Macaulay\'s Minute Background and Reading Questions PDF

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ENG 221/Reading Prose/Goffman Reading a Historical Document Macaulay’s “Minute on Indian Education.” Brief Background The British started a trading relationship with India in 1600, when it established the East India Company. Gradually, the British interest moved from commerce to administration. In the 18th century, the defeat of France in the Seven Years’ War opened up more opportunity in India, and the decline of Mughal power in India allowed the British to appropriate large territories. Nonetheless, with the exception of missionaries (who were frequently at odds with the British administration), the British up to this point took little interest in the welfare of the people of India. Certainly they gave little thought to providing education; indeed, there was no state education system in Britain itself. Finally, in 1813, when the East India’s Company’s contract was renewed, the ruling authorities in Britain decided to spend 100,000 rupees (a “lac” of rupees) on Indian education. At first, the money was to be spent on educating people in Sanskrit and Arabic. However, some, especially missionaries, argued for education in English. Several prominent Indian reformers also demanded English schools. Those arguing for English education were called the “Anglicists”; those arguing for the use of “native” languages were the “Orientalists.” Thomas Babington Macaulay was the legal member of the administrative council of the governor-general of India (Lord William Betinck). He argued for the Anglicist position in this “Minute on India,” a speech given to Parliament in 1835. This speech is considered one of the seminal documents for the colonial and post-colonial world, and it is the reason why so many people in former British colonies speak English. Reading Questions:        

In what specific ways will Macaulay’s plan help, save, or be beneficial to the “natives” of India? What specific group of Indians does Macaulay propose to educate, and how does he envision this population thinking and behaving after the education is complete? What is lacking in the Arabic and Sanskrit languages, according to Macaulay? According to Macaulay, what exactly is a “learned native”? What has a learned native read, and what has he NOT read? What does Macaulay say is wrong with the 1813 plan for India proposed by the Committee of Public Instruction? Who are the “Orientalists”? What side do they take in the debate? What side is Macaulay on, the Orientalist or the Anglicist? What makes English an especially useful language?...