Elna, Cavendish 12 October

The past week has been exhilarating and exhausting! I feel privileged to be working with the first year Surface Design students at CPUT. The four week project I am doing with them is based on The Educators New Clothes. The brief is to construct a yarn from reused materials and by using knitting and crochet, develop community through social and public space interaction.

The class has been divided into four groups of 5. The project with them is documented on tencvssurfacedesign.blogspot.com.

Conversations over the past while have been rather bleak, and I am feeling disheartened. The overwhelming message is that although there is adequate and appropriate education policy, the abuse of political power, corruption and lies undermines its implementation. Quality education remains for economic elite, and apparently the government accommodates this, or encourages it, as a method to develop a voting stock.

I remind myself that it is out of this very compost, The educators New Clothes grew…. and it continues.

A gentleman in his sixties discussed how important it is to get educated, and has insisted that his three daughters get degrees. He is currently on his second masters. He spoke of how learning never ends, and occurs informally too, its an attitude toward life. He spoke of a gentleman who, at the age of 72, did a kick in the air on stage, when he received his doctorate.