Experts say the study of History shouldn’t be left behind because it helps students better understand the world in which they live in. We live in a diverse and complex world, and all of us need to understand that world in order to survive. One of the best ways to understand our world is to understand its history, an understanding that is vital, not only to our personal happiness, but also the health of our society.

Apartheid began in 1948. Its roots go back to 1652 when Dutch settlers officially landed in Cape Town to establish a stop point for ships sailing around the southern tip of Africa. On the way to the far east, they said they were educating people about where they were coming from. South Africa today is a nation bursting with the spirit of revolutionary victories. After centuries of resistance, apartheid ended in 1994 when Nelson Mandela was elected as president.

To increase your understanding, start with questions, not answers. Try to imagine what it would be like if you succeed in achieving your goals. Use your imagination to turn things inside out to a different point of view, because nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it seem so.

Freedom is not free. My people are so hungry that they attack without reason, like a dog that rips off a hand that feeds it. Sometimes I just stare them in their eyes and I can see it, I can see that they want to remember. They want to remember the day hell walked the earth, the day they worked so hard wondering where the day went. The day the sun overslept, the day colour said much. They want to remember the day fear illuminated walls from pupils, the time pain was by the strange perception. When blacks were slaves, when whites could cut off their dicks and glue it back the wrong way. When guns were running the world like a media shower.

Hallelujah sounds like black people burping for justice.

The trouble with teaching history is that it reminds people about the past. For instance, if someone close to you dies, it’s possible to erase everything that reminds you about that person. But if you will be hanging a picture of that special person on your wall, no matter how hard you try you will not forget. Same as teaching history to people thinking that they will forgive and forget. What a stupid idea.

As much as racism bleeds in South Africa, we need to understand that classicism is the real issue. You cannot change the past but can make the future.

History is an oscillating door behind us. As long as it is taught in schools, people will not change, people will not move on. People lack freedom of mind. Teachers have the most important job on the planet but they teach the past. No wonder so many students are short changed, but they are not the problem. They are working on a system without options and rights. Teachers never fail, you do.

***

Tell us: What do you think of this piece so far?