were being ' See p. 74 for notice of a reactionary movement. ' "Too often in missionary and educational work. among unde- veloped races people yielded to the temptation of doing that which was done a hundred years before, or is being done in other communities a thousand miles away." (Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, p. 122.) 96 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE conducted upon European lines, what more natural than that the regulations governing the schools for European children in South Africa should be imposed upon Native schools also ? Where they were not imposed in their entirety they were curtailed, but their spirit was based upon the principles of education as carried on in England. These were the days when education was being given grudgingly to the lower classes, when it was considered that anything more than the " three R's " would " spoil " the masses and unfit them for their station in life. It was a time, too, when pedagogical doctrine was harsh and narrow. The " faculty " psychology was supreme. The purpose of education was to " train the mind " ; the harder the subjects the better the mental disciphne ; to make things interesting was to " weaken the moral fibre " of the pupils, and so on. How persistent these pedagogical notions have been may be seen from the Govern- ment regulations and syllabuses at present in operation in the Native schools of South Africa, and from the views of officials.^ The system set in this narrow mould remained practically ' To cite but two instances. In giving evidence before the Cape Native Education Committee of 1908 the following exchange of views took place between the Commissioners and one of the witnesses, an inspector highly respected by both races for his work on behalf of Native education. Question. The fact is, you think any subject of that kind (English history), although they (the Natives) may not be able to see its exact practical bearing, has the efiect that all true education should have, of developing the mind ? Answer. Quite so. I do not think the elementary school is the place for beginning any special training for special walks of life. You want in the elementary school merely to train the mind by all the means you can employ in order to get a weU-developed mind on all sides. {Report, section 2556.) Again, in the Report of the Inspector of Native Education, Natal, for 1 889, appears the following statement : " I regard this [English grammar] as a very important part of our school work ; not that it is important that a boy should know that ox is a noun or that runs is a verb, but these Natives are so wanting in powers of comparison or analysis that the process of reasoning which has to be gone through to decide whether ' that ' is an adjective or a pronoun, or to recognise the relations to each other of the different parts of a sentence, is of the greatest value as developing and strengthening their mind in its weakest but most useful parts." THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 97 unaltered until fi decade ago, when, as a result of the report of the South African Native Affairs Commission of 1903-5, a wider and more sjmipathetic interest in the Native Question was taken by the public. To this must be added the move- ment for reform initiated by the missionary bodies themselves, the importation from overseas of highly skilled and experienced educators consequent on the annexation of the Dutch RepubUcs, and changes in the staffs of some of the Education Departments. As a result steps have recently been taken in all the provinces except the Cape to adapt the European system of education to Native requirements.^ In particular the courses of study have been reduced in extent and complexity to suit the more linlited opportunities and capacities of the Natives. That the result is still not satisfactory will be demonstrated in due course. Here it is sufficient to say that aU the systems, except perhaps those of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, are based either wholly or in part on European systems now largely discredited, and have not been drawnf up to meet the special nature of the Native people.* '■ The conservatism of the Cape Province, which retains to this day the same course of study for Native as for European children, is probably due to the great size of the province, the unequal geographical distri- bution of the races, the more hberal treatment of the Native peoples than in the otjier provinces, which induces the mistaken belief that identity of curriculum is equality of opportunity, the mixed nature of the children attending the Mission Schools, and the personnel of its officials. The identity of curriculum has been often condemned by Commissioners and other critics. The following excerpts are from the Report of the Cape Education Commission, 1910-12: — " A rigid curriculum drawn up without regard to the Coloured people no doubt fails to meet the case of some White children, but it is hardly too much to say that it is bound to be a misfit for all Coloured children. . . . There is a great deal to be said for elasticity of curriculum in regard to Mission Schools. . . . Although they only go to Standard IV., the Coloured children . . . are so far taught according to precisely the same curriculum as is thought necessary for the child of a Cabinet Minister and of a high ecclesiastic. The opinion that this is a mistake is strong and growing. . . . Altogether, we have no hesitation in recommending that in the Mission Schools, as in others, departure from the curriculum should be allowed subject to the consent of the inspector." {Report, section 56 (c).) ' Since the above was written a new syllabus for Native schools has been introduced in the Transvaal. gS THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Section 3.— The Courses of Study A. The Subjects of Instruction and their Place IN the Courses of Study On the opposite page will be found the subjects of instruc- tion and their place in the courses of study. The divergence of the views of the different provinces can be seen at a glance, but the following points seem worthy of special comment : — 1. The Use of the Vernacular. — ^The arguments for and against the use of the vernacular are discussed in another part of this volume.^ Here it will be sufficient to indicate the current practice in the several provinces. In the Cape Province the use of the vernacular as the medium of instruc- tion in the lower classes is optional ; but as these classes are generally not examined at all by the inspectors, or, if examined, are examined in English, the option is not often acted upon, particularly as a great number of Native parents do not wish the children to " waste time," as they say, over the vernacular. In the Transvaal it may be used " as fax as practicable." In the other provinces and in Basutoland the use of the vernacular is obUgatory. 2. Position of the English and Dutch Languages. — ^As regards the choice of the two official European languages the regula- tions in Natal and Basutoland are silent, and it is the general practice to learn English only. In the Transvaal the regula- tions state that after the first three years either Dutch or EngUsh may be used as a medium, in accordance with the geographical situation and the particular environment of the school. The Orange Free State regulations say that the formal study of one of the two official languages shall be commenced in the third year, and this language may be used as a medium when it is so desired during the fifth and sixth years. The second official language may be commenced in the fifth year. 3. The Neglect of History. — History is not included at all in the Transvaal and Basutoland syllabuses,* and is optional in the Orange Free State. In Natal the history taught is 1 See p. 226 et seq. ' In Basutoland, " tales from Basuto history " may be given in the Vernacular Composition Course. THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 99 entirely that of South Africa ; in the Cape it is the same as in the European schools, i.e. English and South African. If we are to develop a pride of race in the Natives, not only as a preventative for miscegenation with the Whites, but as a basis TABLE No. 4 The Subjects and their Place in the Course of Study Subjects. Cape. Natal. Trans- vaal. Orange Free State. Basutoland. Vernacular- Standard. Standard. Year. Year. Reading A to VII. I to 4 Gr. I to St. VI. Writing A „ VII. I » 4 Gr. I „ St. IV. Spelling A ,. VII. I » 4 Gr. 2 „ St. IV. Composition A „ VII. I » 4 Gr. I „ St. VI. Grammar St. III.,, St. VI. English — Reading A to VII. B to VII. I to 7 3 to 6 St. I. „ St. VI. Writine A „ VII. B „ VII. I ,. 7 3 .. 6 St. 11. „ St. VI, Spelling A „ VII, B „ VII. 4 „ 7 3 ,. 6 St. II. „ St. VI. Composition II. „ VII. A „ VII. I ,. 7 I „ 6 St. I. „ St. VI. Grammar III. - VII. III. „ VII. 6 „ 7 5 „ 6 St. IV. „ St. VI. Arithmetic A „ VII. A „ VII. I ,> 7 I >■ 4 Gr. I „ St. VI. Algebra and Geometry . V. „ VII. Geography in English III. to VII. II. „VI. 4 to 7 Optional. St. I. to St. VI. (Vern.) History in English V. „ VII. III. „ VII. Optional. , , Drawing . A „ VII. A „ VI. I to 7 Gr. I to St. VI. Hygiene . I. „ VI. I .. 7 Prescribed but not in detail. Gr. I „ St. VI. (Vern.) Sewing . A to VII. A „ VII. 3 .. 7 I to 6 Gr. I to St. VI. Manual work . II. „VII. V. „VII. 3 ., 7 No definite scheme. No definite scheme. Singing . A „ VII. A „ VI. 3 „ 7 I to 6 Gr. I to St. VI. Religious inst. A „VII A „ VII. I „ 7 I „ 6 Gr. I „ St. VI. Object lessons I .. 3 I „ 6 (i) The lowest class is Infant Class A in the Cape and Natal, Year i in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, and Grade i in Basutoland. (s) Vern. =: vernacular, i.e. Kafir, Zulu, or Sesuto, as the case may be. for the responsibilities of self-government, we cannot a£Eord to omit from our courses of study an account of the history and institutions of the races of South Africa. 4. Manual Work. — In connection with the inclusion of this subject in the Cape syllabus, it should be borne in mind that 100 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE the manual work prescribed is cardboard modelling in Standards II. to IV., and woodwork in Standards V. to VII. Few, if any, of the Native schools can afford to do the card- board modelling, while it is only in the larger centres that the instruction in woodwork is actually given. The whole question of manual and industrial training is dealt with in Chapter VIII. 5. Overburdening. — The overburdening of the Natal course of study is apparent. The inclusion of algebra and geometry is unnecessary; and while none of the other subjects, except perhaps English grammar in all but the last year, could be safely excluded, a more even distribution, as in the Orange Free State syllabus, would lighten the pupil's task. At present a child in Standard I. is carrying fourteen, and one in Standard VI. eighteen, subjects all the year round. B. The Formal Nature of the Syllabuses In addition to announcing the subjects of inspection, the syllabuses of the Education Departments prescribe in more or less detail what is to be taught under each subject. No attempt is made to explain why these subjects are chosen or the aims of the teaching, and no suggestions regarding approved methods are offered.^ For the most part the syllabuses consist of bald statements of the facts which the children will be required to reproduce at the annual examinations. Space does not permit of a reproduction of the syllabuses in full, but the following excerpts will sufficiently explain their nature : — I. English Reading for Second-Year Pupils Cape. — To read with ease from an infant reader containing sentences composed of monosyllabic words. Natal.-'To read the first six charts prepared by the American Mission, and to translate them accurately. Transvaal (Third Year). — Reading from an infant primer and reader. 1 In Basutoland a small booklet of instructions and suggestions is published, and the Orange Free State syllabus contains some scattered suggestions. These, however, do not deal adequately with any of the questions. For an example of a useful and effective introduction to a syllabus, see the remarks of the Director of Education for the Transvaal, prefixed to the Transvaal Syllabus of Instruction for European Schools. THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION lOI O.F.S. — ^To read clearly and intelligently a simple reading- book. Basutolani (Standard I.). — ^To read intelligently from a first reader. 2. Arithmetic for Standard IV. Cape. — Written : Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of weights and measures. The principle involved in the process known as " Practice," with easy exercises. Easy " Proportion " exercises. Mental : The same as the written work. Easy operations with very simple fractions (halves, quarters, eighths, thirds, sixths, twelfths). Natal. — (a) Factors and multiples. (6) Addition, sub- traction, multiplication, division, and reduction of weights and measures, as follows : Avoirdupois, Uneal, square, capacity, and time, (c) Simple bills of parcels, (rf) Addi- tion and subtraction of fractions having the same denominator, (e) Mental : Easy exercises on the work of the standard ; the tables of the square and capacity measures. Transvaal (Sixth Year). — [a) Continuation of exercises in the four rules as for the previous year. (6) Reduction : ton, cwt. (=100 lb.), lb., oz., yd., ft., in. ; day, hour, minute, second, (c) Making out short bills. O.F.S. (Sixth Year). — Decimals, percentages and interest, volumes of rectangular solids, bills of parcels, practice. {N.B. — ^During the fifth and sixth years arithmetic should be dropped in favour of the manual occupation.) Basutoland. — The same as for the Cape. 3. Geography for Standard V. Cape. — ^The seasons. Africa and Europe, including features of coast-line, chief mountain ranges, chief rivers and their basins, chief states or territorial divisions and their capitals ; situation and chief industries of towns having over 250,000 inhabitants ; commercial relations with the Cape Province. Map-drawing from memory. Natal. — ^To draw a map of Africa, and to be able to insert the principal countries, with the capitals, the chief rivers, lakes, mountains, and to tell to whom each country belongs. To tell the countries, capitals, and principal features of Europe, Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. 102 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Transvaal (Seventh Year).— (a) Physical and poUtical geo- graphy of South Africa in fuller detail, (b) Position on the map of the world of the British Colonies and of the principal countries of the world. The characteristic features, cUmate, and production of the larger colonies. O.F.S. (not prescribed for any particular standard).— The geography of South Africa with special reference to that of the Orange Free State, together with a general idea of the main geographical features of the world. Basutoland. — Same as the Cape, omitting " commercial relations with the Cape Province." 4. Grammar for Standard VI. Cape. — To analyse a complex prose sentence containing at least two subordinate clauses, one of which may be subordinate to the other, and to parse the words in it. To correct gram- matical errors in a similar sentence. To tell the meanings and use of the principal prefixes and suffixes. Natal. — (i) To analyse, and form simple compound and complex sentences. (2) To learn (a) the formation and use (i.) of the comparison of adjectives and adverbs, (ii.) of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs from other words by common prefixes and suffixes, and (iii.) of the complete conjugation of verbs ; and (b) the use (i.) of words as nouns, and verbs and adjectives or adverbs, and (ii.) of the correct preposition after verbs. Transvaal (First- Year Training College Course) . — {a) Various kinds of nouns, pronouns, and their inflections as far as this is a help to correct speech and writing. (6) Conjugation of transitive and intransitive verbs with pronouns and nouns (indicative mood only). Exercises in the use of active and passive forms. The whole aim to be not so much recognition of distinctions as correct usage, (c) Analysis of the simple sen- tence, with special reference to the correct use of prepositions. O.F.S. (Sixth Year). — ^AnaljTsis and simple parsing. Basutoland. — As in Cape syllabus. Section 4. — Uniformity and Inflexibility in School Work The average inadequately trained Native school teacher, when confronted with the task of teaching his pupils on a THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IO3 syllabus which is for the most part meaningless to them and to himself, is generally at a loss what to do. To assist him in the organisation of his school work, the Education Department of the Province of Natal, which can claim the credit of having given most thought to the administration of Native education, issues in addition to the ordinary syllabus a " scheme of work " and specimen time-table. The effect of this is to impose upon the system a greater uniformity than that required by the province^wide syllabuses of instruction. All the provinces obtain a still further uniformity by the inspectors' examina- tions, for in order to get through with his work the inspector has to standardise his methods of examination. These become known throughout his inspectorial district, and, since the object of the year's work is to satisfy the inspector, his practices are closely adhered to in the schools. In the Cape and Natal, inspectors' test-cards are used.^ From this lock- step uniformity there is little hope of escape, since the teachers are not regarded as competent to assume such responsibility.^ To illustrate the methods by which this uniformity is obtained, we reproduce (i) excerpts from the Natal schemes of work for the infant classes and first four standards, and (2) time allotments derived from the specimen time-tables in Natal. Specimens of the test-cards used by the inspectors of Native schools in Natal will be found in Appendix A. I. Scheme of Work for Class A {the lowest class) for the month of April Zulu. — (a) Read charts 4 and 5 and review 2. (b) Each child to make at least two sentences about each of the pictures ' For specimens of these test-cards see Appendix A. ' The draft regulations of the Orange Free State Education De- partment form an honourable exception to the usual inflexibility and uniformity. Section 17 reads : " While the schedules indicate the scope of the work in each subject, they should be looked upon as suggestions rather than as instructions to be rigidly followed in detail, and principals are invited to propose schemes more or less on the same Unes, and suited to the peculiar requirements and circumstances of their respective schools. Such suggested modifications should be submitted in detail for the approval of the Department through the Inspector of Schools for the District." Similar instances of liberal-mindedness and sound pedagogy may be found throughout the Orange Free State regulations, which makes it all the more to be regretted that the scheme has not become law. 104 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE on English chart No. i. (c) Point from the blackboard and charts the letters i and k, first separately, and then combined with any of the vowels. English. — Learn the pronunciation and meaning of : tooth, arm, hand, finger-nail, leg, foot, toe, roof, man, woman, wall, I, we, see, and, saw, a, the. Arithmetic. — (a) Count in Enghsh and Zulu up to 5 forward and backward. (6) Addition and subtraction, e.g. 2+1+1—3. (c) Learn and write the x and = signs, and learn and do with objects the following multiplications : 1x2=2, 2x2=4, 1x3=3, 1x4=4. {^ Mental: Learn coins id. and 3d, and reduction from one to the other. Writing. — Continue as in preceding month, and practise making e, o, a, u, v, w, and the figures i to 4. 2. Scheme of Work for Standard II. for the First Quarter Zulu. — (a) Read chapters 1-6. (6) Dictation, (c) Describe orally and in writing (i) land, (2) water, (3) sun, (4) the cardinal points, [d) Special drill on (i) the use of the punctuation marks learnt, and (2) the breaking up of words into syllables in the dictation and composition work. English. — (a) Read S.A. Reader II., lessons 1-4, 7, 8, 9, and II, and review. (6) Translate hterally and accurately lessons i, 3, 4, and 9, and review, (c) Learn to spell the words in the spelling lessons and to break up words of two, three, and four syllables, [d) Make sentences orally with new words in the translation lessons, (e) Write sentences with the words of the first term, second year, in the infant syllabus. (/) Special drill on the use of the " full stop " and " interrogation mark." Geography. — (a) Definition of, and what geography teaches. {V) The cardinal points. Arithmetic. — (a) To count in English up to 999, forward and backward. (6) Addition and subtraction with figures up to 999, and with problems. Multiplication and division up to 12 times 12. (c) Money value up to £l in simple mental problems, {d) Mentally to divide numbers into halves and quarters, (e) Multiplication tables up to 12 times 12. Easy mental exercises on the four simple rules with numbers up to 60. THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION I05 3. Time Allotments in Minutes per Week^ (I) Standardly. Niital Opening and closing exercises and roll call Religious instruction .... Correcting home work . English and Zulu grammar Reading and spelling and translation EngUsh composition Conversational EngUsh History and geography Drawing Writing Arithmetic . DriU .... Teaching sub-standard children Recesses .... 125 150 100 150 125 100 75 125 25 75 275 50 75 200 1630 (2) Second Term of Second Year (i.e. Highest Class of Infants). Natal Opening and closing exercises and roll call . 125 Religious instruction .... 150 EngKsh reading 250 Conversational Enghsh 75 Zulu reading 73 Oral Zulu composition 100 Printing 30 Writing and figuring 175 Arithmetic, mental and blackboard 200 Drawing 100 Correction of written work ... 100 Drill 50 Recesses 200 1630 1 Taken from suggested time-table issued by the Department. How far these time-tables are followed in single-teacher schools is uncertain, but the writer's experience is that they are exhibited to satisfy the inspector and not for daily use. Io6 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Section 5.— The Teaching In the following chapter the work of the training institu- tions for Native teachers is discussed. It will be found that not more than 50 per cent, of the teachers in Native schools have received any preparation for their work, and that the training given to these is for the most part of a narrow and formal nature, besides being deficient on the side of practice teaching. Above all, the students have received no training in the handling of the single-teacher school, the kind of school they will in all probabiUty be required to conduct. Confronted with the real problem, the teachers take refuge in formal book- work, the kind of work which keeps the pupil busy and is easy of correction. This formalism is encouraged by the nature of the curriculum and inspectors' examinations, and the absence of helpful super- vision. If we add to this the inadequate equipment of the schools, and the absence of suitable text-books, we shall not be surprised to find that the ordinary work of the Native school is dull and formal to a degree. Indeed, as the writer has listened to the teaching in Native schools he has realised that it is only the Native's ignorance and his blind and almost pathetic belief in the power of the white man's education which induces him to send his children to the average Native school. Parents less ignorant, pupils less docile, and a pubhc less luke- warm on the subject would have remonstrated long ago against the travesty of teaching which is taking place every hour of the day in the Native day schools of South Africa. Section 6.— The Supervision The primary object of supervision is to increase the efficiency of the teacher. The supervisor or inspector can best accom- plish this by watching the teacher at work and then criticising his lesson, by examining the children to see if the necessary knowledge has been acquired or the necessary skill obtained, and by taking part in teachers' meetings. To be effective, the criticism of the supervisor should be constructive. It should not only point out good and bad work, but explain why it is good or bad, and where necessary indicate the way for improve- ment. When it is necessary to examine a class in order to THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION I07 form a more correct estimate of the work of the teacher, the examination should be based on the teacher's scheme of work, and should discover if the points emphasised by the teacher had been acquired by the pupils, even though these points did not commend themselves to the supervisor. After the criticism of the lesson, or after the examination, should come the discus- sion with the teacher. This is the really helpful part of super- vision, where the supervisor gets to know the teacher's aims, difficulties, and troubles, and from his superior training and greater experience is able to offer some helpful criticism and suggestions. The discussion must not be omitted, for if the visit was worth making it is worth discussion. If the super- visor can subsequently hold a teachers' meeting to discuss some broader issues, so much the better. Supervision of this nature is practically unknown in the Native schools of South Africa. There are no supervisors of instruction in the schools, and even where there are inspectors who are competent to perform this work satisfactorily and sympathetically they have not the time. The short-handed- ness of the inspectorates is the occasion of annual comment in the superintendents' reports. In 1915 the average number of schools per inspector was : — In the Cape Province 131 (European, Coloured, and Native) In Natal . . . 100 (Native) In the Transvaal . 66 (European, Coloured, and Native) In Orange Free State 88 (European) In Basutoland , 142 (Native) In the Cape and Transvaal Provinces the inspection of Native and European schools is undertaken by the same officials, and when any schools have to be left unvisited these are almost always the Native schools. In the Cape the work is far too heavy for the number of inspectors employed, so that many of the schools do not receive adequate inspections.