Education and the public good: Foregrounding education in history

Et Smith

doi:10.17159/2223-0386/2021/n26a2

Abstract

ABSTRACT Historians can contribute significantly to education historiography to bolster education transformation. Contemporary scholarship in education, in the main, mostly wrestles with the current dispensation's transformation of education policy endeavours in the post-apartheid era. While there is no substantial or insurmountable disagreement on the education policy objectives in post-apartheid South Africa, much of the contestations seem to arise from how these objectives should be realised to achieve their lofty ideals. This is where learning from history is important. History is not merely concerned with constructing knowledge through relooking the past but also attending to the "selection" and "silences" over time. Among other things, South Africa's history also provides significant insights into how education contributed to developing a first-world economy in the country. This article argues that, because of education's ability to enable social and economic mobility to affect families, communities, and society in general positively, education is a public good that requires historians' involvement and attention. The article also considers the significance of funding education as a public good. Consequently, the paper argues that historians can make a significant contribution to transforming education in their continuous rewriting of history to learn from the past and foreground education as a public good in the past and present for the future. Keywords: History; Education history; Education historiography; Education transformation; Public good.

Highlights

Through considering the historiography of education in South Africa, this article seeks to demonstrate a concern regarding historians’ lack of engagement with the history of education and the disservice this constitutes to the national transformation efforts currently underway in the country
Kallaway notes that: “in the South African case, the attempt to characterise the whole history of education as flawed on account of its association with apartheid led to the wholesale abandonment of educational traditions built up over two centuries”
Kallaway postulates that it would serve South African historiography and policy development well if “the successes and failures of the post-1994 system are to be understood in terms of the continuity with that past as well as the ruptures and innovations”30 that occurred during this period

Summary

Introduction

Through considering the historiography of education in South Africa, this article seeks to demonstrate a concern regarding historians’ lack of engagement with the history of education and the disservice this constitutes to the national transformation efforts currently underway in the country. This article reiterates “a call to action” for historians previously issued by other scholars, it amplifies and underscores the significance and importance of historians’ involvement in the history of education by locating this contribution within the context of education as a public good. This article does not seek to theorise, discuss or engage what kind of history of education South Africa needs nor what constitutes “good”, “proper”, or “useful” education history. These are essential concerns that we should address. Historians will attend to them when they enter the fray and bring their formidable intellectual and professional skills and capabilities to bear on the history of education

Education historiography in South Africa

The value of education as a public good

Conclusion