What about the boys Oprah ? Why a girls only school ?
Quote:
Oprah's school for girls opens Tuesday
POSTED: 1:26 p.m. EST, January 1, 2007 [/align]
var clickExpire = "01/31/2007";
Story Highlights"¢ $40 million academy ready for 152 students
"¢ Girls, age 11-12, chosen from thousands of applicants
"¢ Two-thirds of South African students drop out before graduating [/align]
[/align][/align][/align][/align]JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- Talk show star Oprah Winfrey is due to open her long-awaited school Tuesday -- fulfilling a promise she made to former President Nelson Mandela six years ago and giving more than 150 poor South African girls a chance for a better future.
Mandela was invited to be among the dignitaries at the opening of the lavish Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in the small town of Henley-on-Klip, south of Johannesburg, as well as a string of international celebrities -- though the guest list was kept secret.
Oprah said she decided to build her own school because she was tired of charity from a distance.
"When I first started making a lot of money, I really became frustrated with the fact that all I did was write check after check to this or that charity without really feeling like it was a part of me," she said in an interview with Newsweek magazine which went on sale Monday.
"At a certain point, you want to feel that connection."
The $40 million academy aims to give 152 girls from deprived backgrounds a quality education in a country where schools are struggling to overcome the legacy of apartheid.
Heightening concerns about declining standards in South Africa's schooling system, the education department said last week that the school leaving matriculation exam pass rate had dropped for the third straight year.
This year's matriculation class, which started school the same year as multiracial elections in 1994, was dubbed "Madiba's Children" after the clan name for Mandela, who came to power with the onset of democracy.
Yet two-thirds of the 1,667,000 children who started school 12 years ago dropped out, and only 5 percent of the total intake are eligible to go to university.
"We know that we still have much to do to guarantee proper education for our children, as well as provide the necessary training for those who need the skills that our society end economy demand," President Thabo Mbeki said in a New Year's message Monday.
Many state-financed schools, especially in the sprawling townships that sprang up under white racist rule, are hopelessly crowded and lack even basic facilities like books. They are also plagued by gang violence, drugs and a high rate of pregnancy among school girls.
Top class study and sporting facilities are available, but are largely confined to private schools which are still dominated by the white minority as they are too expensive for many black and mixed race South Africans.
Winfrey's academy offers a way out for the 152 girls, aged 11 to 12, who were selected from 3,500 applications across the country.
To qualify, they had to show both academic and leadership potential and have a household income of no more than 5,000 rands ($787) a month. Eventually the academy will accommodate 450 girls.
Many were interviewed by the celebrity, who was reported to have been moved by visits to some of the girls' homes, a reminder of her own poor beginnings.
Winfrey, who reportedly threw a lavish New Year's Eve party at the country's famed Sun City resort before the opening of her academy, launched the project with Mandela in 2000.
Built on 21 hectares (52 acres), the 28-building campus, which was originally to cost $10 million, is said to resemble more a luxury hotel than the rundown schools most of the girls know. It boasts state-of-the-art classrooms, computer and science laboratories, a library and theater as well a wellness center.
"These girls deserve to be surrounded by beauty, and beauty does inspire," Winfrey told Newsweek.
"I wanted this to be a place of honor for them because these girls have never been treated with kindness. They've never been told they are pretty or have wonderful dimples. I wanted to hear those things as a child."
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Heightening concerns about declining standards in South Africa's schooling system, the education department said last week that the school leaving matriculation exam pass rate had dropped for the third straight year.
This year's matriculation class, which started school the same year as multiracial elections in 1994, was dubbed "Madiba's Children" after the clan name for Mandela, who came to power with the onset of democracy.
Yet two-thirds of the 1,667,000 children who started school 12 years ago dropped out, and only 5 percent of the total intake are eligible to go to university.
There are plenty of struggling schools in this country , why didn't she do something here ?
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You and I both know this will end in a dismal failure , but until you offer an option that is viable then you are speaking out of line.
bawanajim you should know by now that all boys schools are sexist, all white schools are racist, all men clubs must allow women etc etc, right ?
Oprah started a 40 million dollar school and she won't let boys in it - THATS whats wrong, not the concept of a school, the fact she is only doing it for the girls
I think what she did is a admirable, But there are two things that bother me about this story, many here don't like her, & I'm not saying I do, but
1) Why is this school only for girls? What happened to the boys? are they not just as deserving and poor and in need of a school as the girls are?
2) Chris Rock's comment on the school, "They usually build these large facilities to lock up black people,....." Talk about a racist comment! If a white guy said that, Ole Jessy Jackson would be screaming for apologies, and how racist that was for someone to say that, but when a black person says it, it's ok,I don't understand it why Black people want to get rid of racism, and complain all the time about it, when they are just as guilty of it!
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Oprah is a wicked sexist
