Retroid Raving

I am inspired by our resident seer (who is never believed) to share a Dilbert with you, from some time ago....  Judging from the performance of OU^TM in the academic salary negotiations, I'd say Catbert had already been hired.

Which is a strange way to remember someone as distinguished as John Matshikiza - who in contrast to Retroid's Rick Wright, was actually known to Ed Rybicki.

Albeit for only three years, and those between 1964 and 1966.

You will see, in the many obituaries for John, that he "grew up in exile"; possibly that he was "in Lusaka", that he was trained in London and with the Royal Shakespeare Company...but it has struck me that I am one of the very few I know who was at school with him in Lusaka, and therefore who know anything about that very under-reported part of his life.  Which gives me licence to reminisce...B-)

John came to Lusaka with his family in 1964, for complicated reasons that were far beyond us 9- and 10-year-olds, and very soon enrolled as possibly the first post-independence black child at a hitherto whites-only primary school: Woodlands Primary, in the suburb of the same name.  He was smart, erudite, well-spoken....and a really keen actor.

This leads me to the reminiscence of the title: I cannot see the Beatrix Potter book without the vivid remembrance of the young Matshikiza, with long floppy ears and a drawn-on rabbit face, prancing around as Peter Rabbit on the stage of the Woodlands School hall.  Oh, he was in other plays, too: we starred together in "Toad of Toad Hall" in 1966, with him as Toad and me as the Judge - and I see he reprised that role in London in later years - but it is as the rabbit I remember him.

I remember him crying after his father died, and offering awkward words of comfort as small boys do - and him doing the same, when my father died not long thereafter, of a similar cause.

And then the separating of the ways, with him in Zambia and then the UK and me at school in Zim and then at UCT...and then he was back, on stage and on the screen and in the M&G - and he was famous, and there were no obvious points of contact, so I let it ride.

Then I was in Lusaka in 2005, and visited Woodlands School - and met a visionary Deputy Principal, who wanted old computers so he could teach IT.  He was also excited by my stories about what had happened to those who had gone there - at least three Professors I can think of; captains of industry all around the world now - and I mentioned John, as the sight of the stage and royal blue curtains brought back Peter Rabbit in a rush.  I contacted him, on my return, via the old M&G address - and he was excited to hear that the school was still going, and he offered to help to get them computers.

And now he's gone - unexpectedly, and with all of the regrets of things unsaid, and things left undone.

But there is still a rabbit with a brown face in my memory, prancing across stage to Mr McGregor's garden.

Hamba kahle, John.

RIP Richard Wright, after a short battle with cancer, aged 65.  Founder member of Pink Floyd, keyboard man and vocalist.  Who - most appropriately - wrote "The Great Gig in the Sky" and "Us and Them" for 1973's "Dark Side of the Moon".  The Great Gig is instrumental, but who could forget these words, taped in the studio from a roadie?

"And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I
don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?
There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime."

"If you can hear this whispering you are dying."

"I never said I was frightened of dying."

And from "Us and Them":

"Down (down, down, down, down) and out (out, out,out...)
It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about.
With, without.
And who'll deny it's what the fightings all about?
Out of the way, its a busy day
I've got things on my mind.
For the want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died....."

Rock on, Rick Wright.  There'll never be a Floyd without you.

Going boldly where lesser mortals fear to tread - again - Professor Malegapuru William I-smear-my-body-with-lion-fat-to-strike-fear-into-my-adversaries Makgoba has written a very interesting opinion piece in the Sunday Times of 8th September.

It is entitled "A better way to cut up the pie", and opens with the banner "The higher education of our country must be differentiated and funded adequately for the reality of global competitiveness and economic development".

Viva! says Retroid, viva!  Pretty much what we've been saying over the last few months, he thought.

And it went on to say:

"South Africa has 23 universities....  With this rich diversity, one would think it would be used as a stength to promote excellence and global competitiveness.  But...South Africa continues to pretend that these 23 universities are the same and therefore treat [sic] them the same, without differentiating, focusing and providing resources each to its comparative and competitive advantages.  It is this failure to differentiate...that has led to a decline in academic productivity, new knowledge production and innovation relative to the rest of the world."

Viva! again, thought Retroid: the Lion of the East has come out and said in a very public forum what the rest of us have left unsaid, or buried in obscure academic blogs.

