John Dewey, by Eva Watson Schütze. Wikicommons, 1902. Some rights reserved
CHIANG MAI – On a rainy day with
a smoggy sky, academics and students met to celebrate a hundredth year
anniversary of Democracy and Education, a seminal work by John Dewey at the Faculty of Education, Chiang
Mai University.
It
was organised by a group of students' activists called “EDUZEN” or “Pola-learn”, which is a short
form for Educators and Citizens. To kick off a series of six seminars, this
inaugural session began with one of the most celebrated and contested texts in
the Philosophy of Education.
“We can never educate directly but
indirectly by means of the environment”, said Dewey.
Therefore, “schools are meant to be the
environments, the soil, the water that creates conversation and transmission of
the young.”
Dewey
made constant comparisons of the young as flowers and society as the
environment in which we raise and grow our children.
These
EDUZEN, the Northern flowers so to speak, intended to do just that: create a
public environment whereby classic critical thought is read, reflected and
analysed – debated in the most
critical and collegial way possible.
Burning
questions propounded in the seminar include – how can Thai children grown up in an environment like that
of Thailand? An environment that is so toxic in every single way: contaminated
with abuse of power, limited freedom and patronage system, not to mention, run
by a despotic dictatorship.
Punnapat
Nilchoat, a tenth grade student who travelled all the way from Lampang, a
nearby province, to participate in this activity, gave a heart-breaking insight
into the history lessons and textbooks he studied in class.
“Dewey said we are flowers, but our
soil is so polluted. Look at all the textbooks we read, they are nationalistic
fictions wherein military men are portrayed as overt heroes and student
activists who risked their lives for democracy in the 14 October demonstration
are portrayed as despicable outcasts.”
He
went on to share his experience of education in a Thai classroom.
“In school, we are banned from bringing
water into the classroom but our teachers are allowed it. When we raised the
question, we were given a nasty lecture for an hour. We did not learn anything
else in that class except that teachers have more privilege than students.”
“Why couldn’t she say that she was thirsty?,” Punnpat added,
ending his presentation and leaving a bitter taste in everyone's mouth.
Unite Thailand. Painting by Arr-Chee.Thai
policymakers have been influenced by the thought of Dewey for decades. Concepts
such as “child-centred approach” and “learning by doing” are replete in Thai
policy papers. They made it into the central philosophy behind the National
Education Act of 1999 – which is currently
in use.
Despite
all the rhetoric, top-down, seniority-driven rote learning is the reality in Thai
classrooms.
Something
said, something borrowed.
But
it is not fair to blame the demise of Thai education on Thai teachers,
however.
Apisith
Bootwong, a fresh off the boat alumni of the Faculty of Education in Chiang Mai
University and currently a public school teacher teaching history in Chiang
Mai, offered a reflection on his experience as “an employee of the
Thai state.”
“Everybody here talks as if the teacher
is the bad guy. I feel I am the victim of this seminar because I work for the
state, reiterate state propaganda and teach those badly written nationalistic
textbooks every day. But the reality is much more complex than pointing the
finger at teachers”.
“I teach 20 hours a week coupled with
administrative duties and extensive paperwork to record every activity for all
kinds of state assessment. I do want to give students space, voices and choices
in classrooms. But it's hard. The reality is overwhelming and I just don't have
the energy nor the time.”
Bootwong
however gave a glimpse of hope for Thai education.
“Everyone blames Thai education, but if
we look historically, the system must have done something right. The 1932 revolution
was orchestrated by educated commoners, the 14 October was led by Thai
university students, this very critical seminar is organised and funded by
students. Things are not that bad.”
The
room was humming with theoretical discussion and political discontent.
Educators and students went head to head to question the role of the Thai state
with military leadership, extensive propaganda and suppression in every realm.
If
Nature, Growth and Harmonisation are the key concepts of Dewey, is there
room to grow Thai flowers?
These
youth from the northern part of Thailand, frustrated with the limited horizon
in their classrooms and in the state of the nation, show that there is hope:
hope for dialogue, for debate and for discussion, even in the light of disagreement
and so much discontent.
As
for the elections?
Dream
on.
Flower arrangement by Amp Lao
openDemocracy will be at this year's World Forum for Democracy, exploring the relationship between education and democracy with a citizens’ newsroom. Register here.