^ In 1914 there were 818 Mission and 971 Aborigines' Sichools, of ' In his 1912 Report, p. 4, the Superintendent-General says : " Adopting the principle that there should be one inspector for every 100 schools, we see that with its present number of 4334 schools the Cape Province should have 43 inspectors, whereas, even with the three new men appointed this year, it has only 31." See also Report for 191 1 and other years. I08 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE which only 736 and 865 respectively axe recorded as having been inspected. In the Transvaal no exact figures are reported, but from the inspectors' reports it is clear that many of the Native schools are not inspected. In the Orange Free State there is no systematic inspection of the Native schools, though the inspectors have the right to visit them. In Natal the inspection of Native schools is undertaken by a special staff of three inspectors, who devote all their time to Native work. Except for the danger of narrowing and deaden- ing subjective influence on the men themselves, this is certainly the most effective system. In Basutoland there are only 95 European children attend- ing inspected schools, so that the inspectors devote all their time to Native work. Section 7. — ^The Results We have now to examine the results of a system of elemen- tary education for Natives based wholly, or in part, on the systems for European children, administered with much uni- formity and inflexibiUty, and put into execution by partially trained and inadequately supervised teachers. We shall attempt to estimate in turn the results on pupils, teachers, and the European and Native public. A. The Elimination of Pupils. — ^From the table on p. 72 it will be seen that more than 60 per cent, of the pupils in Native schools are in the sub-standards, and that the elimination of pupils from the lower classes is very great. The same results will be found in the following age-standard and time-in-school- standard figures. Of every 100 pupils in the Native schools of Natal, 62 are in the Infant Classes, 13 in Standard I., 9 in Stan- dard II., 6 in Standard III., 6 in Standard IV., 2 in Standard v., and I in Standard VI. This state of affairs represents a con- siderable improvement on the position of former years.^ The reasons for this rapid elimination are : (a) the economic pressure which causes the parents to send the young boys to work in the towns, where there is a steady demand for the cheap Native * Cf. Report of the Superintendent of Education, Natal, 1910. THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION I09 " umf aaa " ; ^ and (6) the unsuitability of the present system of education. Many Native children, who at first come eagerly to school, are disheartened by the meaningless tasks to which they are set, and have no great difficulty in inducing their parents to allow them to withdraw. As Mr E, A. Sargant pointed out in animadverting on the unsuitability of the Basutoland curri- culum, it is not surprising that the entry " Left school : tired " should appear so often opposite the names of former pupils.* B. The Retardation of Pupils. — The absence of an adequate system of recording data regarding the progress of pupils in Native schook makes it impossible to supply figures for aU the Native schools of South Africa, but age-standard and time- in-school-standard data were obtained from ten elementary schools in Natal, eight in the Transkei, six in Basutoland, and twelye in the Transvaal. The schools were selected at random, and the figures may be regarded as typical of conditions in Natal, the Transkeian territories, Basutoland, and the Trans- vaal. The following explanations of the age-standard figures are necessary for their proper interpretation : — (a) The ages of the pupils in many cases cannot be ascer- tained with certainty. The educated Natives record the date of birth of their children, but when an un- educated Native is asked when his child was born, he can only reply by reference to some contemporary event, such as a season of drought or a great storm. The school authorities are thus often compelled to estimate the approximate ages of the pupils. (&) In the present state of Native education it is impossible to standardise the age of entry and the normal age for each standard. Educated Natives generally send their children to school between the ages of five and eight, but the children of " raw " Natives are often kept at home until the age of ten, eleven, or even later. The entering age of seven to nine has been chosen as repre- senting the mean, a conclusion which is supported by the fact that it contains the largest group of entrants. ' The preponderance of girls in Native schools is largely due to this reason. Thus in 1915, out of 21,700 Native pupils in average attend- ance in Natal, only 9144 were boys ; and of 17,083 in average attendance in the elementary schools of Basutoland in 1914, only 5766 were boys. • Report on Native Education in S. Africa, pt. iii. p. 63. no THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE it o n Om in «0 hi a** "3 J3 B S ■5-3a V (n •9.1:3 ■^rS ^ «"C ii" Igg -o Q g" n a J3 > & U O O m_ v> ||3 o oT u «> boS "is ■" 0*' •= o£ ■ J3 - '§•11 £"s|.a I §11 M Q ^ ^ Cl*> ft) Total. ass ft2-R^5 ^ « M M M M fx ? II If en 1 R la 1" ^1 ^OOMWtpp« 7< in en i |NOOOOMM\DW 00 ' ■* 10 m rv M , M f P || H H M M M d f;?-°S2'S''" s M Over 20. OOOOMOHM m ig-2o. OOOOOMOvi vo 18-19. OOMMOOmi^ 17-18. OmmOmOO.-* M ■8 16-17. H M 5 15-J6. lO ir. Oi ■* «ft tN IS W N H ■* - S 14-15. H H H 9t ^ H ' N 13-14- VI o* »D CI M M « <0 10 H ^ & 12-13. W M M W C4 N M II-IS. «1 fO M H H H m lO-II. 5 5 H " '- H 9-10. to a ■s M M N 5 8-9. g % vo H 7-8. N 6-7. ft " : s ■a =8 • „ < - s 1 1 1 1 cn m 55 5 1 C/3 > > 1 i3 en > 1 .a 1 THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION III a"| lis ■g.a| iS Stn ""■S p p « M ■9 M 6 go,HO. « Oi ■* 15-16. " " S ? !? ■S ^ 00 - H 14-15- m in 00 M M m CO «c N M 13-14- 00 r«i M m H « M m « tv 0^ ■* ■* 12-13. '^ 3 a B ♦n -* 01 ■%. 11-12. a a s; H H 00 H to H 10-11. s s, ts OO M to g-10. a * s «o 00 8-9. w -* 8 a OS 00 7-8. to 6-7. s S : 10 5-6. M m M (O Sub-Std. A. . Sub-Std. B. . Standard I. . E 1 5 > 1 > « 1 > ■f 1 112 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE n.95 111 5|| ■gls Sal o z o u D . in '^ 0 « 'd- ■* <0 ■* M H 1 h z »i oi 00 «o « mo m 1 N ■* *n N r\ en % s" II ift 00 m <<• . Over 20. « IN M M M to 19-20. H V) to 18-19. « -* (O N H 17-18. « « (O (O -* -* 00 16-17. « » r^ cn M 10 ft 15-16. Oi *o «) ■* ■* m cn 14-15. H M « * U, 13-14. rs M ts. 00 CO - m ia-13. \o ■* \o 01 N ft 11-12. \0 N N m H lO-II. S " H i 9-10. CO H « « H N 8-9. s « et 7-8. g ■* "8 6-7. ■* — ■* 5-6. XO . « ■st Grades i and 2 . Grade 3 - . . Standard I 1 1 1 1 55 J3 1 THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION II3 ti a V Its Hi IP f:5 I 8 »'E gfl* 5 S 2 ■§■§ " ulO n "-It S S Sis h O bo § I ° Bl Q Q •S-gg s§^ last Iff Total. M H 00 M SB" 1 u Si in Is. 00 « R to & 1 1 I M % S "% 00 \i n » 3 ff 3- J & 1 H H m c* in ro « M CO to ¥ si tn *o ts « 06 ft 1 00 M « tf> N H Over 20. : " « H fo m ft X9-20, • M M N to 00 18-19. M rri * to m M 17-18. M oo m -*■ ft 15-17. lo ta M M « vo M s 15-16. « M « to ft 00 00 00 14-15. H C4 H % V z IH H 13-14- M M >* t s «o to m H ia-13. % ? H ts M to 11-12. H to (O M to N H (O w 10-11. ,? '8 H m M s 9-10. & s tS M H to »^. - 5 o» to 1& 7-8. 00 S" ^ 6-7. !J " ? 5-«. R : s •gf 1^ 19 i? C/l V > 1 c 1 114 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE ^^^M^M^ ■mm.'mm.m.'m^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ m.m.m.m.-m.'m^zs.'mi ^^m ^M^^^^ y/y/yw/////Ay/'/MY///.'/////i'////.i^/A'. yyy/'/.y/My/My/'x/,y/M:yyMyyMy///fy/. y////.Cfyy/:fyyyy.'yy///y/y/iy/y/iy/y/>y/x.'/y/j ^^^ ^z.m.m.m.m.'mi o ^ m-mLw. ^^^ m^^ ^^^^ ^^ 'm.'mmL'^'m's. m^'^si.m.'mmL ^^2^SZS ■m.^^m.'m-^ i ^M^^^ ^ ^^^^^^i ^ ^^^^^s 'm.'zz^-mmLmi.i ■^mLis&mim •^sz.mL'm'm ^M^M ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^2: ^ wL^mm. w.9Ximyyyy/yyyy/Mmyy/y/yyM:<'/xyA m^-z. ^I 'yyyyyy/y/,'yyy/y//y/.yyyy,yyyy,Yyy/ivyyyyK ^MZ ^^S^^ ^M^^S ■m.'sz.m.i mL ^^ ^^ ^£ IM X ^& IS ^ £lD H l^> ^M IS ]^ ^ SSH > u °>« «-- •a "■ o a _ • * SP IP S^ a- o 55 1^ o +••3 so" o ■ THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION II5 These figures, then, cannot be regarded as absolutely accurate, but they are sufficient to show the variability in age of the pupils in the several standards, and to support a plea for Uberty to modify the course of instruction in the case of special pupils or groups of pupils. Especially do they seem to indicate the advisability of regrouping the pupils for such a subject as industrial training. To require boys of fourteen and fifteen to do the simple kindergarten manual occupations suitable for infants of six and seven is obviously absurd. In this connec- tion also the advisabiUty of admitting old pupils to the sub- standards might well be questioned. While it seems harsh to refuse to admit children of fourteen and sixteen to the sub- standards, it is a moot point whether it is not in the interests of those children themselves, as it is certainly in the interests of the class as a whole, to require them to devote themselves entirely to industrial work, or, in the case of the larger insti- tutions, to form a special class for academic studies. Such pupils Ccinnot expect to remain at school for more than a year or two, and the work offered them in the sub-standards is unsuitable. The time-in-school-standard figures, which, in the absence of official records, are based on figures suppUed by the teachers on a form issued by the writer, are very significant. The fact that 67 per cent, of the pupils in Natal schools, 41 per cent, in the Transkei, 54 per cent, in Basutoland, and 67 per cent, in the Transvaal have repeated one or more standards, testifies to tho unsuitabihty of the syllabus, the poorness of the teach- ing, and the rigour of the examinations. The extent of the repetition in the case of the Natal schools is shown in fig. 4 (p. 121). Out of every 100 pupils, 5 have spent one year less than the normal time to reach their present standard ; 27 have spent the normal amount of time ; while 39, 17, and 11 have been retarded one, two, and three or more years respectively. The effect of such excessive retardation is that a very large number of pupils leave school, while those who remain do not receive the instruction adapted to their ability, but they help to swell the numbers of over-age pupils. Il6 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE ts eo M Ol ^ tn O m H Total. 5 s M M H H M i 1 & « IN. O H S* ^ H M- « Ps >o 6 O M r* *s W i (O m S 2- «o u,-^ ts M O t*l O IS. M vp 9 ff s w o ^ z i <0 ts. M ^ '<4- O ^ QO M CO tn lO n O O o ^O 00 O 9 o 0\ N 00 M It H M ' i M •8 J ^ Over la. o II-I2. H H lO-II. tri o m «o 9-10. H H en ° S M 8-9. M O H m 00 o 7-S. M Is « eo in "1 in 00 6-7. M O O VO ■g rI •* VO ~ 1 H 5-6. « «n S 'S g, M o\ H 4-5. ■S "8 2 2 3-4. H M M M H „ „ «-3. o o M M M N ^ FN « tn m H H M H M Ci « « __, - > •91 >• « 1 ■2 1 1 1 "§ 1 ■a 01 A 1 2 1 1 & (A Ul CO CO vi xn THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION II7 Il8 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE @=ff lis ztl TotaL 5J S S t> a S I ^1 ^ ^ in m *o vo « 1 ^ ^ oo a H ^ o m en « ♦ M 5 1 ^i a a s; >g, s ff * i ? S S {? " * S Is Ti O O lO « M ■* * 1 O O en H e. — In the elementary-school course of the Cape Educa- tion Department, which is followed by both European and Native children in the elementary standards, cardboard model- ling is recommended for Standards II., III., and IV., and woodwork is prescribed for Standards V., VI., and VII., and for the training institutions. Seeing, however, that only a few selected Native schools are permitted to undertake work beyond Standard IV., and that the cost of the apparatus for card- board modelling is prohibitive for Native schools, it is only the few boys above Standard IV. (approximately 8 per cent.) ' The exceptions are : — (a) The grant paid for special teachers of needlework in the Native elementary schools of the Cape Province. (b) The grant towards the salary of an industrial teacher in the elementary schools of the Transvaal. {c) The grant on the threepence-for-threepence basis in the Natal elementary schools. 154 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE who receive any training in manual work. Sewing is pre- scribed for all the girls. Natal. — ^No manual or industrial training is prescribed for the boys in standards below Standard V., although, as a matter of fact, school gardens are maintained at many of the schools. In Standards V., VI., and VII. five hours of manual work per week are required. The subjects generally taken are gardening and carpentry. Approximately 4 per cent, of the pupils are receiving this instruction. Sewing is required of the girls in all the standards. Transvaal. — In the new syllabus for Native schools in the Transvaal special emphasis is laid on manual training. Half the school time must be devoted to " training " as distinct from " instruction," and manual work forms a very important part of the " training." Definite instruction in manual training begins in the third-year course and continues through- out the primary school. Sewing and domestic work are required of the girls, while the work of the boys first takes the form of gardening, rudimentary agriculture, basket-making, mat -weaving, brickmaking, the use of carpenter's tools, and then extends to such occupations as road-making, tree-planting, leading water, etc. Orange Free State. — ^In the draft permissive code of the Orange Free State Department a full course in needlework is prescribed for the girls. With regard to the boys the schedule runs : "No scheme is laid down for manual occupation, as this must vary with the environment of the school. Wherever possible, trees should be planted round the school grounds, and vegetable or flower gardens should be laid out. These should be looked after by the bigger boys of the school." Although these regulations exist on paper, they are often evaded in practice. Some of the forms of manual training are too expensive, others are unsuitable owing to the locality of the school, and all suffer from lack of constant and adequate supervision. In all the Native training institutions provision is made for the industrial training of the students. The courses include cookery, laundry-work, sewing for girls, and carpentry, building, and agriculture or gardening for boys. No special provision, however, except in the case of sewmg, is made for THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 155 the instruction of students in msyniual occupations which can be carried out in the ordinary Native day school. Section 4. — ^The Objections to Industrial Training The inadequacy of the provision for manual and industrial training is obvious, and it is now our task to attempt to discover why so little practical support has been given to these subjects when their importance has been generally conceded. The reasons, in the order of their importance, appear to be : A. The high cost of manual and industrial training. B. The opposition of the white industrial classes. C. The attitude of the missionary teachers. D. The opposition of the Natives themselves. A. The High Cost of Industrial Training. — ^While the con- notation of the term " industrial training " is restricted to training in such subjects as carpentry, blacksmithing, waggon- making,and other Europeanmechanical crafts,it is clear that the cost of provision of this type of education even to a very small percentage of the Native pupils would be prohibitive. In- dustrial education in this sense is admittedly the most expensive type of education in view of the initial cost and maintenance of the plant, the wear and tear on apparatus at the hands of learners, the use and misuse of material, and the unmarket- able nature of the usual products. Such forms of industrial training can only adequately be carried on in certain chosen centres, and to attempt to carry it to the ordinary day school would be as impossible as it is undesirable. South Africa does not as yet need a superabundant supply of black skilled labour.^ There is only a very limited amount of industrial work at present required by the Native population itself, and it would be highly undesirable to flood the towns with numbers of black skilled workmen. Such a proceeding would only precipitate race conflict. If, however, the term " industrial training " be extended to include training in such subjects as agriculture, ^ " . . . Nor must it be forgotten that the great demand in South Africa at present is for the unskilled or partially skilled Native labourer." (The South African Native Affairs Commission, 1903-5, Report, section 343.) 156 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE the manipulation of common tools, and instruction in Native crafts and occupations, it can be shown that a considerable extension of such training would be made with Uttle cost to the State and with the greatest benefit to the Native people. B. The Opposition of the White Industrial Classes. — ^That the white industrial classes would not view with satisfaction the education of the Natives in industrial arts can easily be understood. Any considerable influx of skilled Native artisans into the towns and their employment by Europeans would result in a considerable fall in wages. The Native, with a lower standard of Uving, can work for considerably less than the white artisan. The industrial classes have watched the movement of Native education very closely, and on more than one occasion have made their influence felt.^ It was formerly the practice of the industrial schools of Natal to dispose of their products by sale to the pubhc, but in 1898 pressure was brought to bear upon the Government, with the result that no State-aided institution in Natal has since been allowed to sell its industrial products in the open market. At Lovedale, the most important Native training centre in South Africa, special precautions against competition with the Whites are taken. All articles manufactured in the workshops are sold at standard prices, and the institution does not compete for open contracts. The result is that in some of the industrial departments at Lovedale there is not enough work to keep the apprentices busy.* ' The white man's attitude is often beautifully illogical. His idea of Native education is that the Native should be taught to work ; and when the missionary teaches the Natives how to work, the European brings up the charge of unfair industrial competition. ^ A better feeling would appear to be beginning to prevail in the Southern States of America. The Superintendent of Schools in Columbus, Georgia, where industrial training is the staple of the cur- riculum of the Negro schools, speaks of the " cordial and peaceful relations " which exist between the races in the town, and reports with gratification the following declaration from the chief organisation of industrial workers, the State Federation of Labour: "They (the Negroes) are human beings. Whatever will tend to make better citizens of themselves benefits not only the black race, but the white race. The best white people in the South hold forth a helping hand to this people in things material and moral. This is as it should be." (Report, 1914, p. 8.) THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 157 While this jealousy of the European industrial classes towards the industrial training of the Natives can be easily understood, it appears to rest on insufficient grounds. In the first place, the training institutions strain every nerve to induce their apprentices to return to their own people on the completion of their apprenticeship. The Principal of Love- dale, in giving evidence before the South African Economic Commission of 1914, said : " Our object in every case is to make them a lever for the uplifting of their own people. The pupil who goes out from us to a European centre is a direct loss to his own people, and we consider that what we have spent upon him at Lovedale for the purpose I have stated has been a direct loss, and that we have missed our objective." ^ In the second place, it has not been made clear that the Natives who are competing with the Whites received their training at any Native institution. On the other hand, there is evidence to show that the Natives practising skilled trades have been unwittingly trained by the white workmen themselves.^ Thirdly, it is doubtful if the Native will ever become the serious competitor of the skilled white workman, or if he possesses the necessary skill, perseverance, and desire to become really expert in a trade. Evidence both from South Africa and the United States seems to prove that in trades the mass of the Natives do not advance beyond a certain point. Dr A. W. Roberts, a teacher of over thirty years' experience among the Natives, holds that the white men need not have the slightest fear of Native competition in industries, either now or in the future. He admits, as we all must do, that a few exceptional Natives will attain to the white man's skill, but denies that the people as a race can. Their mental and physical limitations, their heredity and tradition, stand in their way, and the Natives do not believe in themselves as the white man does.* The Rev. W. C. Willoughby speaks 1 South African Economic Commission, Report, section 57. At the famous American industrial institutions for Negroes, Hampton and Tuskegee, it is the purpose of the foundations that the students should return to work among their own people. (Cf. Booker Washington, Up from Slavery, pp. 159 et seq.) * See evidence of Mr Gibbs of Lovedale quoted in the Report of the Economic Commission, section 57. ^ South African Economic Commission, 1914. Report, section 57. tSS THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE of his Native apprentices at Tiger Kloof in much the same terms : " They are very quick to learn up to a certain point, but when you get to the point needing more care and exactness a certain number are quite unable to appreciate it. About one-third seem to stick at that point. They can all do a certain amount of rough work, and then in anjH;hing a little finer you lose about a third of your class as far as advance is concerned." ^ The South African Economic Commission of 1914 found that the position of the Natives was negligible as far as skilled trades were concerned. They confined themselves almost exclusively to unskilled work, and had to rely on Whites for direction and initiation. Even the Natives who had it in them to become expert seldom acquired experience by per- severing for a sufficiently lengthy period. Very few even of the exceptional Natives ever got beyond the lower rungs of the industrial ladder, leading from unskilled work to the fully skilled, and they did not seriously attempt to compete with white artisans. The very few skilled Natives experienced great difficulty in securing employment, except perhaps in remote country districts. The amount of skilled labour required by their own people in tribal districts was very small indeed. In the extension of local self-government, and the service of Native councils (as in Basutoland and the Transkei) lay the best ground of hope for the educated Native. While holding the view that in the future a natural outlet for the talents of the skilled and educated Native would be furnished by the develop- ment of his own people, the Commission was of opinion that there should be no legal barriers to prevent Natives or others of the non-white population from engaging in any work above the grade of unskilled.* 1 Rtpori of the Cape Select Committee on Native Education, section 1028. In his interesting account of Tiger Kloof, Dr Willoughby says in connection with this point : " It will be many generations before the African artisan can become skilled in the European sense. He lacks initiative, persistence of purpose, sense of fitness, and what one may call an industrial conscience ; and these qualities cannot be rapidly evolved. He can be taught to do many things to the satis- faction of his own people (whose weaknesses are simikir to his own), and for the general uplift of his own race it is important that he should learn" (p. 67). " South African Economic Commission, Report, section 57. THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 159 While there is little chance of competition between Europeans and Natives with regard to skilled labour, competition in unskilled, work is almost inevitable in the future. The lower wage which the Native will work for appeals to Europeans of Umited means, especially in times of financial depression. The only really satisfactory solution of this question lies in taking steps to train the European youth to be the skilled workman, by the estabhshment of technical institutes, trades schools, etc., and to accept it as inevitable that the unsMUed labour in South Africa wiU in the future be performed by the Black and Coloured people.^ C. The Attitude of the Missionaries. — ^A third reason for the neglect of manual and industrial training in Native schools is due to the want of appreciation of those forms of education on the part of the earlier missionaries who formed the mould in which Native education has since nxn.^ As has been already pointed out, the earUer missionaries were not teachers, but high-minded, self-sacrificing evangelists, whose primary object was to enable the Natives to read and understand the Bible. The content of the education which they gave was entirely literary. They took over from the schools which they had attended in Europe the reading, writing, and arithmetic which they themselves had studied in their young da}^, and could not, of course, be expected to appreciate the value of manual training, which had found no place in their curriculum. Hence a purely academical course of study became traditional for the Native school. The later ^ An interesting incident regarding the relationship of wliite and black workmen took place lately in a large South African town. The Town Council permitted the employment of Native workmen to paint the poles which carry the overhead electric tramcar wires. On a protest being made the blacks were dismissed, and unskilled out-of- work white men employed. The latter, however, on being informed of the danger from Uve wires, refused to paint the upper parts of the poles, so the Natives were reinstated, and one had tiie amusing spec- tacle of seeing Whites doing the simple painting of the trunks of the poles, while tiie Natives up aloft performed the more intricate and dangerous work. ' " There are workers in the (mission) field, for instance, who con- scientiously believe that it is no part of their high vocation to instruct children in the work of clearing a mealie field or of mixing clay for brickmaking." (Report of Cape Education Commission, 1891.) l6o THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE missionaries naturally followed in the lines of their predecessors. Some of these were cognisant of the growing importance of manual work in European education, but felt that the school life of the average Native child was so short that there was no time for more than instruction in the three R's, unmindful of the facts that this instruction was too divorced from their actual experience to be of any permanent value, and that manual work assists mental work to a considerable extent. A third reason for the attitude of the missionaries in the past^ was the desire to induce the Natives to abandon their original habits and customs, and to take on European civilisation as quickly as possible. From missionaries actuated by that motive any respect for Native crafts, and any introduction of them into school work, could not be expected. These, however, were the views of the missionaries of the past. As has been pointed out in the earlier portions of this chapter, the modern missionary joins with other thoughtful students of education and of Native policy in emphasising the importance of manual and industrial training. D. The Opposition from Natives. — The disinclination of the Natives themselves for manual and industrial education in school is due largely to three causes. The Native is naturally indolent, and his ideal of hfe is one of ease. Circumstances have made him the hewer of wood and the drawer of water for the white man. The white man does not work with his hands. He is a " gentleman." The Native beheves that it is education which has made the white man what he is. When he goes to school any attempt to make him do manual work is regarded as a subtle attempt on the white man's part to prevent him from achieving his ideal.