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Reflection on Thai National Curriculum

By Kalyakorn Naksompop
Written on December 24, 2009

Last week, I had the opportunity to learn some interesting information about Thai curriculum in comparison to California curriculum from my classmates. As listened to the information given by my classmates, it was impossible for me not to get personally involved, simply because I spent more than half of my school life in Thai education. It's always more difficult for "outsiders" to really criticize Thai education. I, however, believe that I have every right to do so. I am Thai who was born and raised in Thailand. I went through normal Thai schools until elementary, fortunately went to international school, then back to Thai government university. Literally, I am the product from this educational system.

Being in Thai schools is never rough (unless, of course, you have your own opinions and love to share them). Just need to lay low, be ordinary, only remember what you are taught, and do what you are told. For final exams, you need not to fear because it's all multiple choices. Just know what strategy to use when you have to guess for answers. After final exams, if you feel like throwing everything you learned in classes away, it is ok because you will not need it anymore. Well, at least, not until you have to start preparing for the big Entrance Exam, which is far yet to come.

That's basically how I got through my elementary (pratom) years.

Then, I went to international school for probably the most unexpected reason: my older sister was asked not to continue in high school because her grades were not "high enough". Despite what the school said, my father knew my sister is smart and believed that it was not her fault. He decided to put his daughters in another school where they can be educated with different system and curriculum, which he thought should be more "appropriate".

My sister took half a year studying English, finally got accepted as an ESL student, and was moved to regular class after one semester. Then, she became top of the class, tutored her friends after school, and graduated with an honor roll. Now? She's about to open her second restaurant in Los Angeles. So, she's certainly not stupid. Moreover, she's doing just fine.

You see. If the same girl failed in one school but turned out to be top in another school, there must be a problem somewhere.

For my part, it was not the same roller coaster ride. But thanks to my sister, I found myself having fun and eager to learn what is taught in class for the first time. I started to raise my hands and answer questions. I also learned to state my opinions and finally learned to develop the likes and dislikes for each class. That was a big step for me. Knowing likes and dislikes means you have learned about what you want. You then develop the motivation and passion for what you "like". Through this process, you are able to look back at yourself, find who you are and what you want in life. The key is to know how to think for yourself. This is probably the most valuable knowledge I ever received from a school.

Then, I went back to Thai education by applying myself to the most famous art university in Thailand and all the memories literally came back to haunt me. In high school, my works used to be about story telling and concepts. It's my nature when creating art pieces. I didn't have the best skills or techniques when first attended university, but I knew how to create stories through my works. That, however, did not seem to be what my teachers wanted. I remembered a class called "Composition". The first week, when all my friends did something quite similar to each other: concentrating on the lines and colors, I did something totally different: making two art pieces using concept "Life and Death". Loud and clear, my teacher said, "This is not the time to explore on concepts or stories yet. I want you to focus on improving all the basic skills first. Then, you can move on to conceptual stuffs later." So, that was what I did for two entire years: practicing my techniques and forgetting all about story development. I was finally allowed to start developing my own concepts and stories in the third year. Somehow, two years of not practicing ability to think really got to me. In the first few months, I stuck. I could not think the way I used to. Even when I learned to think again, my thoughts could not flow like the way it used to. As it turned out, my techniques were improved while my creativity was killed. Worth it? I don't know..

Nonetheless, what struck me more than the fact that I was not allow to think was to see how most of my friends struggled when it came to thinking, analyzing, or creating. Many times, when students were asked to write report and present the topic to the class, many of my friends did not know even know what to do with the topic. The thing is I don't believe that my friends are stupid. Looking at what they can do when they know how to do something, they are certainly some of the most creative people I ever met. What is the problem then?

To be clear, I am not trying to say that only international schools can offer best curriculum by any means. I am just trying to point out what it is that I saw having experienced in different school systems and curricula. With the stories I told you, don't you agree that there must be something wrong?

You see. As I was taught to question, to brainstorm, and to analyze, my friends were taught to shut, to listen, and to memorize. That is a big difference. I was taught and trained to think while my friends were taught to do what teachers tell them to. But once they moved to college level, teachers suddenly asked them to think by themselves. Yes, there are special people who may be able to jump from 1 to 10, but what about the rest?

