CHAPTER THREE: ADJUSTMENT DIFFICULTIES OF FIRST YEAR BLACK STUDENTS
3.1. SOCIO-POLITICAL FACTORS
As emphasised above, education takes place within a broader social, political and economic (7)0 context that impacts directly on students' adjustment to university, through such factors as
government spending on education, apartheid policies of education and availability of financial aid. At the same time the broader context impacts indirectly on students, leading to such factors as experiences of racism on campus, feelings of alienation and isolation, and patterns of stress and coping. According to Moll (1987) it is this merging of psycho-social, economic and political issues which makes it difficult to address the academic difficulties of South African
black students.
One socio-political factor to impact on black students' adjustment is the power difference
between themselves and their largely white lecturers. This difference is at the root of what appear to be cognitive issues such as inability to challenge statements made by a lecturer, ability to
discuss a reading among friends, but not in class, or silence in tutorial situations. According to -- ,..- Social Identity Theory, all social groups exist within a status hierarchy. The tendency of a group to compare themselves to other groups and challenge their position in society, depends on their perception ofthe hierarchy as either stable or unstable, and fair or unjust (Tajfel, 1981). Using this argument, black students' apparent passivity could be related to their perception that the large power gap between themselves and their lecturers is both fixed and also a fair system as a result of their lecturers' greater knowledge. Hence they are less likely to challenge their lecturers' viewpoints and more likely to memorise by rote whatever they are told, and are thus reduced to a ~~,.
state of helplessness when this strategy proves unsuccessful.
Acceptance of the power imbalances between black students and their lecturers is further
reinforced and legitimised by the racial differences between themselves and staff. The apartheid government attempted to socialise black people to accept their inferior status as inevitable and thus not to challenge the existing status hierarchy. At university therefore, black students are faced with two messages signalling acceptance of the status quo - one the result of their lecturer's greater education and the second the result of their race. This results in feelings of passivity,
helplessness and powerlessness, highlighting the relationship between socio-political, psychological and academic factors in influencing black students' performance.
A useful analysis of the interface between issues of race and power on university campuses is provided by Brown (1997) in a discourse analysis of the experiences ofa group of rural, black, female students at a historically white university. She argues that deep-rooted issues of racism are embedded in the power relations between staff and students, resulting in educational institutions being "probably the area where the devastating effects of apartheid will linger longest" (Gerwel, 1991 in Brown, 1997, p.4).
Brown reports on two incidents of unrest on the campus under study, in 1996, using these to illustrate the tensions between staff and student positions on the issue of race. Students considered themselves to be the victims of widespread institutional racism at such levels as allocation of financial aid, academic performance and communication with staff. The university, on the other hand, viewed racism as positioned within particular incidents and individuals and thus able to be eradicated. Brown describes strategies used by the university to downplay allegations of institutional racism and reduce it to an individual problem. These include encouraging students to list grievances, as a way of defusing student outrage, positioning the university as committed to students and blaming the victims through allegations of reverse racism. Brown goes on to advocate Social Constructionism as a means of overcoming the dualism between individual and institutional understandings of racism by focussing on discourse as constructing individuals, social relations and social practices and thus bringing together the individual and the institutional.
One example of the way in which discourse constructs and reinforces social relations is the use of the term 'disadvantaged' by universities. Used as a synonym for 'black students' the term appears to remove or tippex out racially based categories, yet still calls attention to the issue of race, just as tippex leaves a mark on a page:
The use of the word 'disadvantage' (where 'black' is implied) allows those who use it to acquire some distance from race and hence in some ways to 'tippex' it, so that it is still
there but can no longer be 'seen' (Brown, 1997, p.65.)
The term disadvantage thus functions as an instrument of social control, establishing and
reinforcing unequal power relations between needy, dependent black students and the university who can rescue them from their disadvantages.
Sedlacek (1987) also explores black students' experiences ofracism on white campuses, claiming that this begins with their admission to university. This is either on the basis of standardised tests and school marks shown to be less predictive of black students' success than for white students, or on the basis of alternative selection procedures and lower standards. This thus impacts on their self-esteem and perception of themselves as disadvantaged (Tracey and Sedlacek, 1985). Once on campus, racism pervades all aspects of their experience, including residence life (Piedmont, 1967 in Sedlacek, 1987), relationships with other students (Minatoya and Sedlacek, 1984 in Sedlacek, 1987) and interactions with staff (Smith, 1980 in Sedlacek, 1987).
Recent transformation initiatives at South African universities are an attempt to redress some of the above socio-political concerns. Course content and research has often been criticised for a lack of contextualisation. Claims are made that knowledge produced and taught is largely based on Western epistemology and is unresponsive to the needs of African communities and a rapidly modernising economy. Universities are also accused of ignoring issues of multiculturalism, or the development of a culture of tolerance (National Commission on Higher Education, 1996).
The implementation of the National Qualifications Framework with its emphasis on responsiveness at all levels of operation, can be seen as an attempt to address some of these criticisms:
Responsiveness implies that higher education should take seriously the problems and challenges presented by the societal context in which it operates. In the case of South Africa, this context is that of a developing and modernising country in a state of
transition, emerging from the consequences of racial discrimination and oppression...The features of this context will have to be reflected in the contents, the focus and the delivery mode of the programmes that are offered, as well as in the institutional missions and policies that are developed. Itwill also have to find expression in the organisation and
administration of the system, its decision-making processes, governance structures and funding model
(National Commission on Higher Education, 1996, p. 79.)