^ A second reason is that the Native sees no connection between the manual work taught in schools and his past or future life. Why should he learn to grow vegetables or flowers when he never bothered about them before he came to school, and does not mean to take up market-gardening after he leaves ? A ' Cf. Booker Washington's story of the old darkle who suddenly stopped work in the cotton-field, and, looking towards the skies, said, " O Lawd, de cotton am so grassy, the work am so hard, and the sun am so hot that I believe this darkle am called to preach." {Up from Slavery, p. 160.) THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING l6l third reason is a false sense of pride. The educated Native is sometimes indined to despise the occupations by which his uneducated brethren have to make their hving. He is ashamed to dig and to carry. The attractions of clerical employment are very strong with him, as with all semi-educated people, and he turns eagerly to the school studies which will fit him for the " gentlemanly occupation." ^ * A similar attitude is taken up by some of the Negroes in the Southern States. To the Southern Negro' manual labour is still associated with the condition of slavery. Those who have had to earn their living by manual labour wish their children to escape the same degradation, and insist that their children be given a, " book " education. II CHAPTER IX THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS COMPARED To support further the contention that the present courses of study for Native pupils are unsuitable, the writer, in 1915 and 1916, gave tests in writing, composition, and arithmetic to a number of pupils in certain long-established, permanent, and reputable Native schools in Natal. For the purpose of com- parison, the same tests were given to pupils in certain similar European and Indian schools. For a proper interpretation of the results the following facts should be borne in mind : — 1. The teaching and supervision of the Native schools are less efficient than they are in the European and Indian schools. 2. In spite of this, the course of study attempted in the Native schools, in so far as the subjects or parts of subjects tested are concerned, is as comprehensive and as difficult as that of the European schools. 3. In the case of EngUsh composition, the code requirements are almost the same, in spite of the fact that the Native children do not speak Enghsh at home, and are taught chiefly through the medium of the vernacular for the first two years (Sub- standards A, B, C, and D). 4. The normal time in school for European and Native pupils is the same, viz. two years in the sub-standards, and a year in each of the standards. The average ages for entry, however, are six to eight in the case of Europeans, and seven to nine, or even later, in the case of Natives. 5. The exact ages of a number of the Native pupils cannot be ascertained, but the ages used in the following table are those given by the pupils themselves, and accepted by the authorities. 162 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS 163 6. The tests used are standardised tests designed on scien- tific principles, and of proven utility in measuring class-room achievement. A fuU explanation of the way they were devised cannot be given here, but particulars can be found in the works referred to. 7. The tests were given under strictly defined conditions by thoroughly rehable European principals and superintendents, and can be regarded as entirely trustworthy. 8. As it was not possible to test all the pupils in the schools, a random selection of pupils from each standard was made.* Section i.— The Ages of the Pupils Compared The foUowing table (No. 14) gives the distribution of the ages of the European and Native pupils who underwent the tests. The median ages of the Natives will be seen to be two and a half years in excess of those of the Europeans. This is due partly to late entrance, and partly to excessive non-pro- motion. The educational significance of the facts disclosed is that in the case of the Natives no recognition has been made of the physical, mental, and emotional changes accompanying pubescence. Although definite evidence is wanting, it is generally beUeved that the onset of pubescence takes place earUer in Natives than in Europeans. In any case, we see that in all standards pre-pubescent, pubescent, and post-pubescent pupils are grouped together in the same classes, are working in the same course of study, are taught by the same methods, and are subject to the same kind of disciphne. As will be argued later, the alleged arrest of mental development of pubescent and post-pubescent pupils is probably due largely to the neglect of the significance of pubescence and the imposition of uniform subjects of study and methods of teaching on all pupils alike. At the present stage of development of Native education in 1 The results in each test have been compared with results obtained in certain school systems of the United States, where similar tests and the same methods of scoring have been used. In view of the fact that the pupils in South Africa spend two years in the infant classes, as against the one kindergarten year of American children^ the South African " standard " has been regarded as one year in advance of the American " grade." 164 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE South Africa, adequate remedies for these conditions is frankly impossible. Something can, however, be accomplished if officials will recognise the existence of these conditions in thefr inspections and examinations, and allow and encourage the teachers to modify the course of study and use special methods of teaching in the case of special pupils and groups of pupils. TABLE No. 14 The Distribution of the Pupils tested by Ages Standard ages. It 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 and over i* III. European Indian . Native . IV. European Indian . Native . V. European Indian . Native . VI. European Indian . Native . 116 53 93 87 44 114 92 98 86 22 94 I I 9 I 35 3 2 14 2 8 2 I 41 5 8 19 3 12 4 2 3 15 17 7 14 I? 21 4 I 12 I 2 9 13 26 25 14 16 28 4 12 25 2 5 6 29 13 9 25 15 14 20 28 9 9 I 8 6 2 6 19 4 I 27 15 6 22 4 3 II 3 17 2 5 26 X 7 I 14 I 17 4 9 I 10 2 6 2 4 3 8 I I 2 II-3 I3-I I4-I 12-7 13-7 I5'2 13-2 I4-I 15-5 141 I5'2 16-5 Section 2. — The Test in Writing The Teaching of Writing. — The teaching of writing is begun in the first year of school in the case of Europeans, Indians, and Natives. The method employed is to set " copies " on the blackboard. The Eiiropean children begin with letters and proceed rapidly to words, but the Native children spend a good deal of time writing the constituent parts of letters. THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS 165 Ts 1 ?■ 5 £ " CO s .tj ■0 . = i ?■ ^ 1 CO p^ ^ ' 1 s^-^ 1 ^n 1 -2 §■ = § 1 e; ^ « i 1 g 5*

.'0 ^ ^ ^^ 1 1 1 1 1 1 I < €1 ? 1 0. 1 p i '•V 8 1 1 « « ^ If fl * 2 M = O <» « § " 3 c > ( > 1 i s 3 < 1 1 3 o o 1 1 Jt 1 •5 ^ >$ 1 -*- (Ti 4J THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS 167 The letters and parts of letters to be taught in each class are prescribed in detail in the Native course of study. The European children use paper and pen or pencil, but the Natives do the greater part of their writing on slates. Copybooks are used in both sets of schools. Writing continues to be a separate subject of instruction throughout the Native and Indian schools, but is dropped in Standard V. in the case of the European schools. The subject is considered of the highest importance in the Native and Indian schools, 60 per cent, being the inspector's passing mark for the subject in Native schools. In the European schools good writing is insisted upon, but the subject occupies a more subordinate position. The Nature of the Test. — ^The teachers placed the sentence, " Natal is the most beautiful province of South Africa," on the blackboard, and the children copied it in their best hand- writing as often as they could in five minutes. The papers were scored by the writer, and from two to four helpers, on the Thorndike scale for measuring handwriting.^ The average judgment of the judges was taken as the correct score. For several reasons the scale is graded on the basis of form 4 to 18, but for an interpretation of the table (No. 15) on the following page, it may be taken that 4 means almost and 18 means approximately 100. The Educational Significance of the Results. — ^The following inferences may be made from the results : — 1. In spite of the importance attached to handwriting in the Native schools, the work is not much better than it is in the European schools, where the subject is of minor importance only, and not as good as it is in the Indian schools. 2. The commonly accepted opinion that Native pupils are better than Europeans in the mechanical subjects, such as writing and "straightforward" arithmetic, is not borne out by these results, though the excellence of the Indians is noticeable. 3. Very little improvement takes place in the writing of Europeans, Indians, or Natives after Standard III. The advis- ability, therefore, of spending much time in the formal teach- * Thorndike, E. L., A Scale of Handwriting for Grades 5 to 8, Teachers' College, New York, U.S.A. For a full explanation of how the scale was derived see Teachers' College Record, March 1910, l68 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE TABLE No. 15 The Distribution of Scores on Handwriting of 372 European, 139 Indian, and 407 Native Pupils, by Standards * Score. European. Indian. Native. III. IV. V. VI. III. IV. V. VI. III. IV. V. VI. I 2 3 • ■ 4 • 5 ■ ■ 6 7 • ■ 8 9 ■ . 10 II . 12 13 ■ 14 . . 15 16 . . 17 . . 5 13 24 20 14 2 I I 4 5 20 32 38 14 2 I 15 37 27 5 2 I 2 10 36 32 7 2 3 4 12 10 9 8 2 6 9 17 4 3 I 5 II 4 6 3 3 6 8 5 2 4 11 15 22 10 9 2 3 5 9 22 13 29 26 9 4 2 4 7 27 28 25 13 5 3 13 22 22 22 13 6 Total . Median . 79 12-9 116 12-9 87 i3'8 90 13-9 46 13-4 41 14-2 30 13-8 22 14-3 80 12 2 117 13-4 109 13-6 lOI 14-6 * Comparative standing by median scores in handwriting of Natal schools and certain school systems in the United States : — Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 School. or Standard or . Standard or Standard or Standard III. IV. V. VI. Butte, Montana .... 8-8 8-9 II-6 II'S Connersville, Indiana . lO-O IO-3 II-7 If? Salt Lake City, Utah . lO'7 IIT ii'3 12-1 European schools, Natal . is-9 IS-9 13-8 13-9 Native schools, Natal . X2'2 13-4 I3'6 4-6 Indian schools, Natal . 13-4 14-8 13-8 14-3 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS 169 01 C 1 1 s 1 I in 1 1 1 » 1 S) 1 1 1 S! 1 ^ ^ n, 1 1 9 ^ L (ft ^ at §-- 1 S; H I m f^ Q So ^ ■b ^ •iO c i i ^ i i > to y 9 i 9m _ « S 2 f ^ 5^ fe- S 2 10 170 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE ^ a g S s c S 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 r 1 ■ I I 1 1 c 1 5; 'n'i fi dj ?! % ? s; ■k> !=^ "** :2 M bo a V N Q - <: - < § t5 ? ^ 8 S ■Jl ^[ o _ 2 o a 2 o i6_ x "5 « Si ■< = a bs a bO I ,4 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS 171 ing of writing in the higher standards may be questioned, particularly in view of the short school life of the average Native pupil. 4. The very considerable overlapping of efficiency in the several standards shows that there are a number of pupils in the lower grades who are writing as weU now as they ever will. For these further formal instruction in penmanship is a waste of time. Section 3. — ^The Test in Composition The Teaching of Composition. — ^English is a foreign language to all but a negligible fraction of the Native and Indian children entering school. Oral instruction begins with the naming of objects in the first year in the Native schools, and is continued throughout the course. Written composition begins in the third year (Standard I.) with the writing of sentences. Connected composition begins in Standard III., and is continued through the course. In the European and Indian schools the same general procedure is followed, but the work is begun earlier. The Nature of the Test. — ^The pupils were instructed to write a composition on " How I would spend £3." The time limit was thirty minutes. The results were scored by from two to five competent judges on Thorndike's Pre- liminary Extension of the Hillegas Scale for the Measurement oj Quality in English Composition by Young People} The follow- ing specimens will illustrate the scale of scoring. The scale ranges from o to 10 : — Sample A, rated at 0. Written by Native girl, aged 13, in Standard III. I am divided by 2d if spend with saiy is 2d and Drived five shillings but or divid is 2d and take ^^5 to divid by IS 2d from take five shillings and divided. And wanderful to be 2d or five shiUings. Sample B, rated at i. Written by Native girl, aged 14, in Standard IV. I would spend it with buy a dress and Books, for school and Slates, and buy something for me and buy my exercise ' The way in which the scale was devised is explained in Hillegas' Scale for the Measurement of Quality in English Composition by Young People, Teachers' College, Columbia University, 191 2. 172 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Book or give my sister some other and buy sheep, Goats, and Cattle, Sample C, rated at 2. Written by Native boy, aged 17, in Standard IV. I could spend £5 if I like by going to Durban. I could buy two pairs of boots, at 7/6 each. But if I hke to run on Motor-car I could run. I could send a httle sum of my money to my friend, who is poor. In taking care for myself I could (many) — ^buy many clothes for me. But I could left Durban, for Johannesburg. Because I never be there in ray Ufe. By the money remained from Durban to Johnnesbueg. I could pay a lot of bad troubles, which troubUng me. Sample D, rated at 3. Written by European boy, aged 11, in Standard IV. Once I was given £5 by a man, and I thought to myself how I should spend it, so I told my 4Hy- mother to put ^3 in the Bank. With the other £2 I should have bought a bycel. and a suit of Clothes. Soon I should have bought a hat. Then my money was all finished least it should have, so I told my father to take £2 out of the Bank, till cill my money was finished. Then I should have bought no more but me like a silly should have bought a pair of boots and a pair of stocking and a pair of slippers but I had no more money and could not buy them till I had some more money to do it with. Sample E, rated at 4. Written by European boy, aged 12, in Standard IV. With £5 I should go into a hotel, and have my dinner, and go to the Theatre, to see the performances. I should put £2 in the bank, and go to Isipingo for two days hohday. I should go all round the bay, in a motor boat. I should then go to the Transvaal in a motor car, and dig for gold, with my uncle. I should buy a present for my mother, and I should also treat her to a concert, or a ball and give her, the- a happy times worth. I should think my money, would all be gone, by the time I had anything else to do with it. But I should have been content with -wiB what I had done with it. THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS I73 Sample F, rated at 5. Written by European girl, aged 11, in Standard V. A great friend of mine gave me a present of £5. I went down town to spend it. I bought some useful f^ for my mother which cost me £2. I also gave £1 towards the comforts for the soldiers. I saw marked upon a board. " Belgian Rehef R Fund." Fortunately I had some, to give, and I went inside the shop and handed to a man, behind the counter £1. Now I have £1 left. On my httle cousin's birthday I would Uke to take her to the beach, and to Zoo in the afternoon. When her birthday came, I took her to the beach and several other places, and in the afternoon she told me that she enjoyed herself very much. Having a few shillings left I bought him several things that he wanted. Sample G, rated at 6. Written by European girl, aged 15, in Standard V. ■I-f I had £5 1 would put £1 in the bank for Xmas and would piit .10/ away for mother's birthday and the remain- ing ;f3-io I would spend different ways. First I would send both my father, and brother at the front a huge hamper of fruit which would cost £1. Then I would buy mother a navy blue dress that she fancied so much in Harvey Greenacre's window yesterday which would cost £1-10. With the remaining money I would buy my sister & I some silk for two best dresses. Mine I would Uke made with a gathered skirt at the back and quite plain at the front ; the blouse I would hke cut the Raglin sleeve with pale blue bead buttons right down the front, to the edge of the skirt. With a pale blue ribbon round the waist and the same kind of buttons down the front, with a flop hat to match. Sample 6, rated at 7. Written by European boy, aged 12, in Standard V. I was highly pleased with m5reelf when father gave me for a birthday present, a crisp £s note. " Do good with it my son," he said, as I left the little cottage, which I called home. As I walked towards my 174 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE destination, I noticed a poor farmer tr5dng in vain to sell his goods. I immediately walked towards his little vegatable stall, and bought a dozen eggs. Noting a widow, surrounded by a number of little children, crying for food, I at once gave her my eggs, and gave each cMld six-pence. My sister Lottie, was crying when I reached home. " What is the matter ? " I asked her. " Willie has broken my new doll," she answered. " Never mind, I will buy you another one." exclaimed mother. " No ! " I said, " It is my birthday, and I shall buy it." Mother tried her best to be the buyer. " It costs £4 " she said. But I was determined, and the following day, Lottie was the proud owner of a large doll. The results of the test are as follows : — TABLE No. 16 The Distribution of Composition Scores of 371 European, 139 Indian, and 402 Native Pupils, by Standards * European. Indian. Native. III. IV. 24 69 18 5 V. 28 50 7 2 vi; 26 52 6 4 I III. 2 19 22 3 iv. 8 24 V. 12 16 2 VI. I 9 9 3 III. I I 45 18 9 I IV. 's 45 39 15 10 I V. 16 59 15 19 VI. 32 59 10 Rated at I 2 . . 3 ■ ■ 4 5 ■ • 6 . . 7 ■ • 8 . . 9 27 38 4 I Total . Median . 79 4-1 116 4-5 87 5-3 89 5-4 46 4-1 41 4-5 30 5-2 22 51 75 2-8 118 3-2 109 3-7 lOI 4'3 * The comparative standing by median scores in composition of Natal schools and certain school systems in the United States : — School. Grade 4 or Standard III. Grade 5 or Standardly. Grade 6 or Standard V. Grade 7 or Standard VI. Butte, Montana .... Salt Lake City, Utah . European schools, Natal . Indian schools, Natal . Native schools. Natal. 2-3 2-9 4-1 4-1 2-8 2-8 3-1 4-5 4-5 3-2 3-4 3-8 5-3 5-2 3-7 3-7 4-4 5-4 5-1 4-3 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS I75 1 — 1 9 ^ cr <1) 55 ^ ^ (0 ^ 'xj t :5 N »^ . r •< f < $ "§ r- i» 1 1 , 1 in 1 * 1 eo 1 nl - 1- o IC o s ? 176 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE 8 a f 8 J. ^ » S-'~" 1 a l^1 1 ^ ^ t" 1 J < *o T V) n 1 <; 1 1 to «M - I > i r 9 S ? 8 «= ? s ° s « g 1 e ? g § ^ 1 ^ ^ ,1 •5 § 1 1 L 1 1 1 1 1 1 >> >■ < I* I (0 a THE ACrilEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS 177 The Educational Significance of the Results. — ^As was to be expected, the achievement of the Native pupils ranks consider- ably below that of the Europeans. The difference would probably have been greater had a more suitable subject been chosen. Too often the composition was but an enumeration of articles which could be bought with the money. To this cause must also be attributed the absence of variability. The writer's personal experience is that the Natives are much less variable than Europeans or Indians. Under the circumstances inferences from this test are unsafe. It might be pointed out, however, in passing, that several of the Native pupils wrote two compositions, one in English and the other in Zulu, and that the compositions in the vernacular were superior to those in English. Section 4.— The Tests in Arithmetic The Teaching of Arithmetic. — In European, Indian, and Native schools arithmetic is regarded as the most important subject. The work in the Native schools is more formal than that in the European and Indian schools, owing to the fact that the teachers in the former are less skilled. As regards the work in the four simple rules here tested, the Natives should be in a better position than the Europeans, if early introduction and much practice are the factors deter- mining success. Long sums in addition, subtraction, multi- phcation, and division, which often are given for " busy " or " seat " work, retain their place in Native schools, whereas they have disappeared from most of the European schools. The Nature of the Tests. — ^The tests used were the Courtis Standard Tests in Arithmetic, Series B, in the four simple rules.^ The pecuhar excellence of these tests hes in the fact that there are exactly the same number of processes in each sum of a given kind. The tests are therefore useful in showing how the pupils vary in the several standards and among them- selves, since the child who works ten examples in the given time has achieved twice as ihuch as the child who works five. The tests are printed on paper and handed to the children. The instructions are clearly given, and all that the children have to do is to write down the answers. ' S. A. Courtis, Standard Tests, 82 Eliot Street, Detroit, Mich. 12 178 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE The following instructions and specimens will best illustrate the nature of the tests : — Addition You will be given eight minutes to find the answers to as many of these addition examples (24) as possible. Write the answers on this paper directly underneath the examples. You are not expected to be able to do them all. You will be marked for both speed and accuracy, but it is more important to have your answers right than to try a great many examples. 927 297 136 486 384 176 277 837 379 925 340 765 477 783 445 882 7.56 473 988 524 881 607 682 959 837 983 386 140 266 200 594 603 924 315 353 812 679 366 481 118 no 661 904 466 241 851 778 781 854 794 547 355 796 535 849 756 9t>5 177 192 834 850 323 157 222 344 124 439 5b7 733 229 953 525 Subtraciion You will be given four minutes to find the answers to as many of these subtraction examples (24) as possible. Write the answers on this paper directly underneath the examples. You are not expected to be able to do them all. You wiU be marked for both speed and accuracy, but it is more important to have your answers right than to try a great many examples. 115364741 67298125 92057352 113380936 80195261 29346861 42689037 42556840 Multiplicaiion You will be given six minutes to work as many of these multiplication examples (25) as possible. You are not expected to be able to do them all. Do your work directly on this paper ; use no other. You will be marked for both speed and accuracy, but it is more important to have your answers right than to try a great many examples. 8246 3597 5739 2648 9537 29 73 85 46 92 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS I79 Division You will be given eight minutes to work as many of these division examples (24) as possible. You are not expected to be able to do them all. Do your work directly on this paper ; use no other. You will be marked for both speed and accuracy, but it is more important to have your answers right than to try a great many examples. 25)6775 94)85352 37)9990 86)80066 The performances of the pupils are recorded and illustrated in the following tables and figures : — TABLE No. 17 The Distribution of the Number of Examples correctly worked in the given time by 379 european, i49 indian, and 399 Native Pupils, in the Several Standards Addition. No. of examples correctly worked. European. Indian. Native. III. IV. V. VI. III. 4 IV. I V. I VI. III. 21 IV. 18 V. 8 VI. 6 9 I I I 13 10 2 I 5 I 2 30 27 22 2.5 2 22 9 12 4 10 .■5 I I II 18 20 15 3 17 17 8 5 10 6 3 3 7 18 18 9 4 21 13 14 9 13 12 5 2 8 13 16 14 5 13 13 13 7 2 7 7 I 5 7 7 14 6 II II II 17 3 5 6 4 4 6 .■> 6 7 .5 8 II 10 2 I 2 2 2 2 2 8 2 2 6 5 3 I 2 3 4 3 9 3 I I 10 I I 3 2 10 6 .5 I I I 11 2 7 3 12 2 2 I 2 13 14 2 I 15 I 16 I I 17 I 18 19 20 Total . •■ I 116 87 go 86 ,53 44 30 22 93 114 q8 94 Median scores . 3-» 4-5 5-7 7-0 37 5-3 5-3 6-7 1-8 s 2-8 3-0 3-2 l8o THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE -9- ± -^ = > Is 2 < "0 H ■^ -is- S 9 t -1^ s 5 -+*- ± TS I ? Q Q THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS l8l er 9 o g s e . i 1 ^ ► e \ % s t ^ d § 1 ?: % (D 1 J? s? S 1 F^ ■^ "> as "S ^ 1 \5 1 Si B .a lii t ^ f 5 -2 , 1 ' ■k> 1 S9 S 1 ■ 19 5s > 1 1 ^i f 1 1 5h I 1 1 , 1 r-"" g r 1 1 s « 1 , 1 1 :? ^ 1 1 ■ i & 1, 1 1 % § 1 1 01 S , 1 - "S 1 1 ^ § 2 00820 89. a 'C ^ 1 * E a 5 s s s ^1 1 b So ?i 1 S^ .^ ^ 1 r ;^ 'C: '4 8 1.=^ ^ m ^ ^ •^ «^ ? ?»>■ 1 2 < .S «> § § 1 •• JS tS 1 1 K m 1 J , * S J \ 1 ^ " [1 .1 '^ l 1 1 n « r , 1 •i L 1 - n 1 o l82 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE TABLE No. i8 The Distribution of the Number of Examples correctly worked in the given tlme by 379 european, i49 indian, and 399 Native Pupils, in the several Standards Subtraction. No. of European. Indian. Native. examples correctly worked. I] [I. IV. V. VI. I II. IV. V. VI. I] I [I. 4 IV. 2 V. VI. 9 i 4 I I ] [0 2 I I I 7 I I 2 1 6 4 2 I 5 4 I I 9 16 3 3 1 5 14 5 3 8 2 I 7 13 5 2 4 '- !7 10 16 5 8 4 3 2 I 2 23 8 14 5 I 6 15 8 7 5 10 I 7 15 18 7 6 I 10 15 19 8 7 3 6 12 20 17 7 8 8 6 10 3 2 4 I 5 14 16 12 8 4 5 9 7 8 5 7 I 2 4 13 10 9 I 3 4 8 3 3 I 4 I 7 9 12 lo 5 5 4 I 3 3 I I 3 II 5 4 2 2 5 3 ■ 2 3 12 2 2 4 I 1 I 13 3 3 I 4 14 2 5 2 I 3 • 2 2 15 2 3 I 2 16 I 3 I 3 17 I 18 I 2 I 19 20 •• I 2 Total . I] 6 87 90 86 53 44 30 22 9 3 114 98 94 Median scores . 