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by Dr. Upul Wijayawardhana
"Doctor, I have done my duty by my community; I convinced Mrs. B to allow Muslim students to study in the English medium"
I had a flashback of these words uttered by Al-Hajj Badduidin rdeen Mahmud, the then Minister of Education, from his coronary care bed, when I was reading the thought provoking editorial "Does English make you poor?", in The Island on February 26th. At the time we, who were on the daily ward round, did not think much of it, probably because we were more ‘amused’ with the stern looking photograph of himself, the minister had on his bedside cupboard! Patients usually have photographs of their loved-ones by their side than of themselves but, after all, politicians have to be self admiring! I still remember the beaming smile the minister had on his face when one of the juniors, who is a Cardiologist now in Australia, commented "Sir, you look a General!" It has got worse since; we have to ‘tolerate’ portraits of politicians in every street corner!
Considering what happened since, I have to respect the minister for his vision. He did what was right for his people. As rightly mentioned in the editorial, English was the ‘kaduwa’ and those who studied in the English medium got better jobs locally and were able to get jobs abroad, if they wished to, as well. Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike should have considered her Education Minister’s proposal in detail but, perhaps, did not care for the disadvantage imposed on the poor Sinhala village children because she was educating her children in English! The story goes that she had London ‘O’ & ‘A ‘level examinations held for some of them at her residence in Rosmead Place! In socialism some are more equal than others!!
Though the ideal would be for all Sri Lankan children to study Sinhala, Tamil and English, it would be more realistic for them to be offered the chance of studying English, which has become the ‘world language’, in addition to their mother tongue. After all, though our giant neighbor India has adopted Hindi as the official language, the real link language is English! If we are to be the ‘knowledge hub of Asia’, surely, all attempts should be made to teach English to every single child. Further, bilingualism is likely to boost our brain power as stated in the editorial. I was fortunate to have belonged to a bilingual generation and had no difficulty in representing Ananda College, Colombo in both Sinhala and English debating teams.
I was able to read Prof. Keith Chen’s paper referred to, thanks to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, on the World Wide Web but, must confess, found it difficult to comprehend. It was a long paper heaving with statistics. I was reminded of my introduction to statistics in the Colombo Medical School, over half a century ago. The senior lecturer in Public Health started his lecture with the stimulating statement:
"This term we have a series of dull lectures!"
I was also reminded of the oft repeated phrases:
"Statistics, statistics and damned lies’
"Results depend on the statisticians you can afford"
Later in my professional career, I developed a greater interest in statistics thanks to an advanced Epidemiology seminar, co-hosted by the American Heart Association and WHO, which I was fortunate enough to attend in Finland. After grueling sessions for nine days, we were given a scientific paper to read overnight for discussion on the final morning. It was a paper dealing with a drug called ‘Sulfinpyrazone’, used some time ago for the treatment of gout and was found, by chance, to show reduction of repeat heart attacks in those with known coronary artery disease. It is not unusual for this sort of thing to happen. "Viagra", first successful drug for male impotence was developed for angina but the side effects the original trial subjects experienced is benefitting many an unfortunate man the world over!
On the basis of the preliminary data, the manufacturer of Sulfinpyrazone started a trial that was to last two years but the benefit was so striking, the trialists decided to issue a preliminary report at the end of one year with resultant trade and profit to the manufacturer. We were to criticize this paper! It was very well written, full of statistics, and I had to read the paper at least ten times before I could find a fault but, once found, loopholes started appearing thick and fast! Next morning, our group found so many defects in the publication, we came to the conclusion that the drug did not have the claimed benefits. We were correct; when the final analysis was done a year later there was no benefit!
Were the trialists dishonest? No, they are human and when they feel something is true, they try to prove it to be so! However, sometimes what seems to be effective is not so. Scientists, in the medical field, start with observations and get to associations. The final proof comes from ‘double blind clinical trials’ where neither the physician nor the patient is aware whether any particular patient is taking the active drug or a placebo. My story illustrates that even ‘double blind clinical trials’ have problems!
Prof. Chen is of the opinion that those who speak languages with strong future-time reference tend to save less than those who speak languages with weak future-time reference. I searched in his appendix the place of Sinhala but it was not there. Tamil is classed as a language with strong future-time reference and so are Hindi and most of the ‘Sanskrit derived languages. Therefore, presume Sinhala also to be a language with strong future-time reference. Anyway, those who speak Sinhala do not have much to save!
At most, he has shown an association and going further may be interpreted as an attempt to promote Mandarin. With the increasing economic power of China, nothing is impossible!
I fully endorse the editor’s poser to the learned Professor. China may have had a glorious past and may be the dominant nation in the future but, without a doubt, it is the British and the English language that changed the world. Comparatively, a small country created the largest empire the world has known and, more importantly, they were the least destructive of all the colonisers. The industrial revolution started in England. Life changing inventions, be it the computer, television, the jet engine, railways or the WWW, were British. As I pointed out in an article in ‘The Island’ on 21st September another professor tried to attribute British inventions to the Americans. Professors are not infallible!
English, like Sinhala, is a beautiful language. Shakespeare is easily the best known writer in the whole world. Work of the British writers and poets will continue to stimulate our brains. Therefore, even if you have less money, with English, you will have plenty of aesthetic richness in your retirement!
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