He went on to detail how different countries had a very limited number of premier research institutions: the US has 215 out of 3300 with only 100 being "research led"; Australia has 8 "great" institutions; India 9 out of 367; the UK a "Golden Diamond" of 4.  Europe, on the other hand, apparently has 2000-odd largely undifferentiated universities, and "...the result has been mediocrity all round".  Well - I know a few Europeans who may disagree there, but let it stand for the sake of argument.

So far, so good: but then, halfway in, he makes the claim that South Africa's strength in knowledge production and wealth creation are...in the humanities!!??  The Leonine One goes on to detail how none of our 4 Nobel laureates in sciences did any but their foundation training here - and how 6 of the 10 accredited to South Africans are in literature, politics and peace.

Well, well, well, thought Retroid to himself.  The Oxford-trained immunologist thinks one gets academic training in Peace Prize-worthy achievements??  Which would account for Luthuli, Tutu, Mandela and de Klerk...leaving Gordimer and JM Coetzee for literature (hey, they give those things out to people from all sorts of countries - like Egypt, Greece....).

But wait, there was more.  He claims "Our science education system is only competitive up to the level of a bachelor's degree, and in contrast [to the humanities, presumably], our postgraduate environment and infrastructure are too weak to compete globally".

Strong stuff...and true of 19-odd of our 23 universities (including, possibly his own, said by Wikipedia to be "...in vertiginous decline"), but NOT true of a few I could think of.  Like UCT, Wits, Tuks, Maties....

He goes on to say "Confronting the above," - the straw man he created, in other words - "we would need more government investment that is specifically earmarked to strengthen the humanities field in higher education."

There is more on how science flourishes best when grounded in "people's culture", and how it is that science and technology are born and are shaped better when the human sciences are strongest....

Retroid stopped taking it seriously about then, and seriously considered re-reading it as an elaborate spoof article aimed at actually showing up how badly we need science and technology - but it was not to be.  The Lion Fat man is serious.  He really, really is saying that we should be spending considerably more on education in the humanities, and again says that they play a role in wealth creation and leadership of science and technology.

Yes, well.  Um.  No, fine.  Wealth creation??  Isn't that why the government has been favouring science and technology, rather than the humanities, in their direct and indirect subsidy of tertiary institutions??  Could it be they were all wrong - along with the governments of Taiwan, Singapore, Ireland and South Korea, incidentally??  I note our very own Minister of Science and Technology, Mosibudi Mangena, says in the Introduction to DST's Ten-Year Innovation Plan

"Knowing that the level of economic growth envisaged by our country requires continual advances in technological innovation and the production of new knowledge, and in our common determination to build a better world, we are strengthening our role in the development and growth of South Africa".

Looks like he doesn't agree, then.  His DG - Dr Phil Mjwara - continues in this vein:

"The Plan charts the course for the enhancement of innovation in our country, contributing to sustained economic growth on the basis of what we are convinced are the pillars of a properly functional knowledge economy ‑ human capital development, R&D and knowledge infrastructure.

It is crucially important to note that the Department of Science and Technology’s Plan identifies bold interventions in certain critical areas, called “grand challenges”. These areas offer tremendous opportunities for steering our resource-based economy towards a knowledge-based economy." [my bold]

And what are these grand challenge areas, one may ask?  Why, they are these:

• “Farmer to Pharma”, or biotechnology and the pharmaceuticals, based on the nation’s indigenous resources and expanding knowledge base;
• Space science and technology;
• Energy security – safe, clean, affordable and reliable energy supply;
• Global change science with a focus on climate change, and
• Human and social dynamics – towards a greater global understanding of shifting social dynamics, and the role of science in stimulating growth and development.

Strange how it is that Professor Dr MW Makgoba - MBChB (Natal) DPhil (Oxon) - is so good when he is on his home turf of explaining medical science, and how bad he is when he gets sociological or political.  For the piece he wrote is so breathtakingly replete with unsubstantiated claims, and conclusions built on shaky frameworks, that it serves only as a starting point for discussion of the real problem, by people who know what they are talking about.

Who realise that without continued and increased funding of science and technology in this country, we are doomed to a downward spiral of decaying infrastructure, and a growing need to import specialists in all the disciplines we were formerly able to train people in.

Oh, and significantly decreased wealth creation, moral leadership, and a diminution of culture.