Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/263

Education Ancient and Modern geography of his own country. The history of India which they were taught was greatly distorted. Government service was the aim of their education. Their highest ambition was to become members of the Imperial Legislative Council. The boys abandoned their hereditary occupations, and forsook their mother tongue. They were adopting the English language, European ideas and European dress. They thought in English, conducted all their political and social work and all commercial transactions, etc., in English and thought that they could not do without the English language. They had come to think that there was no other road. Education through English had created a wide gulf between the educated few and the masses. It had created a gulf in the families also. An English educated man had no community of feelings and ideas with the ladies of his family. And, as had been said, the aspirations of the English educated men were fixed on Government service and at the most on membership of the Imperial Legislative Council. He for one could never commend a system of education which produced such a state of things and men educated under such system could not 143