July 11, 2013 Part 3

Integration

One of the themes focused on in the texts we read for TEAC833, is that there is a difference between desegregation and integration (I think this was mentioned specifically in Carter but I don't have the text here so correct me if I'm wrong!). Desegregation means that the demographics of a school might change, but students of different races interact only to the extent that is required in the classroom. Integration, on the other hand, suggests a much deeper level of interaction in which students’ social groups outside of the classroom (ex: sports, clubs, friendships), include people of different races.

 Today while I was sitting at dinner with Tandi, a student from the University of Pretoria, it made me think about this concept (albeit on a much, much smaller scale). Only two days ago, the students from the universities of UNL and Pretoria, may have been “desegregated” (in terms of university affiliation) in the sense that our two universities were no longer receiving instruction in two different classrooms.  Furthermore, we were even communicating during class time about given class topics. To the extent that the two universities represent two different cultures, this did not necessarily represent integration. After school, we all returned to our “segregated” lifestyles.

 However, once both groups of students left the confines of the physical classroom, and entered a more relevant context for our interaction, I found that more genuine, personal relationships arose. Within the context of the museums, I was able to ask much deeper questions and could gain a better understanding of the histories of several people from the University of Pretoria. This led into a 3-hour dinner, in which our communication was no longer an “expectation,” but rather something that was actively sought out.

 The question I began to ask myself was how this could be applied to the context of schooling in South Africa. What if these “forced communications” in the classroom, were given space outside of the confines of a classroom which historically was used to award/deny privilege? Perhaps students would get to know each other on a different level, when they experience the “outside” world together. Perhaps they will find a peer’s reaction to such outside stimuli intriguing, and perhaps they will come to understand each other on a much deeper, more integrative level.

-Tiffany Teichmeier