4. THE DEMON OF ENGLISH

ENGLISH – THE DEMON

The study of English in case of children of different MOTHER TONGUE (hereafter abbreviated as MT) should be a seriously planned one. One of the important things to be clinched at the very first step is that what of English language is expected from the student at the end of some phase. The course may be planned accordingly.

The issues of imparting education are in fact manifold. They include the following. 1. The methodologies. 2. The syllabus. 3. The break-up of learning time of the child into that of direct contact – which in turn is divided into two, first unidirectional and the second interactive – with the teacher, supervisory contact, of self learning, of peer learning, of co-curricular activities, of periodical exposure to selective expertise (contact with the expert persons) either directly or remotely. 4. The systems of evaluation. 5. Rigidly sticking to the concept of step-by-step building of child’s caliber with utmost care and never allowing any situation wherein the child is exposed to the risk of getting harassed with a piece of CR-topic that the child cannot link to its existing blocks of knowledge. 6. To take absolute care not to permit any such moment that creates even the slightest amount of aversion for CR teaching as that becomes the largest component of formal teaching as it grows. This is a very very delicate matter. The reasons are that we do not know which of such occasions are going to leave the strongest impressions for the child against the very CR-Exercise or against that subject handled at that moment or the topic / chapter or against the teacher – who is to be invariably faced and tolerated everyday thereafter in spite of the aversion against the teacher – All such damaging incidents are the order of the day in almost all schools – both of English medium and MT medium. 7. Designing the CR activity to be multi-programmed to address the needs of a highly heterogeneous class group. 8. Comprehensive assessment programs for children involving all the related teachers. The list can go on increasing so. Each one of the above is a serious and quite a big subject that necessitates there handling individually and at length.

But the single issue of English has taken the predominance over all these. Its consideration alone has surpassed the rest. The very medium of instruction (hereafter abbreviated as MEDION) is creating hurdles to consider any other issue. When we speak of any or many of the issues with any teacher the complaint is the medium of interaction. What to speak of interaction where, in fact, the very action – action of the teacher – is a great inaction, mime-action and distraction.

Going back to the English issue and its further details, we may resolve that the end calibers of students be aimed just at the level of presenting in English what they know.

The literary tenets of English need not be the prescribed end calibers, which in turn may be left to the individual taste of the student.

The ability to gain the skills to the extent of presentation, both orally and in writing is not anything special.

All students of any MT can easily gain that, provided a proper training program is designed.

Rest of the studies – in all other core subjects – be pursued in MT ensuring the greatest comfort both to the teacher and taught and enable the child to emerge with tremendous command on the content.

The MEDION should always be the MT to attain the best targets. What of just a language? It can be learnt any way. People are learning more than one language. Not just English, but German, French, Spanish, etc. too are learnt. What are needed to present in a specific language is first of all some content and then the knowledge of the structure of sentence of that language and some words depending on the intensity and diversity of the topic to be presented. Even those who are not literate do learn a different language as thoroughly as possible depending upon the need and environment. Examples are not needed. Thousands of such people are known to all of us. Then, it is too foolish and unkind not to underline the phenomenal abilities among the children. They can learn more than one – two, three, four, … so on – different languages just in a period of less than a year. Umpteen numbers of such cases can be shown and one should only directly listen to feel the joy and enthrallment while they speak so sweetly, freely and uninhibitedly in different tongues.

Why so much is said about the abilities of grown ups and of children is make one to immediately arrive at the conclusion that all have the abilities to learn any new language. There is no great deal in it. It is a stupid attitude that has spread very wide and deep that learning English is glorified and is made the prime goal. In that case why so many other subjects and make them also so important? Just conduct the schools with one subject – English, English, English, …. and again, English. At least that way children are in peace. And, hei(!) do note that they can thus learn a great deal of English too.

So, while these sentences are being read, is it signaled that the problem doesn’t lie with the abilities of the taught but with the abilities teachers.

A teacher is not just that single elderly human body standing and conducting a ‘teaching’ exercise before the kids. (We shall reserve the word teacher hereafter to mean that whole environment.)

A teacher is the whole environment along with the conventional teacher. A ‘teacher’ (the teacher in Class Room in the conventional sense – hereafter, CR-teacher) is simply a mediator, facilitator and with the greatest efforts possibly the best guide between the environment and the child.

This environment includes the physical infrastructure, the teaching tools and aids, the course planning, the qualities of each CR-teacher in singularity, the sum and summary of qualities of all the CR-teachers, the knowledge the school has about the environment for the child back at home, the specific program for the resolution of variance or conflict (if any) of home and school environments, parent and teacher interactions, etc.