4 •3 5-8 6-9 7-8 . )-4 6-3 8-0 10-3 3 •2 4-8 6-7 7-5 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS 183 f; !J •u ^ c ^ ■5 "i; 8 ^3 1 (ti 5 ^ ^ u. 1 , 1 J 1 1, 1 1 1 1 1 , , 1 1 1 1 , 1 ,1 1 , t 1 1 1 , 1 1 s 3 c . s 3 i ? S i 5 9 -a ^ Tij I JB. -C- -A) -S I I a o ■a u I 3 I 3 51 M g Q a H Oi ^ O o O o 184 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE S s > ■ < ' s > 5 < ? 1 Jii 1 :^ 1 ff ^3 r ^ S ,1 ^ >, 1^ ^ 1 5 1 .^ 1 1. ^ 1 ^ J r 1 1 I J 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ^ 2} M N > - n re ■< n «3 * -S S i ? ^ g 5 g 9 r n » L « ^ n 1^ s 1 > s § ^s. ^ a ? Tl 1 5 ,3 1, >^ ^ 2 It s , 1 f z . 1 e 1 f 0> 1 , 1 ID 1 1 1 ^ 1 to 1 I In 1 1 1 , ♦ 1 m 1 r4 I z ' THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS 185 TABLE No. 19 The Distribution of the Number of Examples correctly worked IN the given Time by 379 European, 149 Indian, and 399 Native Pupils, in the Several Standards Multiplication. No. of European. Indian. Native. examples correctly worked. 111. IV. 6 V. 0. VI. I 111. 10 IV. 3 V. I VI. 111. 44 IV. V. VI. 7 28 16 5 I 24 6 4 10 I 2 I 18 31 8 3 2 19 8 9 I 10 4 15 18 19 7 3 15 22 7 3 9 6 6 I 7 12 16 16 4 19 10 9 8 9 10 7 2 6 21 25 13 5 5 19 14 9 4 7 3 I 2 7 11 23 6 2 8 II II I 9 2 2 5 10 10 7 3 3 12 12 2 3 I 4 2 7 8 I 3 9 7 2 3 3 2 3 9 I 2 II I 5 10 I 3 8 2 2 I II 6 3 I 2 12 2 6 13 I 4 14 Total . •• I 2 •• 116 87 90 86 53 44 30 22 93 114 98 94 Median . 2-3 4-2 6-2 7-6 2-7 4.8 4'9 8-7 1-2 2-5 41 4-9 l86 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOtTTH AFRICAN NATIVE 4 5 01 ^ r- 1 ^ 1 ^ .^ 2 g J 1 ^ — _ o>> •4 1 ^ " '^^ * 2 1 1 ;^ i 1 + 1 1 1 lO 1 1 , 1 N ■ 1 . 1 O i £ i so S $9c> Si39o - « a M ^ Z 1 .Jb 5? 2 1 ^ "iS 0) ki 1 •< ^' 1 ^ ; 1 •2 J 1 ,1 «>^ 1 1 *=^ 1 1 «) 1 1 CM I - 1 1 O S 2 o i ( s o s fl ? g i ; 2 c THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS 187 s s s a JS 9 S s J. r t ^ 1 § 2? ^ ^ 2 •> M -^ , 3 1 z HJ 1 <: 1 1 1 m 00 1 N 1 1, 1 10 1(5 1 , . 1 *■ 1 <0 1 1. «l 1 1 « S 2. < R S 2 g J f 2 1 1 1 a i!> 1 ^ *> N .^^ 1 "^ ^ Z CI 1 -J at t Standard III. Standard IV. 'T LI 1 1 TTI ihnaeu -- :I::_^: - _ fc *rt - -Ztd'^Q-j.io _.---- - - _ _ lO - " - " 1 23466789 ilii rz 13 w IS 16 IT 18 sw" Standard V. . ,. t u ■d '< n 10 90 ■ - - J ■ ' J _ -J ■^ - / so 10 eo " . . V • ■ J - A a U V' -' -■ ■ _. - TTP, jl 4 sk 76 ! 110 II 1 M ♦1 15 IS 17 w 19 J Standard VI. Fig. II. — Showing in percentages the distribution of examples correctly worked in division. iqo THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE TABLE No. 21 The Comparative Standing by Median Scores in the Funda- mentals OF Arithmetic of Natal Schools and those of CERTAIN School Systems in the United States AdditioD. MultiplicaUon. Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 or or or or or or Std. IV. Std. V. Std. VI. Std. IV. Std. V. Std. VI. 3-9 4'6 5-4 Detroit. 3-8 4-8 6-0 3;- 4-9 S-6 Boston. 3-3 4-8 5-1 3-9 4-4 4-7 Other cities. 2-6 4-5 5-2 2-9 3'4 3-8 Butte. 4-1 5'o 6'5 4-1 6-4 6-9 Salt Lake City. 4-3 5-3 71 4-5 5-7 7-0 Europeans, Natal. 4-2 6-2 7-8 5-3 5-3 67 Indians, Natal. 4-8 4-9 8-7 2-8 3-0 3'2 Natives, Natal. 2-5 4'i 4-9 Subtraction. Division. Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 or or or or or or Std. IV. Std. V. Std. VI. Std. IV. Std. V. Std. VI. 5-5 6-2 7-3 Detroit. 2-7 4-4 7-1 4-9 6-3 6-9 Boston. 2-0 3-3 5-I 4-5 6-1 7'8 Other cities. 2-3 4-3 5-8 2-9 3-4 3-8 Butte. 3-6 4-3 7-2 5-2 ya 8-8 Salt Lake City. 3-0 5-5 7-7 5-8 6.9 7-8 Europeans, Natal. 3-1 5-8 8-5 6-3 8-0 IO-3 Indians, Natal, 4-4 5'6 8-7 4-8 6-7 7-5 Natives, Natal. 2-4 3-4 5-S Section 5. — Speed and Accuracy The tests in the fundamentals of arithmetic afford us an opportunity of gauging the relative quickness of the three races in the mental processes involved. In the following table speed represents the median number of examples com- pleted in the given time, and accuracy the percentage of examples worked correctly. The quickness of the Indians and the comparative slowness of the Native pupils are most marked. THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS I9I TABLE No. 22 Comparing the Speed and Accuracy of European, Indian, and Native Pupils in the Fundamentai. Operations of Arith- metic Addition. Subtraction. Multiplica- tion. Divisioii. Speed. Accu- racy. Speed. AccU' racy. Speed. Accu- racy. Speed. Accu- racy. III. European Indian . Native . IV. European Indian . Native . V. European Indian . Native . VI. European Indian . Native . 6-2 5-7 3-4 6-4 7-0 3-9 8-3 7-0 4-4 9.7 9-8 5-1 Per cent. 61 58 53 70 6g 72 69 69 68 72 75 63 6-0 6-3 50 7-2 7-8 6-3 8-5 9-4 8-0 10-2 12-7 9-5 Per cent. 72 78 64 80 83 76 8i 79 84 76 76 79 4-6 4-3 2-8 5-8 6-2 4-0 8-1 7-4 4.9 9.7 lO-O 6-1 Per cent. 50 51 43 72 69 62 77 ^* 84 80 73 80 2-6 2-3 2-3 4-3 5-3 4-1 7-0 6-8 4-5 9-3 9-9 6-3 Per cent. 50 61 35 72 81 59 83 77 75 91 81 92 Section 6.— The Educational Significance of the Results in Arithmetic The tests in the fundamental operations of arithmetic are probably the best criteria of the comparative efficiency of the three races in school subjects, inasmuch as the subject is con- sidered of prime importance in both types of schools, and the differentiating factor of language is not here operative. It wiU be noticed in the first place that, although the Native pupils are very much slower than the Europeans, they are not quite so accurate. This goes to confirm the behef that " sureness " is not a necessary corollary to " slowness," and is in keeping with the common opinion that the South African 192 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Native is slower than the European in all types of activity, and is satisfied with a considerably less degree of completeness and exactness .1 In school practice it points to less stringent requirements from Native pupils than from Europeans in both teaching and examination. The fact that the Native child is from 30 to 100 per cent, slower than the European child in working arithmetical examples is very significant. The slowness of the South African Native has become proverbial, and in their poUtical, social, and domestic dealings with the Natives the greatest mistakes made by the Europeans have been in neglecting to make allowance for the slowness of the Native people. We have seen how the early missionaries attempted to proceed too rapidly with their work among the Natives ; and to this day one of the most difficult problems confronting the missionary is to prevent retrogression. Similar mistakes have been made, and are still being made, in educational work among the South African Natives. Until we realise that our educa- tional programme must be based upon the peculiar character- istics of the people we are doomed to disappointment. The absurdity of imposing the same curriculum upon the children of both races is apparent. The curriculum for Native pupils must be different from that of the Europeans ; and where the subjects are the same, considerably less in the way of achievement must be expected from the slower race. A third fact of great significance is the greater variability of the Eiuropeans in their arithmetical achievements. While the Natives vary more than the Whites in their ages, they are much more uniform in their achievements. This fact is of much importance for the probable future of the races, and points to the continued dominance of the European.^ Section 7.— Conclusions Our investigation into the comparative achievements of European, Indian, and Native pupils leads to the following conclusions : — ' See Report of the Cape Select Committee on Native Education, 1908, section 1028. * See Thorndike, Educational Psychology, vol. iii., chaps, ix. and x., for a treatment of the significance of variability. THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EUROPEAN AND NATIVE PUPILS Ig3 1. The Native pupils tested were from two to three years older than the Europeans of the same standards, and from three to five years older in physical maturity. No allowance has been made in curriculum, methods, or discipline for the phjreical, mental, and emotional differences between pre- pubescent and pubescent or post-pubescent children. This would probably account largely for the so-caUed arrested mental development of pubescent and post-pubescent Native pupils. The only remedy available at present, when Native pupils enter school at such different ages, is to encourage teachers to modify curriculum and methods to suit these pupils, and to advance them as rapidly as possible. 2. There is a considerable amount of overlapping^ in the several standards of European, Indian, and Native schools. Where it is not possible to regroup pupils in accordance with their standard of achievement in each subject, they should be allowed to devote their time to work in other subjects. 3. The formal teaching of handwriting is of little value in and after Standard IV. The high standard already achieved could be maintained by insistence on good writing in all subjects, and the time thus saved might be devoted to other subjects. This is of prime importance because of the short school life of Native pupils. 4. In arithmetic the Native pupils are very much slower, less acciurate, and less variable than the Europeans. This fact has important bearing on the curriculum, which should be considerably simpler than that of the European pupils. 13 CHAPTER X THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION PART J. THE MENTAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIVE Dr John Adams, in his brilliant and entertaining study of the psychology of Herbart/ points out that when " the master teaches John Latin," it was formerly only considered necessary to know Latin, but that nowadays the master must know John. So with us. If we hope to build up a satisfactory system of Native education in South Africa we must first know the Native. The importance of psychology in education is twofold. On the one hand, it is one of the basal subjects, and, along with biology, sociology, and philosophy, provides us with a mass of rationalised knowledge on which a system of education must be founded. On the other hand, it becomes a pro- fessional subject, and, by explaining how the mind develops and acts, shows the educator how to bring about those mental changes in knowledge and character which we call education. The study of child psychology derived from observation of experiments with Caucasian children has given us sufficient reliable data regarding the mental processes and developinent of young children on which to base a system of education; but when we seek to make use of that data in preparing a system of education for the Bantu child, we are confronted with a serious difficulty. Is the psychology of the Bantu child the same as that of the Caucasian ? ^ Herbardan Psychology, chap. ii. 194 THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION I95 Section i. — General Studies in Racial Psychology The scientififc study of racial psychology is still in its infancy. GeneraUsations from individual cases or from the observations of travellers are at least as old as Herodotus, but the first real attempts to apply objective and quantitative methods to the questions of race psychology were those of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Straits in 1891.^ The next important study was that conducted by Professor R. S. Woodworth at the St Louis Exposition in 1904.'' In both cases the qualities tested were motory and sensory processes, and some of the simpler and higher mental pro- cesses. The conclusions arrived at by the two studies are in general agreement. The widespread notion that uncivilised peoples are more acute in vision and hearing is not borne out by the results. Primitive people appear to be superior to Europeans in their sense of touch, but inferior in their sense of pain. The sense of smell is about the same in all races. In accuracy in tapping marked differences were noted, and in the " form-board " test (i.e. fitting differently shaped blocks into their proper grooves) the races experimented- upon seemed to divide into two groups of widely different ability. The reader is referred to the reports themselves for details. All we can do here is to give the general conclusions that there is very httle difference between races in sensory and motor processes and the simpler mental activities, but that there are apparently wide differences in general inteUigence in the higher mental processes. Section 2. — Studies of School Children of Different Races in the United States While there is a pressing need for further experimenta- tion along the Unes of these studies, our present interest is to discover what mental differences (if any) exist between European and Native school children. The writer beUeves that the experiments reported below are the only ones which have been made on the Native children of South Africa, but 1 Reported in the Report of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition. ' Reported in Science, February 19 10, " Racial Differences in Mental Traits." 196 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE three studies which have been made in the United States on the comparative intelligence of White and Negro children are interesting and suggestive. In 1913 Dr Marion J. Mayo endeavoured to find out the differences in mental capacity between White and Negro pupils as far as this capacity is exercised in school work.^ His method was to compare the school marks of the 150 White and the same number of Coloured * pupils in the high schools of the city of New York, where both sets of pupils attend the same schools, pursue the same branches of study, are measured by the same standards, and have received the same kind of previous school training. The results are summarised by Rrofessor Thorndike as follows: — ^ 1. On the average Coloured pupils are seven months older than the Whites, only 36 per cent, of them being as young as the median White. 2. The Coloured pupils continue longer in the high school. 3. In achievement in the different studies they are some- what, but not very much, inferior to the Whites. The general tendency is for only three-tenths of them to reach the median record for Whites. 4. The difference is greatest in the case of English, in which only 24 per cent, of the Coloured pupils reach or exceed the median for Whites. 5. The coloured pupils are perhaps a Uttle less variable than the whites. In 1913 Professor W. H. Pyle began a series of experimental studies on the mentality of the Negro. The investigations are not yet completed, but the results attained so far are interesting and suggestive.* The tests were four tests of memory, two tests of quickness 1 " The Mental Capacity of the American Negro," Columbia Contribu- tions to Philosophy and Psychology, vol. xxii.. No. 2. " " Coloured " includes both pure Negroes and Mulattoes. Dr Mayo was compelled, through difficulties of classification, to abandon his attempt to separate the Coloured pupils into sub-groups on the basis of the degree of race mixture. » Educational Psychology, vol. iii. p. 208. * An account of the results so far obtained are presented by Professor Pyle in the March 1915 number of School and Society, vol. i.. No. 10. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 197 of learning, four tests of association, two word-building tests, and one ink-blot test. The tests were particularly suitable in that they are largely tests of natural abiUty and not of the results of school training. The whole number of pupils tested was 408. The results are grouped under ages ; but since the number of some ages examined was not great enough for reUability, Professor Pyle finds the averages of attainment in each test, and regards these as the most reliable index' for comparison. TABLE No. 23 Boys. Girls. White. Negro. White. Negro. Logical memory, immediate Logical memory, permanent Rote memory, concrete Rote memory, abstract Substitution, symbol — digit Substitution, digit — symbol Controlled association, opposites Controlled association, genus — species Controlled association, part — whole ... Free association Word-building, a, e, 0, b, m, t . Word-building, a, e, i, r, 1, p . Cancellation, "A" test . Ink blots 23-5 10-8 37-4 31-4 19-4 l8-5 12-3 8-7 lO'I 32-0 IO-8 n-3 12-8 8-5 19-4 9-5 29-3 19-7 9-6 8-2 5-5 2-2 4-2 20'0 5-2 6-0 12-6 6-9 25-3 II-7 39-0 32-8 22-4 21-5 13-4 9-8 IO-3 35-4 I2'0 I3-0 'it 19-9 9-3 32-4 22-9 10-8 9-4 7-2 3-6 4-8 30-0 5-9 5-1 15-8 6.5 The conclusions arrived at by Professor Pyle may be sum- marised as follows : — 1. The marks indicating the mental ability of the Negro are about two-thirds of those of the Whites. About one-fifth of the Negroes are equal or superior to the average of the Whites, while three-fourtlB of the Whites are equal or superior to the average of the Negroes. 2. In botkraces the girls are superior to the boys, but there 40 35 90 25 iO ti 10 s • ■ ■ •**••■ ....m/ies BOYS Negroet ■ . 1 ■\ f 1 1 1 f \ « ( 1 t 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / \ • t % > Y 1 \ • \ 1 \^ If 1/ \ \ V • 1 / \ 1 \ if \ \ '••., * / '""? \ '•. ..••■' / \ / V -^ filRL S 40 35 30 • \ 1 1 \ \ • ^ • % 7 \ v' , • / 1 f \ uo i \ • 1 f \ 1 1 1 \ 1 IS Y 7 \ '••n 1 / • 1 It ■"/ \ 10 5 ^ N / \ X 'Ec§ 5.1 S 2 » a 1*1 ii-tl a".sp ^ i| Is Q io WO ■§| O ffl I 2» §11 1 si U 3 S'O S S s - Fig. i2.^-Showing comparative scores of Whites and Negroes in tests of mental ability (after Pyle). • THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 199 is greater diiference between Negro boys and girls than there is between White boys and girls. 3. With increasing age there is a tendency for the difference between Whites and Negroes to become less. 4. If the Negro children are separated into two groups according to social position, it is found that Negro boys of the better social class have about four-fifths of the ability of White boys, and Negro girls of the better social class have an ability which is three-fourths that of the White girls. 5. The superiority of the Negroes of the better social class may be due to their superior environment and conditions of life, or to the fact that they have White blood in them. In 1913 Louise F. Perring endeavoured to find out how the Negro compared with the White child in taking up the White child's course of study.^ The study was made in a school in Philadelphia where the Negroes form about 40 per cent, of the school population. The Negro children are not segregated, but are taught in the same classes and by the same teachers, use the same text-books, and are subject to the same super- vision and disciphne as the other children. Miss Perring used as the basis for her comparisons (a) the percentage of retarda- tion of each race, (6) the extent of the retardation. The number of children studied was 417 Whites and 175 Negroes. Of the Whites 77 boys and 77 girls were in the Grammar Grades (our Standards IV.-VII.), and 143 boys and 120 girls in the Primary Grades (our Standards I.-IIL), Of the Negroes 17 "boys and 28 girls were in the Grammar Grades, and 53 boys and 77 girls in the Primary Grades. The percentages of retardation were as follows: — Boys. -Girls. Totals. Gram- mar. # Prim- ary. Gram- mar. Prim- ary. Gram- mar. Prim- ary. White . Negro . 37-6 52-9 32-8 34-5 29-8 37'i 29-1 59-7 33-7 55-5 3I-I 59-2 Study reported in the Psychological Clinic, May 1915. 200 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE The ejctent of the retardation was as f oUo WS Boys. Girls. Totals. Gram- Prim- Gram- Prim- Gram- Prim- Extent of retardation. mar. ary. mar. ary. mar. ary. 1 '^ 1 ll 1 i 1 1 ." 1 Retarded i year 22 3 25 13 '7 7 20 i8 39 10 45 31 2 years 4 6 .13 9 6 5 8 15 lO II 21 24 „ 3 .. 2 7 8 3 7 7 2 3 14 15 4 .. I I o I 3 I I I 3 „ 5 „ o 2 , . I 2 6 „ . , I O I 7 .. I Miss Perring shows that the non'promotion of the Negroes is not due to poorer physical condition, by publishing figures from the medical record of these pupils. The average number of defects per pupil was '54 and '69 in the case of the Grammar and Primary Grade White pupils, and only 'Si and -40 in the case of the Negro pupils. On an average the Negro pupils were "6 and -7 years older than the Whites in the Grammar and Primary Grades respectively. Miss Perring's conclusion is that we are justified in saying that the Negro boy or girl is not getting what he ought to get in our schools, arranged as they are on a basis of European tradition. Whether the Negro has or has not a less keen intellect than the Caucasian is beside the point. His mind is evidently not hke the mind of those with whom he is associated in the present investigation, which was as fair to him as possible. If we are going to give the Negro eight years of education in not over ten years, it must be a different sort of education from that which we try to instil into the minds of White children. To be sure, we only measurably succeed with the latter, and in so far as we fail our method and our materials are probably wrong ; but they are probably twice as far wrong when we attempt to force them upon tTie Negro. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 201 Section 3. — ^A Study of School Children of Different Races in South Africa In 1915 and 1916 the writer applied Professor Pyle's tests to 328 European, 176 Indian, and 281 Native children in Govern- ment and Government-aided schools in Natal.^ The children consisted of both boys and girls, and were selected at random. The following tests were used : — 1. Logical Memory. — ^The object of this test is to determine the child's immediate memory for ideas. Whipple's story " The Marble Statue " was used. The piece was read slowly and distinctly to the pupils, who were then required to reproduce as much as they could remember. The time of reproduction was not Umited, except that when each child had written all that he or she could recall, the papers were taken up. One point was given for each idea correctly reproduced. 2. Rote Memory, Concrete. — ^The object of this test is to determine the immediate memory of the pupil for unrelated impressions. Six groups of concrete words containing 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 words respectively {e.g. cat, tree, coat, mule, bird, cart, glass, etc.) were read to the pupils, group by group, and the children were required to reproduce them on paper.* A word remembered at all counts one point ; if in its proper place, two points. The possible score is 66 points. 3. Rote Memory, Abstract. — ^The same as the above, except that the words represent abstract ideas {e.g., good, black, fast, clean, tall, round, hot, etc.).* 4. Substitution, Symbol Digit. — This is a test of quickness of learning, and represents the speed with which a person can build up new associations. Each pupil was supplied with a sheet containing forty numbers of five digits each. At the top of the sheet is a key giving a symbol (e.g. A x =) for each digit, and the pupils are required to substitute symbols for digits. The time dlowed was eight minutes for Standards up to Standard III. inclusive, and five minutes for Standards IV. and over. The scores are reduced to the number of substitutions made per minute. 5. Substitution, Digit Symbol. — ^A similar test to No. 4, except 1 Pyle, W. H., The Examination of School Children, 1913, New York, The Macmillan Co. ' The words chosen were such as would be familiar to all pupils. 202 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE that the child was given the symbols and required to substitute the equivalent digits. The symbols are different from those in test 4. 6. Word-building with the Letters a, e, 0, b, m, t. — This is a test of ingenuity, involving memory, attention, and association. The pupil is required to build as many real English words as he can in five minutes, with these letters only. The words need not contain all the letters. 7. Word-building with the Letters a, e, i, r, I, p. — ^A similar test to No. 6. 8. Free Association. — ^This test determines the rapidity of flow of the pupil's ideas, when no Umitation is put upon the flow. The children were given the word " dog," and instructed to write down as fast as possible all the other words which came into their minds. The time allowed was three minutes. 9. Controlled Association, Opposites. — ^The object of the association tests is to ascertain the extent of the flow of ideas when subjected to certain limitations. The processes involved are similar to those involved in solving a real hfe problem, where our thoughts are controlled by limiting factors. The opposites test consisted of twenty words (north, out, black, etc.), to each of which the pupils were to write the word con- taining an opposite idea. The time Umits were sixty seconds for pupils in Standards I.-III., and forty-five seconds for pupils in Standards IV. afed over. The scores are reduced to speed p^: minute. 10. Controlled Association, Genus, Species. — This test is similar to No. g, except that the twenty words represent class names [e.g. mountain, city, weed), and tiie pupils were required to name an example or species under each class. Time limit and method of scoring as in test No. 9. 11. Controlled Association, Part, Whole. — Each of the twenty words represented a whole (e.g. window, leaf, pillow), and the pupils were required to write down a word which named a part of it. Time limits and method of scoring as in test No. 9. 12. The Cancellation Test, — ^The pupils were required to cancel the a's in a printed sheet containing all the letters of the alphabet, placed together in no definite order. The score is the number of a's marked per minute. The time limits were two minutes in Standards I.-III., and ninety seconds in THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 203 Standards IV. and over, but the scores were reduced to the number of a's marked per minute. This test determines quick- ness of perception, discrimination, and quickness of reaction. The results in average scores for each age-group are as follows : — TABLE No. 24 Showing the Average Scores of European, Indian, and Native Pupils in certain Tests Ages . . 9. 10. II. 12. 13. 14- 13. 16. 17. 18. Aver." age. European . 30 41 33 33 36 33 30 44 31 17 Number of cases. Indian . 18 26 21 24 22 21 25 15 2 2 Native . 8 32 23 29 24 39 29 34 33 30 •• Logical memory. European . 28-1 30'6 36.3 37>b 35-0 43-0 42-7 40-9 42'9 387 377 A.D. . S-0 S-9 BS «-0 5-2 4-3 *7 4-0 ^'3 3-0 Indian 17-1 i8-3 21'3 17-0 24-6 26-9 31'2 27-2 39-0 32-0 25-5 A.D. . . 