Will someone who resides in india please 'faceoff' on this rather ridiculous comment and essay: it patently distorts the real situation on the ground in today's India. eric.
LET’S FACE IT By: Bennet Paes Assolna, Goa. - - - - - Before the British arrived, the so-called India was only a bunch of princely states, each one with a language of its own. To-day, the language that realistically binds them all is English – not Hindi, or any other. In my opinion the best solution to the issue of languages in schools in India should be this: let each State make English as a compulsory medium of instruction, with either Hindi or the mother tongue of that State as optional. Tall order? No, even the slum-dwellers’ parents now want their children to be educated in English, because that’s the route Danny Boyle opened up to them to become millionaires. And that’s the writing on the wall. English is the official language of over 50 sovereign nations of the world, and is either compulsory second language or spoken predominantly in almost all the rest. Americans speak English in their own accent, quite distinct from the British. So do the Australians, Canadians, Ugandans, Jamaicans, etc. That’s on all the six continents of the world. So Indians can do the same, as millions are already doing it now, and be a part of what is today a ‘global village’. Remember, perhaps the only edge we have over rival China, is our literacy in English language which prompts overseas corporations to unload some of their valuable work over here and help boost our economy. Imagine what heights the Indian genius could take us to, if we became another English literate nation on the planet. And here’s an irony - The British, they say, left India divided. But it’s their language that leaves us united and prospering, too. Think about it! Footnote: What’s in an oath? Whether in Marathi or Mandarin, our Politicians would not abide by it, anyway. ------------------------- The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Yahoo! Homepage. http://in.yahoo.com/
