parents and principals as partners in creating a culture of learning

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sometimes during the planting and harvesting seasons they miss school for weeks
at a time. Girls are kept out of school to look after younger siblings while the
mother goes to work. The lack of books, magazines, television and radio
contributes further to the impoverishment of their life-world. In addition, children
of labourers grow up with the idea of also becoming farm labourers or domestics.
The result is that children are not motivated to attend school and therefore show
little advancement when they do attend (Booyse, et aI., 1994:50-51).
Traditionally the father is the figure ofauthority but absence of both parents is also
common. The breakdown of family structures has played a major role in shaping
the lives of children. Children have been left in the care of grandparents, and
have had little contact with their parents, who travel long distances to work and
return late at night. Grandparents often have many children to look after, and do
not offer normal parental input (Van Niekerk, 1988:456-459). Children in these
situations look to their peers for replacement values (often political or criminal
leaders in the townships) at a much younger age than a child brought up in a
normal family environment (Oliver, Smith & Le Roux, 1996:51-53).
In poverty-stricken families parents usually work long hours away from home and
earn a mInImUm wage. Given the demands of their employment, parents are
rarely in a position to pay adequate anenrion to the education of their children.
Often the breadwinner has to feed as many as 15 mouths (Richter, 1989: 12).
Poverty often starts a vicious cycle. Job opportunities for unskilled adults are
scarce. The result is that parents are unable to give their children the opportunity
to obtain an education. The frustration of being deprived of education because of
financial hardship has resulted in the youth turning to sub-and counter-cultural
activities (Wilson & Ramphele 1989: 190-196). A low income usually also means
poor housing. Low-income groups usually have large families, which results in
a lack of privacy, the absence of a learning environment and inadequate sleep:
deprivations that engender tension. Violence forces many families to live in
refugee camps where the social environmem is even more deprived (Van Niekerk
& Meier, 1995:73).