Now it is time for us to pose a question for ourselves that whether this ‘teacher’ – the holistic teacher has ever evolved to give what is needed and what could otherwise been provided for the child.

To what extent the existing teacher can really teach a new language to the child? Be it English or any other ‘bloody’ language. (Sorry! No language is and can be bloody. After all they are the child and mother of some peoples. The vexation with the obsession about and the mad rush and blind craze arising out of that obsession observed around for English language – so because, it happens to be the language of the belligerent countries – expels that word ‘bloody’ uncontrolled by me.)

Now let the question be examined point by point. Are the targets about abilities in English clearly and rightly defined? Are there proper reviews on the very targets themselves? Is there a clear idea about the required program to teach English? Are all the teachers who are teaching different subjects and even that very English, capable of communicating properly in English? If not all, how many are capable? Thus what is the net resource strength of people that is at the disposal of the children? How to carry out the allocations?

So one simple question and a point of common sense that haunts is that do we have the needed amount of teacher resources to conduct instruction in so many English medium schools? Then why the hell the government should permit the proliferation of inefficient English medium schools? Why the government department of education, the academic and non-academic administrators, the ‘stalwart’ academicians, this great fool and that great fool remained silent while such colossal weakness was proliferating? Why they were even, in fact promoting it? Why, while the whole herd of private school managements were drawing all the existing teacher resources, which otherwise were very glorious and overwhelmingly sufficient if involved in conducting education in the MT, into a self-incapacitating structure of English medium instruction, all these were dumb and were looking at the criminal drama? Why they permitted this process of heart rendering desertion and the consequent deterioration, worsening, decline and corrosion of all the government schools? Of course, this criminal conspiracy was preceded by a systematic and large-scale negligence of the existing government schools of local medium and the same continues. Teachers have been and are still being used for government programs other than related to school and even conflicting with the regular academic work to a large extent. The very availability of the CR-teachers for the attending students is not cared for. Arey Wo, Luchche, Laffange, Un Chchathon ke Niche Bachche Hai Re! Wo Pure Masoom zindgiyan Hai Re!! Wo Bharat Ma Ke Aaj ke Saikdon Nanhe Bache Aur Kalke Javaan Bache Hai Re!!! Bharat Ma ki Goad Hai Re! Can you ever feel our agony, you treacherous fellows?

Most of the parents who have a social say have removed their children from the government schools. They realized the importance of education much earlier. But they saw the worthless scenario coming up in the government schools with so many deficiencies, the slowly surfacing un-teacherly attitudes among teachers being at the end of the queue of such deficiencies. By then English too was gaining importance. The products of class one English medium schools – existing by that time itself – were permitted to grab all the creamy opportunities of next level. The government permitted the growing prominence of English by introducing statutory norms and also by maintaining irresponsible silence in other kinds of occasions. (The great injustice that had been and is being perpetrated haunts my mind in the form of an incident that occurred 33 years ago and remains still a fresh memory because it is one among many which I keep recalling while the issues of education are considered. My classmate too appeared for engineering entrance then. We were the sole toppers in the class right from middle school where our association – classmate ship and friendship started. Only we two were being considered for swapping by those tricky and teasing ‘FIRST’ and ‘SECOND’ positions. English was also one of the compulsory subjects then in the engineering entrance. He couldn’t qualify just because he couldn’t get those bloody minimum marks in that bloody English. You can imagine the amount of despair he and we went through and however, with this and that talk of alternative paths in life he was made to console, resettle and keep up the morale. Thereafter what happened do you know? He pursued his UG in B.Sc. Did PG, perhaps, in Physics. Took up research, I think in BARC or IISc., Banglore. I was told he invented something. Later it came to be known that he joined some premier science institute in US. Firstly, judge how right that the criterion was. Then, ponder over the question that if the despair in him continued what would have happened to him. Further, can we assume that he alone is such of the victims? Aren’t there huge numbers of such victims of English alone, day in and day out? How many of them are regaining their spirits and are getting further opportunities? Is there anyone in the corridors of power caring to know about them? Do those in power have any alternative arrangements for them? Those who are in power never knew to offer anything except to snatch and steal away whatever precious things – both of material and mental – the weaker sections have.) Close to this the establishment of namesake English medium schools started. They emerged victorious in attracting huge crowds of students. Then started the phenomenal proliferation of mediocre English medium schools in this galli and that galli started. This was left uncontrolled and unchecked by the government. Lot of rubbish debates and opinions were circulated and pampered to thrive just to permit the spread of this epidemic. All this was resorted to by the rulers with two targets, perhaps, in mind which is understood only now by us. One thing is that the onus of establishing more number of schools to meet the growing number of school takers is totally removed. The second thing is that once this vocal section of the community – both in the village and the town – once switches over to a different arrangement severing their association in connection with children’s education with their counter parts of the weaker sections of the society, the pressure on the government to maintain even a little standard in the government schools is also greatly reduced. Who remain in the government schools are the down to earth exoteric people only. Thus they will have the greatest of the debris to experiment with ‘innovative’ ‘development’ educational programs.

