When the station called a Gauteng university student, she failed to answer two simple questions: Who is Steve Biko and what did he stand for? The answer she gave would be a shocker to black individuals who were in the struggle against oppression.

Many pupils today see history as a subject for losers .

But it is only you who lose if you do not see the value of the past and of men like Biko, who promoted black pride.

It was Biko and his bravado that demonstrated to other blacks that they are not inferior to whites or any other race. Biko once wrote: "Being black is not a matter of pigmentation but a reflection of a mental attitude."

Arguably, that mental attitude is fading every day.

Yes, the time of racial segregation is long gone, but essential to a bright future is being fully informed about the dark past.