Miscellaneous - This Day That Age   

dated February 10, 1957: English in high schools

The need for maintaining a high standard of English teaching in the high school stage to equip students for the pre-university and university stages has been emphasised by Dr. A. Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar, Vice-Chancellor of the Madras University. Inaugurating a seminar on "English in the pre-university class" in Madras on February 9, he said he had realised the importance of English from his 40 years of experience in the educational and other fields. If they wanted to maintain a high standard in the university class, they must remember that the pre-university course was a very important stage. It was at this stage that English teachers must apply their minds as to how best they could utilise their talent for the benefit of the students. To-day English occupied a very high position in spite of what all politicians might say. English was not the language of the British and the Americans. It had been recognised now as the world language. English had become a compulsory subject even in Japan. Referring to the letters the Madras University had received in criticism of its stand to retain English as the medium of instruction, he said these letters were acrimonious. "I do no agree with the views expressed in them that this attitude of the university represents servility. I do hold that not only should the present standard of English education be maintained but even improved." He suggested that teachers, instead of making students write composition, might ask one of the students to address the class and the other students to find out the mistakes, if any. This would go a long way to improve the standard of English.

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