Sotus Activities: Is It Time To Stop Old System Of Seniority , Tradition?

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CHALK TALK

Sotus activities: Is It time to stop old system of seniority , tradition?

By Chularat Saengpassa

FOR YEARS, SOTUS has been adopted in a large number of Thai universities. It stands for seniority, order, tradition, unity and spirit.

In the absolute term, the system, widely applied with first-year students, is aimed at |promoting these five goals.

By its name, the system - first introduced in Thailand by Kasetsart University - seems good, but like everything in this world, the true nature of the words fade and universities and students may need to jointly address associated problems.

Indeed for decades, freshies have cried foul over seniors' demands for strange things. Some were forced play games, and the games turned out to be deadly.

Others were under pressure to attend meetings after class, where they were "coached" on how to sing the universities' songs correctly and beautifully, plus hand-clapping styles.

Maha Sarakham University's Supachai Samappito said the SOTUS activities were designed to make first-year students able to sing the university's songs and anthems, plus feel a love for their institute.

"There is no violence," he said, "There are many nice things they do. It's just that those things have not been posted on Youtube".

He said it would be too bad if first-year |students or others complained about SOTUS activities.

But as happens every year when the school year begins, last week, a group of students at the Maha Sarakham University openly challenged the so-called SOTUS activities.

One of them carried a banner saying, "Staff, please stop acting like dictators".

A video clip posted on Youtube showed a staff member (a student arranging the activities) said, "If you don't understand about our institute, you still have time to go to another institute".

A fourth-year student at the Maha Sarakham University said he was not against using SOTUS activities for the purpose of teaching the freshies how to sing the university's anthems and other songs.

"It's just that the format should change. Senior students should speak to the younger |students nicely," he said.

He also supported the use of positive activities to foster a bond among students.

Complaints have rarely reached universities' top executives. Even if sometimes they do, the executives are prone to consider this an issue between freshies and seniors.

Why? The answer could be as simple as "It's a normal thing for seniors to exercise a capacity to earn freshies' respect and to achieve harmony among bullied freshies".

However, like many things in the world, SOTUS indeed needs a change for the sake of society.

At many companies, employees from different departments get to know new colleagues and their responsibilities through a volunteering session. Such could be adopted for university freshies as well. Aside from harmony, they could do something good for society.

For example, universities may encourage all student clubs to come up with do-good projects. A budget could be then allocated according to the scale of the project.

Perhaps, all freshies should be required to spend at least three days for the social projects. This should not trigger any opposition from parents because they know their children are going to do good things for the society.

Spending time together at a remote village would of course help students develop bonds and feel a pride in taking part in helping rural people. Indeed, this is a great way to produce graduates with good hearts.

On the other front, is coaching on cheer song themes unnecessary?

At Thammasat University, there is no such requirement, but nearly all students can sing all the themes and that is shown at the annual soccer match against Chulalongkorn University. One of my colleagues still can remember some songs 20 years after her graduation. Rebelling in nature, she said she might have forgotten all if she was ordered to sing the songs.

If SOTUS is really about developing a sense of harmony among freshies, it is time for the universities and senior students to find out if there is a better way to achieve the goal.

CHULARAT SAENGPASSA

-- The Nation 2011-06-13

[skybluestu]

I walk my dog every morning around 6am in the gardens at my local university and for the last 3-4 weeks they have been 'training' the new first year students, the same happened time last year. They are always there before I get there so must have to report around 5.30am and then, for at least the next 2-3 hours, are put through a bizarre type of training similar to army training.

They are made to stand in line in silence while older students inspect them and yell at them if anything is out of place, have to sing songs in unison, run laps of the garden and I've even seen them in, what can only be described as, stress positions!

It really is quite strange to see these young adults treated this way at an education facility and I would hate for my own daughter to have to go through this if she goes to university in Thailand. But she's only one so hopefully it won't still be going on in 18yrs, if it is then she'll definitely be studying overseas.