An English medium education system is one that uses English as the primary medium of instruction - in particular where English is not the mother tongue of the students.
Initially associated with the expansion of English from its homeland in England and the lowlands of Scotland and its spread to the rest of Great Britain and Ireland, the rise of the British Empire[1][2] increased the language's spread, as has the the increased economic and cultural influence of the United States since World War II [3][4]
Because a working knowledge of English is perceived as being valuable, many states throughout the world where English is not the predominant language encourage or mandate the English as the normal medium of instruction.
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The Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, passed by the Parliament of England, annexing Wales to the Kingdom of England are sometimes known as the "Acts of Union."
An often quoted example of the effects on the Welsh language is the first section of the 1535 Act, which states: "the people of the same dominion have and do daily use a speche nothing like ne consonant to the naturall mother tonge used within this Realme" and then declares the intention "utterly to extirpe alle and singular sinister usages and customs" belonging to Wales.
Section 20 of the 1535 Act makes English the only language of the law courts and that those who used Welsh would not be appointed to any public office in Wales:
Also be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all Justices, Commissioners, Sheriffs, Coroners, Escheators, Stewards, and their Lieutenants, and all other Officers and Ministers of the Law, shall proclaim and keep the Sessions Courts, Hundreds, Leets, Sheriffs Courts, and all other Courts in the English Tongue; (2) and all Oaths of Officers, Juries and Inquests, and all other Affidavits, Verdicts and Wagers of Law, to be given and done in the English Tongue; (3) and also that from henceforth no Person or Persons that use the Welsh Speech or Language, shall have or enjoy any manner Office or Fees within this Realm of England, Wales, or other the King's Dominion, upon Pain of forfeiting the same Offices or Fees, unless he or they use and exercise the English Speech or Language.
An effect of this language clause was to lay the foundation for creating a thoroughly Anglicised ruling class of landed gentry in Wales, which would have many consequences.
The parts of the 1535 Act relating to language were definitively repealed only in 1993, by the Welsh Language Act 1993, though annotations on the Statute Law Database copy of the act reads that sections 18–21 were repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1887.
In July 1846, the British Government appointed three commissioners, to enquire into the state of education in Wales; the Commissioners were all monoglot English-speakers.[5]
The Commissioners reported to the Government on 1 July 1847 in three large blue-bound volumes. This report quickly became known as Brad y Llyfrau Gleision (The Treachery of the Blue Books) as, apart from documenting the state of education in Wales, the Commissioners were also free with their comments disparaging the language, Non-conformity, and the morals of the Welsh people in general. An immediate effect of the report was for a belief to take root in the minds of ordinary people that the only way for Welsh people to get on in the world was through the medium of English, and an inferiority complex developed about the Welsh language whose effects have not yet been completely eradicated. The historian Professor Kenneth O. Morgan referred to the significance of the report and its consequences as "the Glencoe and the Amritsar of Welsh history."[6]
The poet Spenser wrote[7] in (1596) a recommendation that "the Irish ... be educated in English, in grammar and in science ... for learning hath that wonderful power of itself that it can soften and temper the most stern and savage nature."
The setting up of 'Royal Schools' in Ireland, was proclaimed in 1608 by James I, with the intended purpose "that there shall be one Free School at least appointed in every County, for the education of youth in learning and religion."
These schools provided an English-medium education to the sons of landed settlers in Ireland, most of whom were of Scottish or English descent.
However, only five such schools were actually set up; The Royal School, Armagh in County Armagh, Portora Royal School in County Fermanagh, The Cavan Royal School in County Cavan, The Royal School Dungannon in Tyrone and The Royal and Prior School in County Donegal.
The National Education System[8] (sic) was founded in 1831, by the British Government, under the direction of the Chief Secretary, E.G. Stanley. Some 2,500 national schools were established in Ulster in the period 1832-1870, built with the aid of the Commissioners of National Education and local trustees.
