Why learn languages in school?
Why do you think we have language subjects in our school curriculum? To learn that language, duh! Well, that could be applied to English and a third language (in India), but what about your mother tongue? You already know it, but you still learn chapters from its book. What do you think is their objective? On second thought, do you think they are meant to ensure that you don’t score 100% marks (just based on academics)? That’s what teachers say — you can’t score full marks in English or any language. Well, let’s strike through this thought; languages aren’t evil to stop you from meeting your dream marks.
Let’s see for a moment what will happen when we drop language subjects from the school curriculum, and then answer a few questions. Most people usually like stories, and the fondness for stories may rise since we are kids, when our parents begin telling us stories. As we grow old, our parents don’t tell us stories, except maybe anecdotes, but remember who does? → Our language(s) textbooks! Well, one might argue that history too tells us stories. As a fact, history and story stem from the same word! If only history were indeed treated as a story in our schools!
Let’s come back to language textbooks, as reality is not ideal and for some (incorrect) reason many people still dread history. Had the language textbooks been absent, who would have taught us the story of “Slow and steady wins the race” or “Humpty Dumpty”? I remember a few stories about some of the great leaders the world had; stories that peeked into a part of their personal lives. From history, we know only about their deeds for the nation, but their personal lives stay in the dark. They too were humans, and may have had personal aspirations apart from their contributions to the country. I remember a chapter on Nelson Mandela, in which he shares about his personality as a young man and how he evolved to be the person he was; how his priorities changed over time. We might know that he fought against apartheid, but languages may give us some hints about his life, if not his entire biography. Languages bring back a personal-human touch to characters, for they are as human as what they did. A similar relation applies to scientists too. From our science books, we learn about their discoveries or inventions, but these scientists are not just what they did, rather what they did was just a part of their lives. When we take the name of Albert Einstein, people just equate him with E = MC2, among a few other things. However, have you thought about the life he lived as a kid, or even his personal aspirations, his other interests?
What happens in school is indeed compartmentalisation of subjects, as a result of which, students begin to think in those respective compartments. That’s not how human lives are — they aren’t discrete like binary, but a continuum like the graph of a linear or polynomial equation. Then, why compartmentalise the study of humans — languages, science, social science?
Wouldn’t it be fun to learn a mathematical concept and then learn a story about the life of the person who introduced it, say René Descartes? Wouldn’t it be fun to have a passage on the formation of rainbow or double rainbow and then questions to test your comprehension? As a fact, testing your reading comprehension is one of the objectives of language subjects. Wouldn’t it be fun to know the history of words you learn or the origin story of a particular language concept than just know them “technically”? We learn certain rules in civics and they too may have some history behind them.
The current division between languages and science subjects is similar to life before and after school. (Is that why many students conveniently ignore language subjects in schools?) We mostly lose touch with language subjects after school/college, and so may with morals. Remember how teachers often use the word “lessons” to refer to prose chapters? It’s as if `languages : morals : : sciences : technical knowledge`. With the passage of time, the influence of languages or social science on many of our lives, who go for the science side, is mostly lost; with that, we may lose vital values that we learned from some of the characters in the stories such as honesty, consistency, perseverance, struggle, patience and what not. I have seen people ditch these values in a bid to profit the business or the organisation.
Even when we learn a science subject, it’s via some human language itself — it doesn’t matter which. My view here is that if you have learned reading comprehension skills from a language subject, you will naturally be able to comprehend other subjects too, with less difficulty. To add to it is the writing skills. No matter what subject you choose to study as you grow, if you can’t express it in a way that people understand, what you want to convey won’t reach the audience. Look at writing skills as a way to express yourself, your views about your surroundings and social problems. Writing a letter to an editor in exams is not just to get some marks, it could be given so that you are aware of the tool you have to make a social change. If you learn to write a letter or an email these days, and if you do it properly, not only will your message reach properly, but it will also establish your reputation for being one who communicates effectively.
Having said about what could be, let’s have a look at what is!
Note-making or summarising are methods to pen down the crux of what you have read. These days, many people “take” notes not by reading the text but from someone else! That’s not different from reading the chapter itself, except in reduced form.
Essays and articles could act as means to organise and present your thoughts or research — they can help to discipline our lives indirectly. In reality, we have essay guides, or sites that provide “500+ essays”. What’s the point? It may just help in filling notebooks. The idea of sharing one’s views doesn’t see daylight. People crave to be heard about what they want to say. Here, an opportunity is given to people to say what they want, and people instead say/write what people on the internet or in books write. These days, students have got (competing) platforms that destroy the learning process by providing ready-made “instant” and “personalised” content to students, just for the sake of money they get from selling their products. Leaving aside homework and assignments, students ask reading comprehension questions or writing questions’ answers from their live exams. If the people on these online platforms read a passage, comprehend it and provide answers to the students, how will it help students develop their comprehension skills?
With the aim to be at the top of the “education” game and to secure their name and, in turn, fame, people don’t even feel shame for making the learning journey of students so lame.
To think is as human as to speak.
