A historical-educational appraisal of parental responsibilities and rights in formal education in South Africa [1652-1910]

Abstract

The grounds for asserting that parents of all cultures can be held responsible and accountable for the care and education of their children derive from sources such as the primordial nature of humanity, the precepts of state statutes and international protocols that refer to educational issues and the tenets of scripts that apply to adherents of a particular philosophy of life - for example the Bible as the guide for parents who subscribe to a Christian philosophy of life. The issue of parental say in formal education as provided for in current education legislation is perhaps not an entirely unique development. In this thesis the development of the concept of parental responsibilities and rights in relation to formal schooling in South Africa during the Colonial period was investigated. An attempt was made to determine what Colonial parents - who were predominantly Protestant Calvinist and who consequently subscribed to a Christian philosophy of life - did to ensure that their children's formal education met with their approval and fulfilled their expectations. A further aspect examined related to the identification of the specific issues in education that these parents believed they should be afforded the right to regulate in order to ensure that their children's formal education - as an extension to their primary education - conformed with the fundamental principles of their philosophy of life. The research affirmed the significance a philosophy of life holds for the perception of what it is that constitutes authentic education. It can consequently be concluded that parental involvement in formal schooling should not be seen as intrusion in a realm beyond the jurisdiction of the parent, but as cases of judgement, discernment and selection dictated by the parent's philosophy of life.