I personally believe that people are born with the ability to think and be creative, but they must practice to use this ability under the appropriate environment. To be honest, I don't believe that what most classes in Thai schools provide is the appropriate environment, judging from what I saw and had been through. I also believe that the big part of the problem is the people resources. In other words, Thai educators are not able to pull out this ability in students. Well, that's what I used to think. Listening to some of the facts my friends presented, I found that maybe the root of the problem is not at teachers anymore, but is more likely to be at the system. Yes, teachers can be a little more supportive in students' ideas and opinions. However, we must remember that it was how they were taught when they were students. What they do in class reflect their belief, their culture, and their background. They act base on what they know.

Thus, the problem is not only the people, but it must be something bigger. Perhaps, it's the entire system that makes Thai education ineffective. For example, looking at Thai National Curriculum, it does not provide enough information for teachers in doing their job. Meaning, teachers are off to do whatever they want. What are the odds when teachers are not provided with enough details, guidelines, or criteria on what they are supposed to do? Well, some great teachers may use this opportunity to bring their curriculum to the level no one has ever reached before. Other good teachers may try to find out what should be taught and how, then create the curricula that are appropriate to their students as well as the instructions. What about the rest? Well, they can do whatever they want. There is no way anyone can judge whether they are doing good or bad since there's no criteria to base on. In other words, there is no guideline for anyone, either the teachers or the schools. Meaning, there is no standard nor system to control the content being taught as well as the capability of people who teach. Due to this fact, no matter how beautiful objective of Thai curriculum seems, it will never be effective. Besides the problem mentioned above, such lack of guidelines result in huge gaps between schools throughout the country. In the end, whom has the damage been done to? Well, who else but the students that we called "future of the nation".

THE SUN IS GREEN

A Reflection on Sir Ken Robin's TED Talk in June, 2006.
By Kalyakorn Naksompop
Written on December 16, 2009


Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

If I say the sun is green, what would you say?

Of course, if you have seen the sun, you would probably think I'm crazy because the sun is supposed to be red or yellow. But if you really look at it, you would probably see the same thing I'm seeing. It's not the sun that is green, but it is my imagination that made it green. It is not the fact, it's just a thought.

However, that is not the way we run the classrooms, isn't it? It is obvious that the education now is developed out of knowledge of today. We we made assumptions of how education should be using researches and philosophies, not to forget about traditions of the education. Nonetheless, what we found today will become history as soon as the sun sets, which basically means that we developed the system of education based on history and beliefs. Yet, what we are doing as educators is to prepare our students for the future. The future that is yet to come. The future that even we are uncertain of. The future where what is right today maybe wrong then. Who knows, the sun may really turn green tomorrow.

Thus, the question is, what knowledge do we have to pass on to our students?

Brutally, the answer is probably no, we don’t actually have any of today knowledge that we are sure to be relevant 30 years from now. Then, what is our job? What is our role as educators, particularly as teachers? Is teacher a lecturer? Is teacher an instructor? Is teacher a facilitator? Well, if we don't have absolute right knowledge to teach, what can we lecture them about?

In this case, being a facilitator seems to be a little more appropriate for our job description. The key is probably to facilitate the learning for learning. In other words, we should equip our students with foundation for their life as a whole, where learning can continue throughout life in a self-directed manner. “The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people,” Ayn Rand. Our job is to facilitate students to develop their motivation in learning as well as their abilities to process the learning.

As mentioned above that the task is to implant the facility for learning, what is it that we have to do to facilitate the learning? Allow students to develop the personal growth, perhaps? Yes, there is the system where we still have to provide information and facts from text books, but do you think we should also leave some room for students to be themselves, express their thoughts and play with it a little bit? Meanwhile, they may have time to look back at themselves, learn about who they are, know what they want, and would eventually learn by themselves that learning is one way to achieve their goal.

As reading this, some people may start to nod their heads as educators around the world are also starting to appreciate the thought of educating the whole child. Not only we have to focus on literacy, we also need to focus on creativity, as Sir Ken Robinson said, "creativity now is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status." Unfortunately, though many schools and teachers are aware of this fact, the accentuation of creativity is yet not widely practiced. In 1999, a report on the importance of promoting creativity and culture in schools were sent to English government. A year later, a response made by the government, agreeing with the report. Today, "there has certainly been cultural activity in schools but even the strongest champions of creative and cultural education would have to admit that the report - called All Our Futures - has not dominated schools policy" (Baker, 2009). This is just one example of how the idea is already out there but has not been practiced.

