Oprah’s school too limited and extravagant

Not so long ago, there was a Queen of Talkshowland, who was
richer than even Midas. She was generous and quirky, and people
generally liked her.

One day, she made a promise to a revolutionary leader of far
away South Africa to build a school for the children of his
country.

She built it, the children went to school, and everyone lived
idyllic lives, bathed in learning and dappled sun fun.

It’s a lovely cotton candy of a story, but the facts of
the case make it complicated and somewhat bizarre.

The ever-fame-embraced Oprah Winfrey conducted the opening
ceremony for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in
South Africa last Tuesday.

The school is designed to provide excellent education to
disadvantaged girls from all 13 provinces of South Africa. Yay.

Sprawled over 22 acres of greenery, the school complex includes
28 buildings, large rooms draped in 200-thread-count sheets, yoga
studios, spas and personalized butlers.

OK, I made up the butler part, but it would really fit in with
the beauty salons and amphitheaters .

Starting a school for disadvantaged girls in Africa is an
amazing and beneficial act of charity on Oprah’s part, but
did it have to be so … Oprah-licious?

When she met with Nelson Mandela in 2000, she pledged $10
million for the school, and the project was declared to be built in
conjunction with the South African government, which later backed
out .

The government declared the institution to be too extravagant
and elitist ““ and it might have a point.

Out of the 3,500 applications received, only 152 girls were
accepted, 73 of which the talk-show diva personally hand picked
.

With $40 million better spent, there could have been room for
more schools, more girls and more education.

Maybe some of the love would have spread over to the young boys
in South Africa who are, I’m sure, pretty disadvantaged as
well.

Of course, the schools should be of a high caliber and nothing
should be spared in the expense of books, faculty, classroom
supplies and functional and aesthetically pleasing dormitories.

These ladies will experience perfection in the form of
silver-spoon education from grades 7 to 12 ““ and then what?
What do these recently graduated 18-year-old women do in a country
that is severely disadvantaged?

To become the future leaders of their nation, they will have to
go through some sort of higher education, employment and direct
exposure to the outside world.

But since the very reason that these girls were admitted to this
academy was that their families make less than $787 a month, where
will they find the resources to move on with the same momentum and
quality that existed in the academy?

In a way, I understand that this is a way for Oprah to reach out
and, in a sense, repair her own past.

Born in the obscure town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, Oprah was
abused, molested, and turned away even from a juvenile detention
center before she was 13.

She obviously identifies with these young girls and wants her
school to be a life-altering, inspiring experience ““ which it
will be for the 152 of them.

But how do you revert from an almost euphoric lap of luxury to a
crumbling home?

In Kazuo Ishiguro’s book “Never Let Me Go,” he
explores the raw shock experienced by students in a similar
situation. They have to go through joining the rest of humanity
after being sheltered in an exclusive boarding school in order to
fulfill a special purpose in society.

The parallel falters in that the students in the book are bred
to give organs for the betterment of society, but these women will
be bred to give their minds and souls to better their nation.

And while education is designed to provide young people with not
only knowledge but a purpose as well, this elitist and exclusive
form of education might incite other unanticipated effects, such as
estrangement from society and the failure to reenter the real South
Africa.

Of course, I am not against all construction of schools in South
Africa, nor do I believe that this treatment is “too
good” for the girls.

It’s just over the top. The price tag is ridiculous, and
at the risk of sounding too much like Peter Parker’s
grandfather: With great power comes great responsibility.

Write to [email protected] if you’re a little
African boy seeking an education. Send general comments to
[email protected].