Theoria - DISA

More documents

Recommendations

Info

French Studies In South Africa Although one may be tempted to insert a query after this title, it does not as a matter of fact introduce an academic excursion into the realm of purely speculative situations. Strange and wrong though it may seem to some South Africans, there are still, in both schools and colleges here, students who for one reas on or another persist in learning to read, write and speak the French language. It is true that the lot of the French teacher in South Africa is not a happy one. Most often he has been forced into the position of having to defend himself and his raison d'etre against a hostile world. In expanding educational institutions where development is only too often regulated in terms of strictly measurable usefulness, he has come to be regarded as, at best, an expensive luxury, and at worst, as a not very vigorous parasite soon to wither away. Even his more sympathetic colleagues are finding it increasingly hard to support him convincingly and enthusiastically. It is not so much that they object to French existing on the curriculum, as that they tend to place more and more subjects above it in the scale of priorities. Even those who have long defended the principle of encouraging South African students to learn European languages are now wondering whether perhaps the sacrifice is not too great for the benefits received. The French teacher, at bay, is either defending his standards desperately, or, more wily, managing to outwit his opponents and win more recruits to his- classes by offering nice assimilable bits of culture through the medium of English or Afrikaans.. Is there anything really worth fighting for, and does the struggle affect anyone else besides the French teacher himself? I do most sincerely believe so, but it is -most important to be clear about the issue. This raises all the time-worn arguments usually advanced in favour of language teaching. They fall mainly into one of two categories—those which stress the disciplinary and cultural value of language study, and those which include all the direct practical advantages of learning a particular language or group of languages. It should be clearly realised that of all the benefits usually regarded as being the most vital 16
aims of language study not one is really attainable by a course conducted entirely through the medium of the home language. Thus the university teacher of French who gives in to the natural temptation to make his classes more accessible to students by increasing formal lectures in civilisation and cultural "survey" at the expense of language and critical work in the foreign medium is actually destroying himself slowly and insidiously and will probably disappear finally when people realise they are not getting the benefits they had hoped for. No good can possibly come of giving students prepared lectures in English or Afrikaans on subjects chosen from French history and literature, unless they inspire one or two to learn the language and go straight to the source themselves, and in that case, how much better it would have been to start them on the right road from the beginning. If South Africans need French at all, it is the knowledge and practice of the language that they need before all else, and if specialists in modern methods of language teaching were given a chance in our schools they could obtain that knowledge with a great deal less pain and bother than the layman believes. Such a study would, I am convinced, be the best possible corrective for some of the defects in our educational programme, which with the dropping of compulsory Latin and Mathematics has come to give so much time to learning about things, and so little to learning to do things oneself. It is possible now to matriculate well without ever having had one's mental capacity seriously put to the test. Languages, like mathematics, are not only indispensable to whoever hopes to pass for educated in the full sense of the word, they are a test of skill and mental vigour and should be allowed to play their part in whatever discipline is devised for the minds of young South Africans. The position of French studies in South Africa cannot be exactly equated with the position in England or the United States, though useful comparisons can be made. In England French is unquestionably the first modern language studied and ranks with Mathematics as one of the principal subjects in public examinations. This is as much because of its practical use and necessity as for its cultural or disciplinary value as a subject of study. Not only is French the language of a close friendly country linked to England by every bond both historical and actual, but it is still a compulsory qualification for entry into many trades and professions, and an almost essential accomplishment for scholars and scientists in all branches of learning and research. In England, then, French studies need no advocate. They have established themselves, 17
Page 2 and 3: BOOKS • FOR SPECIALISTS • FOR T
Page 4 and 5: FOREWORD The friendly reception acc
Page 6 and 7: in themselves enough. A liberal edu
Page 8 and 9: from a Scottish document, a very re
Page 10 and 11: English. To fail in mathematics or
Page 12 and 13: never occurred that pumping informa
Page 14 and 15: finds himself overwhelmingly outnum
Page 16 and 17: less the case in my own subject (Ph
Page 18 and 19: Not the ordinary so-called comprehe
Page 22 and 23: particularly with the noticeable de
Page 24 and 25: preferences, enthusiasms, and preju
Page 26 and 27: also been relegated to the list of
Page 28 and 29: Friedrich Schiller (SOME ASPECTS OF
Page 30 and 31: above the French classicists. Shake
Page 32 and 33: ecognised that excessive ambition a
Page 34 and 35: moral freedom which is born of self
Page 36 and 37: moral order. Thus even in this play
Page 38 and 39: Dit was altyd 'n aangename vriendsk
Page 40 and 41: is nog hy . . .") na al die grootdo
Page 42 and 43: Die Digter D. J. Opperman 1 (veral
Page 44 and 45: Belangrik is in die opsig ook Spel
Page 46 and 47: Dit is die grondmotief van die bund
Page 48 and 49: Slegs met behulp van die verbeeldin
Page 50 and 51: vogue, based on the antithesis of g
Page 52 and 53: works. He may directly identify him
Page 54 and 55: surprisingly different from the ori
Page 56 and 57: eally worth having. This does not m
Page 58 and 59: Seeing Art, like living, is an expe
Page 60 and 61: of history and well documented appr
Page 62 and 63: painting from the simplest objects,
Page 64 and 65: were only labelled psychogenic if n
Page 66 and 67: neuroses, only being utilised for s
Page 68 and 69: disguises even in the medical field
Page 70 and 71:
support and the understanding of th
Page 72 and 73:
clothes and the rest of their self.
Page 74 and 75:
environment. When an organism cease
Page 76 and 77:
assertive ; if a person is dishones
Page 78 and 79:
We are still faced with the questio
Page 80 and 81:
The Depopulation of the Ancient Wor
Page 82 and 83:
certain machines for hauling large
Page 84 and 85:
Tuberculosis is mentioned in ancien
Page 86 and 87:
and for tradition which had held to
Page 88 and 89:
lack of the idea of progress in the
Page 90 and 91:
But the real reason of the failure
Page 92 and 93:
The uninitiated invariably visualis
Page 94 and 95:
wars in which men on opposing sides
Page 96 and 97:
If we wish to learn something about
Page 98 and 99:
The plain truth, whether we like it
Page 100 and 101:
The Anthropological Approach to the
Page 102 and 103:
our society. And it is particularly
Page 104 and 105:
prisoner until ransomed by his vill
Page 106 and 107:
elations with her child your marria
Page 108 and 109:
One outlet, associated with the nam
Page 110 and 111:
types so also it is atypical of the
Page 112 and 113:
civilisation, while Bushmen and man
Page 114 and 115:
tions of the observation and verifi
Page 116 and 117:
society. This reversal of the role
Page 118 and 119:
laboratory techniques and predeterm
Page 120 and 121:
discussion of typical reactions to
Page 122 and 123:
And aggressive people who sense tha
Page 124 and 125:
A similar analysis might be made of
Page 126 and 127:
of magic? Ovsiankina has demonstrat
Page 128 and 129:
calling out the deceased's childhoo
Page 130 and 131:
is, of course, the intensity of wit
Page 132 and 133:
culture as a whole stimulates him t
Page 134 and 135:
Economics and Society Since their s
Page 136 and 137:
The difference between these two ap
Page 138 and 139:
continues until it creates the mean
Page 140 and 141:
much less assailable principle rega
Page 142 and 143:
the conduct from presupposed assump
Page 144 and 145:
as the study of mankind in the ordi
Page 146 and 147:
MR. G. LONG, a former student at N.
show all

Theoria - DISA

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?