8 the state of science in south africa
H U M A N I T I E S A N D S O C I A L S C I E N C E S
Africa, it was remarkable that this idea was In addition, because they are considered to
accepted as a social fact, as the country’s be an ‘easy option’ – even amongst the ranks
only possible destination. By failing to raise of university recruiters – the bulk of poorly
questions, the humanities (both in South prepared students enter the humanities.
Africa and elsewhere) have paid a high price
for the creation of what Emma Rothschild These issues are exacerbated by a public
calls a “society of universal commerce” discourse which is unidirectional. The im-
(Rothschild, 2002:250). One of these costs portance of mathematics, science and tech-
Vrinda Nabar has described as the view that nology is a constant theme: their case is
“the humanities and languages are unnec- often highlighted by government spokes-
essary indulgences” (Furedi, 2004:3). people, by the business community and by
think-tanks and public policy experts – the
This thinking, which has by now permeated last two of which groupings seem entirely
deep into South African society, will now dominated by economists. Few examples
occupy our attention. Consider schooling: of humanities-trained successes in the eve-
private schools report the view that parents ts ryday world of commercial or industrial
assess education in investment terms, with work are considered. In addition, television
the idea of ‘value for money’ playing a strong programmes, especially soap operas and
role; most want their children prepared for sitcoms, depict characters with high-pow-
a ‘lucrative career’ and believe that the hu- ered careers, usually in the field of business,
manities will not equip their children for which guarantee an affluent lifestyle. The
this trajectory. At the public end of school- value of a humanities education is seldom
ing, the legacy of apartheid continues to emphasised.
blight the lives – and individual prospects
– of the majority of the country’s popula- In general, these realities have expressed
tion. Teaching is poor, facilities inadequate, themselves in student growth rates in hu-
and access to the social capital essential for manities that are substantially below the
higher education is largely lacking. Within growth rates in total numbers of students,
the universities, the humanities are largely dominated by a fall-off in humanities stu-
charged with setting right these structural dents in the early- and mid-1990s.
failings. In addition, the newly introduced
‘outcomes-based’ school curriculum is pre- Within the higher education system, plan-
scriptive: every pupil is compelled to do a ning has forced South Africa’s government
mathematics course in the final three grades to use the national purse to steer higher
of school. Other compulsory subjects are education towards the market. So, for more
English, a first additional language and a than a decade, the national subsidy for
course called ‘life orientation’. This leaves producing a humanities graduate was less
only three subjects to choose from to com- than that of a graduate in other disciplines.
plete the total of seven. It is, therefore, not The rationale for this decision (only partly
always easy to achieve a desirable balance based on costs of instruction) were also
between the sciences and the humanities. partly pure public-choice theory: a gradu-
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