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| Can English Education generate Unity in diversity?
Indians and the media constantly berate Indian politics for dividing the nation along caste, religious, and ethnic lines; yet some recognize that citizens hold the power to change what they want. After complaining about the triviality of politics that do nothing for India, a 12th standard girl suggested that: “We always say the government isn’t doing anything, but the government is the people, so we aren’t doing anything.” Freedom fighters learned from the French revolution the value of fraternity in creating a nation. The Central government’s education ministers demand that every history textbook telling the history of the freedom struggle lists a freedom fighter from each category, regardless of the importance of their role in the struggle. Each book describes at least one female, Dalit, Muslim, Hindu…role in the movement. Ameya joked that history textbook authors finish writing the book not when the complete story is told, but when every category has been mentioned. Authors hope this approach will demonstrate that India belongs to everyone. Thoughtful students in higher education often wonder whether even universal education that teaches “unity in diversity” inspires students to reflect, or if it has become a catch-phrase. The two children of my professor, Jutika and Ameya, each pointed out that catch phrases aimed at building solidarity do not challenge belief patterns if they do not demand of students to ponder why ‘unity in diversity’ is true. Ameya argued that Indian nationalist statements provide little more than another memorization exercise for children. Everyone says ‘unity in diversity’ when they are asked about Indian nationalism, though Ameya believes few actually believe it. He explained that students know to write ‘rationalism, secularism, unity in diversity’ without learning the concepts that behind those words. Students need not understand the meaning of the word ‘rationalism’ in order to pass a history test. An Associate Professor in International Information Technologies, IIT, Ravinder Kaur, wrote an editorial in The Times of India condemning the BJP government’s commission investigating a BJP party-led massacre on Sikhs in the early 1990s. He suggested that the commission excused the BJP of further inquiry in its timid presentation of the event. Kaur followed suit and condemned the response of Indian citizens who carried out the massacre that the politicians provoked. He credits American citizens who refrained from large-scale violence after 9/11, which “testifies to the internalization of human values by the average person. No political party organized violence to earn political capital.” Indians expect violence to correspond with politics, the reason many Indians find politics useless. (My host-mother replied to my question of the utility of politics: “If you want to go into it, then its good. But it doesn’t help in real life.” She was a political science major in college.) Kaur believes that India has modernized to the extent that Indians internalize industrial revolution values of accumulation, however they never replaced traditional with modern morals. He asks if India has learned anything from the French and American revolutions as it has abandoned its own that created identity through caste, creed, and family. “[W]e need to move towards being a morally less corrupt people…inculcate values that are basic to a civilized society…Let us, in fact, start by looking at them as Indians and not as Sikhs or Muslims” ( Ravinder Kaur. “ Justice delayed and denied.” The Times of India. August 29, 2005). Kaur writes about the middle class that my Indian sociology professor called selfish. Magazines, movies, and newspapers tout a “Shining India” of highly motivated technology experts making waves in international trade. Kaur fears that middle class Indians are striding into the modern economic era without glancing back to their tracks to see the human toll of their political economy. * Fundamental Duties according to Art. 51A include: i. to abide by the Constitution and respect the National Flag and the National Anthem; ii. To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspirted our national struggle for freedom; iii. To protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India; iv. To defend the country; v. to promote the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India; vi. To preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture; vii. To protect and improve the natural environment; viii. To develop the scientific temper and spirit of inquiry; ix. To safeguard public property; x. to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity.* Dr. Durga Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India:19th Edition Reprint 2005.Wadhwa and Company Law Publishers, Nagpur, India; 2005
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