if you read the title of this sub--heading you will notice the word: we. writing letters to the editor is not enough. the media has a responsibility to continue exposing any challenges we are faced with. teachers, learners and school governing bodies have to work together to ensure today’s learners have a better chance than the youth of 1976, 1986 and 2006. the school cited above where learners are stuck in a stuffy, debilitated classroom illustrates the need for communities to intervene. the school should belong to the community and not to the principal. if need be that community must build two more classes with their own funds. a core argument of racial redress and citizenship in south africa edited by adam habib and kristina bentley is that south africans became depoliticised in 1994 and stopped being community participants but adopted a culture of waiting for service delivery. during the apartheid era indian communities would actually build schools from scratch and only call in the government for accreditation purposes. long story short if you live in triple story, drive a hummer but the school in your community has no desks or the roof is leaking you are being unafrican and unpatriotic.