Nothing can be more hurtful than being promoted beyond one’s level of competence. What to do when in that unfortunate position? It is certainly not with a discerning respect for the ‘best’ that truly educated minds would choose that the unfortunate lost members of the ANC are acting out their stress, deluded into believing that the path to greatness belongs to all. Appointment must be based on qualifications that fit one for the task and on proven record, not on nepotism or ‘connections’! Only individual effort, uncovering and nurturing one’s particular talent, put into the human pool together with civic participation, builds.
The above quotation is from a letter Desi Halse, a Durban-based psychologist, has written to one of the newspapers in KZN. The entire letter is repeated here in full because of the important points made by Desi.
Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training, is due to address Convocation at our local University in early May. The invitations to attend Convocation blazon the words ‘inspiring greatness’ as its theme.
Since Nzimande recently averred that only ‘revolutionary’ change to university curricula would ‘bring the country in line with our developmental needs’ my question is about whether the source of his inspiration, namely Marxist ideology, actually does enable people, students included, to actualize their potential.
Personal experience of a visit to Slovakia in the early ’90’s for a conference that aimed to ‘bring democracy to education’ there revealed to me the ravages of years of Communist Party rule. The Russian tanks had just rolled away, but the oppressed spirit of the lecturers, the uniformity of the monstrous ponderous art works in public spaces, the difficulty Slovaks had with free spontaneous questioning and open debate all testified to sad stagnation of creativity and growth, not the development one hoped would come from that ‘wonderful’ Soviet-style experiment.
Dr Nzimande suggested earlier that his punted ‘revolutionary approach in education still has to be defined!’ That experiment (as defined by Marxist theory) was tried in the Eastern bloc and failed. But the wonderful innate creativity of pre-Communist Europe is slowly re-asserting itself, and restoration proceeds not overseen by heavy hands of state but lovingly tended by individuals, inspired by the great liberal tradition that frees the human spirit. Yes, team work is great, but not when group conformity, that great leveller, squashes individual freedom. I suggest it is the definition of ‘the collective’ vs. the group that needs ‘re-defining’, if it is motivation Dr Nzimande is worried about.
As for his claim there is ‘not a single capitalist idea that can address the problems that we have in this country’ I suggest he climbs down from the heights of Marxist theory which suggest that mechanical systems can solve the problems of the world and looks to what individuals have brought to civilization. Especially for the poor, there is nothing more encouraging than celebrating the growth of one’s own pool of talent through study and hard work, saving and judicious expenditure.
This is not to suggest that the concept of individuals-in-community is redundant. It is simply to assert that initial inspiration starts spontaneously from within each person. When pooled in the group, it must be recognised and respected, credited, even certificated! So university faculties of discipline were built up, our precious Alma Maters, to be run and administered by pillars of society. We elders of the ‘liberal’ tradition jealously guard the dignity of that tradition. We acknowledge and treasure the gradual build-up of those repositories of knowledge over years. That universities here have chosen to replace ‘Faculty’ with ‘School’ represents a levelling down which really seems aimed at encouraging all to embrace the climb. But there are no short cuts, and we erode worthy respect for excellence at our peril!
Nothing can be more hurtful than being promoted beyond one’s level of competence. What to do when in that unfortunate position? It is certainly not with a discerning respect for the ‘best’ that truly educated minds would choose that the unfortunate lost members of the ANC are acting out their stress, deluded into believing that the path to greatness belongs to all. Appointment must be based on qualifications that fit one for the task and on proven record, not on nepotism or ‘connections’! Only individual effort, uncovering and nurturing one’s particular talent, put into the human pool together with civic participation, builds.
There are no pots of gold to be found under this South African rainbow, Dr. Nzimande. Neither will angry ravaging of the stashes of previous wrong governance put things right.
The long road requires steady application, freedom to study and question, the right to save and own most the fruits of our labour (after paying our taxes). Growing my own little pile seems justified, even a source of some inspiration. There is no way that I want some elected group of communistic miscreants to have access to it. Capitalism may need reform, but it is mainly the power of others to appropriate the wealth earned honestly by each individual that needs regulation, not the essential spice and energy of each of us. Back off!