‘Going to school’ is not just about learning maths and geography and languages and so on. This academic learning happens in a context. While we are at school we also learn what is sometimes called the ‘hidden curriculum’. Educationist Terry Anderson says, “the hidden curriculum is a broad category that includes all the unrecognised and sometimes unintended knowledge, values, and beliefs that are part of the learning process in schools and classrooms”.

In Code of Conduct it seems that the school rules are clear; nothing is ‘hidden’. The Principal declares: “Westwind High is a school of traditions, strong values and morals … Our students are not going to walk around looking messy with dirty, unruly hair. … No, we wear our uniforms with pride … English is the language of instruction and of this school … no Xhosa spoken.”

But what is hidden behind this ‘Code of Conduct’? What do Chwayisa and her supporters expose, by calling on the rights in our Constitution?

First, whose ‘traditions, strong values and morals’ are promoted and allowed? Who is therefore excluded, or made to conform to something foreign to them? Most schools like the symbolical ‘Westwind’ of this story are ‘Western’, ex-white, middle class schools from the apartheid era or before. They are from a strongly British colonial education system, or grew out of Afrikaner culture. This system enforced Christianity, strict discipline, unquestioning acceptance of authority figures (remember how angry Mrs Groenewald was when she thought she had been ‘cheeked’ by Chwayisa) and strict adherence to rules around an English-based uniform, appearance and acceptable behaviour.

Some people promote ‘tradition’ as something unquestioningly positive in a school or university. But what if ‘tradition’ is based on outdated social norms, such as bullying of younger students via ‘fagging’, sexism, corporal punishment, extreme respect for authority over justice, or racism? That is not acceptable. And in this story we have a school in which most students are black, yet the rules and norms still stem from what was acceptable to a past ‘white colonial’ society.

In South Africa currently there is another problem to do with Christian, English-based tradition and rules that has recently made the press. It concerns a Muslim girl not allowed to wear her religiously-significant hijab or scarf to school, as it is ‘not part of the school uniform’. (see Real-life examples)

Second, what is ‘messy, dirty and unruly hair’? At Westwind it is clear that this refers only to natural black hair, not straight or wavy ‘white’ hair or ‘straightened’ black hair. The rule is racist and discriminatory, enforced by white teachers. They do not care about black people’s preferences for what to do with their own hair. One person’s ‘unruly’ hair is another person’s ‘beautiful, natural afro’. Note however that many black people (both conservative and modern) also ‘police’ black hair. It’s rare to see un-straightened, unplaited, un-woven, natural black hair, whether cut short or in an afro. Scornful and judging attitudes to natural hair being either ‘unsophisticated’ or ‘too bohemian’ are evoked in the story by the ‘coconut’ girl, Letitia. (see Interesting further reading)

(Issues around hair and uniform are not only to do with race and culture. Hair length, skirt length and so on, have for long been a battle ground for all students. Think about forcing all schoolboys to have very short hair, or not allowing dyed hair, or permed hair. As fashion and social norms change, so students like a change in school rules.)

Third, what is it to ‘wear a uniform with pride’? Students need to ask what relevance their uniform has for South Africa today. Does it take into account our multicultural society, our climate, what the students want to wear? Or does it cling to some colonial idea of ‘little Englishmen and women’ in buttoned shirts, tunics, ties and blazers and polished shoes and socks? Many people like uniforms and believe they give a school a strong identity and help with conformity and discipline. Some say that in a country like ours with many poor people, a simple, appropriate uniform is a great equaliser. But, for example, most US schools, as you will have seen in US movies, do not have uniforms, and some private schools in South Africa have followed suit.

Fourth, we come to the thorny issue of language – and in particular the use of English only in school. By historical accident the colonial language that has survived and thrived here is English. And, it is certainly very important to be fluent in English for further study and for the world of work, both locally and internationally. Many black parents like to send their children straight into English medium schools, and might support a ‘no-isiXhosa’ (for example) rule at high school. They might even give their child an English name, as well as a traditional name.

But as this story illustrates, this attitude is questioned. Many educationists believe that all children should learn in their home language at least for the first three years of school and preferably much longer. And they know that it is quite possible to learn an additional language well enough to become bilingual, while carrying on learning in home language, and speaking your home language socially. How can a school deny a non-English child the right to use his or her own language interacting with friends? How can a school or teacher expect a child to have a special ‘easy to say’ English name? This is implying that English and Englishness is better. It affects the self-esteem of the learner. It is attacking the dignity of, and denying the equality of, that person. Chwayita was mocked for her hair, told to change it, and pressurised to change her name by both her white teacher and some bullying, conforming classmates.

Look at what Chapter 2 of our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, specifically says:

Rights

7. (1) This Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.

Language and culture

30. Everyone has the right to use the language and to participate in the cultural life of their choice, but no one exercising these rights may do so in a manner inconsistent with any provision of the Bill of Rights.

Along with this specific right regarding language and culture, come many supporting rights. You should see all your individual human rights as working together – they do not exist in a vacuum. Can you enjoy the right to human dignity (section 10), to equality (section 9 (3)) and freedom of expression (section 16) and to education (section 29), if your language rights are being trampled on, and vice versa?

The Department of Education also supports language rights. It’s Norms and Standards document says:

4.1.1 …The Department of Education … is tasked … to promote multilingualism, the development of the official languages, and respect for all languages used in the country…

It is difficult to run a school. There has to be a high level of discipline and common purpose to get through the curriculum, and for learning to take place. Heads and teachers often simply get caught up in trying to keep things going along well, according to already-existing rules and norms. They can be unwilling to see that change is necessary. But as a learner like Chwayisa shows, supported by her mother and the thoughtful teacher Mrs Karl, change does have to come as society moves for the better towards a human rights culture