Why Shakespeare ?

The following is a response to the article English and Elitism - Part 2. The response was posted by Chandare. The editor of this bolg feels that the response deserves its own space as an article that indirectly addresses the concerns of this blog.

''Why do all these articles about "English Education" in Sri Lanka talk about Shakespeare, Ludowyk and all these "..." about English departments in universities ?How many people care about this stuff? Why not discuss after 209 years (1796 - present) of English Langauge domination, less than 5 percent can read and write English in Sri Lanka? What are the numbers for the circulation of English Langauge newspapers in Sri Lanka? What percentage of the circulation are purely for the purpose of classified adds (looking for job postings)? To support a bi-lingual or English speaking elite of intellectuals Sri Lanka needs a wider base (or pool) of English language base of readers and viewers. To support English poets, novelist and theater directors Sri Lanka needs a whole lot of people with bad grammer (like me) first. Former president J.R.Jayawardena said it best when he asked "Sahithyaya Kanada?"(Can you eat literature?). To get a cream of people ,we need to get other people fed and clothed first. Colombo based English speaking pool is so tiny that it is no wonder that our elite bi-lingual intellectuals are bankrupt and inconsequential. --- by Chandare''