Macaulay's "Minute on Indian Education"

After reading a few of the writings selected for “Britain, Empire, and A Wider World,” many of the thoughts and opinions the British expressed regarding the people they were colonizing were abhorrent. The hate and vitriol casually used by esteemed writers, including Charles Dickens, to diminish the value of certain “alien” lives in places like Asia and Africa, is staggering compared to the cookie cutter politically correct terminology used by the media and practiced in Universities today. Rather than delving into the question of whether or not this is a façade and people are inherently prejudice, I will be discussing the positive aspects of colonization, as much as an oxymoron that may seem. The reading that stuck out to me the most was by Thomas Macaulay, who used the opportunity of colonization to grant people in India what he determined, and most would agree, the advanced language English, and the vital information that went along with it.

Macaulay begins by raising the question of the need for the British to educate the East Indians.  “We have to educate a people who cannot at present be educated by means of their mother tongue.” (Macaulay 1001). Through the acquisition of the English language, Macaulay describes how beneficial an outcome may be for not only the East Indian’s, but the British Empire as well. “It is likely to become the language of commerce throughout the Seas of the East.” (Macaulay 1002). The call to action can be seen as honorable through an optimistic lens. However, is Macaulay acting for the betterment of the Indian nation or for his own? I think both can be considered equal. Although the British are oppressing the Indian culture and customs, they are providing work and income for the Indian people. With the onset and development of the Industrial revolution, the British created a new standard that the world as a whole has still yet to adopt, but for now, most countries have. So I would argue that the British colonizing India and bringing a new form of communication and the knowledge stored in texts, including math and science, was not as bad as it could have been.

Facing the truth of our world’s history and how we have gotten where we are today through years of systematic oppression and “forced assimilation” or genocide of numerous countries can be depressing. Forcing a culture to change their language can be insulting and disrespectful to the people in question. However, from an academic perspective, the argument for Macaulay’s reasoning is supported with some logic justifications. One argument to support the idea of teaching English to the Indian people was the benefit of the Committee of Public Instruction in England. Macaulay goes on to say “…had they neglected the language of Cicero and Tacitus; had they confined their attention to the old dialects of our own island; had they printed nothing, and taught nothing at the universities, but chronicles in Anglo-Saxon, and romances in Norman-French, would England have been what she is now?” (Macaulay 1002). Above, we can see that Macaulay understands many discoveries of the natural world and the human experience has been built upon the shoulders of other scholars and academics that went before him. And the same is true to this day.

Having a universal language to communicate and share proved to be a lasting pursuit. By a developed world colonizing a less developed, or even undeveloped nation, there are positive aspects granted to the less developed people, as well as new opportunities now present that weren’t there before. However, the moral justifications are rooted in greed and selfishness. There is no doubt through educating the East Indians, it was profitable for the British Empire through trades and acquiring luxuries not present on the British Isles, and that new opportunities were provided for the Indians. But by adapting to a new culture and language, your own roots are lost, and with that, identity can be distorted, making life seems as if it’s just to serve. When considering the spread of industry and its inevitability, the Indians are lucky to have acquired language and education and trade, rather than mass enslavement.