Undergraduate students in their final year in college often have to make a choice whether to take a job or to study further. Often the biggest challenge that they face is the terrifying set of entrance exams that they need to prepare for. Among these exams is one called the GRE - the graduate record examination that is required by several American universities. While the quantitative section of this exam is hardly any trouble for Indian students, they struggle with the verbal abilities and analytical writing part.
Most students hate the preparations for this exam because it involves memorizing lengthy, never-ending lists of words that they are hearing for the first time. Worse, learning these lists of words seems quite pointless as it doesn't seem likely that words like 'pariah' or 'panache' would ever be used by an engineering student during his further studies. English ability is tested by exams such as the TOEFL and that definitely is not what the GRE aims at. But it is a requirement for students aspiring to go the U.S for studies. So, coaching centers that claim to teach students to remember the 'most important' words thrive all over cities in India.
Though I think the GRE goes a bit too far, it makes an important point. The test includes reading comprehension and analytical writing tests which I think are its best part because they test the ability of a student to understand high level text and produce some of his own as well. This is a skill that is required of all Bachelor degree holders, no matter what their field of study is. Unless they have these skills, students really cannot do well in an academic setting.
For example, a Master's student at university is required to be able to skim through a published technical paper or textbook and summarize it quickly to be able to turn in homework in graduate courses. He requires writing skills to be able to generate text to describe experiments and results in order to publish. While the Master's student still has time to learn these skills while doing, the PhD candidate cannot afford to lose precious time in learning to do these activities. So, no matter how excellent the student is in his chosen field of specialization, to demonstrate this brilliance, he has to be trained to express his ideas with efficiency and clarity.
This is true of every highly skilled worker. Every job requires understanding documents and producing them. Inability to document work clearly could very well come in the way of a skilled worker, even if she possesses the ability to carry out that task successfully. If she is unable to communicate to her co-workers or subordinates, she could put her career on hold.
Our school system does not do well to give students the ability to understand/produce high level texts. This is because language is often something that a student picks up because of her own interest. Schools treat language class as an extra, something that is like break-time for students, something that can be ignored for the sake of more 'important' things like Chemistry or Mathematics. When I finished higher secondary school, language marks were not even considered for my placement in college. I suppose (and hope) this situation has changed.
I must stress that by language I do not simply mean English. While it is important for us to create readable and useful text that can be shared and used all over the world, we must not undermine the important contribution that is made through regional languages. I am arguing for the ability to read and write better in any language that a person may choose. I am arguing for the importance of equipping our researchers, engineers, social scientists and artists with language skills that they can use.
Students admire a good speaker. They enjoy reading textbooks that are easy to understand. They love a teacher who gets through to them without too much effort their side. The reason is simply that a good speaker, a well-written textbook and a great teacher are able to express ideas and thoughts clearly. Instead of leaving this to chance or personal interest, why shouldn't we give students everything possible to help them succeed?
Of course, it can be argued that increased importance to language in school would add to the huge workload that children in schools have already. I would like to point out that very often students resort to ugly means such as memorizing textbook passages when they do not really understand concepts in subjects like Physics or Biology. Maybe, improved language skills would allow them to grasp technical concepts more easily. This could mean that students would be able to do better with lesser effort!
I am not trying to make a simplistic claim that language (English or other regional) skills are the cure-all. The education system in our country requires deep-rooted change. However, increased importance and a practical approach towards improving language ability at the beginner level could be a starting point.
TL;DR - Language skills are required to succeed as a highly skilled worker. Indian schools are not doing enough to encourage or support language learning as they should. They must.
