I fully support Bangkok Christian College's recent experiment to let students wear casual clothes instead of uniforms to school.
Uniform-wearing is not related to the goals of education, for "Education should have two objects: first, to give definite knowledge, reading and writing, language and mathematics, and so on; secondly, to create those mental habits which will enable people to acquire knowledge and form sound judgments for themselves" (Bertrand Russell). As BCC director Suphakit Jitklongsub noted, now students will be able to be more expressive in making clothing judgements.
Thai schools are obsessed with superficial, easy-to-measure things, such as length of hair/pants/skirts, not with what counts, e.g. the ability to acquire knowledge through age-appropriate research, or make age-appropriate judgements. When I was in a high school in Utah, for example, we had a course called, "Problems of American democracy". How many Thais (or their parents, for that matter) even know what a democracy is, either Western- or Prayut-style?
The BCC is headed in the right direction, but the experiment should last for at least a year.
Burin Kantabutra
Lust for Taiwan
The Black Book of Communism estimates of the total number of people killed by Chinese communists between 1900 and 1987 is 100 million, while Death by Government puts the figure at 110 million. The bodies are still piling up and the Chinese don't hesitate to grab victims from foreign soil, including Thailand.
The latest example has caused emperor-for-life Xi Jinping to be so emboldened as to threaten the US while trying to legitimise his lust for Taiwan.
The ethos of the Chinese communist government is characterised by one factor above all others, an untempered belief in the divine right and absolute superiority of the ethnic Han above all other beings on the planet. And make no mistake, Mr Xi imagines himself to be the supreme incarnation of this divine right.
This situation is rapidly escalating the risk of global conflict. One wonders when the mainstream media will take a break from their Trump-hating agenda and begin covering real news. People need to be reliably informed.
Michael Setter
Pothole records
Re: "Thailand through the looking glass", (Opinion, Jan 6).
It is rude to laugh, or giggle, or smirk at people's mishaps. The right etiquette when you see people falling down potholes in the pavement is to do what is now the global norm: whip out your smartphone and take a video.
Somsak Pola
Taken for a ride
Apropos to the letter by Nina Gibson ("Broken taxi service", Jan 5), I could feel the pain her family went through.
Tour operators, taxi unions and the tourism department need to sit down to resolve this. Shoving it under the carpet will only harm the tourism industry.
Such indecent behaviour must stop, while foreign tourists who love Thai destinations, culture and hospitality ought to feel welcome.
Saikat Kumar Basu
Canada
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