Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Consciousness


Consciousness 

The South African College School, a preparatory school for young men (boys), is one of the finest schools in South Africa. As someone who graduated from a Los Angeles Unified School District high school, stepping into the school was surreal to me. All I could think about was about the social privileges and results that someone gains from graduating from SACS. I would imagine that most of these students attend some of the greatest colleges and universities in the world.

Our Professor introduced us to their students and noted how most of us attended a UC. He mentioned how there were students from both UC Berkeley and UCLA, the top public institutions of higher education in the United States. Then, the Headmaster of the school introduced us to some of the young students who attend the school. They were dressed in their uniforms, and had congratulatory pins throughout their coat (a la British school system, someone noted). Later, both the Headmaster and our Professor encouraged us to talk and begin out international networking for we would never know when we would need to communicate again.

I was in a small group with two other students participating in the Travel Study program. Together, we hit (what we thought was) the jackpot – because we began to talk with a ridiculously smart student. The student is a senior at the school and is beginning to “matriculate.” We talked a a lot about different social and politicial issues. I was so amazed about how much he was are about American politicals. I think he knew more about American politics than a couple of Americans I know. He talked about how South Africans pay very close attention to American elections because whoever is in power in the United States affects international relationships.

We asked him where he stood politically within the U.S context, and he responded by saying he would more than likely be a Democrat. I knew then, that we had met the right guy! This prompted us to ask him more about social issues such as queer rights, apartheid, race issues, etc. Even though South African grants LGBT citizens full rights (including marriage), social stigma continues to plague the queer community there. He noted that there was no “open” gay student at the all-boys high school, and that most of the boys often make homophobic remarks. His older brother, who now attends Oxford is gay, which is how he was introduced a lot to social justice and was able to learn a lot about all these different social issues.

He believed that even though apartheid was over, and he was growing up in a generation post-Apartheid, racist history continues to affect the growth of the country. He knew that most of the country was Black, but the most wealthy South Africans are White. Even at his own school, he noted how a lot of the black students are admitted due to scholarships (mostly athletic scholarships), but the school still does not represent the diversity of the country.  It sounds a lot like the same problems that plague the communities and institutions we are a part of the United States, such as our own UCLA.


His own lived experiences showed him how Apartheid continues to exist through economic means. His personal experiences reminded me of my own experiences in the United States. That even after all the Civil Rights movements, our institutions continue to abide by ideologies that still benefit those in power. It is students like him, and the students I work with through M.E.Ch.A’s Access Project – Xinachtli, that I continue to have faith in the future of our global community. 

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