Do cambodian kids learn the true horror of their recent history or something else?

 

sorry if this question asked before, if so, please redirect me, but i googled the question and didn't really see an answer

Its not the Asian way to focus on history, even recent history.  I imagine the Cambodians are much like the Thais, they know little to nothing of what happened in their past and they are not  taught anything that is widening their appreciation of the world around them, world history, world geography, basic general sciences.  What they may hear about that era will be from Grandparents and relatives, if at all. Same in Vietnam.  If teachers touch on history of that country, it is biased and distorted, as befits a communist run country. 

Cambodia has one of the lowest average ages of its people of any country in the world. Only a small minority lived through the Khmer Rouge days and are around to remember or talk about it.

When I first went to Phnom Penh, I visited the S21 museum, a school converted to a savage place of torture, interrogation and death. I came away shaken and was unable to face going to the killing fields to view any more.

The current Government have a lot more in common with their predecessors than many know, in their oppression of those who don't see things their way.

I don't know what the kids are taught at school there, but there were plenty of locals visiting S21 the same day I did, many of whom left in tears, so I don't believe that there is any deliberate denial of their previous history.

A word of advice for any who consider visiting either S21 or the killing fields is to brace yourself before going, because the horror of what humanity is capable of, is shocking.

My Cambodian "grandkids" (ages 9 and 13) tell me they were not taught anything about Pol Pot or for that matter any part of modern Cambodian history. Not the colonial era, independence, the Sihanouk era, the war etc etc...none if it.

 

They know only from their grandparents.

 

I believe the issue is inability to agree on an "official version" of modern events.

 

It is not lack of intetest in history per se, Cambodians put great emphasis on their more ancient history and that is taught in (excruciatingly dull, per my grandson) detail.

 

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