7-8 9-8 101 8-3 8-3 90 8-4 Ifl-2 20 30 Native IO*2 8-2 13-5 9.0 I9'9 21-5 28-8 35'9 39'8 37-2 22-2 A.D. . 3-1 ae 7-1 J-S 9-J ?■« «-2 5-7 ^7 fi-9 Rote memory, European . 35-9 42-4 47-5 47-2 49-9 53-4 56-1 55-3 Ji-7 53-1 49-2 concrete. A.D. . 4-2 6-2 4-3 i-fi i-4 «-J 7-0 6-3 3« 7-3 Indian 32-3 34-7 35-1 33-9 4-13 39-9 43-7 42-5 44'5 44-0 39-3 A.D. . e-t S-5 5-1 S-4 4-9 6-0 4-4 4-4 1-5 60 Native 25'0 21'5 28-5 24-5 33-7 37.2 42-2 45-1 45-s 47-4 35-0 A.D. . r-2 i-7 7-4 i-2 «..3 £-8 £•2 ^-9 ^■7 3-7 Rote memory. European . 33'0 37-9 43' I 44-3 45-2 52'7 57-4 51"? 58-5 547 477 abstract. A.D. . 6-4 6-3 61 4-1 50 SI 7-3 8-1 3-7 8-4 Indian 30'6 32'0 31-9 32'6 37-5 40-5 41-1 43-6 44-5 38-5 37-3 A.D. . r-3 6-6 e-9 «•« 5-7 £•9 £'9 9fi 2-5 3-3 Native . 20'0 19-4 26-7 23'5 31-7 34-8 35-0 45-7 45'i 37-5 si's A.D. . e-0 e-1 7-4 fi-« «•» 6-1 70 fi-1 <-9 ;0-j! Substitution. European . 23'4 20*0 J8-5 17-6 21-4 27-2 29-3 27-1 28-3 3-3 25-6 23-8 symbol— digit. A.D. . 9-1 6-7 4-4, 33 4-1 3-« 61 4-5 6-0 Indian 3-0 10-2 14- 1 ri-8 17-8 i8-8 I9-2 23'5 13-9 I7'4 14-9 A.D. . S-7 4-9 5-5 £'2 ^■i 3-7 2-S ^'U 0-1 Native 5-5 4'7 7'3 5-6 lf9 14-8 iS-i I9'3 20-1 22*1 149 A.D. . . 1'9 2-3 4-6 3-i 6-1 4-7 4-S 6-0 3-1 «•« Substitution, European . U% 19.2 iS-o X9'0 23-4 30'2 20-8 30-1 29'2 2B'8 24'2 digit— symbol. A.D. . 4-3 4'2 2-9 a-« <-9 ^'S <•! 3-0 3-6 6-2 Indian 9.3 it'8 14*6 12-2 I6'2 20'0 21-3 24-8 I9-S li 16-9 A.D. . S-3 3-8 4-4 ^■5 ^■2 31 ^.^ ^'3 O'i Native . 3-t 4-0 4'1 3-5 8-9 10-5 15-8 20*0 ig-l 19-2 IO'8 A.D. . 1-1 21 3-1 2-1 4-6 4-7 4-1 41 i-l 3-J Word-buading, European . 9-3 87 ii'I 10-8 II-5 I3'6 13-4 I3-3 r6*a 15-0 12-2 A,E,0,3,MT. A.D. . . 2-7 2-3 2-5 2-0 ^■2 2« 3-3 3-J 2-S 2-7 Native 6-2 8-6 8-2 7-7 lO'O I3-I 12-0 14-5 i4'0 17-0 III A.D. . 2-8 2-8 3-1 2-3 30 6-e «■« 2-3 10 10 Indian 4-5 2-4 3-a 3-0 4-6 61 8-6 lO'S ii-i II-2 5'5 A.D. . 1-3 10 JB J-3 !■» 2-S 3-8 2-6 2-3 3-7 204 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE TABLE No. 24 — continued Ages . . . 9- zo. II. 12. 13. M- 15- 16. 17. 18. Aver- age. ' European . 30 14 33 33 36 33 30 44 31 17 Number oi cases. Indian 18 26 2X 24 22 21 25 15 2 2 Native 8 32 23 29 24 39 39 34 33 30 Word . buUding, European . 6-6 7-7 ia'8 10-5 I0'8 162 I5'6 15-1 S2-2 16-5 13-2 A,E,I.R,L,P. A.D. . 1-5 2-4 30 2-8 2-B 3-2 3-9 3.4 ^•3 3-3 Indian 6*0 7-5 7-1 6-2 9-9 10-8 I2-0 12-2 13-5 12-3 9-'8 A.D. . 31 31 31 2-1 2-8 4-B 4-0 31 OS IS Native . 2-5 1-5 yo 2-9 3-3 5'6 7-8 lO'S 12-5 13-8 6-4 A.D. . 0-7 0-6 1-2 1-3 2-5 2-7 3-1 2-7 3-ff 3-< Free association. European . 23-6 28-3 286 37-8 43-4 46-2 54-3 501 44-1 49-2 40-6 A.D. . S-4 ,«-i «-2 7-0 fi-« JI-3 «■« lff-0 7-9 220 Indian 25'+ 28-1 20-8 29.9 36-8 44-8 44-8 46-7 57-5 55-5 39-9 A.D. . 8-S 83 8-7 7-6 8-2 98 10-2 1-S 2-S Ifi-3 Native 20-0 l8-8 20-3 22-1 29-4 3i'7 34-6 35-1 35-0 34-6 28'2 A.D. . . 4-8 7-3 £-^ «'£ j'8 7-« 4-9 91 22-9 7-e Controlled European . 8-6 6-4 9-5 10-6 12-4 19-0 20'2 20'9 21'5 21-3 150 association, A.D. . S-3 4.4 1-6 1-7 3-7 3-2 3-4 4-1 28 4-1 opposites. Indian 3.9 4-0 4-0 4-0 5'S 6-9 7-3 II-6 12*0 I2-0 7-1 A.D. . . 21 2-2 2-3 2-1 2-5 3-2 3-3 2-9 30 30 Native 0-8 1-3 2*0 1-7 4'5 5-8 8-6 9-9 9-9 Z2'I 5-7 A.D. . OS OS I» 0-7 2-^ 2-fl 2-2 20 fi-J 3-2 Controlled European '. 2-6 2*0 3-8 5-1 6'S 12-8 12-3 "■5 1 1*0 12*2 8-0 association, A.D. . 1-3 11 2-2 2'7 4-0 3S 3-0 4-7 2S e-1 genus — species. Indian 2-4 2-7 40 3-4 56 7-6 8-5 lO'I I2'5 12-5 e'g A.D. . . 1-1 1-3 2-7' 2-1 2-S 3» 2-3 2-3 0-3 3-3 Native 08 0-8 Z'4 I'5 3-5 4-8 7-6 9.7 7'9 I0'5 5-0 A.D. . 0-1 0-1 1-3 0-6 2-1 2-4 3-2 3-4 3-1 2-9 Controlled European . 7-6 5-4 7-7 8-4 10" I ll'3 lO'I 8-3 8-0 107 8-8 association,^ A.D. . 26 1-9 1-7 2-a 3-fl 2-6 2-9 6-2 3-2 2-5 part — ^whole. Indian 3-5 3'8 3'8 2.9 5-9 6-0 6-2 7-2 7'5 7-5 5'4 A.D. . 2-1 2-0 19 IS I-SI 2-5 2-1 2-1 0-3 IS Native i*o i'6 2-2 2*0 3.0 3'4 4'4 5-7 6-2 6-1 3.6 A.D. . . 0-6 07 0-7 1-5 1-3 1-4 1-6 1-7 1-9 J-6 Cancellation. European . 8-3 11*0 12'0 14-9 16'8 l8-o 17-7 2I"0 20-5 21-5 l6-3 A.D. . 20 20 2-0 21 3-2 31 «-0 <•(! 3-5 ^'3 Indian 11*2 9-3 9.7 8-4 12-8 II-6 13-3 I'l*2 14-2 16-5 123 A.D. . 3e 31 3-8 3-2 4.4 4-2 3-9 j-3 12 1-S Native lO'g 9.9 10-7 I2-I 15-7 15-6 14-9 20-r l8-8 20-4 13-9 A.D. . 2-1 IS 2-1 2'j 3» 25 <-3 ^•3 <-2 3-9 Nole. — ^The A.D. or Average Deviation is the arithmetical mean o{ the separate deviations of a series of measurements from their mean. Any conclusions to be drawn from these results should be ccasidered in the light of the following facts : — (a) For reasons already stated the ages of the Native and Indian pupils are often approximations only. 60 55 50 A5 40 -35 30 25 20 15 to 5 THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 203 European Indian Native • • •••.. • • • • ■ • • 1 1 1 "•- • • • •| 1 1 1 1 \ % •• •1 *• i • ■ ,.•••* 1 • • in % \\ ^' • • • • ** / i ^ X ^'•<; « 1 1 1 • • • • • m \ -^.^ ti V • • ^^•^^ M ^ ' £. u cs t ^ 1 1 1 1 1 1 & 1 li 11 9 V I 5 Si d- u p, Fig. 13. — Showing the average scores of 328 European, 176 Indian, and 281 Native School children in certain mental tests. 206 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE (6) The [tests in logical memory and in controlled associa- tions were more difficult for the younger Native and Indian pupils, because of their comparative unfamiliarity with the English language. (c) In three instances, viz. Native pupils of nine years of age and Indian pupils of seventeen and eighteen, the scores are unreliable because of the fewness of the cases. With these reservations we may deduce the following general conclusions : — 1. Native school pupils of all ages are less efficient in all the mental processes involved in these tests than European and Indian pupils. Roughly speaking, they are only 50 per cent, as efficient as the Europeans, and 75 per cent, as efficient as the Indians. 2. The Native pupils are very much slower in their thinking than the Europeans and Indians. In this respect the results support the conclusions derived from a consideration of the tests in arithmetic (see ante, p. 190), and are in agreement with the experience of teachers of Native children. 3. The alleged superiority of the Native in rote memory is not supported by these tests, although it is certain mere memorising of facts plays a more prominent part in Native schools than it does in European and Indian schools. 4. In these tests the scor^ of the Native pupils of twelve years of age are in all cases less than those of Native pupils of eleven years of age. This may be due to the onset of the pubertal period, which is generally considered as from twelve to fourteen years of age in the case of Natives. If so, the rapid recovery at thirteen years of age and the continual increase of efficiency up to seventeen should be noticed. 5. The inferiority of the Native to the Indian pupils, whose mother tongue also is not EngUsh, would point to an inferiority deeper than that of mere language ability. 6. The results of these tests are in general accord with those of Professor Pyle in his experiments with American Negro pupils, though the superiority of the Europeans is more marked than that of the Whites in the United States. Our tentative judgment would therefore be that the Native pupil is at present distinctly inferior to the Europettn and THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 207 Indian in those mental qualities involved in school work, but that the inferiority is not so great as has been commonly believed. A common course of study for Europeans and Natives is unsound on psychological as well as social and economical grounds. Section 4.— Sex Diflerendes The following table gives the scores of pupils by sexes. In the case of the Indian pupils no girls were tested, since it is not customary for Indian girls to attend school. TABLE No. 25 £. ^ >; ^1 i d Age. Race. Sex. 1 a 11 V Q in If if .1 a 1 n Age 18. European. Boys No cas esta ken. „ Girls 387 53-1 54'7 25-6 28-8 15-0 i6-5 49'2 21-3 I2'2 10-7 21'5 Indian. Boys 32-0 44-0 38'5 17-4 19-7 I7'D 12-5 55-5 I2-0 12-5 7-5 12-5 Native. Boys 35-5 49-2 47-1 19*6 12*2 II'O 12-6 32'4 II'2 9-7 6-2 19-3 „ Girls 38-2 46-1 47-8 24-0 21-5 I3'7 14-7 36-2 12-8 II-2 e^i 2I'I Age 17. European. Boys 46.5 53-S 31-5 26-2 35'? 9-S 14-5 46*0 22*0 9-9 7-S I4'0 „ Girls 42*6 5i'3 52-8 28-4 28-8 l6'6 i6-4 43-8 21-4 II-5 8-0 21-0 Indian. Boys 39-0 44-5 44-5 13-9 19-5 14-0 13-5 57-5 12-0 I2.5 7-3 14-2 Native. Boys 39'+ 44-4 44-2 19- 1 l8-3 10-3 ll'l 33-9 8-1 6'2 e-i 17-9 ,. Girls 40-6 47-1 47-3 22-4 20-9 13-2 15-8 37-4 13-9 11-9 65 2I-0 Age 16. Eiiiopean. Boys 46'0 58-6 53'0 29-0 33-7 14-6 l6-8 40-7 21'0 II-4 10*6 I8-S „ Girls 39-6 54-2 54-3 26-5 28-7 130 14-6 52-2 20*9 "•4 7-6 21-5 Indian. Boys 27-2 42-5 43-6 23-5 24-8 14-5 12-2 46-7 II-6 lO'I 7-2 16-2 Native. Boys 37-4 45-8 45-5 22'1 20-1 TO"8 I0'2 31-7 9-2 8'3 6*o 17-6 „ Girls 34-1 44'3 46*0 2Z'6 19-9 IO-5 11-5 387 10*7 II*I 5-3 22-8 Age IS. European. Boys 49-5 55-5 56-3 30-6 33-2 15-0 18-5 49-3 23.2 13-7 M-2 I7-I Girls 40-3 55-8 58-2 28-2 27-1 12-2 13-3 58-1 IS'O II'2 7-0 18-1 Indian. Boys 31'2 43-? 41-1 19-2 21-3 12-0' 12*0 44-8 7'3 8-S 6-2 I3'3 Native. Boys a3"4 42-0 38-3 17-7 15-5 8-3 6-7 31-8 7-6 6-0 4-7 17-6 Girls 29-6 42-7 38-7 ao"5 16'4 9-2 lO-I 39-8 I0'3 10-7 3-8 19-7 Age 14. European. Boys 42-4 54-3 53'3 28.4 32-6 12-4 15-0 44-6 22-8 13-7 14-3 l6-3 Girls +3'5 53-4 530 26'4 28-6 14-3 15-5 47-3 l6-5 ifS 9-4 i8-7 Indian. Boys 26-9 39-9 40-5 l8-3 20-O I3-I lo*8 44-8 6-9 7-6 6-0 II-6 Native. Boys 25-1 39-5 37-5 I6'6 12-2 6-7 6-3 31-1 5-8 5"! 4-0 15-4 Girls I7-I 34-2 31-4 I2'9 8-i! 5-4 4-7 325 56 3-6 2-7 15-8 Age 13. European. Boys 33-0 52-0 44-5 2I-I 2Z'2 I3'0 II-3 42-3 12*0 6-2 10-7 l6'6 ^, Girls 39.0 48-9 45-S 22-3 24-4 10-7 10-5 *¥l 12-8 6-5 9-6 l6-9 Indian. Boys 24*6 41'3 37-5 17-8 l6'I XO'O 9.9 36-8 5-5 5-6 5-9 12-8 Native . Boys l6-6 30-9 28-6 I0'9 8-3 4-3 2-9 27-8 3-8 3-4 2-3 14-2 . " Girls 9-3 24*0 25-0 8-5 S-8 3-7 3-0 l6-Q 3-7 1-5 3-2 I2-0 208 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE TABLE No. 25 — conttnued S ^ f . 1 ^ a 1 d Age. Race. Sex. 1 p P i C/} 11 if if ^1 1 II 1 J Age 12. European. Boys 36-0 49'6 47-0 15-7 16-5 10*9 II-8 36'6 II'O 5-3 9'6 14-0 ,, Girls 37-6 45-7 42-9 19- 1 20-5 10-7 9-6 38-5 IO'2 4'9 7-5 I5'4 Indian. Boys i;-o 33-9 32-6 II-8 I2>2 7-7 6'2 29-9 4-0 3-4 2-9 8-4 Native. Boys II-3 24-0 24-1 7-3 5-0 4-0 3'7 25'2 1-8 17 1-7 l8-5 „ Girls 7-6 23-5 22- 1 4-1 2'I 2-2 1-8 19-3 1-6 1*1 2-3 6-2 Age II. European. Boys 34-8 47-8 42-5 18-4 17-8 II-6 ll'6 36-6 9-8 2-9 8-1 II-7 „ Girls 37-7 47-4 43-6 l8'6 l8-2 10-7 9.3 39-4 9-3 4-2 7-4 I3'6 Indian. Boys 21-3 35-1 31-9 I4-I 14*6 8-2 7-1 29-8 4-0 4-0 3-8 9-7 Native. Boys 7-1 22-1 20-7 4-9 1-8 1-4 1-3 14-6 1'4 2-3 1-6 lO'O .' Girls I9'2 3I-I 29-1 I2'7 9-2 6-0 50 232 2-4 2'4 2'8 12-0 Age lo. European. Boys 30-2 45'4 38-7 21-8 20-5 9-6 8-5 25'9 6-7 2'2 6-6 11*1 „ Girls 30"6 39-6 37-0 l8-6 i8-9 7-8 6-9 30-6 6-7 2*1 5-3 io*8 Indian. Boys l8-3 34-7 32-0 10-2 II-8 8-6 7-5 28-1 4-0 2-7 3-8 9-3 Native. Boys fi-5 17-4 T4-0 3-4 3-8 1-4 I '2 ISM I'O 0-8 1-5 8-5 ,. Girls 7-6 19-3 21*2 5-6 4-2 2-6 1-6 l8-3 1-3 0-7 1-6 "•5 Age 9. European. Boys 29-0 36-5 37-6 25-5 17-6 9-5 7-6 2I"0 9-3 2-4 8-8 8-5 „ Girls 27-0 34-5 32'0 30*1 6*8 9-1 5-5 26'S 7-7 3-0 6-2 8-1 Indian. Boys I7-I 32-3 30'6 8-8 9-2 6-2 6-0 25-4 3-9 2-4 3-5 II-2 Native. Boys 4-4 17-0 II-6 5-0 2-8 4-0 1-6 14-8 I'O 0-8 l-o 10-2 " Girls 10*0 2I"0 20*0 6.3 3-4 2*0 I'O l6*0 03 0'6 I-O 10-5 An analysis of the foregoing table shows that in the 108 tests in which European boys and girls were compared, the boys were superior in 62 and the girls in 44 ; whereas in the 120 tests in which the Native pupils were compared, the boys were more efficient in 44 and the girls in 75 cases. In the case of the Native pupils, the girls of nine, ten, eleven, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen are markedly superior to the boys, but at the ages twelve, thirteen, and fourteen the boys are very much better than the girls in the mental qualities under- lying these tests. Although it is unsafe to dogmatise,- it seems hard to resist the tentative inference that at the pubertal period (twelve to fourteen), the Native bojre are mentally more efficient than the girls, but that after that period the boys lose interest in their school studies and are surpassed by the more docile girls. These sex differences, which are supported by the experience of missionaries, would point to a more meaningful and therefore more interesting course of study for adolescent Native boys. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 2O9 PART II. THE THEORY OF THE ARREST OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NATIVE Section i.— The Theory Stated We have now to endeavour to ascertain if the intellectual processes develop in the Native child much as they do in the European, and if that development is a continuous process, the mental power becoming stronger as the child's experiences increase. In attempting to enumerate em order of develop- ment, it must not be assumed that the processes can be separated from one another by definite intervals of time. Nature does not work in such a simple fashion, and the stages of development merge into one -another; but it is generdly accepted that at certain periods of the child's Ufe certain intellectual processes are more dominant than others. The earliest process is undoubtedly sensation, and the last, reasoning and judgment. The order of development of the others is roughly sensation, perception, memory, imagination, concep- tion, judgment, and reasoning. In the case of the European, we educate him at first through his senses, while with the adol- escent we rely chiefly upon lus reason. As we grow older we cease to rely upon sensation, and more and more on judgment and reasoning, so that in adult Ufe we tend to rely almost entirely upon reason. In the case of the Bantu people, the weakness of the higher mental powers, compared with the strength of the earUer pro- cesses of sensation and memory, coupled with a lessening of these earlier powers more noticeable them in the case of Whites, has led to the general^_accegted_hy20thesis that there is a marked arrest in the niental developni^ Fiir theNegro. This "arrest, occiirnng tor the most part m fEe^early^tages of adol- escence, has induced the further hypothesis that the arrest takes place at, or shortly after, the pubertal period. The wide extent of this beUef among colonial and others who have had dealings with the Negro peoples, and the necessity for taking cognisance of it, if rt be true, in any schemes of educa- tion, warrant us in dealing with the subject at some length. The questions, then, confronting us are : I. Is this alleged arrest of development a fact ? 14 210 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE 2. If SO, is it peculiar to the Bantu people, or is it shared by children of other races ? 3. If it is so, what are the causes ? 4. Are they permanent or removable ? and 5. What effect would the fact have on our system of Native education ? Section 2.— Evidence in Support of the Tlieory of Arrested Development That arrested mental development occurs among individual Natives, just as it does among individual Europeans, will be generally conceded ; but there are many who hold that mental arrest is characteristic of the Negro peoples. Among those who maintain that there is a more or less clearly marked arrest we find ethnologists, experienced observers of the Natives, travellers, educators, and the general pubhc.^ 1. Ethnologists — " The Negro children were sharp, intelli- gent, full of vivacity, but on approaching the adult period a gradual change set in. The intellect seemed to be clouded, animation giving place to lethargy, brightness 37ielding to indolence." * 2. Experienced Observers. — " Deprived of all extraneous aid, a Bantu child is able to devise mecins for supporting hfe at a much earher age than a European child. But while the European youth is still developing his powers, the Bantu youth, in most instances, is found unable to make further progress. His intellect has become sluggish, and he exhibits a decided repugnance, if not an incapacity, to learn anything more. The growth of his mind, which at first promised so much, has ceased just at that stage when the mind of the European began to display the greatest vigour." * 3. Travellers. — " Tiyo Soga [a famous Native missionary and teacher] was taken to Scotland, and was shielded from kraal influence until long after puberty. He continued to develop in mental vigour long after that period, and did not • Evidence from South Africa is used wherever available. 2 Manetta, quoted by Joyce in Encydoptsdia Britannica, eleventh edition, art. "Negro." Joyce and Keene support this view. ' Dr Theal, late Historiographer-Royal of the Cape Colony, in History and Ethnography of South Africa before 1795, vol. i. p. 170. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 211 dwindle in capacity as do nearly nine-tenths of the Kafirs." ^ " The (Native) children are smart and intelligent. . . . But jtist when we hope to produce a good result the mental development seems to become arrested, and the children return at puberty to the kraal and disappoint all our hopes." * 4. Educators. — "With regard to such [clever] Native students there is a considerable body of testimony to show that quite a large proportion ultimately reach a stage at which they seem to be unable to make any further advance. To all appearances their faculties become dulled, and a state of mental apathy ensues, which makes it unprofitable for them to remain at school." « A number of teachers in Native schools have expressed their opinion to the writer that while it is a pleasure to teach the young Native child, there is no more dispiriting work than to have to prepare the very wiUing but distinctly dull-witted adolescent for Departmental examinations. 5. General Public. — Many employers of Native labour, particularly the housewives who employ Natives of varjdng ages, contrast the quickness and ability to learn new things 1 Dudley Kidd, a, much-travelled and experienced missionary, in Kafir SociaUsm, p. 237. '' Ibid., p. 176. Notice Mr Kidd's inconsistency. From the first extract we would infer that it was the kraal influence which wats responsible for the alleged arrested development, but from the second we see the arrest takes place before the Native returns to his kraal. ^ Mr E. B. Sargant, late educational adviser to the High Commis- sioner of South Africa, in Report on Native Education in South Africa, vol. iii. p. 60. Sir Thomas Muir, Superintendent-General of Education in Cape Province, in giving evidence before the Cape Select Committee on Native Education, said : "If you compare a White boy and a Coloured boy from the ages of twelve onwards you will find that a White boy goes on growing mentally, whereas a Coloured boy seems for a while almost to come to a stop." Dr Philips, Superintendent of Schools in Birmingham, Ala., U.S.A., holds the same view: " The Negro child prior to the age of puberty may learn as well as the White child, and in so far as he exercises the physical senses, the motor powers, the memory, the imaginary power, and the faculty of imitation, may even excel. But after that, arrested development prevents the fulfilment of early promise, and the incapa- city to exercise effectively the reflective, the reasoning, and the executive powers is ever3rwhere in evidence." {Journal of Southern Educational Association, 1908.) The speaker reiterated his views at the 1911 meeting. 212 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE of the Native " umfaan " with the slowness and stupidity (from their point of view) of the " Kafir boy " of from seventeen to twenty-five. Section 3. — Evidence in Rebuttal of the Theory of Arrested Development In opposition to the views expressed above, we have much evidence of a similar nature to the effect that arrested mental development is not a peculiar characteristic of the Natives. In 1914 the writer sent a questionnaire to forty-eight ex- perienced missionary teachers and superintendents throughout South Africa, which, inter alia, asked for an expression of their experience in the matter of the theory. The thirty-two replies received may be classified as follows : — Eight believed that it was characteristic of the Native for an arrest of development to take place at about the age of puberty. Seven had noticed the arrest in some cases. Nine were of opinion that arrested development was no more noticeable in the case of Natives than it was in the case of Europeans. Eight were emphatic in declaring that no arrest of develop- ment took place. A few of the repUes are quoted to illustrate the different views held.^ (a) " There does seem to be an arrest of development at the age you mention. A large number of girls become heavy and inert, and seem unable to make the necessary effort to improve themselves mentally. Amongst those who persist beyond this stage ' mental saturation ' seems to take place about the age of twenty-one, for after that age very few girls are able to learn anything." (b) "A few, at varying ages, give evidence of such mental saturation that they are unable to proceed further. Proof : repeated failure to pass certain examinations. As a rule they are good students, though slower than ' The names of the writers are not published, but the replies have been placed on file at the Education Office, Durban, where they may be referred to. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 213 Europeans, because dealing with matters with which they have had little previous acquaintance." (c) " It does not appear that there is sufficient evidence to support the statement. Something may be said for the contention that the typical Native and the tjrpical peasant of Europe stand much on a par in respect to their power of general intelligence, and it is a question as to whether the percentage of pupils from among the school-going Natives going beyond the standards which fit the scholar as a wage-earner is not as large as that of other countries. It may be that we are looking for special reasons in the case of the Native, when the world view would help us to overcome many of our difficulties. The mass of pupils do not look beyond the requirements of the moment. " In the Transvaal our scholars, beyond the school standards, come to us at the age of from fifteen to thirty, many of them after some years of house or mine work, and some of them after earning money for the school fees. About one-third of those entering the normal course are able to pass through and gain the certificate ; but the other two-thirds do well on the industrial side, and if we were able to offer a course which met the requirements of such pupils, the results would be very satisfactory. " Our experience is that many, who failed to gain the technical qualification, in actual contact with life develop in such a way that they stand far above some of their own year who have easily passed the qualifying examinations." {d) " As far as my observation goes — and this covers an experience of more than thirty years— I should be slow to suggest that there is an arrest of mental development at the age of puberty. If there is any arrest at all, it is due rather to the restricted and oppressed environment in which they live than to any physical cause. Given an enlarged environment — a wider sphere of activity — and mental development will continue. It is all a question of opportunity, as individual cases amply show. In no sense do I think their phj^ical development differs from that of Europeans." (e) " In my opinion and the opinion of my staff it is impossible to dogmatise on this subject, but there seem 214 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE no grounds for supposing that Natives differ from Europeans in this respect. Girls as well as boys develop mentally both before and after puberty at about the same rate, if they are well and scientifically taught. But there is no doubt that the Native with several generations of civilisation behind him is capable of more rapid mental development than the child of raw parents." (/) "The alleged arrest of development is not a fact. Proofs : it is necessary to give names of South African Natives, some of whom continued their school until they were about thirty years of age. In fact, most Natives obtain their education after puberty. Dr W. B. Rubusana, J.L. Dube, Saul Msane, Pixley Seme, Dr Mahlangeni, M.D., F.R.C.S.L., Rev. James Tartsi, B.D., etc.; ladies. Miss Gabatshane, Mrs Maxeke, Miss Kakaza, and Mrs C. L. Dube ; — ^all these have done creditable work in their classes abroad. There are hundreds of names I could quote you, but I beheve these are sufficient. My eighteen years' experience as a teacher and student supports my proofs. Some of these men are between forty and sixty years of age, and yet their minds are stiU developing." (g) " No, emphatically, no ! I have been in Native work thirteen years, of which eight years have been spent at S Mission, at which I have had good opportunities of testing this oft-repeated assertion. In the reading of Uterature dealing with Native races, this was one of the so-called facts wMch attracted my early attention. I have been on the alert to discover instances in support of it, or otherwise. The conclusion I have reached is, that as a general statement it is false, although individual cases may be cited to the contrary. " Our Normal Department is for girls only. The ages of the students entering upon the course range from fourteen to twenty years. In every case, without excep- tion, the age of puberty has been reached." {h) " There is, I think, a great deal of what one might call ' cant ' written and spoken about Natives, and one of the doctrines of this cant is about Native boys and girls at the age of puberty. At the age of puberty, on general grounds, we should expect that pupils would show THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 215 increased mental activity and greater capacity for re- sponsibility. Now, it is impressed upon us, as if it were an established fact, that the average Native at that age goes back — ^that that is the critical period of his develop- ment, and in the great majority of cases it is the point at which his advancement ceases. A recent writer has spoken upon this degeneration at puberty as the critical fact in Native educational work ; in fact, I think he said it is the critical fact in the Native question. Now, this degeneration at puberty is not an estabUshed fact. Ex- perienced men I have come in contact with do not recognise that there is this break in development at puberty. What does happen is that in European and Native schools — I am not aware in Native schools any more than in European schools — ^there is a small percentage of pupils who from that date do not make normal progress, but I do not think the number is any greater in Native schools than in European schools. What does occur in Native schools is this: When pupils — and this is a much more serious problem in the newer fields than in districts of the country which have been long under the influence of civiUsation — ^begin school work at the age of ten or twelve they are liable to come to a dead-stop later on, and probably more so beginning later on ; it is more marked with pupils begin- ning, in many cases, after pubeirty. In these new fields we have grown-up men and grown-up women coming for education. Now, what has repeatedly been the experience in regard to these is that when education has been pressed with these people grown beyond mere boyhood or girlhfiod there has been a Uabihty to mental trouble ; the pupils become saturated and incapable of mental effort, and in some cases a form of temporary insanity appears." ^ The preponderance of evidence against the theory induced the Cape Select Committee on Native Education to report as follows : — " Your Committee find that the belief in the inabiUty of the Native to develop at a normal rate beyOnd a certain ' Report of Cape Select Committee on Native Education, 1908, sect. 2339. The witness referred the writer to this as the expression of his opinion. 