Jeppe School for Girls

The following blog post was written on the evening of the 24^th July. Due to technological restrictions it was posted at a later date.

Today was possibly my favorite day in Southern Africa thus far. Last night we divided ourselves into 4 groups, so each group would be ready to visit a different school this morning. Due to my experience at CSG I was excited to be a part of the group sent to Jeppe School for Girls-the only other person in my “group” was Jason.

When we were first dropped off this morning we were a little nervous, because we really were just dropped off…our van stopped and Dick told us who to ask for and we had our fingers crossed as we walked up to the security gate. Our nervousness turned out to be completely unnecessary. The school, specifically the history and geography department, was totally prepared for our visit. They had a schedule arranged for us to observe different teachers throughout the school day.

We started out the morning watching a 12^th grade geography class led in a review of African geography, followed by a 9^th grade history discussion about the Cold War. The class ended up having a long discussion about Communism, which was interesting to both Jason and I because we are used to American students who tend to “buy in” to the idea of communism, if not the practice. The South African students in the class seemed adamant that communism was a cause of the Cold War and continues to be a problem around the world today.

For our 3^rd and 4^th periods we were off to a different classroom, this time it was 12^th grade history students. The teacher explained that the students were working on projects and would normally have the class time to work independently. Instead, she allowed the class the opportunity to ask us questions about America. The discussion with the students was fun for us…they asked a wide range of questions. The questions and answer session was so much fun that the teacher during 5^th period decided to allow the opportunity to her students as well. Here are some examples of the questions we were asked:

• Do you know any celebrities?
• Is interracial dating popular in the U.S.?
• What to American students do for fun?
• What do students in the U.S. think about South Africa?
• Do your students listen to African music the way that we listen to American music?
• Do you worry that Bush’s policies in Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to World War III?
• What is American fashion like?
• How do American schools compare to South African Schools?
• Do Americans believe that South Africans live in huts with animals?
• Do you think that if Bush was president during the Cuban Missile Crisis instead of Kennedy the result would have been different?

Between periods 3 and 4 we went to the staff lounge for the first of our two breaks of the day for some pizza and tea, which was fantastic. The second break of the day came between periods 5 and 6. It should be noted that most schools in South Africa do not have a lunch period, since there are not cafeterias or food preparation areas. Instead, it is common to have two break periods (about 30 minutes each) that can be used for studying, eating, club meetings, opportunities for teachers to meet with students, or relaxation. The teachers are also on break at the same time-break coverage rotates throughout the staff during the year. It is a nice schedule and allows time for people to breath in between class session.

The last two periods of the day were spent in a double session on 11^th grade history, which was focusing on imperialism and colonialism in Africa. Two case studies were used to demonstrate, the first being Benin and the second the Congo. The teacher, who asked if it would be ok to ask us questions, started off the class something similar to this:

Ok class, we have been learning a lot about imperialism. Many people argue that the current imperial power in the world today is America…let’s ask our American visitors to comment on that, shall we?

And then the class looked at us waiting. We were a little stunned at first, but after a moment or two of silence I think Jason and I provided a pretty darn good answer. We indicated the difference between the United States and international companies based in America, explaining that the goal of these companies is to increase profit margins. However, the teacher continued to push for a little while, asking us follow-up questions. It was actually nice to be questioned in this manner, so many of our presenters have worked so hard to make us feel comfortable that the anti-American sentiments we were told exist in South Africa seemed difficult to believe.

At the end of the day we were given a tour of the school and provided an opportunity to ask more questions during a meeting at Jeppe Boys School later in the afternoon. Jeppe School for Girls has about 890 students and appears to represent the racial make-up of Johannesburg. The school is semi-private, receiving a rather small portion of the operating fees required to run the school from the government. The higher school fees also help pay for the school to hire more teachers than in a totally publicly funded school to help decrease class sizes (which were between 25-30). Therefore, Jeppe students are middle or upper class and about half the Black students at the school live the township areas but Jeppe has good reputation and parents want the students to have better educational opportunities than would be provided in the township schools. The school tuition is 15,000R (about $2150) per year and teachers make about 10,000R ($1250) a month.