LETTER: Black children need English

Paul Hoffman’s letter refers (“Ruperts’ fortune came from hard work, not theft”, April 12). Black poverty is underpinned by factors that are arguably as important as the unfair way whites treated black people.

In the global village, mother tongue languages are of little use to black children. Many black children are not exposed to English (the region’s dominant language) at home and so arrive at Grade 1 unable to understand English. If their parents are barely literate the children receive little or no academic support (help with homework) from their parents.

As a result, many black children lag children of other races in Grade 1, and slip further behind every year due to inability to absorb knowledge as well as pupils with English as their mother tongue. This problem was less severe for Afrikaans-speaking people in the past due to job reservation and various other factors, including Afrikaans being a compulsory school subject and spoken by millions of people.

We need to ensure that the government understands that black families are unlikely to be able to hold on to wealth acquired via black economic empowerment (BEE) and affirmative action (AA) unless their children are as well educated and proficient in English as children of other races. BEE  and AA cannot be allowed to become a permanent feature in SA.

Terence Grant
Cape Town

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