An intellectual reawakening is a sine qua non for Thai Society.

A unified kingdom with a well-respected king, Smiling faces, polite, well-mannered and friendly people, fragrance of Thearavada Buddhism, age-old tradition, awesome places and bustling cities with a remarkable tourist influx and a strong economy are a handful of attributes of amazing Thailand which is most popularly known as the land of smile in South East Asia.

Thailand is said to be the only Southeast Asian country which has never been taken over by any European power. At present, it is seen that the tourism has been the main economic factor. Since Thailand is endowed with dazzling beaches, virgin forests, cascading waterfalls, wide variety of delicious food and drinks, comely ladies, traditional massage, night life, Thai Boxing, commercial activities, dive sites, hindered of islands, archaeological sites which are testimony to the ancient historical glory of the country, Museums, World heritage sites, of most of all caring and hospitable people, many tourists from the four corners of the world visit this exotic land in large numbers every day.

In this eassy I hope to talk about some crucial matters which hinder the intellcetuality of the majoirity Thai nationals. To begin with, I should like to deal with the Education in Thailand, which I think is an imporant issue in this discussion. Education is provided mainly by the government through the Ministry of Education. It is evident that Thai Education system is quite different from the other countries. It is divided into two major levels with 6 years of elementary/primary school (Prathomsuksa) and 6 years of high/secondary school (Mattayomsuksa). But after 2001, the Ministry altered the system into 'Children Centre,' and divided into four levels: the first three years in elementary school is the first level, the second level is the other half, the third level is the first three years in high school, and the last is the other half of high school. After each level, students need to pass the NET (National Educational Test)to graduate. Children are required only to attend six years of elementary school and at least the first three years of high school. But, if they have graduated the sixth year of high school, there are two important tests following: O-NET (Ordinary National Educational Test) and A-NET (Advanced National Educational Test). After graduating from high school, lots of students in the major cities like to continue their education in bachelor level, so they need to pass CUAS (Central University Admission System) which contains 50% of O-NET and A-NET results and the other half of the forth level GPA.
(Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/education_in_Thailand)

In this way the students enter universities and pursue their higher studies in their chosen majors.

When throwing light on the Thai society, it is apparent that many Thai nationals have no intellectual curiosity which to mind is one of the biggest drawbacks prevalent in their society. Nagavajara, C, A Thai professor (2007) points out the importance of education thus “ Only a solid education could awake the self-confidence of the people”. Why has this happened? There are a few major reasons which I hope to describe them in the next paragraphs.
As we are very well aware that reading plays a significant role in our academic as well as our normal day-to-day life. Thai nationals, as has been noted, do engage very little in this important task so that there are no avenues for them to become informed of the facts and facets which are significant to their intellectual development. Francis Bacon said, “ Reading makes a full man”. I do not claim that Thai nationals do not read. They always read. What most of them really read are cartoon books/fashion magazines (Especially girls), which provide them with some amusement. So how can cartoons or fashion magazines help them to develop their intellectual capacity is another issue. In addition to this, the present generation is mostly seen engaged in Internet chatting, going to Karaoke, playing Internet or video games that deprive them from their academic or any other important social activities. If you ask 10 university students what they do in their free time, you will get the responses from 9 students like these “ I play internet or video games”. “ I read cartoon books.” “I watch TV” (They mostly watch movies, dramas or football/basket ball/soccer matches) “I like sleeping”. I once met an undergraduate student who watches TV 10 hours a day. He said that he started watching at 6 pm and finished at 3 am while another student claimed that he was addicted to playing Internet games very much. As a result of this, he said his health too had deteriorated to a good degree and wanted to change that habit. This is what the one social stratum of Thai society displays. But this should not be regarded as a generalization.

