UCT vice-chancellor misses purpose of universities

If we follow the logic of University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng’s opinion piece (“Education may change lives, but lives should also change education”, Sunday Times, September 12) it would appear that the role of universities is to adopt the values and attitudes of disadvantaged groups rather than forcing them to adopt or assimilate into a black version of the middle-class, Western thinking, white male-dominant culture that supposedly prevails at leading academic institutions.

“How much of the values of our underrepresented groups is embedded in the education we present to them?” she asks. “Do we even know what their values are?”

She then goes on to advocate changes in the institutional culture, the decolonisation of the curriculum and associated teaching practices and the acceptance of diversity so as to include all kinds of viewpoints across the boundaries of race, gender, sexuality, nationality, language and culture.

All these might be valuable goals if the purpose of universities is to incorporate all possible viewpoints, attitudes and values prevalent in a given society. However, the purpose of universities is to act as a cognitive filter, to select from a variety of viewpoints those that are capable of advancing our understanding of the world and of ourselves. If, by historical contingency, some modes of thinking originating in the West have advanced our understanding of the world, particularly since the advent of the scientific revolution in the 17th century, then it stands to reason that universities will adopt those modes of thinking at the expense of others.

That some viewpoints have been historically associated with a white, middle-class, male, Western-thinking culture is no reason to dismiss them. In the same way there is no reason to dismiss the viewpoints associated with a black, working-class, female, African-thinking culture. The ultimate test is whether these different viewpoints advance our understanding of the world and of ourselves.

The fundamental mistake is to conflate the origin or genesis of a viewpoint with its validity, to determine the validity of a viewpoint on the basis of its origin (middle class vs working class, white vs black, Western vs African) rather than on its intrinsic merits. Does it advance our understanding of the world and ourselves? That is the only pertinent question.

Maurizio Passerin d’Entreves, professor emeritus,

University of Cape Town

Vote for merit, not colour

The time is now for the people to change their mindset towards electing leaders. Even the Africanists of the 1950s asserted that there is nothing wrong if a black electorate were to return a white man to parliament in a free, democratic African state. However, many black people are scared of the “white peril” owing to 46 years of the National Party’s racial oligarchy. The perennial failure of the ANC to deliver on its mandate means people should ignore skin colour when choosing political parties. Even President Cyril Ramaphosa’s tenure is marred by corrupt practices, with political elites implicated in malfeasance.

Ramaphosa’s renewal project is thwarted by his desire to serve a second term in that he has to toe the party line to be re-elected. As things stand, the ANC has to restore voter confidence after the political unrest caused by the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma. The time is now for people to refrain from voting along ethnic and racial lines.

Lindani Ngcobo, Bellair

Sefara gets it right this time

In my previous letter to the editor I castigated Makhudu Sefara for his badly written article that had not been carefully thought out regarding Eskom’s debacles around race issues.

However, to illustrate that readers are not always searching for the negative in their assessment of written material by columnists, journalists or whoever enunciates their thoughts to the public in print, I now applaud Mr Sefara for his brief yet astute analysis of SA’s political landscape that appeared on September 12.

Having previously torn into him, I am duty bound to praise him for his adroitly constructed article. It is an irrefutable fact that mankind tends to learn, recognise and glide with the good, the bad and the ugly wherever they materialise. Equally, humanity does not eschew rendering credit where it is deserved.

Give that man a Bell’s. Sorghum-based umqombothi home brew will also suffice if industrially distilled material does not fit his style. If his religious bent prevents him from partaking in fermented waters, he can always resort to gallons of milk, hopefully pasteurised, provided there are no issues of lactose intolerance.

Trevor Mdaka, Hurlingham

Here’s to more black Miss Irelands

Many Americans have Irish heritage. I could start with President Joe Biden. As the leader of the US he is very proud of his

Irish lineage too. Years ago I attended Camden Catholic High School in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Our mascot was then — and still is now — “The Fighting Irish”. And, in the US on March 17, Saint Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish.

I am an African-American. Therefore, through cultural identity, I identify with Ireland’s success in crowning Pamela Uba as the country’s first black Miss Ireland. Call it the “luck of the Irish”, if you will. I look forward to seeing more of her representing your country as she takes to the main stage.

Wayne E Williams ,Camden, New Jersey

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