English is just another tool that is available to mankind. Just like another tool, its usefulness depends on the objective of the user.

For those of us who want to deal with the English speaking community as a requirement for our survival & success then we must learn English. We need English to communicate with our English speaking friends.

But we can go without English and still live a successful life by just speaking Pidgin & local dialects if we are to spend our life time in the village. All we need is enough to just read should be enough. What is much more important than being fluent in English in such setting is knowledge of local survival techniques that our ancestors use for decades. How to build local houses, how to use custom norms for community relationship, how to fish, how to hunt, etc. We do not need to be fluent in English in such settings.

Yes, English is just another tool. It is only as useful as its intended end. It is a means to an end.