by Anika Ajgaonkar
Note: This article is part of a series of student editorials submitted to the annual New York Times Editorial Contest. If you submitted an editorial and would like to be published on The Helix, please contact the Co-Editors-in-Chief.
A young boy learns English vocabulary with flashcards. (Credit: Getty Images)
In a primary school in Andhra Pradesh, India, two children roamed the halls together with boards hanging from their necks. Other students stared at the passing “criminals,” their heads hung low. The crime? Speaking their mother tongue, Telugu, instead of the convent school’s mandatory English. Each of their boards read, “I never speak Telugu.”
Inside Indian English-language schools, dubbed “English medium,” reprimand for speaking one’s native language is nothing new. According to The Times of India, an increasing 26% of Indian school children attend English-medium schools. They are drilled to speak only English and rebuked for slipping back into their vernacular. But this system, marred with vestiges of colonialism, instills inferiority and shame in students for expressing themselves with a core part of their identity.
During a call with a cousin in India, I felt this disparity first-hand. As we chatted in Marathi, he noted how formal my vocabulary was compared to his English-peppered speech. Later, as a Marathi word eluded me, I requested his help in translation. But he wore a blank look. “Why bother?” he responded. “It sounds better in English, anyway.”
While I studied Marathi for years surrounded by the threat of English monolingualism, my cousin preferred and strived toward English living in India. Ultimately, our mother tongue was neglected no matter where we lived.
Similar issues plague Ugandan schools. The African state, home to 42 indigenous languages, mandates English education for all students. While English is idolized as a scholarly language, mother tongues are relegated to personal use, so students develop a more enhanced academic vocabulary in English. This deepens the notion that English is a language of erudition compared to native languages. During the Ugandan COVID-19 lockdown, however, mother tongues made a resurgence in the academic domain with more students at home. Establishing mother tongues in schools breaks classist associations regarding education and language.
However, this English obsession is not without reason. According to a 2013 report, individuals who speak English fluently earn 34% more than those who cannot. English is essential in today’s globalized workforce, but language acquisition should be accumulative, not subtractive. Research shows that high mother tongue proficiency makes learning a second language easier and results in better academic performance. Rather than hinder children’s ability to learn English later, it establishes a lifelong linguistic and cultural foundation for them.
As more people turn to English, it is our responsibility to keep our mother tongues alive and teach them to future generations. With them, we pass down our culture, traditions, and history, which increasing cultural homogenization threatens to rob them of. So embrace multilingualism, whether that means returning to a childhood language or learning your parents’ native tongue. If we don’t, who will?
Sources
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