Why English?

Inequality, Social Status, and the Power of Language.?

When I tell Western counterparts that our key initial focus is empowering underserved youth and teachers through English language proficiency, we’re often met with confused looks and the question: “Why English?”?

Interestingly, this never happens with South Asian or African counterparts. From them I get excited nods, a spark in the eye, and often the sympathetic question, “But that’s so incredibly hard - how will you do this?!”?

What the difference in attitudes really reflects is the depth of understanding of how pivotal a role language plays in defining and maintaining unequal class divides and power structures in post-colonial societies. The latter instinctively understand that colonial language proficiency is the gateway skill to upward socioeconomic mobility.?

Here’s an attempt at a brief response to the question, “Why English?”

Colonial Legacy

Pakistan is plagued by elite capture, a legacy of 200 years of British colonial rule. Access to opportunity is largely limited to these elites, who are predominantly urban-dwelling English speakers with high socio-economic status. Quality Education primarily delivered at top ranked high cost English medium schools is generally the exclusive preserve of this small group, and they openly use English to maintain class barriers. English language proficiency is often used as a proxy to gauge quality education, and is a key tool used to exclude and perpetuate the class structure.?

K-10 Curriculum Requirement

Confused national curriculum policy (not going into the deep, deep abyss that is our curriculum language policy here - will save that for another time) requires teachers to not only teach English as a subject, but also to teach Math and Science in it, beginning in primary grades. However, only 6% of Pakistani teachers are estimated to be English-proficient (British Council, 2013), and they teach the wealthy at high-cost elite schools. For the vast majority of Pakistanis, this leads to low student learning outcomes not just in English, but also in Math & Science. It’s no surprise then that 78% of 10 year olds can’t read a sentence and only half can do basic Math (World Bank, 2023).?

Higher Education Requirement

In many post-colonial nations including Pakistan, India and other South Asian and African countries, the language of instruction in higher education is English. So regardless of what language you learned in K-12, you need English academic proficiency to attend college. Pretty solid barrier to entry, wouldn’t you say?

Better Jobs, Higher Salaries

Access to higher-paying white-collar jobs inside the country, as well as opportunities to tap global freelance and tech markets are heavily predicated on English language proficiency. A study in India estimated that hourly wages are, on average, 34% higher for men who speak fluent English and 13% higher for men who speak some English relative to men who speak no English - after controlling for age, social group, schooling, geography (Azam et al, 2011). The authors find that the return to fluent English is as large as the return to completing secondary school and half as large as the return to completing a bachelor’s degree!

This is not difficult to believe for those living this reality. English proficiency is a basic requirement for all but a few lower-tier jobs in both the public and private sectors. English remains an official government language and prestigious public sector entry exams (like the civil service exam) are conducted in English.?

Migration?

English is of course required for global mobility to many parts of the world, including the Middle East, which served as a popular destination for many of Pakistan’s 860,000 migrant workers in 2023.?

Social Prestige and Self-Esteem

The saddest of all these points is this one: the colonial mindset is so deeply internalized by most of us, that inferiority complexes and insecurities that stem from not speaking fluent English are very real and permanent. Ask the kids who get made fun of in school for not speaking fluent English at home. Or the workers discriminated against for incorrect grammar. Watch one of countless Bollywood movies that depict social complexities surrounding the issue, starting with ‘Hindi-Medium.’ The bitter truth is, if you speak good English, you’re considered well educated with high socioeconomic status and good future prospects. If you don’t speak English, no matter how smart or how-working you may be, the class barriers are firmly in place and the odds are stacked against you.??

In summary, it’s safe to say that knowing how to speak English can be pretty empowering in Pakistan. And this is just a surface level summary - so many books and papers have been written on the subject by people who have studied it deeply. But it’s a starting point for the next question, which is, “what can we do about it?”?

To try and level the playing field, we need to democratize access to English language learning, which is not easy when there are so many learners but so few proficient teachers. Of course technology can help, but we need to figure out effective methods that build real, practical language skills that can be used in professional settings (think British Council quality training, not Duolingo!). That’s what we’re trying to do at Beaj, for a fraction of the current market price.?

This is hopefully the first in a series of posts on language learning. What are your thoughts on the power of language to create or act as a barrier to agency and upward socioeconomic mobility??