South Africa: Oprah Builds $40 million school- just for girls

Submitted by anthony on Mon, 2007-01-01 22:59

Story here.

I'm not certain Oprah is a true humanitarian. While this school is certainly beneficial for girls, she has seemingly ignored the educational needs of boys. While the girls attend schools in an ultra modern facility, the boys will continue their education under third world conditions. I believe Oprah deserves much critisim for her decision to blatantly ignore boys, yet she is such a powerfull media figure, I fear her neglecting young boys will go virtually un-noticed. The woman she be exposed as a hypocrite. Excerpt:

'The tough talk comes as the famously philanthropic Winfrey unveils her Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa - a sprawling, 28-building complex for impoverished teens that features a yoga studio and beauty salon, among other luxuries.
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Winfrey handpicked the 152 girls who will attend out of an application pool of more than 3,500. Winfrey has also supplied millions of dollars to educate needy children in the U.S. through the Oprah Winfrey Scholars program.'

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Ed. note: Story covered more fully here.

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The good side of this is that she not only has ignored African boys, but and American girls as well. :D

Oprah Winfrey is firing back at critics of her decision to build a $40 million school complex in South Africa - saying she didn't build it in the U.S. because inner-city kids here don't appreciate the value of a free education.

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Submitted by nbdspcl on Tue, 2007-01-02 16:17

One 13 year-old scholar said - "I would have had a completely different life if this hadn't happened to me. Now I get a life where I get to be treated like a movie star."

Winfrey "rejected suggestions that her school was elitist and unnecessarily luxurious."

Let’s see, in a country that fought a revolutionary struggle to overcome apartheid, Oprah's school segregates by gender who may attend, then accepts only 152 of 3,500 female-only applicants, i.e. 4% of those seeking admission. The cost of furnishing a dorm room exceeds the average annual salary of a S. African laborer. And the lucky few matriculating to O. U. aspire to be pampered celebrities just like “Mam Oprah.”

Nah, nothing elitist going on so far ...

No wonder the South African government bailed on its partnership with the Big O.

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Submitted by Roy on Tue, 2007-01-02 19:32

Admittedly I didn't see the entire interview, but passing a TV today tuned into CNN I saw a man being interviewed by CNN.

Presumably he was a S. African, perhaps an official or employee at the school, given his accent and his enthusiasm for the project. He was responding to a reporter's question asking if the school was just for black S. Africans. He was adamant in his reply that no, it was for everyone who qualified and that they had white, Asian, and ethnically Indian girls attending as well. Somehow though, the word "everyone" just didn't seem to include boys, at least in the interviewee's mind. I don't know if the single-sexedness of the school was challenged at all by the CNN interviewer (again, like I said, I didn't see the whole thing), but my instincts tell me it wasn't. Can anyone else comment?

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Submitted by mcc99 on Wed, 2007-01-03 01:58