SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— L. 407 



Followed by Discussion : Prof. L. T. Hogben, Dr. S. H. Skaife, 

 Prof. D'Arcy Thompson. 



Sir John Russell, F.R.S. — Report on Training for Overseas Life. 



Discussion : Sir Robert Falconer, Sir Robert Greig. 



Dr. C. W. KiMMiNS. — Eeport on Formal Training. 



JOHANNESBURG. 

 Wednesday, July 31. 



Education and the Native Races. 



(a) Dr. E. H. Brookes. — Native Education in relation to National Policy. 



1. The special aspect of the subject considered in this paper is the influence of 

 considerations of national policy upon native education. The main thesis of the 

 paper is that most of the differentiation between Native and European education in 

 South Africa arises from political and economic, not from pedagogical, causes. 



2. One illustration of this thesis is the need for constant pleading, both in South 

 Africa and in the Southern States of the U.S.A., that education should be given to the 

 black man at all. Opposition to such education is rarely, if ever, based on genuine 

 doubts as to the black man's improvability. 



3. Similarly, the system whereby the majority of Native schools are controlled by 

 missionary bodies and not directly bj' the State is to be explained not so much by 

 appreciation of the missionaries or of religious education as by the State's attitude, 

 which is one of toleration of Native education rather than active support of it. 



4 and 5. Like causes explain the reluctance to make Native education either 

 compulsory or free. 



6. The question of linguistic medium is more complex, but even that turns much 

 more on considerations of national policy than on pure pedagogical arguments. 

 Most segregationists favour the use of the vernacular as medium, whilst those who 

 advocate ' equal rights for aU civilised men ' tend to favour English. Somewhat 

 surprisingly, most Native leaders favour EngUsh as medium, also on political grounds, 

 as they now view all discrimination with not unmerited suspicion. Enghsh is gaining 

 ground over the vernacular tongues and has snatched from Afrikaans — owing to the 

 late arrival of the latter in the field of Native education — a golden chance of becoming 

 the cultural medium of five milUon people. The more Natives control their own 

 education, the more English wiU prevail. 



7. The spirit and general aims of Native education cannot be difiFerent from the 

 spirit and general aims of education throughout the world. Any difiference could 

 only be justified on the ground that Native and European psychology differed radically. 

 This view we cannot accept, if only from a careful study of the similarity between 

 the phenomena of conversion and the religious life among the two groups. 



8. Detailed differences of syllabus must arise in existing circumstances, but many 

 such differences have been occasioned solely by considerations of national policy, 

 and not by pedagogical reasons at aU. 



9. It must be repeated that there is no special or separate philosophy of African 

 education. 



10. This statement must be applied inter alia to the South African Native College 

 at Fort Hare, which is rapidly evolving into a University for all non-Europeans in 

 South Africa. With a study of the immense possibilities of this Institution the paper 

 closes. 



Discussion : Prof. R. F. A. Hoernl^, Mr. D. D. T. Jabavu. 

 {b) Dr. C. T. LoRAM. — A National System of Native Education. 



1. The white man's attitude towards Native education in so far as he has expressed 

 it has varied at different times. Originally education was the handmaid of religious 

 propaganda; then, as the white man wanted semi-skilled labour, the emphasis was laid 



