Title: THE FUTURE OF THE HUMANITIES IN SA HIGHER EDUCATION: QUO VADIS
1THE FUTURE OF THE HUMANITIES IN SA (HIGHER)
EDUCATIONQUO VADIS?
- Nhlanhla Maake
- 18 November 2008
- n.maake_at_yahoo.co.uk
2CONTENT - The following QUESTIONS will be asked
- 1. What is the raison detre of universities?
- 2. What are the universities own propositions?
- 3. What external influences have been brought to
bear? - 4. What criteria of evaluation/assessment are the
universities subject to? - 5. Do the humanities still have a place?
- 6. What does the restructuring within
universities mean? - 7. Looking ahead What operational types/models
can universities apply? - 8. What have been the fruit of the humanities
over time? - 9. In what way can the contribution of humanities
be brought to the centre in SA education? - 10. What is the role of the faculties of
humanities in the 21st century?
3METHODOLOGY AND MODE of this presentation
- This presentation will comprise of
contextualising the humanities through - monologue,
- dialogue,
- Socratic dialogue,
- anecdotes from experience,
- parables and
- analytical inquiry.
4Essay on Universities Personal experienceby N
Maake
- What I actually set out to confide in you is
my short-lived and shameful academic career. Let
me start from the beginning. Some years ago I
appeared before an interviewing panel for a
junior position in one of the South African
universities. The chairman (he was obviously a
man, please!) of the panel asked me what subjects
I could offer. I answered that I was at home with
economics, political science, social
anthropology, sociology, linguistics, philosophy
and literature. My list was continuing but the
chairman interrupted me and pronounced that the
faculty expected that I should be narrow and
sharp, not a Jack of all trades.
5Continued
- If you aspire to be a professor you much
carve yourself a specialisation niche, he said. - I told the panel through him that I preferred to
be broad and blunt a kind of Jack of several
trades and master of most of them. Who wants to
be a professor, anyway, and specialise in narrow
subjects such as The behaviour of the mouse in
English literature?, I asked rhetorically. - To cut a long story short, I got the job,
despite what might have sounded like lack of
modesty on my part. Dont ask me how.
6Continued
- In one of my first lectures I had to
introduce twenty-seven semiliterate third-year
students to principles of political economy. I
prescribed the three volumes of John Stuart
Mills Principles of Political Economy, and the
three volumes of Karl Marxs Das Kapital. - In my introduction to these works I told them
(sorry, postulated) that in order for them to
understand Marxs work better, they had to read
Mills first. The two works were one an
antithesis of the other, and I simplified some
major concepts as a matter of introduction.
7continued
- I thought three weeks was sufficient time for
them to read all the works and gave instructions
to that effect. - When the Dean of the faculty heard what I had
done, she was horrified and summoned me to her
office. She told me in no uncertain terms that my
expectations were ridiculous. What I had to do,
she instructed me, was to compile a study pack.
This was meant to be a portable encyclopedia
comprising of a few chapters truncated from five
or six books, bound and given to students to
read. Reading a complete book would kill them,
she insisted. I had to preface the study pack
with some simple and straightforward outcomes,
based on the Outcome Based Education (OBE). They
were meant to be something like this
8continued
- By the end of the module students will be able
to state in 3 complete sentences when and where
Karl Marx was born and that Marxism was derived
from his name. - By the end of the module students will be able
to explain in 10 points why the Third World is
dependant on Europe and America for aid. - By the end of the module students will be able to
explain in 10 points why Asia and Africa are
incapable of advancing beyond the agrarian stage
without US and European Union intervention. - By the end of the module the students will be
able to demonstrate in 10 points that capitalism
is better than socialism. - By the end of the module students will be able to
answer 10 multiple-choice questions by selecting
1 true answer out of 2 a grossly false one and a
true one.
9continued
-
- When I objected to writing this claptrap, I
was summarily dismissed. I resorted to my trade
union for help but despite the fact that I was a
paid-up member the shop steward informed me that
I was not a classical working class person or
proletarian but a comprador bourgeoisie, as a
result defending my case would be tantamount to
sacrificing and deferring the ideals and advent
of the dictatorship of the masses. I cancelled my
membership.
10continued
- You will think that its matter of sour grapes
when I swear to you that looking back, I do not
regret my expulsion from higher education,
because degrees nowadays are not worth the
parchment on which they are printed. - Some universities dont even bother to waste
money on purchasing parchment. They simply use
recycled paper, and for that matter, produce
degrees and diplomas well in advance to save on
rising costs of raw material and production.
11continued
- I was informed confidentially by reliable
sources that some of our erstwhile South African
institutions print degrees immediately when
students are registered, and postdate them by
three or four years depending on the duration of
the degree or diploma to be taken. As students
drop out, the university IT systems automatically
withdraw the degrees and the printed copies are
shredded manually by an absent minded clerk. I am
reliably informed that technology being what it
is, some of the documents remain stubbornly on
the system, and some people are known to have
appeared for job interviews with postdated
degrees.