Prof. S. Ó Buachalla states:
During the first four decades of their existence, there is no mention of the Irish language in the programme of regulations of the Commissioners of National Education; furthermore no provision whatsoever was made in 1831 when the original scheme was drawn up for education of those children who spoke Irish only. According to the official opinion of later Commissioners, expressed in a formal reply to the Chief Secretary in 1884, " the anxiety of the promoters of the National Scheme was to encourage the cultivation of the English language.[9]
The Irish patriot P.H. Pearse published a series of studies of the English-medium education system in Ireland. His article entitled The Murder Machine [10] embodies an article which appeared in the Irish Review for February 1913.
Pearse wrote in his pamphlet the following:
And English education in Ireland has seemed: to some like the bed of Procustes, the bed on which all men that passed that way must lie, be it never so big for them, be it never so small for them: the traveller for whom it was too large had his limbs stretched until he filled it; the traveller for whom it was too small had his limbs chopped off until he fitted into it---comfortably. It was a grim jest to play upon travellers. The English have done it to Irish children not by way of jest, but with a purpose. Our English-Irish systems took, and take, absolutely no cognisance of the differences between individuals, of the differences between localities, of the: differences between urban and rural communities, of the differences springing from a different ancestry, Gaelic or Anglo-Saxon.
Attempts were made by legislation, in the later medieval and early modern period, to establish English at first among the aristocracy and increasingly amongst all ranks by education acts and parish schools. The Scots Parliament passed some ten such acts between 1494 and 1698.
In 1609 nine Gaelic chieftains were abducted and forced to sign the Statutes of Iona,[11] which would seem to have been designed specifically to Anglicize leaders and institutions of Gaelic society, in order to bring it under control of central government.
Among the items listed in this agreement was the "planting of the gospell among these rude, barbarous, and uncivill people" by Protestant churches; the outlawing of bards who were traditionally on circuit between the houses of noblemen; the requirement that all men of wealth send their heirs to be educated in Lowland schools where they would be taught to "speik, reid, and wryte Inglische."
The then King James VI, followed this by an Act in 1616, which sought to establish schools in every parish in the Highlands so that "the youth be exercised and trayned up in civilitie, godlines, knawledge, and learning, that the vulgar Inglische toung be universallie plantit, and the Irische language, whilk is one of the chief and principall causes of the continewance of barbaritie and incivilitie amongis the inhabitantis of the Ilis and Heylandis, may be abolisheit and removeit."
In 1709 the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) was established in order to further funding sources for Highland church schools. All manner of incentives and punishments were used to stop children from speaking Gaelic. The SSPCK had 5 schools by 1711, 25 by 1715, 176 by 1758 and 189 by 1808, by then with 13,000 pupils attending. At first the SSPCK avoided using the Gaelic language with the result that pupils ended up learning by rote without understanding what they were reading. In 1741 the SSPCK introduced a Gaelic-English vocabulary, then in 1766 brought in a New Testament with facing pages of Gaelic and English texts for both languages to be read alongside one another, with more success. After a number of years of unsuccessful attempts at English-only teaching methods, it was realized that literacy in Gaelic was a much more effective means of teaching and a bridge towards fluency in English.[12][13]
Since 1918 education acts have provided for teaching Gaelic in Gaelic-speaking areas, but development was very slow until Gaelic became an initial teaching medium in the Gaelic areas of Inverness-shire and Ross-shire from 1958. In 1975 the newly-created Western Isles education authority introduced bilingual primary education shortly followed by Highland Region in Skye. Gaelic-medium primary education commenced with two schools in 1985, growing to 42 units by 1993/94.
