Western Educ. & Rise of Afr. & Asian Middle Class

8/19/2019 Western Educ. & Rise of Afr. & Asian Middle Class

1/3

Analysis: Western Education And The Rise Of An African And Asian Middle Class

To varying degrees and for many of the same reasons as the British in India, all European

colonizers sought to educate the children of African and Asian elite groups in Western-language

schools. The early 1th-century de!ate over education in India "as paralleled, for e#ample, !y an

e$ually hard-fought controversy among %rench officials and missionaries regarding the proper

schooling for the peoples of &enegal in West Africa. The 'utch did not develop European

language schools for the sons of the (avanese elite until the middle of the 1th century, and many

young (avanese males continued to !e educated in the homes of the 'utch residing in the

colonies until the end of the century. )i*e the British, the %rench and 'utch needed

administrative assistants and postal cler*s, and they could neither recruit enough Europeans to

fill these posts nor afford the "ages European employees "ould have demanded.

+ne of the chief advantages of having Western-educated African and Asian su!ordinates - for

they "ere al"ays !elo" European officials or managers in the office or on the parade ground -

"as that their salaries "ere considera!ly lo"er than "hat Europeans "ould have !een paid for

doing the same "or*. The Europeans had no trou!le rationalizing this ine$uity. Africans and

Asians served in their o"n lands and "ere thus accustomed to life in the hot, humid, insect- and

disease-ridden tropics. %or the Europeans "ho "or*ed in the colonies, life in these environments

"as deemed difficult, even dangerous. igher pay "as thought to compensate them for the

sacrifices involved in colonial service. The Europeans also had a higher standard of living than

Africans or Asians, and colonial officials assumed that European employees "ould !e more

hard"or*ing and efficient.

Beyond the need for government functionaries and !usiness assistants, each European colonizerstressed different o!ectives in designing Western-language schools for the children of upper-

class families. As "e have seen, the transmission of Western scientific learning and production

techni$ues "as a high priority for the British in India. Educational policyma*ers, such as

/acaulay, also sought to teach the Indians Western literature and manners and to instill in them a

Western sense of morality. As /acaulay put it, they hoped that English-language schools "ould

turn out !ro"n English gentlemen, "ho "ould in turn teach their countrymen the "ays of the

West.

The %rench, at least until the end of the 1th century, "ent even further. They stressed the

importance of Africans and other colonial students mastering the %rench language and thesu!tleties of %rench culture. When the lessons had !een fully a!sor!ed and the students fully

assimilated to %rench culture, they could !ecome full citizens of %rance, no matter "hat their

family origins or the color of their s*in. Though only a tiny minority of the population of any

%rench colony had the opportunity for the sort of schooling that "ould $ualify them for %rench

citizenship, there "ere thousands of &enegalese and hundreds of 0ietnamese or Tunisians "ho

could carry %rench passports, vote in %rench elections, and even run for seats in the %rench


2/3

arliament. +ther European colonial po"ers adopted either the British or the %rench approach to

education and its aims. The 'utch and 2ermans, for e#ample, follo"ed the British pattern, "hile

the ortuguese pushed assimilation for even smaller num!ers of the elite classes among the

peoples they colonized.

Western education in the colonies succeeded in producing !oth cler*s and rail"ay conductors,

and !ro"n Indian gentlemen and !lac* %rench citizens. It also had effects that those "ho shaped

colonial educational policy did not intend, effects that "ould "ithin a generation or t"o produce

maor challenges to the continuation of European colonial dominance. The population of most

colonized areas "as divided into many different ethnic, religious, and language groups "ith

separate histories and identities. Western language schools gave the sons 3and in limited

instances, the daughters4 of the leading families a common language in "hich to communicate.

The schools also inculcated common attitudes and ideas and imparted to the mem!ers of diverse

groups a common !ody of *no"ledge. In all European colonial societies, Western education led

to similar occupational opportunities - in government service, "ith Western !usiness firms, or as professionals 3la"yers, doctors, ournalists, etc.4. Thus, "ithin a generation after their

introduction, Western-language schools had in effect created a ne" middle class in the colonies

that had no counterpart in precolonial African or Asian societies.

