The Mis-Education of the Negro

The Mis-Education of the Negro

Introduction

The Mis-Education of the Negro is a book written by Dr. Carter G. Woodson in 1933. The book talks about the mis-education of the negro. The book specifically highlights the problem that the Africans face due to the reason that they are not being taught about their history. In schools, African history is not included in academics, rather the history of Europe and America is being taught to the students. This is the reason that the students do not get the right education and that they are unable to keep up with their country's own history. The author of the book highlights the issue of lack of education of history in Africa. This paper will critique about the story of the book and will also discuss the different aspects discussed in the book.

Discussion

This section of the paper will critique the book and will discuss the major elements of the educational system of Africa.

Inequalities in the South African Education System

The book mentions that school attendance is compulsory in South Africa. Children aged from 7 to 15 years or studying in the ninth grade are offered free education. With seven years begins the six-year primary education, followed by six years Secondary Education. End of the 90 year trend went around 80 percent of black children to school, rising. Education for All was one of the Millennium Goals, to be achieved in 2015 (Woodson, 1996). Considered in international comparison, today, South Africa is a relatively large amount for the education of, namely, a fifth of all government spending (20%), but a quarter of the population is illiterate. The majority of them belong to black or colored population groups.

The government under President Jacob Zuma saw the reorganization of state education policy and the education system as one of the central tasks of cultural policy. For still are the effects of apartheid policies (apartheid is Afrikaans and means separation) clearly noticeable in education in South Africa.

Education during the Apartheid

Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd under Prime Minister (1958-1966), an Afrikaner nationalist, there were numerous cuts in funding and suffered from the quality. He introduced the racial segregation that was practiced by the early 1990s. Exceptions were only a few branches of university education. The strict ethnic separation was reflected in different teaching quality in the equipment of schools, enrollment rates and education levels. Especially great was the gulf between black and white populations (Woodson, 1996). Still the educational differences are not resolved, there are still inequalities in education, among black students in particular have to suffer. The fact that the apartheid policy was ruthlessly enforced in schools and the funds were not distributed fairly the annual budget for a black child at the time was 42 edge, for a white child it was with 644 edge more than ten times as high rose discontent in the black population.

The Struggle for Equitable Education

The book talks about the massive ethnic tensions between the whites and blacks. They arose when the government decided ...