In secondary education, Gaelic has long been taught as a subject—often through the medium of English, even to native speakers. A move towards bilingual secondary education in the Western Isles was frustrated by a change of government in 1979. Gaelic-medium secondary education has developed less satisfactorily. Gaelic-medium streams followed on from primary in Glasgow and Inverness—and there has been some experimentation in the Western Isles—but the sector is hampered by acute teacher shortage, and an inspectorate report of 1994 regards Gaelic-medium secondary education as divisive and inappropriate.[14]
Third level provision through Gaelic is provided by Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (literally: "the great barn at Ostaig") a Gaelic medium college based in Sleat, on the Isle of Skye in north west Scotland. It is part of the UHI Millennium Institute, and also has a campus on Islay known as "Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle."
In 2004, Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, (who is patron of the College) stated that:
The beauty of Gaelic music and song is inescapable. But without the living language, it risks becoming an empty shell. That is why an education system, up to the level represented by the college here in Skye, is so important – to ensure fluency and literacy which will continue to renew the health and creativity of the language.[15]
The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 is the first piece of legislation to give formal recognition to the Gaelic language in Scotland. It recognises Gaelic as an official language of Scotland, commanding "equal respect" with English.
Education Minister Peter Peacock, who has ministerial responsibility for Gaelic, said: "This is a momentous day for Gaelic as we open a new chapter in the language's history. We have come a long way since the dark days of 1616 when an Act of Parliament ruled that Gaelic should be 'abolishit and removit' from Scotland."[16]
A revealing instance of attempted cultural assimilation is the Prayer Book rebellion of 1549, where the English state sought to suppress non-English language speaking with the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer, which was made available only in English. In replacing Latin with English, and under the guise of suppressing Catholicism, English was effectively imposed as the language of the Church, with the intent of it becoming the language of the people. At the time people in many areas of Cornwall did not speak or understand English.
The forced introduction of English to church services in Cornwall provided a major reason for the rebellion. The articles of the rebels states: "and we the cornyshe men (whereof certen of vs vnderstande no Englysh) vtterly refuse thys new English."
British records[17] show that indigenous education was widespread in the 18th century, with a school for every temple, mosque or village in most regions of the country. The subjects taught included Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Theology, Law, Astronomy, Metaphysics, Ethics, Medical Science and Religion. The schools were attended by students representative of all classes of society. Gandhi is said to have described the traditional educational system as a beautiful tree that was destroyed by British rule.[18]
The Charter Act of 1813 decreed that English would be taught in the Indian education system although not as a replacement for indigenous languages. Instead, it was anticipated that English would co-exist with Oriental studies as a means by which moral law could be reinforced.
The 1817 publication of James Mill's History of British India[19] proved to be a defining text in the theories of how education policies should be formed (ed. Horace Hayman Wilson: London, Piper, Stephenson and Spence, 1858). Mill advocated the introduction of European knowledge to counter balance Indian traits judged to be irrational. Instilling ideals of reason would accordingly 'reform' Indians by the example of Western systems of thought and outlook. His ideas discredited Indian culture, language and literature even as its assumptions of moral superiority authorised and justified the presence of the British in India.
The current system of education,[20] was introduced and funded by the British in the 19th century, following recommendations by Thomas Babington Macaulay. Traditional structures were not recognized by the British government and have been on the decline since.
Thomas MacAulay's infamous 'Minute On Indian Education' (1835) encapsulates both the overt and covert agendas for such a policy.[21]
The term 'Macaulay's Children' is used to refer to people born of Indian ancestry who adopt Western culture as a lifestyle. It is usually used in a derogatory fashion, and the connotation is one of disloyalty to one's country and one's heritage.
The passage to which the term refers is from his 'Minute on Indian Education' delivered in 1835. It reads:
It is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.
In 1835 Lord William Bentninck revitalised the earlier Charter Act with his New Education Policy which determined that English should be the official language of the courts, diplomacy and administration. Prior to this Persian had been the accepted language of diplomacy. Bentninck's motive was ostensibly to "regenerate" society, but the ramifications were boundless. From this moment on only those with Western style education and a knowledge of English were eligible for government employment or for a career in public life.
