The education of the South African native

Preface

In his famous address before the Congregation of the University 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 difficulties 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 difficult 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 fife 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

vii

Vlll 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 environment, have not succeeded in establishing 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 difficulty 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 education 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 seems to be peculiarly appropriate for a consideration of the relation of education towards the whole problem, 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 investigation 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 will 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 ; (b) personal investigation 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." 1 Similar methods are followed by other than educational commissioners.

(b) 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

1 “ 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 English 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 fellow-inspectors, missionaries, and teachers who have devoted their fives to supervision and instruction in Native schools. I have also 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 Education for the Union, for encouragement and interest in my studies ; to the Secretaries of the several Education Depart-

Xll THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE

ments, and to my colleague Mr S. B. Theunissen, Inspector of Native Schools, Natal, who have supplied me with valuable data ; to the principals of the training institutions and schools, both European and Native, who have replied to my questionnaire, given me additional information, and assisted me in the tests. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to several missionaries : 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 Pietermaritzburg, 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 undertaking. 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

Xlll

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.

Chapter I Page

Sect. i. An Historical Outline • • i

„ 2. The Increase in the Native Population .3

,, 3. The Enclosure of the Lands -5

,, 4. Breaking up of Communal Tenure .7

,, 5. The Native in the Towns 9

,, 6. The Effect on the Whites . .11

Chapter II

Sect. 1. The Attitude of White South Africa 17

„ 2. The Repressionists . 17

,, 3. The Equalists . .20

,, 4. The Segregationists 23

Chapter III Why Educate The Native?

Sect. 1. Can we help Educating the Native? .28

,, 2. The Calls of Humanity and Christianity . . 30

„ 3. The Natives’ Demand for Education -32

,, 4. The Native Solving his own Problem -33

,, 5. Advantage to Europeans in the Education of the Natives 34

6. The Success of Real Native Education .40 xv

XV111 THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE

PAG*

Sect. 3. A Study of School Children of Different Races in South

,, 4. Sex Differences ...... 207

Part II. — The Theory of the Arrest of Mental Development in the Native

Sect. 1 . The Theory Stated ..... 209

,, 2. Evidence in Support of the Theory of Arrested Development ....... 210

,, 3. Evidence in Rebuttal of the Theory of Arrested Development. . . . .212

,, 4. The Evidence from Experiments . .216

,, 5. The Reasons for the Lack of Progress in Older Native

CHAPTER XI

THE BASES OF RECONSTRUCTION— contd.

Part III . — The Position of the Vernacular Languages

Sect. 1. Different Views on the Use of the Vernacular in Schools 227 ,, 2. The Case for the Vernacular .229

„ 3. The Ultimate Supremacy of the European Language 233

Part IV. — Agriculture as a Native Industry . . 234 CHAPTER XII

Sect. 1 . The Present System of Government Grants-in- Aid . 240

,, 2. Other Sources of Financial Support 246

,, 3. The Comparative Expenditure on European and Non-

European Education ..... 250

,, 4. Does Native Education receive its Fair Share of Financial

,, 5. The Basis of Government Financial Support 254

,, 6. The Nature of the Government Grants . 255

„ 7. Proposed Government Grants-in- Aid .258

CONTENTS CHAPTER XIII

Sect. i. The Three Factors in Administration „ 2. The Department of Native Education

,, 3. The Functions of the Department of Native Education

,, 4. The Powers and Duties of the Chief Inspector of Native

Schools .......

,, 5. The Powers and Duties of the Inspectors of Native Schools

„ 6. The Powers and Duties of Supervisors

,, 7. The Reorganised System of Administration

,, 8. The Reorganised School System ....

CHAPTER XIV

Sect. 1 . The Elementary School Course of Study .

,, 2. The Intermediate School Course of Study

,, 3. The Native High Schools .....

,, 4. The Training Institution .....

,, 5. The Industrial Schools .....

CHAPTER XV

Sect. 1. The History of the Movement for Higher Education ,, 2. The Objections to the Scheme ....

,, 3. The Need for the College .....

,, 4. A Suggested Scheme .....

,, 5. Successful Institutions for the Higher Education of

Negroes in the United States ....

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. Official Reports regarding Native Affairs in South Africa

B. General Works on the Native .....

C. Books, Pamphlets, and Articles on Native Education .

D. Works on the American Negro .....

References ........

XIX

PAGE

XX

APPENDICES

A. Specimens of the Test Cards used for the Inspection of

Native Schools in Natal and the Cape

B. Examination of Native Candidates for Deacon’s Orders, 1916,

Diocese of Natal ......

C. Specimen Examination Papers for Native Teachers’ Certificates

D. Ordinary, Standard, and Superior Schools

E. Maize Competitions for Native Schools

F. Proposed Scale of Grants to Native Institutions in the

Transvaal .......

PAGE

Chapter I

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, lies in the education by the dominant Whites of the black race in the light of its past history and institutions, its mental and moral make-up, and its political, 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 contact are touched 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 landmark 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, and 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 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 Bushmen, disputed the possession of the soil with the warlike 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 willingly as the white man's vassal. At first the relationship between White and Black was patriarchal, but, for reasons which will be pointed out later, the influx of immigrants from over seas brought the question of race adjustment into the region of necessary politics, and created a problem which has increased rapidly in complexity, and which is to-day undoubtedly the most difficult confronting 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 impossible 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 physically 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 fifteenth century had gained the upper hand, and had driven their pigmy opponents to their mountain fastnesses.1

Be that as it may, it is certain that it was the white man who saved Hottentot and Bushman alike from being exterminated 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.

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 alike 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 Umzilikazi and his victims.1 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 Selborne 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 peculiar 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.2 It is the opinion of some authorities, with whom the writer is inclined 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 exterminating wars of Chaka, late King of the Zuloos, and other causes, the whole country included between Umzincoola and Togala Rivers is now unoccupied by its original possessors, and, with a very few exceptions, is totally uninhabited. 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 all 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.)

* Address before the University of the Cape of Good Hope, p. 16.

since they came into contact with the Europeans. The splendid physique of the Bantu people, the fewness of their needs, the 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 government, and by wholesale murders on the score of sorcery, were made good by a custom which provided that every adult female should be married.1

If the conditions favouring prolificness were great in the past, they have increased 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 checking the losses due to infant mortality, the white man’s government 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 little less than twentyeight years, and in Basutoland in less than twenty years.2

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 syphilis and tuberculosis, which appear to be spreading rapidly among the Native people,3 * * * * 8 cannot be estimated with

1 “ 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 born

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.

8 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 thirty-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 1-48 in the case of the European population, and any degree of exactness; but in view of the tenacity with which the “ raw ” Natives cling 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 system of Native land tenure and cultivation. 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 ruling 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 life. The Native was originally a past oral - 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 life 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 sleeping. 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.

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.1

Three lines of action were now open to the Native. He could either remain on the white man’s farm as a rent-paying or service-giving tenant; or continue to dwell on the less fertile and unalienated Crown lands in return for a small rental paid to the Government ; or go into one of the locations 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.2

1 The extent of land follows : —

available

per head in the

reserves is as

Province.

Acres.

Province.

Acres.

Cape ...

12-8

Basutoland .

8-8

Bechuanaland

Transvaal Orange Free State

4*. 4^ 00 00

Zulu land

2 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.

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 tribalism was the universal system of social organisation among the Bantu, as it is, indeed, the prevailing system to-day. Each member of the tribe recognised and gave willing allegiance 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 always ready to assist his fellow-tribesman in time of need. The cattle of the tribe roamed the hills at will ; 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.