Now, a much simpler example. We sure do provide enough time for students to practice on reading, writing, calculating and all those, but do we leave enough space for students to practice their creativity in classrooms? Do we have enough room for them to think and practice their imagination?

I remember an art class I had in kindergarten. The teacher taught me to paint the sun with red, water with blue, and mountains with green. I don’t remember if anyone asked why, but we were told it is what is it. This is the simplest example of how we are taught to be so limited in our imagination. A lot of times, education does not leave room for the learners to see what “it” can be because they were told what it is or what it should be even before they can start thinking about it. I was told the sun is red even before I could think about what color the sun could be. Once information is given by someone you believe to know more, in many cases, you just assume that it is the fact. No more questions needed to be raised, no more thinking needed to be processed because the answer is already there for you.

But even if I really thought the sun was green, do you think I would dare not to paint the sun red? The funny thing is we often hear someone says, "everyone is born creative." Isn't that true? Don't you agree that children are always creative? They always find ways to be so imaginative. Is it possible that because they "know less"? Since children know less, they see less boundaries when it comes to thinking or imagination. We were probably used to be as creative and as imaginative when we were smaller. Somehow, through education, we were put into, as Robinson said, right-or-wrong system and all the capability of being creative just seemed to fade away as we became someone who's afraid of being wrong. "If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original" (Robinson, 2006). Nonetheless, that is how the education is until these days. We were told what is right and what is wrong. We were told the sun is red and the water is blue. What happens if you do the wrong things, you know that teacher can deduct your points and you would fail. And you if you keep on doing the wrong things, you would keep on failing and failing until you can become a failure. That is scary. It is always scary to be a failure. Then, it becomes a loop of not being able to think freely and be creative because you're afraid to fail. And what will happen to your creativity?

Well, if painting the sun green should make me be a failure, then I would always use red and only red.


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REFERENCES

Baker, M. (2009). Benefits of Creative Classrooms. In BBC News, One-Minute World News. Retrieved June 9, 2009 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8064306.stm

Naksompop, K. (2009). Personal Philosophy: Creativity, Individuality, and Reality, Reflection on Personal Growth. Graduate School of Education. Assumption University.

Robinson, K. Sir (2006). Ken Robinson Says School Kills Creativity. In TED, Ideas Worth Spreading. Retrieved December 14, 2009 from http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Schools Kill Creativity

Sir Ken Robin


Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Some valid points Sir Ken Robinson made about education. After all, educators are preparing students for the future that even themselves are uncertain of. What is important then? What kind of education do children need so that they can survive? What kind of knowledge should be taught?

The Dream Class

I was asked to describe the strategies hope to be practiced in a class (of my choice) in an illustration to answer a question in one of my final exams. I thought the question was a bit silly, but I love what I could come up with.


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Illustration by Kalyakorn Naksompop
Created in September, 2009

New Thinking for Education of the New Era

Over the past few decades, the world has changed dramatically due to the advance development of technology. This technological revolution is having a major impact world-wide. “It has increased competition within and between countries and has placed a high value on intellectual capital” (QCA, 2000). People of new generation must be able to keep in pace with the world that is moving rapidly towards a “hyper-individualized era” (Frey, 2007), where people value more of originality and individuality while pay less interests in products similar to those already existed. Hence:

“One of the defining features of contemporary life, and increasingly of the future, is the accelerated pace of change. The world never stands still. Its swift changeability has turned into a constituent feature of global historical development. Even in private life, change tends to oust continuity and stability. We have entered a transitional period marked not just by the calendar watershed but by a historical divide beyond which there lies a lot of uncertainty” (Kinelev, 1998)

As the change is occurring, all educators are confronted with “how to prepare youngsters so that they can survive and thrive in a world different from one ever known or even imagined before” (Gardner, 2006, p. 17.

With this being said, I personally believe that to educate is to provide the foundation for child’s personal growth as an individual in association with reality. To survive in the world that changes rapidly, one must be different and unique. He must have the ability to bring out the best of himself (individuality) and take it to the next level with creativity, but not to forget the truth of reality. Educators must help by facilitating children to develop these abilities at the cognitive level. Children must be educated with knowledge that doesn’t apply only in classrooms, but that is something they can relate to continually throughout life. Only in this case we can call education successful.


KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE
To prepare children for the changing world with diverse information, education should not provide students with only what they should learn now, but must equip them with foundation for one’s life as a whole, where learning can continue throughout life in a self-directed manner. “The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people,” Ayn Rand. Educators must facilitate the learners to develop their motivation in learning as well as their cognitive abilities to process the learning.

