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Culture of dictatorship responsible for Thai education failings
Ugly Truth Thailand - May 6, 2017
Today, anyone who criticises the military junta is faced with repression, insults from the authorities, or short stretches in military camps undergoing "attitude changing sessions". The military are present at all levels of society, enforcing dictatorship down to grass-roots levels. Last year, the mere distribution of red plastic bowls at Songkran was enough to invite arrest.
However, when I talk about the culture of dictatorship in Thai society, I do not mean just the fact that the country is ruled by a military junta today and for long periods in the past. This is an important part of this appalling culture, but it is only one aspect.
The draconian lese-majeste law, which forbids any critical thinking about the monarchy, is part of this culture of dictatorship even when there are elected civilian governments. The extreme right-wing ideology of "Nation, Religion and Monarchy", enforced in all schools and constantly promoted by the military, is part of this. The ingrained hierarchical nature of Thai society, where citizens have to crawl on the floor before the royals, where lower-class people have to bow their heads and show respect to those who are richer and more powerful than themselves, and where all this nonsense is decreed to be "Thai Culture", cannot possible encourage critical thinking.
Long periods when it was deemed to be a "crime" to be a communist or socialist also blocked off the flowering of alternative viewpoints in open society. "National Security", for the elites, is used to silence dissent. The idea of "one Thai nation" was not even challenged by the Communist Party because of its nationalistic ideology. Public playing of the National Anthem and the fact that citizens are forced to stand to attention at 8am and 6pm mean that there is no room for critical thinking about Thai nationalism. This is reinforced by the extremely high levels of official racism.
Until recently, people were afraid to admit to being atheists on official documents because it would lead to accusations of being a communist. This is part of the culture of dictatorship.
The weakness of trade unions in Thai society is linked to the main stream anti-socialist ideology. This in turn strengthens hierarchy and undermines alternative views about society which could encourage critical thinking.
Justification for military coups and so-called "reforms", which decrease the democratic space, send out a message that citizens are "too stupid" to be allowed to choose their own governments. The middle-class reactionaries claim the people are not ready for democracy because of poor education. Therefore they need to be educated "in the right way". Of course, this is a lie. Lack of democracy, caused by the actions of the elites, is the real obstacle to critical thinking.
Given that no mainstream newspapers or TV stations and no mainstream academics ever question this culture of dictatorship, it is a wonder that any young students can learn to think for themselves. Even the term "think for yourself" has been hijacked by the dictatorship to imply that those who have dissenting views are somehow brain-washed by people like Taksin and therefore those who "think for themselves" must obviously agree with the military and the conservatives.
Yet, as a former university lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, and a follower of Thai current affairs, I know that each generation of young Thais throws up critical thinkers. But it takes courage to do this. Today there are young students locked away in Thai jails for thinking for themselves, most are charged with lese-majeste.
Apart from the culture of dictatorship, inequality in education is also a factor helping to keep the Thai education system in a poor state. This was highlighted by a couple of Finish educational researchers recently. But here the issue is closely linked to the culture of dictatorship because this culture exists to entrench inequality and to protect the elites. Those who have taken part in the destruction of democracy in Thailand are extreme neo-liberals who are totally opposed to a welfare state, progressive taxation or increasing wages. They justify all this with free-market ideology, including the former king's reactionary "Sufficiency Economy". Finland's high education standards are a result of a welfare state, strong trade unions and a history of democracy.
The struggle to educate oneself, and the struggle to liberate oneself, are part of the same struggle. Thai citizens do not need to be fed "better" education by conservative experts, they need to throw off the chains of the culture of dictatorship.
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