University of Stellenbosch – Anglicising takes us back to colonialism
During our meeting in the past week, the National Council of the Afrikanerbond learned with shock of the language proposals of the Stellenbosch University management. This will result in yet another tertiary institution taking the easy route of Anglicisation.
It is clear from the response we received from students, parents and academics that this proposal is an effort towards extreme political correctness. It should simply not be allowed that a university's management succumb to political pressure, as happened in this case.
This proposal by the University of Stellenbosch‘s management towards Anglicisation should be seen in the following context:
- The large Afrikaans community, especially in the Western Cape relied on Afrikaans as default language of instruction at the University of Stellenbosch, and not just as a language which is instructed in passing.
- With this proposal the University of Stellenbosch is joining a number of universities which chose to Anglicise to become yet another English university. We are already beginning to become a community of substandard English speakers and now we also want to provide students with substandard English to the bigger community.