12continued
- I am also reliably told that in all South
African universities the value of students has
dropped lower than the Zimbabwean Dollar, that
they are no longer counted per head. Each student
is now something called a full time equivalent
(FTE) or a fraction of it. Imagine going to the
university to discuss your childs academic
progress, only to find him or her bound to
another or two others as one FTE. -
- Enough of this nonsense, I am not the parent of
a FTE but a whole student. I am told that the
Ministry of Education introduced this policy, the
objective being to produce a maximum number of
Graduate Equivalents (GEs) out of those who do
not drop out.
13continued
- When it comes to Masters and Doctoral degrees,
it is widely known that in some universities one
thesis is conferred on several students. The
titles of a number of theses in one of these
universities bear testimony to this. They read as
follows Work stress among white collar workers
in a Brick company in the Vaal Work Stress
among manual labourers in a Potchefstroom
factory and Work Stress and cardiac problems
among campus rectors in the North-West, etc. All
one has to do is to cut and paste the subjects
and sample of research and location, and voila! a
thesis is completed in one sitting, thanks to
advances in technology. One professor in that
particular university has a reputation for
producing ten PhDs per annum. Given such a
nerve-wrecking pace of scholarship, who would
aspire to be professor?
14continued
- Being an active revolutionary, I am not given
to sitting on my arm chair and pontificating
without finding solutions and implementing them.
I have already gathered a group of fellow
intellectuals and academics, all of them rejects
like myself, to plan establishing a new
University. The name I have in mind is - UNIVERSITY OF NOAH.
-
15continued
- THE UNIVERSITY OF NOAH
- will offer only one degree programme and there
will be only one statement of outcomes, a la OBE
- By the end of the degree students will be able to
be like Noah of the Old Testament.
16continued
- Our brand and logo will, of course, bear an
ark floating in a flood of knowledge. Noah was a
multi-skilled man par excellence. Architecture,
Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics, Logic,
Zoology (with specialisation in Marine Biology,
Animal Husbandry and Taming), Ornithology,
Botany, Meteorology, Navigation, Nutrition,
Ecology, Project Management and Carpentry were
all within his facile mastery. He could balance
knowledge and application (sorry, Theoria and
Praxis).
17continued
-
- In the University of Noah the parents of our
students will be proud, for each and every one of
our students will be a graduate in his or her own
right a singular and complete graduate but not a
composite equivalent of anything. If the idea
does not take off, I am migrating to Zimbabwe
through our porous border, where opportunities
for a new beginning abound. - Esaays in Humour www.nhlanhlamaake.blog.com
18OUTCOMES OF THIS PRESENTATION
- At the beginning and of this presentation
- There are definitely no outcomes
- except those which each one of us will draw for
him/herself.
19- Our grand business undoubtedly is,
- not to see what lies dimly at a distance,
- but to do what lies clearly at hand.
-
- Signs of the times - Thomas Carlyle
20-
- I felt that he Thomas Carlyle was a poet, and
that I was not and that as such, he not only saw
many things long before me, which I could only
see when they were pointed out to me, hobble
after and prove, but that it was highly probable
he could see many things which were not visible
to me even after they were pointed out. -
- Autobiography - John Stuart Mill
211. RAISON DETRE of universities and imperatives
- Teaching/learning
- Research
- Execution community engagement.
- Are these commitments determined internally or
externally?
222. PROPOSITIONS
- The above are proposed in the vision and mission
statements of SA universities - elaborated in the Institutional Operational Plans
(IOPs), - Strategic Plans (SPs) and
- Rollout Plans (ROPs)
- project managed through HEQC audits and
- Quality Assurance (QA) processes
- evaluated in terms of the needs of the private
sector - rewarded through local and global university
rankings and - state subsidies, sponsored chairs and
fellowships.
233. EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
- State and ideology
- Private-Public Partnerships
- SETAs
- Standards set by professional bodies
- Needs of the knowledge/post-industrial economy
- Status Local and global rating
- Material and cultural capital/incentives.
-
- What are the benefits of these influences for
universities with regard to the Humanities?
244. CRITERIA OF RANKING
- Essential Science Indicators (ESI)1
Disciplines, citation and publications - Biology and Biochemistry
- Chemistry
- Clinical medicine
- Engineering
- Environment/ecology
- Geoscience
- Materials science
- Plant and animal
-
- Social Science general
- Space science
- 1 Anastassios Pouris. 2006. The international
performance of South African academic
institutions a citation assessment. Springer
Science Business Media - Rated Cape Town, Witwatersrand, Pretoria,
KwaZulu-Natal, Stellenbosch, Free State.
255. WHERE DO THE HUMANITIES FIT IN?
- 5.1 Retrospective overview of University of X,
Faculty of Humanities a Microcosm - In the 1980s select 14 departments
- African Languages
- African Literature
- Afrikaans and Nederlands
- Classics
- Comparative Literature
- English
- German Studies
- History
- Linguistics
- Modern/Romance Languages
- Philosophy
- Religious Studies
- School of Translators and interpreters
265.2 Retrospective overview of University of X -
Departments
- In the 2000s select 8/14 departments
- African Languages
- African Literature
- English (Literature Languages Studies).