O.K. While this is so, did they do at least anything useful for all those children of middle classes joined the mediocre English medium schools? Are they better in any way? No. One witnesses the similar melancholic scenario there too. Students overflow in these schools in numbers but continue and come out as highly incapacitated.

The most precious years of childhood are left ruined and can never be regained. Arey Wo Saitan Logon Samjhme Aaya Re? Wo Pal Hame Lauta Sakthere? Neither the joy of childhood is experienced nor some strengths for future are accumulated. Moreover, whatever generic and natural human strengths were there were spoiled, distorted, diminished, dwarfed, etc.

It is even becoming more and more incomprehensible for the very teachers to conduct the creative studies day by day. The two decades of experience for the teachers also did not make them more efficient in teaching and rather reduced their teaching abilities, skills, strengths and motivations drastically. They are becoming cynical. They are mentally deviating to become all but from being teachers. The role as a monitor instead of a mentor, the role as a ‘frustrator’ instead of a facilitator, the role as a yank / an anchor instead of a guide have all spoiled and is spoiling the teaching community, the image of the teacher in the eyes of the taught and the very relationship of the teacher and taught.

So the meddling of subject with language of instruction and meddling of language of instruction with subject by themselves are very big foolish exercises that are going on. Let us, first of all, reconcile to the reality. We do not have the proper teacher for English for a vast majority of our children. Yes, there is such teacher for English. But, it is only for a very very few.

Does all this mean advocating strict distance from the very English language for the vast majority? No not at all. It is only to advocate better learning of all the things, which include English too, to be learnt at that age to emerge as truly competent. How?

Before delving on this question let us note one fundamental thing of learning. That itself offers the greater part of the answer.

It is

THE COOPERATIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND LANGUAGE.


To learn a language there must be impressions in the mind. The child learns even its mother tongue (MT) based on the impressions. Even before the child starts uttering the first syllable of its MT – such syllable of my MT is ‘AMMA’ – there are some impressions on the brain of the child. The physical environment, the people around it and their actions – all and many such leave their corresponding impressions on the brain of the child. The child simply starts articulating them and more and more so does it as it grows in the process. This articulation increases interaction and improves and increments the impressions – the knowledge, they and their sum and summary are called – thus too.

Then the script – script of the scripted languages – too is learnt, of course under formal teaching, based on the impressions of the vocal forms of the language. Thus the vocal impressions transform into literal impressions.

Let us, once again restate this chain in one sentence. The sensory impressions left on the brain are articulated vocally and the thus germinated vocal impressions are articulated literally.

In this process with these faculties the phase of advanced learning and greater learning starts. The faculties themselves are also learnt further and further. If all goes well methods of learning are also learnt ahead. This, the later – learning methods of learning – by itself is a very big and serious subject. But do not forget that it is highly important. Just keep the following last lines of this paragraph in mind for a later consideration. Animals are trained. Humans are taught – taught not just to vomit out what is taught but to think. Just verify what we are providing for our children – is it in any way different or better than training. If it is felt that it is teaching what kind of teaching is it? Don’t worry. Our children do think, still. It is not our contribution and never was our concern in the mad rush. Thinking is so natural to and so strong in humans that it did not get crushed in spite of our disregard for it and brutal stampede over it that ensued out of our mad rush.

To learn all the presently standardized subjects even in the MT the teacher has not fully evolved to give that full support. At least the cooperative relationship between the MEDION and the knowledge – knowledge of nature and society – was safe when the MEDION was MT. With the foreign language as the MEDION the whole relationship has gone to the winds.

A substantial subject stuff about nature and the society – the knowledge, which was unknown hitherto is to be learnt through an unknown / unfamiliar language. The child naturally does not follow it. The subject CR-teacher, if has English command, finds problem with the language. Then tries to teach the unfamiliar language with the content so far unknown – that is with the help of impressions that were never there in the mind of the child. Neither the language learning is clinched nor the subject learning is clinched. Frequently the child is thrown into a diffused or a hallow state. A big paradox is thus encountered. Few sympathetic CR-teachers resort to usage of a bit of MT to get out of the paradox. There rises a big alarm and marathon debates continue on this. Till today this is not clinched. Why? The very roots are somewhere else. They are in the forced unholy alliance of a foreign language as the MEDION and the hitherto unknown subject knowledge. Did it come to your senses that why the cramming / learning by rout has become pathological mostly in those English medium schools than the Telugu – MT – medium schools. Inability, Inability. Incapacity, Incapacity. Not of the taught but of the teacher.