+ccupying social strata and economic niches in the middle range !et"een the European

colonizers and the old aristocracy on the one hand, and the peasantry and ur!an la!orers on the

other, Western-educated Africans and Asians "ithin each colony !ecame increasingly a"are of

the interests and grievances they had in common. They often found themselves at odds "ith the

traditional rulers or the landed gentry, "ho ironically "ere often their fathers or grandfathers.

/em!ers of the ne" middle class also felt alienated from the peasantry, "hose !eliefs and "ayof life "ere so different from those they had learned in Western-language schools. %or over a

generation they clung to their European tutors and employers. Eventually, ho"ever, they gre"

increasingly resentful of their lo"er salaries, of European competition for scarce o!s, and of

their social segregation from the Europeans, "ho often made little effort to disguise their

contempt for even the most accomplished of the African or Asian students of Western "ays.

Thus, mem!ers of the ne" middle class in the colonies "ere caught !et"een t"o "orlds5 the

traditional "ays and teachings of their fathers and the modern "orld of their European masters.

%inding that they "ould !e fully admitted to neither "orld, they reected the first and set a!out

supplanting the Europeans and !uilding their o"n modern "orld.

Conclusion: The Pattern Of The Age Of Imperialism

Though the !asic patterns of domination in European colonial empires remained similar to those

"or*ed out in (ava and India in the early industrial period, the style of colonial rule and patterns

of social interaction !et"een colonizer and colonized changed considera!ly in the late 1th

century. 6acism and social sno!!ery !ecame pervasive in contacts !et"een the colonizers and


3/3

their African and Asian su!ordinates. The Europeans consciously renounced the "ays of

dressing, eating ha!its, and pastimes that had earlier !een !orro"ed from or shared "ith the

peoples of the colonies. The colonizers no longer sa" themselves simply as the most successful

competitors in a many-sided struggle for political po"er. They "ere convinced that they "ere

inherently superior !eings, citizens of the most po"erful, civilized, and advanced societies on

earth. 7olonial officials in the age of high imperialism "ere much more concerned than earlier

administrators to pull the peasants, "ho made up the over"helming maority of the population of

all colonized societies, into the mar*et economy and teach them the value of hard "or* and

discipline. 7olonial educators "ere determined to impress upon the children of the colonized

elite classes the superiority of Western learning and of everything from political organization to

fashions in clothing.

In striving for these o!ectives, the European colonizers started "ith the assumption that it "as

their duty to impose their o"n vie"s and "ays of doing things, rather than learn from others - to

rema*e the "orld, insofar as the a!ilities of the natives "ould allo", in the image of industrialEurope. But in pushing for change "ithin colonized societies that had ancient, deeply rooted

cultures and patterns of civilized life, the Europeans fre$uently aroused resistance to specific

policies and to colonial rule more generally. Though the colonizers "ere a!le to put do"n protest

movements led !y displaced princes and religious prophets, much more enduring and successful

challenges to their rule came, ironically, from the leaders their social reforms and Western-

language schools had done much to nurture. These nationalists re"or*ed European ideas and

resurrected those of their o"n cultures, !orro"ed European organizational techni$ues, and made

use of the communications systems and common language the Europeans had introduced into the

colonies to contest European dominance. The over"helming dependence of the Europeans on the

colla!oration of colonized peoples to govern and police their empires rendered the Europeans particularly vulnera!le to these challenges from "ithin.

8uestions5 Why did the Europeans continue to provide Western-language education for Africans

and Asians once it "as clear they "ere creating a class that might challenge their position of

dominance9 What advantages did Western-educated Africans and Asians have as future leaders

of resistance to the European colonial overlords9 'o you thin* the European colonial rule "ould

have lasted longer if Western-language education had !een denied to colonized people9

Documents

Western Educ. & Rise of Afr. & Asian Middle Class