On the evolution of English as a written or spoken language.

It seems to me to be the exact opposite of multiculturalism. It's imposing the English language on native speakers so they can compete in a world economy that's dominated by Western corporate interests.I'd like to know what you mean by "putting cultures over people." Aren't cultures worth preserving? If economic expediency threatens the survival of communities, cultures, and language, doesn't that indicate a problem with globalist economics?

They're not eager to learn English so they can read Shakespeare. They're doing it because (as they say in the movie linked in Phat's post) they prefer employment in tourist hotels to rural poverty. Problem is, culture comes with people. And it sounds like you're defining culture in a very consumerist way, as if the shared history of a community is just like other any item you acquire and discard whenever the mood strikes you. Only it's not about helping them in postcolonial Africa, it's about exploiting them. It's not as if there's a level playing field or a power equilibrium. Europeans still call the shots, and you seem just fine with that.

Um, I was under the assumption that we were talking about the article in NPR and the accompanying video that Phat linked. It concerned schoolkids in Zanzibar and the problems of a postcolonial Africa struggling to build an identity free of European influence.And that's what I was talking about. What the hell are you talking about?

Preserving their language and cultural identity is hardly a "stupid goal," and it confronts, rather than ignores, the undue influence of external powers. The question of learning English isn't just a political matter, it's an economic one: these poor communities have schools where English is taught by instructors with very little proficiency themselves. No, you don't have to. You can be as cynical and indifferent as you want. Centuries of colonial domination and looting by warlords have left these people with a choice between poverty and exploitation, and you're making it sound like the people in the community stressing the need to preserve its language and culture are the oppressors.