Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/927

 NATIONAL EDUCATION 837 we know that the teachers of primary school are not selected for their patriotism. They only come who cannot find any other employment. Finally, the medium of instruction. My views on this point are too well known to need re·stating. The vforeign medium has caused hrain—fag• Dub an undue strain upon the nerve of our ohildrem made them crammers and imitators, nnfitted them for original work and thought, and disabled them for Gltrating their learning to the family or the masses. The foreign medium has made our children practically foreigners in their own land. So to save ourselves from this perilous danger we should put a stop to educating our boys and girls through a foreign medium and require all the teachers and profes- sors on pain of dismissal to introduce the change forthwith} I would not wait for the preparation of text- books. Tney will follow the change. It is an evil that needs a summary remedy. My uncompromising opposition to the foreign me- dium has resulted in an unwarranted charge being levelled against me cf being hostile to foreign culture or the learning of the English language. No reader of Young India could have missed the statement often made by me in those pages that I regard English as the language of international commerce and diplomacy. and therefore consider its knowledge, on the part of some of us as essential. As it contains some of the richest treasures of thought and literature, I would certainly encourage its careful study among those who have linguistic talents and expect them to translate those treasures for the nation in its vernaculars. Nothing can be farther from my thought than that we should become exclusive or erect barriers. `But I do