English has a history of imposition for material and political reasons in most periphery communities more often than not it is in competition with local/native languages. In 1796 the British colonized the ethno-linguistically diverse island of Ceylon under one political umbrella, they imposed English as the national language and went about setting up English schools at both secondary and Tertiary levels, this education not only included language lessons but discipline (in keeping with that usually found in British public schools) and Protestant teachings. Students were often expected to board to be protected from outside cultural and linguistic influence. This education was needed for particular jobs but was only available to those able to pay the fees, Christians were given preferential treatment with regard to admission and most students finished their education having been converted to Christianity regardless of previous cultural and religious beliefs, in the main natives competed to be given an English education, mainly because the Tamils defined themselves by religion and not language. The native “church” devised a mission which offered Western (English) scholarships to students who promised not to desert their religion, this enabled natives to embrace the new language without in the main losing cultural identity. This is not to say the program was without opposition, many natives accepted the Christianity they were compelled to in public, but continued to practice Hinduism in private, not all forms of opposition were as subtle as this. Tamil scholars were sometimes vocal with regard to the “English only” education of younger generations, Amanda Coomarasamy called the English educated natives a “generation of spiritual bastards” (1946:32) adding in explanation: “A single generation of English education suffices to break the threads of tradition and to create a nondescript and superficial being deprived of all roots.” A fellow scholar Sir Arunachalam commented:”The root of the evil in Ceylon is that the vernacular is neglected”. (Undated: 261-2).