The phrase, “it’s all Greek to me”-courtesy (as are several
other phrases in English) William Shakespeare-is often used to indicate that
one did not comprehend something. Greek was widely perceived as a tough and
incomprehensible language-the main reason being that it had relatively little similarity
to any other European language, which in the main stemmed from the Latin spoken
by the Romans. Owing to recent heated debates in our humanities class about the
Indian education system and its various defects, as well as about the cultural
dilemma faced by every Indian today(with respect to language customs etc.),I
could not help but notice a strange parallel in the aforesaid phrase with the
problems of our education system.
If you would pause
for a moment and think, this very article is being written in English, a
language which, for all its versatility and beauty,is after all an alien
tongue, foisted upon us by the British rulers. Yes, we have produced Booker
Prize winners like Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai, and yes, many Indians today
speak impeccable English, but for the vast majority it represents a significant
hurdle on their path to good education and understanding. The Indian education
system has long been lambasted for its various flaws (such as emphasis on rote
learning)-not always without reason.
However, if you think about it, the root cause of every
single defect attributed to our education system is in some way linked with
poor language skills! Everywhere in India, children learn at school a new
language which seems in no way connected to their mother tongues. Then they
proceed to learn all the basic lessons about the world in the new language
which in most cases they did not learn properly. People raise up a hue and cry
about having to “memorize” definitions. But what is a definition? - It is something which is supposed to
comprehensively summarize the meaning of something. Why then would someone have
difficulty in rewriting a definition-unless the person did not understand it in
the first place? Sometimes people criticize definitions for being in very tough
and complex language-however, it is sometimes difficult to simplify things
beyond a point without distorting the meaning somewhat. As the great Albert
Einstein said-“Things must be made as simple as possible-but not simpler”. In
fact the debate in the West is often about textbooks oversimplifying things and
not achieving the ultimate purpose of the lesson.
Even if you accept that definitions are in tough language,
is not the whole point of being taught at school, rather than teaching oneself
from textbooks, that one may sufficiently understand what the definition means?
If onedoes do that the next logical step would be just reproducing what you
understood on the examination sheet. It need not be in the exact words given in
the textbook. However that would require a reasonable vocabulary and skill in
using the language-something which sadly most children lack today in India.
A common fear expressed by students by way of excuse is that
the answer written in their own words might not be awarded full marks. Again
this is either because of the inability of the student to write an answer in
his/her own words without distorting the meaning or leaving out points or
worse, because the person correcting the paper is not proficient enough in the
language to interpret the answer as standing for the same concept explained in
the textbook! This is a key point-the teachers of today are the students of
yesterday and the victims of the same process! Thus this is a vicious cycle of
successive generations having their knowledge acquirement process impaired by
poor language skills. It is because both the examiners and the examined lack
proficiency in the language that the culture of rote learning without emphasis
on understanding has developed.
English is a foreign language with its very grammar and alphabet
alien to Indians. Paradoxically, it is also the working language of the
country. To investigate into this paradox would lead us to the legacy of the
British Raj, as would the investigation into many modern Indian paradoxes, and
would require another essay!
However, English is the modern global language. Removing
English from its well-entrenched position in India would be retrogressive and
astoundingly difficult. Does not then the best solution lie in embracing
English and learning it as well as we can?
