Fresh Minds Of Today, Will You Make The Difference?
26 Jul, 2010
Throughout my high-school career, I was faced with the reality of what it really means to attend a multi-racial school. The plan from my parents was for me to get a better education and therefore set higher standards for my life, my career and ultimately my success. However growing up in a Zulu house-hold with our fixed cultural values and growing up in a township, which apart from school and home; is another community that raises a child, I found myself torn between two worlds; that cannot co-exist without offending each other.
A simple example was when a white teacher speaks to you, perhaps scolding you at school, she will expect you to look at her in the eyes, failing which, you would be regarded as being disrespectful and arrogant. But in our Zulu culture, the complete opposite is true; looking at your elders in the eyes when they speak to you is disrespectful. This, to say the least, is a challenge for a young mind to comprehend.
In the modern society that we are exposed to at school and universities; success is getting an education, a degree, a job. But at home if you are not married or married but with no children, you are seen as a failure, regardless of how many degrees you hold. My aunts will slander at the family gatherings ‘Shame! She is rich, nice car, but not a man in sight’.
I remember them turning to me and complaining about how I can’t cook pap, asking what kind of a wife I will be? To my dismay, they continued saying I will not get a husband at the rate that I am going. They bluntly implied that I will not have a comfortable life that comes with the title of being a wife. I had the urge to respond and let them know that I am an educated and therefore liberated young lady. I do not need a man to ensure my financial security and a comfortable life. Every day I work towards that myself, creating opportunities for a successful career through education.
So FRESH MINDS, what’s your definition of success? Do you want to challenge what you’ve been taught? Or will you accept the status quo?
0 comments | July 26, 2010