In 1854 Sir Charles Wood published his Education Dispatch which was aimed at widening the availability of Western oriented knowledge. Universities were established under the London examining model in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras.
Lord Ripon's Hunter Commission of 1882 somewhat belatedly advocated that there should be increased provision of education at primary level and for women. The theory was that there would be a subsequent rise in the calibre of applicants for third level entry.
The inevitable result was that an Indian-based education was viewed as being second rate in comparison to an English medium education.
The success of this 'Indian Education Policy' can perhaps be measured, by the content of the recent address of Dr Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister of India:
Of all the legacies of the Raj, none is more important than the English language and the modern school system. That is, of course, if you leave out cricket! Of course, people here may not recognise the language we speak, but let me assure you that it is English! In indigenising English, as so many people have done in so many nations across the world, we have made the language our own. Our choice of prepositions may not always be the Queen’s English; we might occasionally split the infinitive; and we may drop an article here and add an extra one there. I am sure everyone will agree, Nevertheless, that English has been enriched by Indian creativity as well and we have given you back R.K. Narayan and Salman Rushdie. Today, English in India is seen as just another Indian language.[22]
The Government of Pakistan has recently announced the introduction of English lessons on a phased basis to all schools across the country. This new policy states that "English language has been made compulsory from Class-1 onwards" and the "Introduction of English as medium of instruction for science, mathematics, computer science and other selected subjects like economics and geography in all schools in a graduated manner."[23] Caretaker Minister for Education Mr. Shujaat Ali Beg declared January 25, 2008 that eighteen colleges of the city of Karachi would be made "Model English Medium Colleges,"[24]
In Bangladesh the system of education is divided into three different branches. Students are free to choose anyone of them provided that they have the means. These branches are: The English Medium, The Bengali Medium, and The Religious Branch. In the English Medium system, courses are all taught in English using English books with the exception for Bengali and Arabic. English medium schools are mainly private and thus reserved for the wealthy class. O and A level exams are arranged through the British Council in Dhaka.[25]
In the Union of Myanmar, the education system is based on the British Colonial model, due to nearly a century of British and Christian presences. Nearly all schools are government-operated, but there has been a recent increase in privately funded English language schools.
The United States of America won the Philippine-American War (1898–1901), and declared the Philippines a US colony. US imperial rule followed. Mac Síomóin quotes the Filipino scholar E. San Juan who made the following comment regarding the use made by the US administration of the English language to rule his country:
Its conquest of hegemony or consensual rule was literally accomplished through the deployment of English as the official medium of business, schooling and government. This pedagogical strategy was designed to cultivate an intelligencia, a middle stratum divorced from its roots in the plebian masses, who would service the ideological apparatus of Anglo-Saxon supremacy. Americanization was mediated through English, sanctioned as the language of prestige and aspiration.[26]
The earliest European schools in South Africa were established in the Cape Colony in the late seventeenth century by Dutch Reformed Church elders committed to biblical instruction, which was necessary for church confirmation. In rural areas, itinerant teachers (meesters) taught basic literacy and math skills. British mission schools proliferated after 1799, when the first members of the London Missionary Society arrived in the Cape Colony.[8]
Language soon became a sensitive issue in education. At least two dozen English-language schools operated in rural areas of the Cape Colony by 1827, but their presence rankled among devout Afrikaners, who considered the English language and curriculum irrelevant to rural life and Afrikaner values. Throughout the nineteenth century, Afrikaners resisted government policies aimed at the spread of the English language and British values, and many educated their children at home or in the churches.
In order to anglicize the Transvaal area during the Anglo Boer war, Lord Milner set out to influence British Education in the area for the English speaking populations. He founded a series of schools known as the "Milner Schools" in South Africa. These schools consist of modern day Pretoria High School for Girls, Pretoria Boys High School, Potchefstroom High School for Boys, Hamilton Primary School , and St. Marys DSG.
The only universities in Mainland China which offer English medium education are University of Nottingham Ningbo, China, United International College and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.