Through education, children should develop their understandings of why education is important and how can it relates to them now and in the future. These understandings are developed when the understanding of self is developed, or in Maslow’s terms, when self-actualization is developed. This is because, only then, one knows what he wants in life and is driven inwardly to seek for knowledge for he can succeed that goal. Thus, educators must as well prepare children with ability to process the knowledge by themselves. They must be taught to “know-why” and “know-how” (Morris, 2006) by knowing the ways to connect to information, to access that information, to evaluate and analyze, to think critically, and to find answers on their own.


INDIVIDUALITY
Though everything seems to change as the result of advancement in technology, one thing that has always been the same throughout time is how the society is diverse. Society is made up of different characters of human beings. Each human being is unique and original as for one behaves based on the image of self, out of intentionality and values (Kurtz, 2000). This is because human is an autonomous being (Huitt, 2001). Human is independent and has the ability to take responsibility of his own education (Porter, 2007). Educators, therefore, must help the learners to understand this fact and facilitate them for they are able to develop the personal growth as an individual.

How a person develops an individual growth associates with two factors. One is the child’s “innate capacity for growth as they strive to become all they can be” (Porter, 2007). Another is one’s experience from the outside in reflection from the inside. A child’s character has been determined since he was born, but starts to develop as he responds to environment experienced throughout life. It is purely within the abstract of the mind in reactions with the environment, as one gains perception towards each particular situation he goes through.

As for child’s uniqueness and individuality, educators need to understand and accept the fact that their students are different from one another. One method may suit a group of students while another may need a totally different approach. Moreover, since human is an independent autonomous being, students have the right to choose and would only choose to learn what they want to learn. Educators cannot force students, but must create motivations with a curriculum that would interest students and engage them to the lesson. Students then voluntarily involve in the class and are able to learn the concepts given to them. Teachers must keep in mind to be open and flexible.


REALITY
As mentioned in the previous section, an individual growth developed from innate (mind and perception) of a person in association with one’s reaction and response to the outer experience. Yet, “if one’s views are biased, one’s development won’t go in the right direction” (Liem, 2005). Thus, another important element should be emphasized in education is the understanding of reality. In reverse, reality itself is “the interaction of an individual with environment or experience” (Ornstein & Levine, 2006), which comprised of dependently originated phenomena (Wikipedia, 2009). People learn by reflecting these associations between themselves and the reality. To guide students towards good direction is, then, to “broader their perspectives, in a circumspect way – sincerely and correctly” (Liem, 2005).

In addition, humans are socialized animals that always interact with one another. The fact is humans are autonomous beings, who are living together within society, on a planet that spins on its own. Moreover, although humans are independent, the existence of lives and all things are dependent (Buddhist Philosophy, 2009). There is always a cause and consequence. Therefore, only the understanding of self is not enough. One needs to comprehend the reality of the world while learn to love oneself and embrace who he is as an individual as he respects others who are as well different and individual.


CREATIVITY
Creativity can be defined as the ability to create new and meaningful things with originality. It is a product of idea, action, or object that is new and valued, in which depends on the cultural context (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). Creative people are simply the ones who are able put ideas into a new perspective. In the past few decades, the importance of this ability has been widely discussed among the educational and psychological community (Wissink, 2001). This is probably because the advancement of technology has brought the crowd to realize that the world always moves forward. People of this changing world expect to always see something new and different. New generations are required to be more creative than ever that they must be free from chains of old thoughts and classic aesthetics. Nonetheless, this should not be a difficult task since every human is already different and unique. Hence:

“Creativity is possible in all areas of human activity, including the arts, sciences, at work at play and in all other areas of daily life. All people have creative abilities and we all have them differently. When individuals find their creative strengths, it can have an enormous impact on self-esteem and on overall achievement” (NACCCE, 2000).

Thus, education should play an important role in encouraging creativity which young people already have. New thoughts, ideas and options must strongly be exposed to students. Curriculum should allow students to explore. Students should be challenged to step out of the box and be different, but still stay true to who they are. “Serious creative achievement relies on knowledge, control of materials and command of ideas. Creative education involves a balance between teaching knowledge and skills, and encouraging innovation.” (NACCE, 2000).

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By Kalyakorn Naksompop
Written in August, 2009 as a part of the report "Personal Philosophy"

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