The Stranglehold of English Lit. grabbed my attention fiercely. Though, I have never read any of Jane Austin’s books, I have heard much about them. I understand where Mnthali is coming from. At first, when he states “Eng. Lit., my sister, was more than a cruel joke- it was the heart of alien conquest”, I was confused. But after reading it over a few times I understood what he meant. I agree with Mnthali. I think that teaching Africans to read and write in the English language instead of their native language is degrading. I also think that teaching them things that will not help them in the future is pointless. Why would you want to know about tea parties and arranged marriages of rich white people when you live in a place where you mostly work all day and are not wealthy? When something doesn’t apply to you personally, it makes it hard to take seriously. When I was in seventh grade I was assigned to read a book called Animal Farm. This book was boring and had nothing to do with me personally. I did not learn anything from this book because I was not concerned with it; I felt that it did not apply to my life. When assigned something that you do not have any interest in, and does not apply to you or anything in your life, it is hard to care and to relate to the assignment. This poem was very well expressed. The way that it was presented to the class also helped me get an idea of how serious Mnthali is about this issue. This poem showed much of how corrupt African education is. I think it would be better if Mnthali was to write another poem that is related to this one. If Mnthali were to write another poem, I think that it he should write should write about how he thinks the world can help fix this problem of corrupt education in Africa. I would definitely suggest this poem to my family because my grandparents are missionaries in Africa and have a school named after them, so they may possibly have some influence over what is being taught in that school. Overall, I think this poem is fantastic.
Wow: I would be very interested to hear what you Grandparents would have to say about this. There is another poem by Langston Hughs called "Theme for English B" which is a great companion piece to Mnthali's piece. It is good to know the colonial language because it is the language of power, but it is not helpful if one is taught that it is the only language for art. All languages can do art, and the beauty of becoming educated in one's own language is essential to the vitality of a culture.
ReplyDeleteI like how you summarize the main point of Mnthali's poem, and you do a good job of relating it to a larger social context. The suggestion I have for your next posting is to use the word "because" more often so that you can explain your reasoning a bit further. The last sentence is a good example: stick a "because" on that and you have a very strong ending.