What I have come to know is that their education system is basically based on rote memorization rather than analysis. Even at higher education, they do the same thing. This really is a great impediment for their creativity and analytical power which can be considered as important aspects of learning.
Another question which has been baffling my mind for a long time is concerning the lack of general interest in learning among the Thai university students. When compared with other south East Asian or Asian countries, Thai students are far behind in educational attainments than others. Although Thai students pursue their higher studies in a particular field, many do not like or want to do a job in the same field once they graduate from the university. This is evident among many students, whose majors are Arts, Management, Science and law except medical, nursing and dental. Many opt to do businesses. If a management student chooses to do business as his/her future career, it is not unreasonable. But if a law or biology student selects to do business as his/her future career; can we argue that it is a fair decision on the ground what they are expected to do for their own society in return for what they were given by it. This may be, to my mind, a waste of human resources when this is analyzed from the point of socio-economic view in one hand and on the other hand, I should say, it may negatively affect the future progress of individuals who have talents and capacities to attain higher educational goals on a broader perspectives, which is a sine quo non for any developing country in the world. Many foreign nationals have expressed their views from different angles concerning this issue. One Foreign national called Arthur who has submitted a very lengthy and explorative article about the role of Thai women to www.stickmanbangkok.com says, “Thais often fail to notice a driving force that would result in an accident or a potential future development that would result in a major problem in their life. They are, however, masters at the art of the superficial;”
In his article he talks many facts and facets about Thai life.
Once I met a Japanese music teacher who works in a school in the South of Thailand. We met at an informal gathering in a restaurant and I just inquired her as to how she learnt English. To my amazement, she recounted how she learnt English. I feel that it is worth recoding here for inquisitive readers’ information. She said that in Japan when a girl reaches 20 years, they hold a ceremony called “Seigin No Hi –Coming Age Day (January 8)” .
“It is for all the women who have just become legal adults (age 20), and most families buy a kimono for their daughter. The typical kimono is 300-400 thousand yen, but much more extravagant kimono can be even as high as a million yen each. It's one of the few times you will see anyone wear a kimono. When I was 20, although it was an important milestone in my life, I told my mother that I did not want a Kimono which was very expensive, instead I told her that I wanted to study English and asked her to spend that money for my English education. She agreed and then I went to a private institute and leant English.” When I heard this story, I was inclined to think the degree of her sacrifice to her future development. Can such a thing happen in Thai society? To what extent can Thai girls/boys sacrifice something important in their life for their education which leads to one’s future progress as the aforesaid Japanese teacher did? These are some of the questions which need answering genuinely.
Thai mentality appears to be very different from other Asian and western countries on several grounds. Since they are superficial, they never tend to look at a problem or any other crucial matter affecting their life in an analytical way. This is to be seen among many Thai women who naturally seek a dominance position both in family and society. This is, indeed, not a problem. They should be given equal status in the society. But sometimes this will lead to serious type of family disputes which will end in divorce. For Thailand, divorce is one of the serious social problems. We are aware that it affects to all levels of society in varied degrees especially to children who become emotionally affected. There are many causes in addition to the one specified above and I do not wish to examine them all here in this essay. But what we have found is that it has been difficult for a divorced woman to find someone to re-marry. As a result of this, they may suffer from financial and emotional problems which really is a deplorable situation. It is a pity that many divorced women, who are left with their children, make no stones unturned to find a foreign husband especially a white one who is very affluent. They usually seek the age range from 35, 40 or 50 to 80.
I give below a few examples to prove the above-mentioned fact. They have been extracted from an Internet dating site where they have published their profiles with pictures.
A girl of age 23 writes;
I want to meet a Male
with age from 18 to 80
and I want to meet for Friendship, Romance, Marriage or Other.
i want good guy
(Source: www.dateinasia.com)
A girl of age 19 has written this
I want to meet a Male
with age from 18 to 60
and I want to meet for Friendship, Romance, Marriage or Other.
i need somebody to can give me true love and don't lie to me and important i need my the first husband in future ,i need sincerely and anyone can make me happy.i don't care outside if you are ugly ,i care inside if you are nice and warm ....
(Source: www.dateinasia.com)
A girl of age 22 has published this
I want to meet a Male
with age from 18 to 80
and I want to meet for Friendship, Romance, Marriage or Other.
hi everybody in this world!! maybe u think what is happen to this girl,,, why she writes like this, i can telll u really , u will not be disappoint if you are my friend , u will be my best friend and maybe more. who can know about future in this world, this best thing we can do that is we do the best today for your happiness,...... let's know each other, it chalenges me to know YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Source: www.dateinasia.com)
The above are just a few examples. This kind of profile can be found in hundreds and hundreds in numbers if you surf in one Internet dating site that provides this kind of service. They are some of the living testimony to the Thai girls’ or ladies’ mentality, knowledge of life and the world as well as intellectuality.
Next, I shall pay my attention to another important aspect in Thai society. In any civilized society, media has a great responsibility in reforming or guiding its society on the right path. In so far as the role of Thai media in respect of the above matter is
Concerned, we cannot be contended by any means since it has utilized its full potentials to cater to the physical needs and comforts of the public rather than enriching or awakening their intellectualism or insight. Many TV channels telecast programs of comedies, Tele-dramas, films and sports except a very few which focuses on children, educational or social matters. These types of programs naturally drive rather crazy due to their inferior quality and length. But on another front, DMC, popularly known as Dhammakhaya satellite TV channel that telecast various types of Buddhist religious programs aimed at building up a good society is highly commendable while the Thailand leading English newspaper; Bangkok post deals with many issues of paramount importance ranging from politics to culture in Thai society.

Apart from the above two, I have not found any other electronic or print medium, ( I am fully ignorant of Radio services in Thailand) which contributes on national basis to a sustainable development of Thai nation.

In conclusion, permit me to say that Thailand has a well-respected monarchy, enormous potential, natural resources, manpower, wisdom and technical know-how so that it can rise not only as an economic but also an educational giant in the South East Asia in the near future if they are prepared to give priority to intellectuality rather than superficiality.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbasecamp.com

Arthur, Why I never married a Thai, Reader submission. Nagavajara, C (2007). On the power, powerlessness and omnipotence of language: From oral culture through written culture to media domination. A lecture delivered at “2007 Southern Thailand English Language Teaching/Cultural Change Conference” January 29-30, 2007. www.stickmanbangkok.com/reaader/reader www.thejapanfaq.com/celebratins.html

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