Jacques Rousseau
Jacques Rousseau teaches critical thinking and ethics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Why we should reject the Bill of Responsibilities
Rejecting Primedia and LeadSA’s Bill of Responsibilities does not have to mean rejecting the values of respect, equality, and dignity. On the contrary, it is the Bill of Responsibilities itself that is a threat to some of our Constitutional values, in that it attempts to dictate a certain way of life to us – thereby undermining our freedom to choose.
LeadSA responds (sort of) to Bill of Responsibilities criticism
Yusuf Abramjee of LeadSA has responded to some of the criticisms that the Bill of Responsibilities has attracted. However, the response takes the same tone as the Bill itself, mostly by simply accusing the critics of not “playing nice”. It fails to engage with the arguments, and serves only to reinforce scepticism regarding the paternalistic nature of this initiative.
So what if prejudice is ‘natural’?
Making the distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’ might well have been useful at some point in human evolution, and might well still be now. But while all we had to go on in the past were the arbitrary markers of skin colour or gender, that’s no reason to keep using those crude categories. And besides, the fact that we (and other animals) keep making these distinctions is not evidence that we should do so.
The Bill of Responsibilities for the youth of South Africa
The Bill of Responsibilities, being launched in South Africa today, is a list of purported responsibilities that flow directly from the Bill of Rights. But they don’t – it’s an aspirational, paternalistic, religion-infused list of virtues and values that could have been written by Oprah, and which in some cases run completely counter to the commitment to liberty enshrined in the Constitution.
The limits of our language
The ministry of basic education in South Africa is considering scrapping the examination of grammar in a separate examination paper for Grades 10 to 12, alongside reductions in the amount of time and attention devoted to teaching grammar. Following through on these intentions would be a mistake, because what we able to conceive of is related to what we are able to express. In a country where we are in dire need of a critical citizenry, able to express their concerns in compelling and persuasive ways, the last thing we should be doing is limiting the ability of scholars to develop these skills.
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