Buried in this trend piece on the Thai predilection for all things Führer is a suggestion from Varakorn Samakoses, the president of Dhurakij Pundit University in Bangkok and former deputy minister for education, for more history education for Thai students.
We at Coconuts are inclined to agree. Given the recent Hitler mural at Chulalongkorn University and the Hitler KFC non-scandal, it’s not unreasonable for the powers that be to consider re-prioritizing history education.
“Kids are much more interested in the present and the future, they are not taught to appreciate or take seriously what happened in the past,” Varakorn told the Christian Science Monitor.
Well, that is interesting.
Varakorn went on to add that because Thailand avoided much of the hardships suffered by other countries during World War II and under colonial rule, people find it harder to relate to stories of genocide and chaos.
“Even teachers are ignorant of these issues,” he said. “This is something that should change. History should be one of the most important parts of the syllabus. [Children] should know what goes on because history always repeats itself.”
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