This incident happened to me afew years ago. Once,I was writing a letter to my higher-ups that included salutations like -I kindly request you-sincerely-humbly -obligingly-etc etc.An ABCD cousin of mine,who oversaw the letter chided me for writing in slave english and reformatted the contents.. On a second thought, i felt he was right. The letter needs to convey its contents than those unnecessary salutations.
Is that the effect of Lord McCauley's Education system in India ??
And there has been no major reforms in education since independence..and we still follow it.....
And again YES, the same education system has provided opportunities for scores of us to explore the world !!
September 13, 2005
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20 comments:
That's right Prabhu...Back home students are still asked to start a leave letter with "As i am..."
We are tuned to it and the system needs some changes...
It is not a problem with McCauley's educational system. Even if we reformed our system to the best in the world, as long as the government and its branches (judiciary, 'IAS', etc) are not reformed, we would be writing slave english only. We were earlier 'ruled over' by the British, now we are being 'ruled over' (instead of having an administration) by politicians and 'civil servants'
Rather than the educational system, its the attitud, I think.
Forget abt the leave letter or any letter. How many of us have got the guts to point out to the boss that he is talking rubbish. Frankly, I wasn't able to, while in India, where as here I am.
You are right, in my school many student write in slave English.
hm.. rather than putting the blame on the educational system..
its the kind of BOSSY attitude everyone has ..
if someone is out in US and a junior comes in wishing by our name, we never mind it , saying corporate culture..
but the same guy when returning to India, in such situation he doesnt encourages it, rather he wants to show off that he is the boss right there..
so unless those things changes, not only schools, even in offices, everyone of us will be still be using what you said..
that was an interesting link.. U r right, that we were taught so much to write humbly and I believe it is continuing still.
Glad that my way of writing has changed a lot compared to my school days.
In general we people are little timid. Maybe because we were once colonized the timidness is still within us.
content is important but a little politeness in the letter doesnt hurt
:-)
tata
sukku
that is a good thot! sometimes i feel the same way too ! we are too polite that borders in being submissive!
i guess it is the way we were brought up in the english class i believe!:)
I dont think its the problem with the education system..It does do slightly with attitude..but more with respect we give to elders, i think...In English class, we always write to some one more than us in age...and I think we as Indians, do give respect to age..we have Neenga and Nee...This is true for any Indian language...NOT THERE IN ENGLIGH, THO...
May be thats whats ingrained in us...
It was us who allowed the Lord's education system, so we are to be blamed for accepting it.
BTW, We also did not adopt their system completely too. We should have done that. But then we created hybrid, in every aspect, not just education but in many frontiers.
Atleast when we know that we are doing something wrong, we should revolt and stop. I guess we have done that to gain the idependence from the Lords.
But other things that got embedded will take teir own time to dissolve. Change comes upon self reflection and I am glad that a few are self reflecting and rebelling against.
Coming to Education system, I do not have any sympathy/apathy towards our educational system. I think the reason where you are today is because of the little bit of left over liberated mind, after being scrubbed and imposed by our education system. It is your inner spirit of exploring that made you go where you went, not the education system. If you had not been part of this education system, you would have been flying in space with no limitations :-)
Atleast our Education system creates Walls,like Pink Floyd Says "All in all you're just another brick in the wall"
You're absolutely right .... for the last 100 years there is no change in our educational system...it remains standstill... very nicely written....excellent post..
take care..
Interesesting point...."Is that the effect of Lord McCauley). Hindsight is 20/20. Can't say. Maybe we'd have been better, maybe not.!
IMHO, nothing wrong in ending a letter with sincerely, humbly etc..But its become pathetic when one drags it to 'Obligingly' etc. I see people here in the US finishing off with "sincerely". I am not saying American English is correct...but there is nothing wrong..depending of whom the letter goes to.
About British plundering INdia, our education system, blah..bhah..bhah..! Who knows.!
Hmm Prabhu good one you have pointed out ... I'm writing my post on the same ideas ... you have just woke up the monster within me
Prabhu,
Excessively, almost ridiculously polite usage is also a learned behavior. The problem is such things will not evolve like dress preferences on its own. It stays still bcos nobody gived a thought about it. Its a mindset issue rather than an educational issue in my opinion.
Regarding our eucational system, i am not a great fan of our educational system. you are what you are inspite of your educational system and not bcos of your system.
ok maybe it helped you get your visa. I can give you countless examples.
May be what u say is true..
it took me a long time to give up that.. nowadays, i just sign as 'yours'.
I agree with Chakra.. it is the attitude that matters.The language is also a reflection of our social norms.
Hi all,
Thanks for your comments/ideas..
Look for part -2
I would blame it more on our culture of servitude and lack of aggression. We desis, very easily back off or step down from a confrontation. "Jaane bhi do" (let it go) is a common attitude.
We carry over this mindset into our work place and get killed by people from other cultures who dont think twice before confronting their colleagues and managers.
Our minds are conditioned from childhood not only because of the education also because of our parents and the general attitude, system and culture. Though there is nothing wrong in using polite words, it has to be accepted that we lack in polite words during verbal communications. Educational system nobody is sure of our history though much is talked. But we have the capacity to learn whatever it is. As you said it is time to review our Education system.
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