English: Not Just a Language

I remember my English teacher from class 12th who used to speak of her experiences of visits to England all the time and how good the roads were, the cleanliness and the comparisons she used to draw with the Indian context. I remember my classmates giving fake smiles to these remarks quite vividly. We could never make sense of why she used to talk of her experiences of the West so often when we could hardly relate with her. Before starting a chapter, she used to bombard us with the information like time, place and setting of the chapters with some more facts which were supposed to be memorized. To be more specific about my experience, let me give you an example of a chapter taught in CBSE class 12th. ‘The Last Lesson' by Alphonse Daudet is a story set in the days of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) in which France was defeated by Prussia led by Bismarck. If you are from CBSE school or you have read NCERT class 12th English textbook ‘Flamingo’, you would be familiar with this chapter. On the first day of my class in the newly begun session, my teacher started The Last Lesson, set in the history of France and Germany which an average student like me would not at all be familiar with. The beginning of the chapter gives a little synopsis of the historical events in Germany, but trust me, really brief. The teacher read out the details and mentioned a couple of more facts. But I was stuck on the very first line of the text and instantly asked, ‘But mam, who was Bismarck?’, to which I was silenced saying, ‘I can't do anything if you don't know basic history.’ I didn't feel embarrassed, yeh toh life hai. I felt it was just me forgetful of historical facts but today I know for sure ki mam ko bhi nahi aata tha! Never mind. Being good at the English language, I could understand everything but I could hardly imagine or relate to anything. There was no problem with my English grades ever. I scored the highest marks in English in class 12th CBSE board examination. English teachers mostly emphasized the role of imagination in literature so I thought myself to be 'not' a 'literature' person despite scoring good grades.

There is one more incident from one of my English classes in class 10th that I sharply remember. We were having a discussion in class on improving English with our teacher. The English teachers asked students to develop a "taste" in watching or reading something. On one hand, she was asking students not to watch television serials and on the other hand, she was asking, 'Are any of you following Vampire Diaries?' lol. So basically, she didn't want the students to watch "Hindi" serials but watch "English" serials and develop a "taste".

Funny, right? Not really! Today when I look back at my experiences as a student of Education, these experiences seem different than just the incidents to be laughed at. As a student, I was supposed to make sense of a culture and its literature which was never introduced to me, even in books. Class 11th and 12th NCERT textbooks do not even include 20% text from the Indian context. The linguistic psychologists have laid enough emphasis on the inculcation of social and cultural contexts of the learners for effective learning, especially in the case of a second language. Then what exactly has stopped the curriculum designers from doing so? Why do teachers perceive English literature, particularly Western, to be superior? What are the impacts of such problems in curriculum and attitudes of teachers? All these questions can be dealt with individually, however, it would make sense if we look at the answer with a more integrated approach as the cause is linked to the same perspective in a way. A Look back at the Indian history and series of policies introduced in colonial India would make the picture clear. The two very important Documents of the time, Macaulay’s minute followed by Wood’s Despatch proposed that the new system of education should be governed by bureaucracy, teaching English and using it as the medium of instruction should be a means of acculturation and the new education system, in general, should be able to foster European attitudes and perspectives in the students for which English language had to be institutionalized. The aim of introducing English as a means of instruction was not to expose Indians to world literature but to perpetuate the colonial mindset, ‘English’ way of being as the ONLY way of being. Thus, today we live in a society where speaking English is a trait of an "educated" person and English speakers generally are perceived to be superior. The way we have been made to look at the West and its literature is to make it look superior. The curriculum that includes texts from western authors and poets talking about snow, clouds, winters, and kettles end up forcing the children only to memorize and rote learn rather than giving a vision to the meaning of the text.