- History
- Linguistics ?
- Media Studies
- School of Translators and interpreters
- X Language School
- Where did all the philosophers go?
276. RESTRUCTURING IN TERMS OF
- Managerial and administrative structures
- Federalisation private sector jargon
DVCs/CEOs, (Executive) Deans Programmes (PQM)
streamline relevance and currency - Designation Directors, Heads of Schools and
Heads of Departments - Clusters Faculties/Colleges, Schools and
Departments - Further atomization of disciplinary boundaries
- Quantitative imperatives versus qualitative
efficacy. - Does this restructuring suggest
inter-disciplinary engagement or old wine in new
skins?
287. LOOKING AHEAD - TYPES/MODELS
- OLD/CURRENT MODELS
- Disciplinary student supervisor within
discipline - Disciplinary co-operation student, supervisor
co-supervisor within discipline. - POSSIBLE/EXPERIMENTAL MODELS
- Intra-institutional and Inter-disciplinary
co-operation student, supervisor second
supervisor across disciplines. - Inter-institutional and Inter-disciplinary
co-operation student, supervisor second
supervisor across institutions within
discipline. - Inter-institutional and Inter-disciplinary
co-operation student, supervisor second
supervisor across institutions across
disciplines. - Other experimental models.
- Are we bold enough to experiment in our faculties?
298. WHAT CONTRUBITION HAVE THE HUMANITIES MADE?
- 8.1 A Classical Perspective
- The Industrial Revolution and Modernity 19th
century faculty of humanities - Karl Marx, Frederick Engels and Historical
Materialism/Political Economy (Marxism) - John Stuart Mill and the Principles of Political
Economy, - Jeremy Bentham and Utilitarianism
- Charles Darwin and the theory of Evolution
- Henry Newman and the concept of a University
- Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations
(Economics) - Thomas Carlyle and Historiography
- Matthew Arnold and the English literary tradition.
308.2 A modern/postmodern Perspective
- The 20th century faculty of humanities
- Jean-Paul Sartre and Existentialism
- Foucault and the Order of Things
- Kwame Appiah and the Illusion of race
- Bertolt Bretch and modern Marxism in Theatre
- Mudimbe and the Invention of Africa
- Paolo Freire and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed
- John Mbiti and African Philosophy and Religion
- Frantz Fanon and the Third World Psychiatry of
race
31continued
- Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and the Theatre of
the Absurd - Martin Bernal and Afroasiatic civilization
- Goerge Lukacs, Theodore Benjamin and the
Frankfurt School. - Louis Althusser and state modus operandi
- Edward Said and Orientalism
- Julia Kristeva and the concept of the Other
- Homi Bhaba and the Third space
- Ngugi wa Thingo and decolonising the mind.
- What has the faculty of humanities of the
Republic of letters contributed in directing
world affairs?
329. BRINGING THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE HUMANITIES
TO THE CENTRE IN SA EDUCATION
- What is the impact of the humanities on other
disciplines, especially given new problems and
benefits of migration? - What is the role of language and literature on
human welfare and human rights with regard to
understanding new cultures and enculturation? - What is the influence of the humanities in
understanding and protecting human dignity and
rights? - What is the impact of the humanities on science
and technology, especially with regard to sharing
knowledge with global citizens?
3311. CONCLUSION
- To paraphrase Mill
- Dont poets see things, which others can only
see when they are pointed out to them, to
hobble after and prove, but that it is highly
probable they can see many things which were not
visible to others even after they were pointed
out?
34If the humanities then have no future, the tool
of the trade of every sphere of life, then
- Our political systems will doomed from lack of
sophistication and lapse into a farce of
uneducated populated by uncouth dramatis
personae, - Our Legislature will degenerate into incompetence
and into a primitive state, - Our Executive will slide into barbarism and
further incompetence, - Our judiciary systems will be dysfunctions,
- Our health system will disintegrate,
-
- In short, we will become the laughing stock of
the world and come out poorer.
35Did the African Nobel Laureates come from?
- Albert Luthuli (1960) Humanities.
- Desmond Tutu (1984) (Theology) Wole Soyinka
(1986) Literature. - Nadine Gordimer (1991) Literature.
- Nelson R. Mandela Frederik W. De Klerk (1993)
Law. - Kofi Anan (2001) Economics and International
Relations. - John Maxwell Coetzee (2003) Literature
- Wangari Maathai (2004) Biology and Veterinary
Medicine
36- Nisale ka(ku)hle
- Adieus Goodbye
- Totsiens Kwaherini
- Le sale hantle
vhasale zwabudi -
- Aur revoir Le sale sentle
- !!!!!!!!!!
37- Oops! Sorry!
- Discussion time!