2l6 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE stage is not supported by facts, and that any definite assertion as to the capacity or limits of the Native mind must at present be regarded as a deduction from in- sufficient evidence." Section 4.— The Evidence from Experiments So far the evidence for and against the theory is the result of empirical observation by more or less competent observers. The need for a more scientific criterion is apparent. In 1915 and 1916 the writer tested a number of European, Indian, and Native pupils in schools in Natal in handwriting, composition, and the fundamentals in arithmetic.^ The results were as follows : — TABLE No. 26 Standard. 1* Median scores. 1 il g i- l< 1 s III. European . II-3 12-9 4-1 3-8 4-3 2-3 1-3 Indian I3-I 13-4 4-1 3-7 5-4 2-7 2-2 Native 13-1 12-2 2-8 i'8 3-2 1-2 0-8 IV. European . 12-7 12-9 4-5 4-5 5-8 4-2 3-1 Indian 13-7 14-2 4-5 5-3 6-3 4-8 4-4 Native 15-2 13-4 3-2 2-8 4-8 2-5 2-4 V. European . 13-2 13-8 5-3 5-7 6-9 "6-2 5'8 Indian 14- 1 13-8 5-2 5-3 8-0 4.9 5-6 Native 15-5 13-6 3-7 3.0 6-7 41 3-4 VI. European . I4-I 13-9 5-4 7-0 7-8 7-8 8-5 Indian 15-2 14-3 5-1 6-7 10-3 87 8-7 Native i6-5 14-6 : 4-3 3-2 7-5 4-9 5'8 The progressive improvement in the work of European, Indian, and Native pupils will be noticed. So far as these Native pupils are concerned, it will be noticed that there is • See ante, p. 177 et seq. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 217 no marked arrest. If it is objected that the Native pupils are a selected group in so far as they represent the survival of the fittest, the same objection must be urged against the European children, for in a recent study it has been shown that in the year 1914, of the 213 boys who left the Govermnent elementary schools of Durban, 69, or 32 per cent., left before reaching Standard V., and 164, or 77 per cent., left before reaching Standard VI.i A more serious objection against the use of these figures would be that the majority of the Native pupils have already reached the age of puberty, so that these results only show that there is no evidence of mental arrest in post-pubescent Native pupils. We have therefore to discover if the pre- pubescent pupils show any marked superiority over the pubescent and post-pubescent. For reasons already stated,* the tests in the fundamentals of arithmetic are the best of these tests in mental abiUty, as evinced by school achievements. If we classify the European and Native pupils according to age, we have the following median scores : — TABLE No. 27 Age of pupils . 9 1 10 ! II 12 13 14 "5 16 17 18 19 20 Europeans : — Number of cases Addition Subtraction . Multiplication Division 16 3-9 4-6 4-5 0-9 - 4-7 4-2 37 2-9 74 4-3 5-3 3-6 2-7 61 4-9 5-7 5-3 4-1 87 5-8 6-5 5-2 4-9 63 4.9 5-9 4-9 6-6 20 6-4 6-4 7-0 7-4 Indians : — Number of cases Addition Subtraction . Multiplication Division 5 2-6 5-8 3-6 4-2 12 4-5 6-5 2-9 3-4 31 4-3 6-1 3-5 3-6 31 3-7 6-2 3-5 3-7 38 5-5 7-5 5-0 5-4 21 4-6 6-9 3-8 8 8-1 8-7 5-9 7-1 •• ' Narbeth, Some Notes upon Technical Education, p. ' See ante, p. 191. 45- 2l8 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE TABLE No. 27 — continued Age of pupils . 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 l8 19 20 Natives : — Number of cases 5 10 21 56 82 73 59 39 24 14 14 Addition 2-1 1-8 2-0 1-9 2-2 2-9 3.0 2-6 2-0 3-8 2-8 Subtraction . .V6 .S'9 4-7 .V« 4-9 7-0 6'i 7-5 51 5-4 4-2 Multiplication 1-9 1-3 2-7 1-6 2-2 3-9 3-7 3-« 3-4 3'3 3-1 Division . 2-2 0-9 2-0 0-9 2-1 4-1 4-0 4-8 3-7 3-4 1-9 While some of the results in the above table are invalidated by reason of the fewness of the pupils of certain ages for whom scores are available, the drop in the median score of European pupils aged fourteen, and of Native pupils aged thirteen, is worthy of notice. It may be that this decrease in efficiency is due to the onset of puberty. If so, it should also be noticed that the decrease in efficiency is common to -pupils of both races, and is not characteristic of the Natives only. It will also be seen that the older pupils recover themselves quickly and progress steadily until we come to the superannuated Native pupils of eighteen, nineteen, and twenty. Section 5.— The Reasons for the Lack of Progress in Older Native Pupils If, then, the results of our experiments prove that an arrest of mental development is not a racial characteristic of the Natives, how are we to account for the undoubted mental slowness and sluggishness of many of the older pupils in our Native schools ? Four reasons have been put forward : — I. A Physical Development different from that of Europeans. — Although it is popularly held that there are marked differences between the size, structure, and development of the brain of the European and that of the Negro, the researches of anato- mists conflict on the question ^ ; and even if these differences exist, it has yet to be proved that they have any direct bearing on mental ability. At any rate, until more accurate means of ' See Mayo, The Mental Capacity of the American Negro, p. 56 et seq., for an account of the conflicting views. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 219 measurement have been discovered, and more unanimity of scientific opinion has been obtained, we cannot rely on the anatomical evidence at present available. J / \ ^ ^ z V S""*" / ^( ^ ^N V \, II) '. / / \ \ \ \y >? y f / / \ z • 0, ^'^ ••^, ■>. w '. .•^ ^ ■% fi 5 _ '* ■\.^ \ \ / \ / / • / ■■■• ■-.. / V. ^ / •- ^.. 1 H ■ '■y / \ 9 s •v.^ ^ / y t 1 ••• ■«>.. / ft « » ^ e 1 I tf p4 > 1 § «i 1 / « _ > ■■s, 1 -J '■•■ ■.., ( ^ \ „ ^^ K •Si \ : 1 / / *.^ \ s s, ; / / .• 8, f- a 1 1 c u 1" ll ^1 a "« S 6 3.2 cn o " g bo I II. Obsession of Sex Instinct. — In a previous part of this study it has been shown that sex talk and sex indulgence 220 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE occupy a large place in the lives of the unciviUsed Natives.* The same phenomenon is noticed in the case of all primitive peoples, and instruction in sexual matters forms a prominent part in the initiatory rites of savage peoples.* A great many missionaries who deal with Native pupils believe that the sex impulse is stronger among adolescent Natives than among Europeans. At some training institutions extraordinary pre- cautions are taken to keep the sexes apart, and all the super- intendents consulted by the writer are emphatic on the necessity for constant watchful supervision to prevent out- breaks of immorality. The inference that the strength of the sex impulse is a sufficiently distracting influence to account for the alleged arrest of development is held by a number of missionary teachers.^ More exact evidence is wanting, but the writer's personal opinion, derived from observation and discussion with missionaries and other close observers of the Native, is that the sex instinct is stronger in adolescent Natives than in the Europeans of South Africa ; that it occupies a very consider- able share of the Natives' attention owing to the absence of other distracting thoughts ; and that a certain amount of list- lessness and indifference to study of adolescent Native pupils is due to the fact that the school studies are not sufficiently real and attractive to counteract the animal impulses of that stage of development. III. Mental Saturation. — In his Report on Native Ediication ' See ante, p. 27. * See Stanley Hall's Adolescence, vol. ii. p. 232 et seq., for details. * " The immoral practice known as ' ukuhlobonga,' which is almost universally carried on between young people arriving at the age of puberty, would, in my opinion, account for the arrest of mental development." (Principal of M School.) " I certainly think that obsession by sex instinct plays a large part in this [arrest of development]." (Principal of U School.) " When it is remembered that for generations back the Native tribes of South Africa have attached great importance to the age of puberty, and emphasised it by the custom of cirCumcision for boys and the corresponding rite amongst giris (these practices being accom- panied by instruction of a lascivious kind in sexual matters), it is not to be wondered at if a certain obsession of the sex instinct accom- panies this time of Ufa." (Missionary Superintendent at J .) " As a rule the Native youth has his mind more taken up with sexual matters than a European." (Principal of U Training Institutibn.) THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 221 in South Africa, certainly the most thorough and thoughtful consideration of the question of Native education which has yet appeared, Mr E. B. Sargant discusses at some length the causes of this arrest of mental development, which he assumes to be a fact in the case of a large proportion of the clever Native students who correspond to the youths in European schools capable of winning scholarships and of taking dis- tinguished positions among their fellows in general studies. To this arrest Mr Sargant gives the name " mental saturation." This is unfortunate, since it conveys the impression that the mind is something which can absorb a certain amount of know- ledge and no more, whereas Mr Sargant appears to mean no more than that there is a limit to the amount of second-hand information which a pupil is able or willing to receive. We may summarise Mr Sargant's conclusions as follows : — 1. Mental saturation is not pecuhar to Natives, but is found also, though not to the same extent, in European pupils who fail to fulfil the expectations aroused by their earlier scholastic achievements. 2. In European pupils the arrest of development "is due mainly to a forcing process, popularly called cramming, which attempts to fiU the mind of the young pupil with the results of other persons' experiments without any proportionate appeal to his own experience." While the experiences are simple the pupil is able to absorb them, but when the subjects of study increase the " pupil finds himself in need of an important faculty which can only be sufficiently cultivated through a first-hand acquaintance with facts : namely, the power to arrange and to compare experiences, and to assign to them their proportionate value, in order that some may be rejected entirely, while others are grappled and hnked together so firmly as ultimately to form part of that disciplined mental equipment which is always at command when new facts are encountered and their true place and value has to be deter- mined." 3. Native pupils are more subject to cramming with other people's experiences than are Europeans. " The Native, through which an appeal can be made to the child's own know- ledge, is abandoned at the earUest opportunity for the English language. English itself is taught through books which cannot 222 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE be understood without a knowledge of social conditions alto- gether beyond the reach of the Native child, and in most cases of his teacher also. Arithmetic is made as unpractical as possible, and becomes a series of mechanical operations some- times incapable of verification in the present economic condi- tions of the Native tribes. No advantage is taken of any of the admirable Native industries to prepare the child's hand and eye for further manual occupations of a higher order. Thus it is not surprising that . . . there shoiild be a frequent entry made by teachers against the names of their former scholars, ' Left school, tired.' " ^ 4. In the case of both Europeans and Natives, where the arrest of mental development occurs it is caused by " a want of regard for the natural processes by which knowledge is acquired, a tendency to press upon the unfortified mind a mass of mere results which it is incapable of its own motion of placing in relation to other events and of utilising subsequently ; in fine, an examination system which encourages the teacher to sacrifice every future quality of learning to mere imitative achievement in the present. The same causes leading to mental atrophy are at work, but they operate in one case with immensely greater force than in the other." 5. When we have the same cause operating in the same way upon both Europeans and Natives, " it is better reasoning to draw the conclusion that the two types are similar to each other in this particular respect, than to make an otherwise unverified assumption that the difference of degree in the effect produced rests upon entirely different types of beings, characteristics which are practically permanent and must for ever separate them from one another." Without necessarily subscribing to Mr Sargant's psychology, it must be admitted that he offers a most reasonable explana- tion of the phenomenon. The curriculum of the Native schools is either wholly or in part that of the Europeans ; the subjects taught are generally outside the experience of the pupils ; and the medium of instruction is for the most part a foreign tongue. > Mr Sargant might have further pointed out that geography is made a matter of memorising definitions and of learning capes and bays, while history often consists of memorising dates and the names of Cape Governors. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 223 A system of individual examination has encouraged the learn- ing by heart of reproducible information. It is not surprising that the Native fails when demands are made upon hiim for consideration of the relative values of items of information, for organising his knowledge, for reasoning, and for the applica- tion of what he has learned to other fielcfe. IV. The Operation of the Law of Effect. — A fourth, and in the writer's opinion the chief, reason for the apparent arrest of development is to be found in the original nature of man. All human and animal learning is conditioned by two laws — the law of exercise, and the law of effect. The law of exercise is that where there is a modifiable connection between a situation and a response, the oftener that connection is made, the more the strength of the connection is increased. The oftener I hit the nail with the hammer, the more likely I am to hit and not to miss. But that is not enough. If I want to be successful in hitting the nail, I must want to hit it ; I must find more satisfaction in hitting the nail than in just hitting. In other words, the law of effect must operate. " The law of effect is : when a modifiable connection between a situation and a response is made, and is accompanied by a satisfying state of affairs, that connection's strength is increased ; when made, and accompanied by an annoying state of affairs, its strength is decreased." ^ Our educational practice in the past has suffered by our neglect of the law of effect. We have believed that "Practice makes perfect," whereas it is only practice with appreciated purpose or satisfaction which makes perfect. Mere knocking of the balls with a cue will not make me a good billiard player. I must want to do something with the balls ; and if I want to become an expert player, I must get more satisfaction when my ball goes into the pocket or knocks another ball than when it simply rolls up the table. In our education of the Natives we have neglected the law of effect. We have forced the Native child through a course of study the purpose of which he can only dimly conceive. We have taught him subjects foreign to his experience, and in a language which he cannot understand. At first, he comes to * Thorndike, Educational Psychology, vol. ii. p. 4. (The italics are the present writer's.) 224 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE school eager to receive the education which he thinks has made the white man his master. For a few years the pressure brought upon him by his teachers, inspectors, and, in some cases, his parents, induces him to continue ; but then at the period of adolescence, when he begins to feel himself a man, when the method of school discipline becomes less formidable, and when he wants to know the why and wherefore of things, he sees no meaning in his school work. He finds no satisfaction in doing the tasfe given him. Other interests, e.g. those of sex indulgence or of town life, clamour for satisfaction. No wonder that he becomes listless in his school work, fails to satisfy those in authority, and either leaves school or remains there unwillingly.^ The operation of the law of effect will also account for those Natives who do not exhibit the so-called arrested development. The Sogas, the Semes, the Dubes, and the other Natives who have shown no signs of arrested development did find some meaning and satisfaction in their school work which encouraged them to proceed with their studies.^ Section 6. — Conclusion Our study of the psychology of the Native leads us to the following conclusions : — I. In the mental tests so far devised, and still more in school achievements, the Native is considerably inferior to the 1 In an article in the Pedagogical Seminary, vol. xv. p. 231, Dr C. Ward Crampton recommends the following special provisions for adolescent school pupils : — (i) Children who mature in the lower grammar grades should be given the opportunity to obtain such form of instruction in the elementary school as will directly prepare them for immediately taking a part in active life. (2) Where mature and immature children are now brought together in the same class in the elementary or high school, they should be separated into different classes, so that the pedagogical, ethical, and social treatment to which they are subjected may be better adapted to their disparate and distinct requirements and abilities. * In this connection it is interesting to note that almost all the writer's correspondents who are convinced that an arrest of develop- ment takes place attribute it wholly or in part to poor teaching. Several correspondents state that pupils who showed signs of arrested development in academic work made excellent progress in manual work. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 22.5 European, but there is no evidence that this inferiority will be permanent. The spread of civilisation, selective breeding, improved environment, and better teaching will undoubte^y tend to lessen the mental differences between Europeans and Natives. 2. The so-called arrest of mentkl development at the age of puberty is clearly not a racial characteristic, though it is undeniably true that at about that period a larger number of Native pupils than European pupils do become Ustless and indifferent in their school studies, and fail to make the progress hitherto sustained. 3. This failure to progress is due principally to a course of study and methods of teaching which fail to give the pupils the satisfaction necessary to evoke their continued efforts. 4. The unsatisfyingness of ordinary school work is over- poweringly strong at about the age of puberty, when the pupil is no longer subservient to the ordinary school discipUne, when he begins to think about the meaning of his school studies and to form plans for his future, and when other satisfiable interests begin to appear. If our conclusions are correct, their significance for Native education is very great. They would encourage us to con- tinue in our efforts to educate the Natives so that this great mass of people may become a benefit, and not a hindrance, to South Africa. For many years to come, separate courses of study, as well as separate schools, for the Natives will be necessary. The courses of study should take account of the peculiar experiences of the Natives, and the teaching, in the earlier stages at least, should be through the vernacular. From the beginning the education given should be meaningful to the Natives, and to this end should lead up to the future occupations open to them. Above all, it teaches us that the kinds of schools, the subjects of instruction, and the methods pursued can never be permanent, but must change with the advance of civilisation among the Native people. 15 CHAPTER XI THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION (continued) The prime basis for the reconstruction of a system of Native education, viz., the mentality of the Bantu, has been discussed in the preceding chapter. Two further fundamental considera- tions must now be discussed before we can proceed to the task of proposing a reformed scheme of administration and instruc- tion, These are — (A) The question of the position of the vernacular languages. South Africa has already two official languages, English and Dutch. The languages spoken by the Natives may be resolved into three main groups, viz., Thonga, Sesuto, and Zulu-Kafir. What shall be our attitude towards the vernaculars ? Shall we attempt to perpetuate them, or shall we attempt to induce the coming generations of Natives to speak either one or both of the European languages ? (B) The questions involved in the establishment of agri- culture as a Native industry. It can easily be shown that farming is the most suitable vocation for the Natives, both in their own interests and in the interests of the governing Europeans ; but good farming presupposes a satisfactory system of land tenure, which does not yet exist in South Africa aS far as the Natives are concerned. Before we can induce the Native to farm, we must assure him that he wiU have definite right to his land, that he will be able to reap where he has sown, and that there will be a market for his products. PART III. THE POSITION OF THE VERNACULAR LANGUAGES As we have already seen,^ the courses of study of the several provinces show considerable differences with regard to instruc- tion in and through the vernacular languages. 1 See pp. 98 and 138. 226 THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 227 In the Cape Province the use of the vernacular, although not so stated in the regulations, is permissive in Native schools.^ Seeing, however, that few of the inspectors make use of the vernacular in their examinations, and that the parents generally regard its study as a waste of time, we may assume that its use is by no means general. In Natal, Zulu is the medium of instruction in the lower classes, and a medium of instruction for certain subjects throughout the school course. In the Transvaal the use of the vernaculcir is permissive as in the Cape Province. The Orange Free State prescribes the " mother-tongue of the majority of the pupils " as the medium of instruction during the first four years. In Basutoland the vernacular is both the medium and subject of instruction throughout the whole course. The subjects hygiene and geography are taught in Sesuto, and the position of English is decidedly that of the foreign language. As the subject is of fundamental importance for the framing of regulations and the drawing up of courses of study, it deserves treatment in some detail. Section i.— Different Views on the Use of the Vernacular in Schools On the whole question of the position of use of the vernacular in Native schools, we have three schools of thought. I. In the first place, there are the Natives themselves, who do not, as a rule, desire instruction in the vernacular for their children. They reaUse the value of English and Dutch, the languages of the ruling race, and wish their children to begin the study of these as soon as possible. It is becoming in- creasingly difficult to induce them to learn their own language first. This tendency is the more marked in schools under Native control, and it is very probable that, if the management of the schools were handed over to the Natives themselves, instruction in the vernacular would cease.* • Muir, Evidence before Cape Select Commission on Native Education, section 358. ^ " The less the Native idiom is taught, and the more rapidly English is introduced, the better they (i.e. the Christianised Natives of Basuto- 228 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE 2. The second school of thought consists of Europeans who axe of opinion that since there are at least three different Native languages in South Africa, Thonga, Sesuto, and Zulu- Kafir, and since these languages have no commercial or literary value, time spent on instruction in the vernaculars is largely wasted. All sources of new information are English or Dutch, and the sooner the child commences the study of these languages the better. This view is shared by a considerable number of educators in the polyglot portions of the British Empire, who, realising the short school Ufe of the child, and recognising the unifying power of a common language,^ and the necessity for inducing pupils to think in EngUsh if they are to know English, would make Uttle use of the vernacular. The conclusions of Dr Norman F. Black of Regina, Canada, who has made a special study of the question, represent the views of this school of thought : — " EngUsh must be the dominant subject in all ele- mentary schools. If, however, the parents desire taught another language of acknowledged practical value, the writer would favour granting their request. . . . The teaching of reading and writing in the vernacular should in all cases be postponed until the child has completed the work of Grade I. at least, and, so far as possible, the reading matter used in the mother-tongue lessons should be of a character to increase the pupil's intelligent interest in and love for the land in which he dwells and the flag that flies over it. In all elementary schools receiving State aid, the4anguage of instruction should be English, except in teaching the mother-tongue itself, and possibly in con- ducting moral and reUgious instruction where this is made a recognised subject of formal study." {English for the Non-English, p. 78.) land) are pleased." (Sargant, Report on Native Education in South Africa, part iii. p. 4.) " I do not think the scholars would attend and pay fees if we did not teach English." (Willoughby, Evidence before the Cape Select Committee on Native Education, section 1158.) The same opinion has been given to the writer by missionaries in the Cape and Natal. 