University of Witswaterstands

In my short time in Africa I have really enjoyed my trip to Soweto and have seen a lot of culture I have never experienced in the states. Were staying in a backpackers hostel in East Orlando, and the workers all are all locals and are very nice. They have told me about their lives and showed me around the area. Every face I have seen in Soweto outside my group is black, which is what I pretty much accepted. It is great to have seen people come such a long since the apartheid, and everyone I’ve walked to really appreciates the work their parents are relatives have done for them and are willing to talk about all aspects of their history.
However, one thing I noticed that was very unexpected occurred when we arrived at the University of Witswatersrand. We walked around the campus and it almost seemed as we had gone back 25 or 30 years. I was expecting a mostly black student body, which was far from reality. Obviously these probably aren’t the correct stats, but from what I saw, it seemed as though over about 85% of the students we saw were white, Muslim, or Asian. We saw very few black people at the campus.
It is awkward because outside of the campus, I don’t think I’ve seen any Muslims or Asians. It seems as though the campus should have much more black students since it is in Johannesburg. It is unfortunate because the racial mix of the student body is the exact opposite of the cities population. During the Apartheid, white and non white students had separate schools respectively. It was unfortunate to see that it is somewhat still the same case today.
In the states, affirmative action helped blacks in situations similar to these. By giving minorities an advantage in getting into schools and being hired, they were helped drastically. I feel that something similar should be implemented in South Africa. However, it obviously would help the majority instead of the minority. I think it is important though that blacks continue their education after high school to continually improve the state of their country. Many important leaders of the anti-apartheid movement were uneducated and still did a great job at leading their country. However, a strong education can only help ones leadership skills.
One large part of the anti-apartheid movement was to help blacks and whites receive equal education. As this might be the case, the University of Wits did not seem to hold this true. I feel that it in opportunity Africans have created for themselves but might not be taking full advantage of for whatever reason. An education is a very important part of life and helps people’s futures in enormous ways. South Africa has come such a long way in the past 20 years and I think this process of reconciliation is still continuing and at one day will be complete. From my experience so far, mainly coming from my experience at the University of Wits, this is the conclusion I’ve made.