Question

NCERT VIII - Our Pasts III

Why did James Mill and Thomas Macaulay think that European education was essential in India?

Answer 1

Ans. James Mill thought that the British effort should met be to teach what the natives wanted, or what they respected in order to please them and “win a peace in their heart”. James Mill and Thomas Macaulay thought that European education would enable Indians to recognize the advantages that flow from the expansion of trade and commerce and make them see the importance of developing the resources of the country. · Introducing European ways of life would change their tastes and desires and create a demand for British goods, because Indians would begin to appreciate and buy things that were produced in Europe. · It would also improve the moral character of Indians. It would make them truthful and honest and thus supply the company with civil servants who could be trusted and demanded upon. It could also instill in people a sense of duty and commitment to work and develop the skills required for administration. · Macaulay felt that knowledge of English would allow Indians to read some of the finest literature the world had produced. It would make them aware of the developments in Western Science and philosophy. 

Answer 2

James Mill and Thomas Macaulay felt that knowledge of English would allow Indians to read some of the finest literature that the world had produced; it would make them aware of the developments in Western science and philosophy. The teaching of English could thus be a way of ‘civilising’ people, changing their tastes, values and culture. They also felt that the aim of education should be to teach what was useful and practical. So Indians should be made familiar with the scientific and technical advances that the West had made, rather than with the poetry and sacred literature of the ‘Orient’.