1 Cf. the insistence on English in the public schools of the United States. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 229 3. The third school of thought consists of South African officials and politicians,^ missionaries,* and educators,* who base their arguments for the retention of the vernacular on political and pedagogical grounds. AS this is the opinion most prevalent to-day, it is necessary to examine the grounds on which it is based. Section 2. — ^The Case for the Vernacular I. The Politician's Point of View. — ^The argument advanced by the politician for the retention- of the vernacular is that it will prove a desirable separating factor between the White and Black races. The chief want of the educated Native is pride of race. If we take away from him, they say, or rather allow him to forget, his Native tongue, the last shreds of his nation- ahty will (fisappear, and the danger of assimilation through the Native's desire to be hke the European will be increased.* Further, either with or without segregation some form of local self-government for Natives seems bound to come. In the conduct of such self-government it will be necessary to have a common medium of communication, and this, for many years to come at least, will be the Native language. The argument that identity of language is an assimilating force will be conceded, though its potency is not nearly so great as identity of rehgion or of nationality. A common religion is the force which binds the Jews of different nationalities together, but the possession of a common language or patois Hebrew (Yiddish) makes the alliance closer. On the other hand, racial and national differences may exist in spite of ' E.g. the members of the South African Native Affairs Commission, which consisted of representatives from the Cape, Natal, Transvaal, Orange Free State, Basutoland, and Rhodesia. ' Out of sixty-five of the most experienced missionaries in South Africa who replied to a recent letter of inquiry on this point, no less than sixty-two expressed their opinion that in Native schools the medium of instruction should be the vernacular. (See The Christian Express, August i, 1908, p. 1 15.) » " Almost all the witnesses, whether teachers, inspectors, or members of School Boards, are in favour of the principle that the mother- tongue should be used as a medium in the lower standards." {Cape Education Commission, 1911, Report, section 40.) * " When a Native talks Kafir he is a man ; when he talks English be is a caricature," is a common remark in South Africa. 230 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE identity of language. The German-speaking Pole is a Pole and not a German. The Russian Jew is a Jew first and a Russian afterwards. In the United States the possession of a common language — ^English — does not bridge the race differ- ences between the Negro and the White man. As Professor Margoliouth sa}^ : " Of the various ties which bind human beings together, that of common language seems to possess no great strength. Other bonds protect it, rather than it them. Where in the same city different languages are spoken in different quarters, the quarters are not isolated because the inhabitants speak different languages, but they speak different languages because they are isolated." ^ More is to be said for the second argument, for the educated Natives from among whom the councillors and official in any scheme of local self-government should be chosen must cer- tainly know the language of the people. Already deterioriation in the spoken and written Kafir and Sesuto of educated Natives is noticeable." 2. The Missionary's Point of View. — ^To the missionary the Native school is not primarily a place at which a boy or girl can be prepared for his or her future occupation only, but the place where the Native can also be trained in the principles of the Christian reUgion and the Christian virtues, with the definite view that the man or woman so trained will go back again to the Native people and let his light shine among them. The elevation of the whole of the Native people through selected individuals is their object, and they recognise that the spread of civilisation must be largely through the efforts of their ex- pupils. It is therefore indispensable that the educated and civihsed pupil should know the vernacular, and that he should not lose this bond of sympathy with his own people. 3. The Educator's Point of View. — It is the missionary educa- tors, however, the men and women who Hve and labour among the Native people, who make the strongest plea for vernacular instruction. So insistent and (in the writer's opinion) so ' See his interesting article on " Language as a Consolidating and Separating Influence," in Papers on Inter-Racial Problems communi- cated to the First Universal Races Congress, pp. 57-61. " Cf. Inspector Mr Bennie's evidence before the Cape Select Com- mittee on Native Education, section 2385 et passim. Letters appearing in the Native press abound in elementary grammatical errors. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 23I pedagogically sound has been their attitude, that the Cape Select Committee on Native Education was induced to recom- mend that the vernacular should be the medium of instruction up to Standard III., that subsequently English should be the medium as far as practicable, but that rehgious instruction should, where desired, be through the medium of the verna- cular, and that both English and the vernacular should be taught as languages throughout the school course.^ The chief pedagogical arguments in favour of vernacular instruction, at least in the lower classes, are :— (a) Using language in its broadest sense to include gestures, pictures, movements of the body, etc. — ^in short, an5^hing used as a sign, — we may say that language is necessary for think- ing, for to be able to think about things, those things must have a meaning, and meanings are embodied in language. Language is then the instrument, and indeed the chief subject, of school work. To secure good thinking, which is the primary object of intellectual education, the meaning of the thing to be thought about — ^in other words, the comprehension of the language used — ^is indispensable. If we ask young Native children to do thinking about facts so novel to them as those of European civilisation, and in a tongue so foreign as English, we are asking for the impossible, and if we attempt to insist, as we do under our present system, we receive words instead of thoughts.* The defects of verbalism and parrot-like memorising so frequently commented upon by the inspectors are chiefly due to the too early insistence upon EngUsh as the medium. As Mr Sargant points out, the facts of modern European civilisation, just as those of religion, are too novel and foreign to the Native to be capable of presentation through a foreign tongue.' 1 Report, section 6. ' " A teacher who has never seen the sea with its tides and its ships, nor a large river, nor a great manufacturing town, nor any industry prosecuted on a large scale, attempts to teach geography in English, a language which it would be a stretch of courtesy to say he under- stands, to a class ignorant of the language he is trying to use." (From an article in The Christian Express, June i, 1908.) ' Report on Native Education in South Africa, part iii. p. 6. Cf. also an article by a Native teacher in The Christian Express of August i, 1908. 232 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE (b) The object of making English the medium is, of course, to teach Eriglish ; but this results in laying uiidue emphasis upon one subject, albeit a very important one, of the curri- culum. The function of education is to create situations, the responses to which will result in the acquirement of habits, knowledge, and tendencies to action, which are in the best interests of the person or people to be educated. A knowledge of Enghsh is very desirable for the Native, not onty for its immediately practical value as a means of intercourse with the ruling race, but as a means whereby the Native can acquire additional knowledge as a basis for future and more adequate reactions. But concurrently with this process in linguistic ability must proceed a knowledge of real things, so that the thought process may not be (£vorced from reality. Other matters, such as the formation of good habits and ideals of con- duct, are of paramount importance, but these cannot receive adequate attention if Enghsh dominates the curriculum. (c) The serious elimination of pujSls from Native schools and the high percentage of failures in the departmental examina- tions are largely due to the insistence upon English as the medium. Pupils who fail at the inspector's examination are naturally inclined to leave school,^ while even those who survive become " tired " of a curriculum which, because of its reference to foreign things in a language imperfectly under- stood, makes no appeal to them.* (d) Granted that a time may come when it will be possible and desirable to use English entirely as the medium of instruction, that time is not yet. The present disabilities under which the Native schools laboiir — ^the inadequate financial support, the wretched buildings and equipment, and the ill-prepared teachers — are sufficient obstacles to education without adding to their number by requiring the use of a medium which neither teacher nor pupil understands. ' " A good many, of course, never go beyond the first standard, just because the medium of instruction is English ; whereas if they commenced in their own language, the probabilities are before finishing a year or so they would be able to pass the third standard in Kafir." (Rev. S. P. Sihlali, Native missionary, Evidence before Cape Select Com- mittee on Native Education, 1908, section 942.) * Cf. Sargant, Report on Native Education in South Africa, part iii. p. 62 et seq. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 233 Section 3. — ^The Ultimate Supremacy of the European 'i Language '^ While the arguments in favour of instruction in and through the vernacular are strong enough to control our practice, the writer's personal conviction is that the Bantu languages cannot live. The practical value of English and Dutch, both as means of intercourse and as bases for further education, the un- willingness of the Europeans to learn the Native languages,^ the absence of a Native literature, and the improved methods of teaching English, will prevail ; and despite the efforts of Bantu scholars, who point out the beauty and euphony of the lan- guages, the completeness and regularity of their grammars, and their ability to keep pace with the spread of civilisation by adopting technical, and other terms from the English, the Native tongues must give place to the more practical European languages. Apart from sentiment, there is no reason for wishing the Bantu languages to survive. They have served their purpose. They are not capable of expressing the ideas which the new European civilisation has brought to the country. They are hopelessly clumsy and inadequate on the mathematical and scientific sides.* Besides this, languages are instruments of communication, and it will be to the interest of South Africa not to perpetuate another language. For the present, however, instruction in the vernacular will be necessary for those who intend to become teachers, and the use of the vernacular as a medium will be necessary where the children come from Bantu- speaking homes. As a working rule it is suggested that the vernacular be the chief medium of instruction for the first two years, that it share with Elnglish or Dutch the position of medium for the next three, but that after that English or Dutch become the medium. » The Dutch almost invariably address their Native servant in Dutch, while the majority of the English people use a " kitchen Kafir," a feeble mixture of Kafir and English. * Even strong advocates of the Kafir medium admit its clumsiness in arithmetic. It is certainly cumbersome to have to express 555 by " amakulu, amahlanu anamashumi amahlanu anesihl^iu," while it is not possible to express in Zulu large numbers, such as a hundred thousand, or low fractions. 234 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE This rule should, however, be subject to change where the teacher is especially competent in Enghsh, and where the children have considerable opportunity (e.g. in towns) of speaking English or Dutch. PART IV. AGRICULTURE AS A NATIVE INDUSTRY In our consideration of the present sjTstem of industrial education in the Native schools of South Africa we showed that, in spite of the unanimous opinion that the education of the Natives should be largely industrial, a very smaU percentage of the Natives were, as a matter of fact, receiving industrial training. The reasons for this were the high cost of the necessary equipment, the opposition of the White industrial classes, and the apathetic and even hostile attitude of some missionaries and the Natives themselves towards the subject. It was there pointed out that only the first two objections could be regarded as worthy of serious consideration, and that, after all, the fear of competition evinced by the Europeans was to a large extent unfounded. The valid objections towards a general system of industrial training are therefore founded on the cost of the necessary equipment and the hmited demand for skilled labour. Both these objections fall to the ground, however, if we extend the term " industrial training " to include instruction in agriculture and the Native arts and crafts. As far as we can at present foresee, agriculture must become the chief industry of South Africa. Our mineral wealth must, in the course of time, become exhausted, and the isolation of South Africa must prevent it for many years from becoming a great manufacturing and industrial country in the sense in which Great Britain, Germany, and the United States are industrial countries. On the other hand. South Africa's opportunities in agriculture and stock-raising are very great. ITie country's farming resources are only, now becoming known, and, with the discovery of remedies for the numerous plagues and diseases which periodically ravage the country, the agricultural prospects of South Africa are very bright. If, how- ever, these prospects are to be fully realised, the four million Native rural inhabitants must be taught to be good farmers. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 235 In the past the Native has made httle use of the land. So long as he could obtain sufficient grazing for his cattle, and a small patch of land for cultivation, he was content. As a stock-farmer the Native has not been very successful, and he is probably the worst agriculturist in the world. Although agri- culture is the hereditary occupation of the people, it has never been practised on a large scale. On the contrary, each " raw " Native produces just enough to satisfy the needs of his family. Agriculture is followed as a means of sustenance and nothing more. Indeed, since the coming of the White man the Native does not produce even enough to satisfy his own wants, but buys mealies from the White storekeeper. He rarely looks beyond the immediate present. His wives cultivate just enough land to bear the amount of food required. If anything occurs to spoil the crop, be it drought or a visitation by locusts, there will not be enough food. Then if our Native does not succeed in begging food from his neighbours, he will have recourse to the natural roots and fruits of the bush. If these fail, he faces starvation. Some primitive methods, to be sure, are taken to store the crops when reaped, but the Native rarely plants enough to allow for a bad year. Even to-day the supply of Native labour for the mines, the farms, the stores, and domestic service varies with the goodness or badness of the harvest, for in bad years the Native is compelled to leave home to work for food for himself and his family, whereas in a good year he can bask in the sunshine at home. It would be difficult to imagine a more haphazard and waste- ful method of cultivation than that practised by the Natives. On the slopes of the hill, on which the Native kraal stands, small irregular pieces of land are turned over by the hoe, or in a few cases thinly ploughed up. Here the seeds are sown, and the natural fertihty of the land produces a fair crop. This same plot of land is cultivated in succeeding years, and as no system of fertiUsing is practised, it soon becomes worn out and will grow nothing but weeds. Then another piece of virgin land is selected, and the same process is repeated. Since the bush land is generally the most fertile because of the accumulation of leaf-mould, which acts as a natural fertiliser, the bush is often fired, and small plots of land there cultivated in the same way. No attempt at irrigation is made, though this would often be 236 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE possible ; and no attempt is ever made to restore fertility to the soil. The adherence to these wasteful ancestral methods of cultivation in the face of European example is astonishingly strong. A Native will work for years with, a European farmer ; will become so thoroughly conversant with the White man's method of farming that he can safely be left to till the land and sow the crops in his master's absence ; he will see that on the European plan four times as much grain can be obtained ; yet when he goes back to his kraal, he will still practise his old methods of agriculture. If he is reminded of the example of the White man, and asked why he does not follow it, he will reply simply, " That is the White man's way : I am a Native." This improvidence, this being satisfied merely to meet the requirements of to-day, is so deep-rooted in the Native, that it is almost hopeless to expect to improve the present genera- tion. There are signs, however, that an improvement in his methods of agriculture must come. The wants of the Natives are increasing, and the amount of land available for them is hardly sufficient to support them with their present primitive methods of agriculture. The Native will be compelled by economic pressure to adjust himself to a new and better method of agriculture ; it is in the interests of both races that he should become a better producer, so that it is clearly the duty of school authorities to prepare the coming generation for the new order of things. To enable the schools to induce the educated Natives to return to the land, an improvement in the sj^stem of Native land tenure is necessary. The " raw " Native clings tenaciously to his tribalism with its communal occupation of land; but one of the first effects of education is to make the Native individualistic, and with individualism comes greater industry, enterprise, and progress. Industry, enterprise, and progress in agriculture depend on a reasonable security of land tenure, and until the educated Native can be convinced that he will be freed from the more or less arbitrary decisions of a raw Native chief, and that he will be able to lead the new hfe which has been opened out to him by education, it will be difficult to induce him to turn to agriculture as a permanent means of earning a livelihood. THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION 237 Four systems of Native land tenure exist in South Africa : — (a) Communal occupation of public land reserved for Natives in locations and mission reserves. (&) Squatting on public lands. (c) Purchase and leasing of private lands. (d) Individual tenure of public land reserved for Natives, as in the Transkei.* An adequate treatment of the history and merits of these systems is outside the scope of the present work.* It is sufi&cient to point out here that under the first two systems there is not sufficient security of tenure to induce educated Natives to take up agriculture as a permanent vocation. Of the two latter systems, that of permitting Natives to acquire land from individuals by purchase or lease presents such social, economic, and administrative difficulties as to make it un- desirable except in areas defined by Government, and under conditions which prevent communal occupation.' We are left, then, with the form of land tenure which in their present state of development is most suitable for the Natives and most desirable from the European's point ot view — ^the allocation by the Government of small plots of ground to indi- vidual Natives to be held subject to good behaviour, and the payment of an annual rental. This system, under the name of the Glen Grey Act, has been in operation in a part of the Cape 1 The distribution of Natives as regards the nature of their land tenure is as follows : — Townships. Province. Locations, and Private Crown Mission. mnnicipal lands. lands. reserve. areas. Caperaroper Cape Tianskei . 3«.756 102,970 190,487 13.902 16,565 8+6,994 8,620 41.893 5,251 Natal and Zululand . 426.936 27,339 486,098 81,810 27,026 Transvaal 299,638 25,445 550.318 59.140 17,458 Orange Free State 14,600 53.58s 211,951 1.537 {South African Bluebooh on Native Affairs, 1910, p. 360.) ' For a lull account see the Report of the South African Native Affairs Commission, 1903-5, sections 75-210. ' See sections 191-193 of the Report. 238 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Province since 1894, and has proved very successful.^ In 1910 a Government Commission was appointed to inquire into the general working of the system of. individual land tenure. The report is distinctly favourable, and concludes on the following optimistic note : " Generally the Native people are rising in the scale of civiUsation ; they are advancing intellectually, and by their loyalty, their obedience to the law, their large share in the industrial hfe of the country and their direct and indirect contributions to the pubUc revenue, they are responding worthily to the generous poUcy of this colony in the administra- tion of Native affairs." " The trend of competent opinion in South Africa is to-day in the direction of extending cautiously, but surely, the system of individual ownership.* Without it we shall not succeed in inducing the Native to take up farming, the occupation most in keeping with his nature and view of hfe, and one that he can pursue without entering into competition with the European. ' The principles involved in the Glen Grey Act are : (i) Individual title to land. (2) Recognition of law of primogeniture. (3) Local self-government. (4) Power to levy taxes and vote expenditure. ^ Quoted by Evans, Black and White in South-East Africa, p. 255. ' For example, the South African Native Affairs Commission, 1903-5, passed the following resolution : " Recognising the attachment of the Natives to, and the present advantages of, their own communal or tribal system of land tenure, the Commission does not advise any general compulsory measure of subdivision and individual holding of the lands now set apart for their occupation ; but recommends that movement in that direction be encouraged, and that, where the Natives exhibit in suiificient numbers a desire to secure and a capacity to hold and enjoy individual rights to arable plots and residential sites on such lands, provision should be made accordingly under well- defined conditions " (section 147). CHAPTER XII THE FINANCING OF NATIVE EDUCATION In the last analysis provision for education resolves itself into a question of finance. Education costs money, and as more and greater responsibilities devolve upon the school an increas- ing amount of financial support is necessary. Before the matter of education became a State function, its financial support was derived from private,^ Church, or State charities, but nowadays the funds for education are derived from public taxation. These are generally obtained by a form of direct taxation for educational purposes, as in the case of England, Germany, the United States, and most other countries enjoying local self-government. In South Africa, however, almost all the funds for education are derived from the general revenue of the Union, but are expended by the Provincial Councils.^ This is not the place to enter into a genereil discussion of the relative merits of the two forms of obtaining financial support for educa- tion ; but when dealing with a people Uke the Natives, who cannot be expected to understand the principles involved in taxation, it would seem to be desirable to let the Native know as clearly as possible why he is being taxed. If we can point out to the Native the material benefits in the form of schools, roads, bridges, etc., which he as an individual enjo3?s as the . result of taxation, we shall appeal to something which he can understand and appreciate more than if we attempt to explain the principles of State taxation. The most progressive Natives in South Africa are those of the Transkei, where a form of local self-government, with local taxation for educational and other specific services for the benefit of the Native, obtains. ' In the Cape Province each School Bosird is empowered to levy a rate not to exceed one-eighth of a penny in the pound for school purposes, and in parts of the Native Territories and in Basutoland the Natives tax themselves directly for educational purposes. 239 240 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE The system of local self-government, however, is but in its infancy, and for many years to come the funds for Native education must be derived from the general revenue of the Union. In the past and at present Native educatipn is sup- ported by special grants-in-aid. The system was derived from that in vogue in England when the elementary schools were being conducted by religious and philanthropic agencies. If there was any principle underlying the system, it was that the education of the masses was primarily the function of the Churches. Even when the State began to recognise its duty in the matter of pubhc education, it was felt that the Churches were the best agencies for carrying it out. In the following pages we have attempted first to summarise the systems of State aid to Native education in the several provinces and Basutoland, and then to examine the other sources of revenue for Native education. We have then tried to demonstrate that Native education is not receiving the share of financial support to which it is entitled ; finally, a basis for the furnishing of Government support to Native education has been proposed, and a system of grants-in-aid suggested. Section i. — The Present System of Government Grants-in-Aid The basis on which Government grants in aid of Native education are paid in the several provinces and in Basutoland are as follows : — (A) Cape Province The following grants may be paid : — ^ I. Mission Schools^ I. A grant not to exceed £75 per annum for the principal teacher, and not to exceed ^(45 per annum for each assistant 1 AH grants are contingent on the money being voted by the Legislature. ' A distinction is made between the grants paid to Mission Schools and to Aborigines' Schools. Mission Schools are schools for the Coloured people of the province proper, and Aborigines' Schools are schools for the Native population of the Transkeian Territories. The Mission Schools are attended by " Coloured " (mulatto) children as well as by Natives. THE FINANCING OF NATIVE EDUCATION 24I teacher. This grant is solely in aid of teachers' salaries, and must be supplemented by a local contribution of los. for every £1 of grant. 