05-08-2007, 08:17 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-Bodhi+May 8 2007, 10:10 AM-->QUOTE(Bodhi @ May 8 2007, 10:10 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->
G) sengotuvel, now let me mention the most tragic part - the bias that the whole macaulavian Indian society carries against the Vernacular-medium education. The bias that vernacular students are the least fortunate, least intellectual, lowest of the line, who got no seats or could not afford an English education. (so I can't blame you when you thought that non-English education means producing ayas, drivers, and domestic helps. You are not alone).Â
This bias is really what is the biggest barrier on the path of a vernacular SSC student. He/she knows the bias, and thatâs why, when he/she succeeds, he/she is NEVER going to let his children go through it, and opts for an English one. Vishwas had mentioned other aspect of this 'social stigma' : in some Indian societies, even finding a good bride is hard for a vernacular-educated boy, leave aside a decent job!!!
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Indian society is divided into two classes - the English speakers and the others. That would not be a problem if the non English speakers were economically independent of the English speakers.
Soon after 9-11 I had taken a series of guests of mine from Britain for dinner at an exclusive club. There was a waiter serving us - those waiters have a working knowledge of English although I tend to speak to them in Kannada or Tamil - languages that they are comfortable in. Some of them belonged to a generation that was taught to respect the English speaker and reply in English and tended to be mildly contemptuous of local language speakers. However I deal with people, often poor and illiterate every single day of my life and have my way of making them drop their guard.
Elite clubs in India make one very aware of the two classes of society that India has created. It turned out that every single one of the English speaking Indians present in my group among the guests either knew someone in New York at the time of the twin tower attack, or knew someone who was lost in the tower. I figured out this fact and then called a few waiters one by one (and the plate/glasses clearing boys) and asked them if they too knew anyone in New York. I did it only to satisfy myself. Obviously they did not know anyone in New York, and most did not even have friends or family abroad.
But as I said in an earlier post, Indians have hankered after everything "foreign" - specifically foreign and Western and the virus is deep in Indian society. You are a nobody of you don't go to "phoren" and the first step in going to phoren is English - either for education or employment.
When I was a boy, Hindi movies considered the firangi accented Hindi-speaking Indian as the villain. He is now often the hero. He is no longer a bad person. People see a gain for themselves from English and are unconcerned about the loss that is occurring in terms of literature and richness and evolution of local languages.
Those people who are hankering after an English education will not be the people who can save local languages. it has to be someone else. Some of us who are on the other side of the English boundary are probably the people who are in the best position to do something.
Just my thoughts.
G) sengotuvel, now let me mention the most tragic part - the bias that the whole macaulavian Indian society carries against the Vernacular-medium education. The bias that vernacular students are the least fortunate, least intellectual, lowest of the line, who got no seats or could not afford an English education. (so I can't blame you when you thought that non-English education means producing ayas, drivers, and domestic helps. You are not alone).Â
This bias is really what is the biggest barrier on the path of a vernacular SSC student. He/she knows the bias, and thatâs why, when he/she succeeds, he/she is NEVER going to let his children go through it, and opts for an English one. Vishwas had mentioned other aspect of this 'social stigma' : in some Indian societies, even finding a good bride is hard for a vernacular-educated boy, leave aside a decent job!!!
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Indian society is divided into two classes - the English speakers and the others. That would not be a problem if the non English speakers were economically independent of the English speakers.
Soon after 9-11 I had taken a series of guests of mine from Britain for dinner at an exclusive club. There was a waiter serving us - those waiters have a working knowledge of English although I tend to speak to them in Kannada or Tamil - languages that they are comfortable in. Some of them belonged to a generation that was taught to respect the English speaker and reply in English and tended to be mildly contemptuous of local language speakers. However I deal with people, often poor and illiterate every single day of my life and have my way of making them drop their guard.
Elite clubs in India make one very aware of the two classes of society that India has created. It turned out that every single one of the English speaking Indians present in my group among the guests either knew someone in New York at the time of the twin tower attack, or knew someone who was lost in the tower. I figured out this fact and then called a few waiters one by one (and the plate/glasses clearing boys) and asked them if they too knew anyone in New York. I did it only to satisfy myself. Obviously they did not know anyone in New York, and most did not even have friends or family abroad.
But as I said in an earlier post, Indians have hankered after everything "foreign" - specifically foreign and Western and the virus is deep in Indian society. You are a nobody of you don't go to "phoren" and the first step in going to phoren is English - either for education or employment.
When I was a boy, Hindi movies considered the firangi accented Hindi-speaking Indian as the villain. He is now often the hero. He is no longer a bad person. People see a gain for themselves from English and are unconcerned about the loss that is occurring in terms of literature and richness and evolution of local languages.
Those people who are hankering after an English education will not be the people who can save local languages. it has to be someone else. Some of us who are on the other side of the English boundary are probably the people who are in the best position to do something.
Just my thoughts.