| dc.description.abstract | This thesis covers the development of education of Whites in the Ventersdorp district up to 1970. This district, in the Western Transvaal, was specifically selected as it represents one of the earliest areas to be settled by Whites in the Transvaal. It is typically rural and thus portrays the development of education in Transvaal rural areas accurately.
The aim of this study was to relate the growth of education to the historical-cultural development.
An effort was made to show the influence of legislation and national, political, economic and ecclesiastic-social factors on the development of education in the district.
The historical method was used in this research. Original sources were largely studied although secondary sources were also consulted in order to evaluate the history of education in the Ventersdorp district in the total development of education in the Transvaal.
The scarcity of data, especially concerning the early years, constituted a real problem. The development of education in this district can be divided into five periods, viz. an establishing, a consolidation and a flourishing period in the XIX century and a period before and one after 1910.
Chapter II is the general history of the Ventersdorp district as cultural-historical events specifically influence the growth of education. Chapter III is an analysis of the first two periods mentioned above. The early education was patriarchal. The Burgers education legislation marked the beginning of organised education in the district. The third period, described in Chapters IV and V, can be termed the Du Toit-Stiemens-Mansvelt era.
This period started after the first War of Independence and ended with the beginning of the Second War of Independence.
The Republican education system was destroyed by the Anglo-Boer War and replaced by a British Imperialistic system as described in Chapter VI. In the Ventersdorp district this system was implemented by the re-opening of schools as English orientated government schools. There were, however, some C.N.Ed. schools but these soon disappeared after the Smuts education legislation in 1907.
The Smuts law directed the development of education until 1967 when a new era was born. During the period 1910 to 1970 the following national events influenced education in the Ventersdorp district: The 1914 Rebellion, the First World War (1914 1918), the flu-epedemic (1918), the Depression (1929-1933), the Second World War (1939-1945), the National Party Victory in 1948.
Chapter VIII is an analysis of secondary education in the Ventersdorp district. Chapter IX is an attempt at a fundamental motivation as well as a short resumé of educational growth in the Ventersdorp district for the sake of the total image. | en_US |
