The Glory Days of Morris Isaacson: Why Some Soweto High Schools Were Able to Succeed Under Bantu Education

Abstract

During the 1960s and early 1970s Morris Isaacson High School in Soweto had probably its most successful years. It produced good quality education and graduated numerous students who went on to university and became professionals. It was among the top two most prestigious high schools in Soweto. After a series of politically related closures the school regained some stability in the 1980s and 1990s but never really achieved the success or prestige of the previous era. This paper attempts to explain how Morris Isaacson managed to be so successful in spite of the newly implemented Bantu Education system which was designed to provide mass schooling but blunt black aspiration. It notes, among other things, the relatively manageable enrolment in the 1960s, the importance of institutional discipline and good leadership, and the prestige of the teaching profession and the quality of high school teachers in Soweto, especially in the context of the professional limitations imposed by the colour bar. The paper then analyses why high schooling, while expanding, declined dramatically in effectiveness in Soweto in the late 1970s and 1980s.