Media Flaws

“What rift?” was the first thought that came to mind as I trolled through The New York Times online.

Little did I know that what I was about to read belonged in the examples-of-bad-journalism folder with an introduction that reads like a requiem for a dream: “The University of Cape Town was once a citadel of white privilege on the majestic slopes of Devil’s Peak…” I’m not sure why “the majestic slopes of Devil’s Peak” is not credited to a Peter Anderson lecture or two, but anyway, let’s lay it down to coincidental descriptions.

Look.

I’m not going to rip off this article. If anything, its intentions and possibilities are blasting through inkjet cartridge seams (waiting to be released / written). What I will do is engage the unsaids of this NY Times article. BUT. First let me get the following out the way:

The article reads like an undergraduate exposition suited to impress a lecturer or some academic panel beknown only to the writer. Secondly, some of the source material quoted is actually from other TV stations’ archived interviews. On a day-to-day newsroom basis this would seem like doing research, but the minute your article gives the impression that you conducted such referenced interviews yourself, well, you know what the chorus is to such behaviour. Speaking of which I counted no less than seven, I repeat seven, interviewees in this ‘rift’ prose – which is quite telling considering the short word count – think paraphrased article. Thirdly, I have a problem with people who interview students. I tend to find interviewing students quite problematic. Don’t get me wrong. It’s easy - far too easy in fact and a shortcut to pilfer whichever points you know you won’t get from ‘the authorities’ so to speak.

Speaking of which, I have yet to encounter an interviewed student who has been 100% over the moon with how they were portrayed once all goes to print. And this bitter taste tingling sensation is not limited to students alone – ask any politician. Sadly, it is most likely that one will never be happy with what comes out – especially if we’re talking print media – where you have no control, unless you stage a sit-in on the editor’s desk or the interviews intention was nothing but a good PR exercise on your behalf. And to this effect, I would gently tug on universities to play a role in protecting students from such exposure. Much like the medical student, Lwando Mpotulo, who in the NY Times videocast insert - accompanying said article - is portrayed as the poorest of the poor reaching out for a plate of food from Fedics caterers, whilst asserting the need for the “necessary evil” of race-based admissions. To get fed?

Anyway. Allow me to flog a dead horse: Race remains one of the best proxies for admission to universities, particularly within the context of South Africa - note that I said “one of…” and not the “only one” - for if we are to address the inequalities created by our past it is only logical that we redress such via race. Not in the an-eye-for-an-eye sense but in the fixing / restorative  sense which I usually exemplify by saying that when your car’s gearbox is bust, you don’t go and replace the accelerator pedal; you replace or fix the gearbox. To this day there are hardened minds that do not want to acclimatise to this reality and that our inequalities are race-based. This is not reverse racism. I do not understand nor do I intend to ever understand such hardened thinking.

Most recently there's a growing trend in these admissions-to-universities debates that seeks to convolute pro-race proxy arguments by conveniently citing the growing number of black middle class and elite black students. To say that UCT or any other institution largely attracts and retains blacks that are from well-off families, is to fail to acknowledge the growing number of so-called lower classed black students silently filtering through the system, studying hard, not making much noise about being disadvantaged and eventually graduating regardless of how long it takes. And if there are black middle-to-upper class students who fit in perfectly well and are on par with white students, you then run the risk of creating the impression that middle-to-upper class blacks are ineffective in the bid to diversify or ‘democratise’ (as Adam on Facebook terms it) institutions. Because by virtue of class, they are white – white in their thinking, white in their grasp of the day-to-day dynamics of living in South Africa and white in their socio-economic standings. It is exactly this type of thinking – that seeks to split blacks into high and low orders – that is the problem. We are a society that is continuously plagued with creating difference and placing emphasis on difference at all costs. Then one wonders how apartheid came to be. It is when that poor student, is made to feel [note: not see, but feel] these class distinctions and starts deeming him/herself as inferior. Is that what we go to school for?

To continue to rouse up socio-economics or class as the new race or the preferred race replacement is equally insulting and damaging to the perceived lowest orders of the class ranks. Furthermore, to create the impression that well-off UCT black students are anti-Affirmative Action, whilst not-well-off UCT black students are pro-Affirmative Action is what I would deem the creation of rifts instead. Exactly what the referenced New York Times article achieves intentionally or unintentionally. Make no mistake, the rift is not about Affirmative Action. In fact there's no rift. Affirmative action it is, Affirmative Action it will be. Get more blacks in. And contrary to research findings accepting more blacks in will not translate into them expecting universities such as that of Cape Town to become townships, to speak their language, be loud, have riots etc. No. That is nonsense. We have to however acknowledge that class [upper to middle class] academically privileges and creates distinctions along the lines of race. Since the majority of this country remains in lower classes – the scales are automatically rendered uneven in such cases and thus we still end up conforming to the ideals of apartheid. We cannot use academic excellence alone as a proxy, largely because class affords some better opportunities to academically excel and get into institutions of higher learning.

Universities should be working harder on programmes that will ensure easy transitions or adjustments into their programmes for their previously disadvantaged intakes. Because, by the look of things it’s going to take a long time before such grooming can happen in rural high schools. Unless admitting black students from disadvantaged backgrounds is done to merely prove “You see? They’re not coping! They must stay in their homeland universities!” we need to take quicker steps towards developing such programmes and in-depth studies to ensure scales are proportionally evened out - pretty fast and not after two to three years of suicidal ambling on university avenue.