Education is something we all have to face and cannot be avoided. So, what is it that education wants to cultivate in the student? Due to current political events, those show how nationalism can be used as a tool to direct a group of people in a particular direction. I have been told since the time I started to know things that Thailand is a good and peaceful country with a very kind king who sacrifices for us and we all should feel grateful for those. After I could access the internet, I found other aspects of Thailand which made me start to question how I cultivated in those stories I have been told.
This topic is important because the political events that are taking place now made people divided into two groups: one of them is loyal to the monarchy as well as the government while the other group is questioning things that make no sense and claiming rights. There are many students who protest and claim their rights, which some of the student’s schools still ban and suppress students from making political views and also being accused of being despised by the nation Just because they have ideas that are different from other groups of people.
The purpose of my project is to point out that the Thai education style can reflect the wealth of the state and it is another form of system that can be used as a cage that captures the thinking of students. Schools should be open and allow students to think about different things without blocking or punishing the students who have different thinking and encourage students who stand to claim their rights.
This brings me back to ask questions ranging from studies and media, plus new information that I received which conflicts with each other.
From the book called “ประวัติศาสตร์ชาติไทยแบบราชาชาตินิยม” which has opposite content from the media and textbook in schools. The content of the book is straightforward and speaks to another perspective to the country that sounds more credible and real than the beautiful images from the schools’ textbooks. And the other book called “อุดมการของรัฐในแบบเรียน” which made me see education as another form of propaganda that cultivates nationalism in children. This information gives me the statement “Nationalism has been cultivated and control us through the education media since childhood”.
Pssyppl and Baphoboy are artists that have works that are relevant to my topic and they also work with mediums that I am interested in. Their art is satirical and pecks on politics or any current events. They do the work that can convey the meaning of it out easily and directly to the audience which is one goal that I want as well.
After my research, I saw the school as another tool of the government that can be used to control and instill behaviors in students. It can also show the intent and power of the government that is currently in use. I think the school intends to avoid the stories of contemporary history, as well as to frame it and make students think of nothing but learning. No questions asked Including compliant with the learning and educational system. It has been several decades ago that it has made some adults or children nowadays be the way that the government wants.
In the end, education, politics, the economy, and others can all be connected. Which all the beneficiaries were politicians, the elites, and the kings who had benefited from the people of the lower class or who were compliant with what was cultivated from school and family.
Aim :
- Raise concerns about flaws that are occurring in the education system and the government needs from the education system as well as expressing my opinion on systems that can be linked on a large scale, but only a small group of people will benefit from this.
Target Group :
- All Thai people who have passed the Thai education system.
