No institution in South Africa's black townships has been more severely disrupted in recent years than the school system. Many blacks began keeping their children out of the segregated, state-run classrooms when the current troubles began in September 1984. The state of emergency declared last June only fueled the boycott. Of the 1.7 million school-age black children in urban areas, some 250,000 dropped out last year alone. Classes that continued to meet were often chaotic, and some black militants began offering alternative instruction, called "people's education," which provided little more than revolutionary rhetoric.
Last week State President P.W. Botha took strong...
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