Liberal humanism in a transforming post-apartheid curriculum of South Africa: An introspection

Abstract

South Africa’s education history cannot be discussed without mentioning of the multiple languages and plurality of cultures. The 1996 constitution requires education to be transformed and be democratised in accordance with the values of dignity, equality, human rights and freedom, non-racism and non-sexism and guarantees the right to basic education for all. It is in view of the above guiding underpinning principles that this paper seeks to explore the inclusion of liberal humanism as a philosophical perspective in relation to democracy and language education. If we define democracy as a regime dispensation in which all or most adults are men of virtue, the languages are vehicles that carry, translate and educate the innate being of humanity in a growing nation. Humanism is an educational theory that is concerned with enhancing the innate goodness of the individual; therefore the education of South Africa should be a process of developing a free, self-actualising person centred on feelings of the student. In this case, the Bill of Rights in South Africa is no doubt a sign-post and cardinal point for selection of content and capacitating language education in our schools. Curriculum evaluation question why we still have dysfunctional members of society, unemployable people, lack of creativity and corrupt graduates when curriculum should help to culture individuals of the society. Fundamental to the discussion is the aim to discover whether the curriculum is producing skilled people with uneducated minds or vise-versa.