Decades have passed. Year after year innumerable lives are ruined. The spark of life faded out. Excellence from life was seized. All this is to come back never again. Can all this be ever retrieved or regained? How miserable could be a great many of those who have passed through these conspiratorial decades. Of course, they may not be sobbing for their state of misery. Life is too harsh to stay worried and sobbing, though the misery was inflicted by some one else. They may be struggling to make a base minimum survival and learning to forget rightful and otherwise attainable dreams, to live in mental peace. May be few of them are preparing to take a revenge against the treacherous fellows. Anything is perfectly right. But the question is how long this should continue? Why any more persons be forced either to forget dreaming are waste their precious and glorious life and energies in preparing to take revenges? No more. Not even a single moment and single person further.

Let there be a realization about what kind of teacher our children can be provided with. Come down to the reality. First of all forge the relationship between the language and knowledge which are mutually cooperative. Teach the children the subject knowledge to understand it properly and hence teach in MT – not the MT of the student but of the teacher, I am speaking. MT is different and the teacher is different. The MT may be a part of the teacher. But if the teacher is capable enough to hijack the child to conduct learning in a different language (Why beating around bush. It is English language) than the MT, its – the latter’s influence becomes insignificant in the process of advanced and greater learning. Don’t raise an alarm. This is an established reality. Recall one of our earlier sentences “But, it is only for a very very few.” So farewell to mother tongue! The concern for mother tongue is the concern of petty fellows. See the ‘learned’ sections of the community. How open minded are they without any inhibition for the MT and what kind of advancements (mind you, it is just for themselves) they are achieving! So great! Isn’t it! So I was not speaking about the MT of the child to be any constraint to choose the MEDION. I was speaking about the tongue that the teacher – the teacher available for a vast majority of our children – can speak, is familiar with. Can it make any sense to prescribe a MEDION for which the very teacher itself is unfit? It can’t. So choose the tongue of the teacher available to learn the knowledge required for life.

There are also strong opinions and observations that English is the knowledge required for life. As far as I am concerned I am incapable of simply rejecting it. It appears to be true when we can’t ignore a vast number of recruitments. Modern foolishness and spineless dependencies are ruling the roost. My knowledge is not sufficient to find any historical similarity on the globe where the knowledge of a foreign language became the required one for life for the vast mass of job seekers. We know of a foreign language becoming a part – a small and at times a significant part – of the knowledge required for life in case of a good number of job seekers but never in case of the vast mass of them. We also know that in case of few selective jobs knowledge of English becomes required for life wherein the very subject matter of that job is English. It is a great pathetic situation that we brought for ourselves. Nothing more to comment on this.

If English is also found required first of all measure / assess the dimensions – breadths and depths – of requirement. Do not make it a statutory liability for child. Make it a statutory responsibility for the statutory bodies and their representatives. Now assess the resource people and their potentialities. Design the program in the given scenario in two parallel streams. One is for the taught – to the extent teacher is capable. The other is for the teacher – to make the teacher further capable by providing all the necessary material, time and guidance and by stipulating deadlines. Set targets by a proper blend of identified requirements and available resource persons and potentialities. This way the children would learn English smoothly, comfortably and much more effectively than what they are learning today in those unworthy English Medium Schools. If it is found that the students haven’t learnt English properly it is not a counter proof, against the above alternative. Instead, it is a further proof of the inability of the teacher. If they didn’t learn well or say anything don’t worry. They will learn next year or next to next year. Don’t you know that full time course of few months is sufficient to learn English even if one starts from the first alphabet in English?

Stop permitting schools to conduct teaching in English. But, impose responsibilities and targets to improve the strengths of the children in English. To learn Hindi one doesn’t join Hindi medium. Consequentially, Permit no more new English medium schools. Encourage schools in teacher’s tongue. Once it is clear that English has become the teacher’s tongue no objection. Why to object then also? If it becomes objectionable then, it becomes so from a different point of view. May be it is the point of view of glory of the tongue of the land or love for the land or patriotism or this or that. Right now the mind is incapacitated to consider such a big concerns. At present it is solely the simple and mundane concern of making our individual children capable to make a living and lead a respectable life along with their counter parts in the society. Once that is met and ensured they would think of considering those big concerns. So, it is also to pass a dictate not to drag the issue into the currently meaningless and pedantic debate of “medium of instruction in abstract”.


Authored by

SAMPATH KUMAR THULASI

sampaththulsi@rediffmail.com
Mobile: +91 94404 13444