2. A grant not exceeding £50 per annum may be made towards maintaining an industrial class in connection with a mission school. 3, A grant in aid of rent. II. Aborigines' Schools^ 1. An annual grant in aid of the salary of the teacher, varying frotn a maximum of ^100 for the principal and £40 for the assistant teacher in an institution to a maximum of £/[6 for the head teacher and a lesser grant for the assistant in an ordinary school. In those parts of the Transkeian Territories which fall under the Glen Grey Act, these grants are supplemented by grants from the Transkeian General Council, to the extent of 50 per cent, in the case of assistants, and 75 per cent, in the case of principal teachers. 2. A grant in aid of the apprenticeship of boys and girls who enter into an agreement with the authorities of the institution with which they are connected to serve in certain trades.^ These maintenance grants, as they are called, are £15 per annum for boys and £10 per annum for girls. 3. A grant of £10 or £12 per annum in the case of boarders other than apprentices.* 4. A grant not exceeding ;£ 120 per annum in aid of the salary of the trade instructor of apprentices. As a rule, not more than two departments in a school may receive this grant, and there must be fifteen apprentices in each trade department receiving the grant. 1 A distinction is made between the grants paid to Mission Schools and to Aborigines' Schools. Mission Schools are schools for the Coloured people of the province proper, and Aborigines' Schools are schools for the Native population of the Transkeian Territories. The Mission Schools are attended by " Coloured " (mulatto) children as well as by Natives. ■' The number of apprentices and boarders for whom grants are available is strictly limited. The regulations require that the whole number of boarders and apprentices in a school should consider- ably exceed that of those to whom maintenance grants are paid. (Reg. No. 51.) 16 242 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE 5. A grant not exceeding ^^30 in aid of purchase of tools, fittings, and materials for the trade departments. 6. An annual allowance of £50 for the expenses of an indus- trial department not in receipt of the foregoing allowances, or attached to a Native day school. 7. A grant in aid of rent to training schools and industrial institutions in the case of new buildings erected in accordance with plans approved by the Department, vested to the satis- faction of the Department, and used in perpetuity for educa- tional purposes only. (B) Natal Province The following grants-in-aid may be paid : — I. Training Schools for Teachers 1. Half the amount of the salaries of the necessary teaching staff, provided that the amount payable by the Government under this clause shall not exceed £300 per annum. 2. £3 per student per annum calculated on the average attendance. 3. £2 for every student who obtains a teacher's certificate at the end of the year. II. Boarding Schools 1. Class A (containing only pupils above Standard IV.). — Half the amount of the salaries of the necessary teaching staff, provided that the amount payable by the Government under this clause shall not exceed £200. £3 per pupil per annum calculated on the average daily attendance. 2. Class B (boarders only). — 20s. per annum for pupils up to Standard I., calculated on average attendance. 30s. per annum for pupils in Standards II. and III., calculated on average attendance. 40S. per annum for pupils in Standard IV., calculated on average attendance. 60s. per annum for pupils over Standard IV., calculated on average attendance. THE FINANCING OF NATIVE EDUCATION 243 3. Class C (boarders and day pupils). — 25S.1 per annum for every pupil below Standard I., on average daily attendance. 30s.^ per annum for every pupil in Standards I. and II., on average daily attendance. 40S.1 per annum for every pupil above Standard II., on average daily attendance. In all boarding schools a special grant not to exceed £2 per pupil per annum for approved industrial work, for not less than ten hours per week. III. Day Schools 1. 17s. per pupil, subject to reduction if an uncertificated teacher is employed. 2. A bonus of £4 to the principal, £2 to each certificated teacher assistant, and £1 to each uncertificated assistant if the school is graded " excellent." 3. An industrial grant of 3d. per annum will be allowed for every pupil on the roll who pays 3d. per year into the " Indus- trial Training Fund " at the school. (C) Transvaal 3 The following grants may be made : — I. Training Institutions 1. An initial grant not exceeding £300 for equipment. 2. Grants, to be expended only on salaries for teachers, on the pound-for-pound system as follows : — (a) A grant not exceeding £100 for the officer in charge of the boarding establishment. (6) A grant not exceeding £250 on behalf of the chief officer of the institution or department thereof. To obtain a grant for the chief officer, at least one other instructor must be employed. ^ Grants will be reduced by 5s. each if uncertificated teachers are employed. Similar reduction if accommodation and equipment are not as required. * For new scale of grant proposed see Appendix F. 244 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE (c) A grant not exceeding £200 on behalf of each assistant instructor. To obtain a grant for two instructors there must be more than thirty students, for three instructors there must be more than sixty students, and for more than one hundred students, or separate departments for men and women. (rf) A grant not exceeding £100 for each manual- training instructor, the number of instructors to be limited as above. (e) Bursaries at a rate not exceeding £10 for each Native student who signs an agreement to teach for three years in a Government-aided institution. II. Industrial Schools. (" To train boys for crafts and occupations connected with farming, and to train girk and boys for household work and domestic occupations generally." — Regulations, section 8.) 1. A maintenance grant of £10 pei' annum for each approved and indentured pupil, who must have passed Standards III. (if a boy) and II. (if a girl). 2. Grants in aid of Scdaries of teachers. (a) Not exceeding £50 per annum for each qualified male teacher. (6) Not exceeding £30 per annum for each qualified female teacher, (c) Not exceeding £150 per annum for each European teacher. 3. An initial grant not exceeding £100 for equipment for approved institutions. III. Ordinary Native Schools. (" In no case shall the full grant be payable unless industrial education of a satis- factory character is given.") I. Grants in aid of salaries of teachers — (a) Not exceeding £20 per annum for every uncertifi- cated teacher. (b) Not exceeding £40 per annum for provisionally certificated teacher. THE FINANCING OF NATIVE EDUCATION 245 (c) Not exceeding £50 per annum for full certificated teacher. (d) Not exceeding £70 per annum for European teacher. (e) Not exceeding £ao per annum for industrial teacher. {N.B.-^The number of teachers for whom grants will be paid is one for every thirty pupils, " provided that the number enrolled exceeds any multiple of thirty by not less than ten, grants may be paid in respect of an additional teacher.") IV. Special Instruction Coursed for Teachers 1 1. A grant not exceeding £36 in all, or 9s. per hour for each competent instructor. 2. Payment at the rate of gs. per hour for approved com- petent instructors in industrial work. 3. A grant at the rate of 30s. per caput as subsistence allowance for each teacher in regular attendance. 4. A grant not exceeding £io for every thirty teachers in attendance, for books and other school material needed in the course. (D) Okange Free State The annual vote of £4000 for Native education is allocated (half every six months) among the various mission organisa- tions conducting Native schools. The allocation is based on the attendance returns, furnished by the mission organisations. In 1913 the allocation was at the rate of 3s. 6d. per pupil enrolled. (E) Basutoland I. The total grant to each mission will be calculated on the total average attendance of pupils in all its day schools and 1 " At least until such time as a better-qualified type of Native teacher has been produced in the training institutions, courses of in- struction extending over a period of about four weelis may be held periodically, in cases where not less than thirty acting teachers present themselves, and where adequate provision is forthcoming for class-room purposes, and the accommodation of instructors and teachers." (Regulations, section 26.) 246 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE institutions which are on the official list. It will be calculated at the rate of not less than 15s., or more than i8s., per unit of attendance. II. The sum of money constituting the difference between the total grant and the sum payable to each school for its day schools and institutions will be allocated in the form of grants for special purposes, to be decided by the Department in conjunction with each central mission authority, at the beginning of each financial year. III. Grants to Elementary Schools, as follows :— Average Grant. attendance. Third class 20- 25 £16 Per annum. 25- 45 £'2° Second class 45- 60 £24+» ., ., 60- 70 ;£28+8 ., ., First class . 70-100 /34+12+8 ,. „ 100-150 ;f34+i2+8+8 „ „ over 150 £S for each addi- tional fifty pupils in at- tendance IV. Head teachers of first-class schools receive a bonus of £3 per annum after five years' service, and an extra bonus of ^3 per annum after ten years' service. Section 2. — Other Sources of Financial Support In addition to these Government grants-in-aid, which have been, and must continue to be, the chief source of income, funds for the maintenance of Native education are obtained from four other sources : — (a) The Union Government. (6) The Native Councils in the Transkei and Pondoland. (c) The Native parents, through school fees, taxes, and contributions. (d) European philanthropists in South Africa and overseas. THE FINANCING OF NATIVE EDUCATION 247 (a) Since 1915 the Union Government has made a direct grant of £600 per annum to the Inter-State Native College. It also provides the funds for the grants-in-aid which are distributed by the Provincial Councils. (b) In the Transkeian Territories the grant in aid of teachers' salaries made by the Cape Government, which varies from £12 per annum for an uncertificated assistant up to £40 for a certificated head teacher, is supplemented by grants from the Transkeian General Council to the extent of 50 per cent, of the Education Department grant in the case of assistants, and 75 per cent, in the case of head teachers. In addition to this, teachers in these cases participate in the benefits of the Teachers' Good Service and Pension schemes. This system of supplementing from general revenue the amounts raised by local taxation for educational purposes is working very satisfactorily, and its gradual extension to other districts is recommended. (c) Fees. — School fees are required in all the Native schools except those situated in the Native territories and in the reserves, where the Natives pay a special tax which is expended on education, roads, and other services for their benefit. The school fees vary from threepence a month in the infant classes to two and three shiUings in the higher standards. The amount collected in fees in the day schools depends largely on the activity of the teachers and missionary superintendents. That these fees can be collected if sufficient trouble be taken is shown by the satisfactory amounts received by such an active organisation as the American Zulu Board in Natal,^ but that the Natives will avoid papng if they can is evidenced by the frequent complaints of missionaries and teachers.^ The present state of affairs is unsatisfactory, and the in- equality of burden apparent. As was pointed out to the Cape Committee on Native Education, in the Ciskeian mission and aborigines' schools the teacher has often to wait for his salary until the missionary has rounded up the parents and extracted the fees. Again, when money is required to enable the school ^ See Report of American Zulu Mission, 1914, and also the chart infra, p. 249. ' See, for example, the evidence of Messrs Schlali and Rubusana before the Cape Committee on Native Education, 1908, sections 704-714, 1393-^1404 et passim. 248 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE to meet the requirements of the Department, it is the Christian Native who is mulcted, and, although the heathens may be sending their children to school, they escape payment. The position is worse in Natal, where the income of the school depends entirely on the average daily attendance, for the missionary cannot expel defaulters without reducing the amount of his grant.^ The financial uncertainty is the bugbear of the missionary, and it is clear that a more satisfactory scheme must be devised."^ TABLE No. 28 The Income of the Native Schools of Natal from all Sources FOR THE Years 1905-1914, compiled from the Annual Reports of the Superintendent of Education _J. Amount contri- Amount contri- Year. GovernmeiiL buted by Natives tributed by grant. in fees, etc. Europeans. i s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 1905 6,334 12 10 2475 3 7 9.845 i6 3 1906 . 7.035 13 7 2479 2 4 5,018 8 9 1907 . 7,332 9 2247 II 7 10,130 3 3 1908 . 7.599 19 3 2884 12 10,063 3 9 1909 8.913 12 6 2773 12 10 5.547 5 4 1910 10,341 5 I 3293 4 5.230 I 4 1911 . ".773 9 lo 3504 18 9 4,987 14 II 1912 . 14,169 15 3 5308 3 5.582 6 3 1913 • 17,002 3 4 4729 2 7.137 14 I 1914 • 21,889 18 6 6138 14 I 7,726 6 1915 • 21,587 6 I 6941 2 2 8,011 18 I (d) The fourth source of income is the contributions from missionary societies and other philanthropic bodies in South Africa and elsewhere. Recognising that Christianity and edu- cation must go hand in hand', these societies have regarded the extension of education as a legitimate charge against missionary ' When an exasperated missionary does take this extreme course of dismissing pupils he often has the satisfaction of seeing them re- ceived gladly and without payment by his denominational rival on the other side of the river I ' A suggested scheme is outlined infra, p. 258. . \ • V \, 1 \ s S, « \ s \, \ \ \ \ - \ ) / './■ V •\ 1 \ ■\ g > \ 1 i^ \ \ ■ § § \ . •1 -^ \ ; ^ e \ • 1 ^ *^ V ' ,5 ". \ Suitable trees and flower seeds will be supplied free on application to the Department of Native Education. APPENDIX D 333 3. Furnishings and Supplies 10. A seat and desk for each child. 11. Good teacher's table and chair. 12. Set of maps and globe. 13. Necessary Enghsh and Zulu reading charts. 4. Organisation 14. School well organised. 15. Pupils well classified. 16. Registers and other records properly kept. 17. Good time-table regularly observed. 18. Regular attendance and good discipline. 19. Satisfactory industrial work. 5. The Teachers 20. Fully staffed. 21. Certificated head teacher. 22. Favourable reports from supervisors and inspector. 23. Receiving Government maximum grant. 6. The Children 24. Clean and tidy. 25. Making good progress. 26. Each child with all the prescribed text-books and writing materials. Requirements for a "Superior" School I. Grounds I. Grounds ample for play; and for school gardens or f^rm, properly fenced. 2. Good approaches, hardened where necessary. 3. Grass cut regularly, and cleared space round the school. 4. WeU or cistern for drinking and washing. 5. Two well-kept, widely separated outhouses. 6. Trees planted and properly tended, and, wherever possible, a school garden. 2. The School Building 7. Approved building, in good repair and painted. 8. At least two separate classrooms. 9. Properly lighted [i.e. from one side or from one side and the rear) . 10. Good ventilation and adjustable windows. 334 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE 11. Boarded floor kept clean and tidy. 12. At least one blackboard for every two classes or standards. 3. Furnishings and Supplies 13. Seats and desks of assorted sizes for aU children. 14. A good table and chair for each teacher. 15. A good bookcase. 16. At least thirty library books, some for children of each standard. 17. Writing materials for class work. 18. A separate examination book for each child in and above Standard II. 19. Two good wall-pictures. 20. Set of maps and a good globe. 21. Adequate drinking and washing arrangements. 4. Organisation 22. School well organised. 23. Pupils well classified. 24. Registers and other records properly kept. 25. Good time-tables regularly observed. 26. Adequate provision for instruction in elementary agri- culture, or other industrial work, for boys, and sewing and domestic work for girls. 5. The Teachers 27. School fully stafied. 28. Head teacher and at least one other member of the staff certificated. 29. Favourable reports from supervisor or inspector. 30. Receiving Government maximum grant-in-aid. 6. The Children 31. Clean and tidy. 32. Regular in attendance and diligent. 33. Possessing all the prescribed text-books and necessary writing materials. 34. Making " excellent " progress. APPENDIX E 335 APPENDIX E MAIZE COMPETITIONS FOR NATIVE SCHOOLS A VERY effective method of fostering an interest in agricultural pursuits would be the establishment of maize and gardening com- petitions for individual students in training institutions and board- ing schools, and for elementary day schools. Some such condi- tions as the following might be set up.^ Maize Competitions for Students in Training Institutions and Boarding Schools 1. A competition open to all male students in Government- aided Native training colleges and institutions will be held in the month of June in each year. 2. The amount of ground used shall be one quarter of an acre for each boy. 3. All the work except the ploughing must be done by the student. Seed will be supplied by the Department if desired. 4. Students must keep a record of the time spent in doing the work, and of the expenditure (if any) for seed, fertiliser, etc. 5. The maize grown on the half acre shall be the property of the student whether it wins a prize or not, and will, if desired, be purchased by the Department at current local rates. The decision of the Department as to the current local rate shall be final. 6. The following prizes will be awarded by the Department : — £ s. d. One First Prize oi £$ . . .500 Five Second Prizes of £2, los. . . 12 10 o Ten Third Prizes of ;£i . . . 10 o o Fourteen Consolation Prizes of los. . 7 o o £34 10 o 7. The following basis shall be used in awarding the prizes : — Per cent. Greatest yield per acre . . . . 50 Best showing of profit . . • • 3° Best written account of history of crop . 20 Total . . .100 1 The conditions are based on those of the well-known Corn Clubs in the United States. 336 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE Gardening Competition for Female Students 1. A competition open to all female students in Government and Government-aided training colleges, institutions, and boarding schools will be held in the month of December of each year. 2. The amount of ground used shall be an eighth of an acre for each girl. 3. The crops sown shall include at least three of the following : — beans, ground nuts, amadumbi, sweet potatoes, round potatoes, amabeli, pumpkin. 4. All the work except the ploughiiig must be done by the student. 5. An allowance of 5s. per candidate will be paid to the prin- cipal of the institute for seed. 6. Students must keep a record of the time spent in doing the work, and of the expenditure (if any) for seed, fertiliser, etc. ' 7. The crops produced on the quarter acre shall be the pro- perty of the student whether she wins a prize or not. 8. The following prizes will be awarded by the Department : — One First Prize of ;^3 ^3 Five Second Prizes oi £2, 10 Ten Third Prizes oi £1 10 Fourteen Consolation Prizes of los. ... 7 9. The following basis shall be used in awarding the prizes : — Per cent. Best crop 50 Best showing of profit 30 Best written account of history Of crop . . 20 Total . . . 100 N.B. — In awarding the prizes the judges may take into account [a) age of competitor, (6) relative native fertility of ground, (c) local seasonal conditions. Maize Competitions for Native Day Schools 1. A competition open to aU Government-aided Native day schools will be held in June of each year. 2. The amount of ground cultivated shall be not less than one and a half acres. APPENDIX E 337 3 ■ AH the work except the plgughihg must be done by the pupils. Sufficient seed for the amount of ground cultivated will be for- warded by the Department to the nearest railway station. 4. The teacher must keep a record of the time spent in doing the work, and of the expenditure (if any) for seed, fertiliser, etc. 5. The maize grown on the plot shall be the property of the pupils whether it wins a prize or not. The grantee of the school shall arrange for the sale of maize, and the products shall be used for the direct benefit of the pupils, e.g. in school prizes, pictures, or sports apparatus. 6. Each school wishing to enter for the competition shall nomi- nate for the approval of the Department a ^stworthy person to supervise the weighing of the produce of the plot, and to submit to the Department the certificate of weight, etc. 7. The following prizes will be awarded : — i s. d. One First Prize oi £$ . . . ,500 Five Second Prizes of £2, los. . . 12 10 o Ten Third Prizes oi£i . . , . 10 o o 8. The following basis shall be used in awarding the prizes : — Per cent. Best crop 50 Best showing Of profit 30 Best written account of history of crop (ten accounts required) . . , . . . 20 Total . . . 100 APPENDIX F PROPOSED SCALE OF GRANTS TO NATIVE mSTITUTIONS IN THE TRANSVAAL The following scale of grants-in-aid recommended by the Transvaal Council of Education awaits the endorsement of the Legislature : — 22 338 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE I. Training Institutions 1. A grant for land or buildings. 2. Grants for general equipment, consisting of — (a) An initial or development grant not exceeding ;£3oo. (6) An annual grant not exceeding 5s. for each pupil enrolled. 3. Grants for industrial equipment, consisting of — (a) An initial or development grant not exceeding £100. {b) An annual grant not exceeding 5s. for each pupil enrolled. 4. Salary grants for teachers on the £ for £ principle. {a) A grant not exceeding ^100 per annum for the officer in charge of the boarding establishment. (6) A grant not exceeding £250 per annum for the prin- cipal. (c) A grant not exceeding £200 per annum for each assistant. 5. Salary grants for teachers not on the £ for £ principle. (a) A grant not exceeding ^200 per annum in the case of a man, and ;£i50 in the case of a woman, for a whole-time industrial teacher. (6) A grant at the discretion of the Director of Education for a part-time industrial teacher. 6. Bursaries not exceeding ;£io per annum on behalf of each Native student who makes satisfactory progress, and who signs an agreement to teach in a Government-aided institution for three years. II. Industrial Schools 1. A grant for land or buildings. 2. Grants for equipment, consisting of — {a) An initial or development grant not exceeding £100. (6) An annual grant not exceeding 5s. for each pupil enrolled. 3. Salary grants for teachers — (a) A grant not exceeding ;£2oo per annum in the case of a male and ;£i5o per annum in the case of a female European teacher. APPENDIX F 339 (6) A grant not exceeding £50 per annum in the case of a male and ^^30 per annum in the case of a female Native teacher. 4. Bursaries not exceeding £io per annum on behalf of each Native pupil whose admission is approved. III. Primary Schools 1 . Grants for general equipment — (a) An initial or development grant not exceeding £^. (6) An annual grant not exceeding 5s. for each pupU enrolled. 2. Grants for industrial equipment — {a) An initial or development grant not exceeding ^5. (6) An annual grant not exceeding 2s. for each pupil enrolled. 2. Salary grants for teachers — {a) A grant for a properly qualified European principal or assistant for industrial work, of the amount paid for similarly qualified teachers in European schools. (6) A grant not exceeding £8/^ per annum for an approved European assistant. (c) A grant of £/^^ per annum, rising by annual increments of £,\ to ;£6o per annum, for a fully qualified Native assistant. 1 (d) A grant of ^36 per annum, rising by annual increments of £^ to £/^% per annum, for a provisionally qualified Native assistant. (e) A grant of £z6 per annum, rising by annual increments of £2. to £2^ per annum, for an unqualified Native assistant. (/) A grant to be fixed by the Director of Education for a part-time industrial teacher.' 1 Grants for assistants are paid as foUows : — (a) For the first assistant when the average attendance is from thirty-five to sixty-nine. (6) For the second assistant when the average attendance is from seventy to ninety-nine, (c) For the third and succeeding assistants when the average attendance has increased by thirty. ' In all schools " training " (i.e. religious, moral, physical, and in- dustrial training) must occupy at least half the school time. 340 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE IV. Special Instruction Courses for Teachers already in the Service ^ (a) A grant at the rate of gs. per hour, and not exceeding £^f> in all, for each approved instructor. (6) A grant at the rate of 30s. on behalf of each teacher in regular attendance at the course. (c) A grant for books and material. ' These short courses, lasting about four weeks, are held periodically for the benefit of teachers aheady in the service. PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY NEILI, AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH.