.. THAI CULTURE - An Anti-Knowledge Culture (by Design)

[brutox]

.. humorous, were it not spoken by a person with such great influence over the future of an entire nation.

 

.. the Thai Education Minister recently hosted his North Korean counterpart .. he is recorded as stating that the North Korean and Thai education systems share similarities .. bloody hell!

 

.. the op-ed article below describes it as:

 

" .. our education minister received his North Korean counterpart, during which the Thai minister remarked that there were similarities between the two nations' education systems. That, dear Hello Kitty, is priceless: North Korea is the model of the anti-knowledge society, where the leaders seal off their people from the world and feed them cooked news and history, where thinking is a crime and blindness is a virtue. We surely want to learn from a pro."

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/446092/hushing-up-harsh-facts-into-oblivion

 

.. another of many data points explaining why Thailand and Thais are what and who they are .. I raise kids here, outside of the Thai education system's clutches .. still, this is so deeply disturbing that a Minister of Education would actually disclose this publicly.

[vimto66]

Does seem odd that he could find similarity,very odd indeed,do children in North korea actually know where Thailand is?Thailand has its faults but compared to the backwardness of North Korea, its a paragon of truth and transparency.

[tuk]

....anti-knowledge society, where the leaders seal off their people from the world and feed them cooked news and history, where thinking is a crime and blindness is a virtue.

& on that note ...I wouldn't believe everything you hear about NK in mainstream western media.

[geo123]

Is that the reason why many Thais have not much knowledge about the genocide

that happend in Cambodia?

I mean it is their neighouring Country.

[brutox]

Is that the reason why many Thais have not much knowledge about the genocide

that happend in Cambodia?

I mean it is their neighouring Country.

.

.. geo123, your observation is disturbing .. but yes, you are exactly right .. Thailand is that simple.

 

.. Thailand is a nation with a very long history of passivizing its population .. that continues even today, using this classic tool to sustain autocratic rule by the few and the privileged.

 

.. the Thai editorial first quoted above says it best: ".. the model of the anti-knowledge society, where the leaders seal off their people from the world and feed them cooked news and history, where thinking is a crime and blindness is a virtue."

 

.. you would not believe what Thais do not know about the most widely known history .. neither of the World Wars .. Hitler .. Killing Fields .. Twin Towers .. it is simply jaw-dropping, speechless, stunning .. this includes university-educated Thais .. they will almost fight you when you inform them that the King was born in Boston.

 

.. the phenomenon is very real, modern-day Orwellian and quite disturbing to see.

 

.. umm, you seem surprised .. my guess is that you don't live here.

[geo123]

At first I was surprised to hear about that, but than I also read that a lot of Thai guys were making a lot of many and could claim some Advantages

because of the red Khmer Regime. After that I understood a bit why there was not much of a will to inform large parts of Society of the Horrors going on

in Cambodia.

 

Still in Thailand are living a lot of People from cambodia and I guess there must be some Exchange. It is hard to believe that there are not more people

which realised what was going on there. At least those who have cambodian workers working with or for them or those who travel to cambodia often.

These People have to know about the genocide.

[Dr.Winston]

I think it's quite refreshing that a Minister of Education feels he can be honest enough to express his views. One thing I've always loved about Thai people is their almost total ignorance of external world news, I actually enjoy not seeing heavy faces everywhere I go and not getting caught up in heavy discussions about world politics and sometimes wonder if us Westerners are any happier with our more expansive knowledge?

 

Of course there is another side to the coin, a relatively uneducated population without the faculty to question is easier to control and the Thai tendency to have a very insular view of things can be frustrating. It will be interesting to see if anything changes.

[brutox]

Does seem odd that he could find similarity,very odd indeed,do children in North korea actually know where Thailand is?Thailand has its faults but compared to the backwardness of North Korea, its a paragon of truth and transparency.

.

.. oh? .. the depth of the deception about Thai culture deceives many .. you, too, might be surprised at just how similar the North Korean and Thai education systems are.

 

.. here's my bet, vimto66, or anyone else wanting to see an example of a purpose-built anti-knowledge education system:

 

• If you live here, or will soon visit, select 10 random Thais, from whatever educational backgrounds you wish;

• Open Google Earth on your smart phone; then,

• Appear perplexed and casually ask if they can help you find North Korea, as though you do not know.

 

I bet dollars to donuts that not ONE will know where it is located .. not .. one.

 

.. then, try it on them with ANY major country on each continent .. Italy .. Brazil .. Canada .. Australia .. South Africa .. Antarctica .. Singapore .. you might be stunned .. jaw-dropping .. without words.

 

.. this is but one single element to their system .. try talking to them about world history .. ANY world history .. now THAT, men .. will blow .. your minds.

 

.. try it.

 

.. before becoming members of our family, 3 of my 4 Thai kids were being indoctrinated with the Thai cultural values .. not, of course, those practiced by the feudal elitist inbreds, but the ones the feudal elitist inbreds press down upon the overwhelming majority of marginalized Thai prai.

 

.. I have a pretty good understanding of how the Thai education system creates a compliant, passified population.

 

.. "Don't think too much" .. "Do just enough" .. "Be happy with what you have .. it is all you deserve to have" .. "Know your place .. you can never rise above it."

 

.. living here, we see these attitudes exhibited by Thais every day, everywhere around us.

.

[asmodeus]

One change could be that most of the elite and many upwardly mobile families send their children abroad for further education...

 

It's common for Thai kids to do a BA or equivalent locally but then do a masters or mba ideally in the US or failing that the UK, Australia etc....my experience is that they often at least appear to embrace western culture and the freedom they get...maybe asking too much that the future rulers will also embrace enlightenment values

 

Thinking that Yingluck spent time in the US and people like kornand Abhisit of the 'democrat' party is Englands finish schools

[sinbad5]

One change could be that most of the elite and many upwardly mobile families send their children abroad for further education...

It's common for Thai kids to do a BA or equivalent locally but then do a masters or mba ideally in the US or failing that the UK, Australia etc....my experience is that they often at least appear to embrace western culture and the freedom they get...maybe asking too much that the future rulers will also embrace enlightenment values

Thinking that Yingluck spent time in the US and people like kornand Abhisit of the 'democrat' party is Englands finish schools

Yingluck has a Masters Of Public Administration from Kentucky State - not exactly prestigious. If you heard her interviewed on one of the English language cable shows during the demonstrations before the coup,you would wonder how she could possibly have been awarded a degree in a university that teaches in English.

 

Abhisit went to Eton and Oxford (he was born in England).

[brutox]

.. asmodeus and sinbad5, I absolutely agree with you that no enlightened education is available to Thais in Thailand .. even at their vaunted Chulalongkorn University .. a second-class education, at best.

 

.. the international universities are the only hope for entraining into Thais the ideals of modern civilized behavior.

 

.. however .. my experience is that culture trumps education, even for Thais with foreign educations and experience .. almost every single time.

 

.. choosing to work with the closest I can find to an 'internationalist' (Thais educated or having worked overseas for international companies), I am consistently disappointed.

 

.. they return to Thailand, where the family and social pressures to conform to Thai cultural standards of behavior are simply too great for them to resist .. the indoctrination early in their lives kicks-in, they buckle and are dragged back into the modern-day feudal social and economic system in which Thailand remains intransigently mired.

 

.. "Resist change" .. one of the foundations upon which Thai culture is built .. you see this behavior every single day.

.