Thai historians suggest changes to history book

[northernjohn]

And people wonder why students emerge from the Thai education system so woefully uneducated about the history of their own country and how it has been governed in past decades, including the various major events that have influenced both. Obviously better to focus on the special role of Thainess and the central position Thailand has in the history of the world .

if I applied this guy's same 50-years past rule for the history of the U.S., we wouldn't be teaching about: the U.S. civil rights movement, the Vietnam war, Nixon's scandal and resignation, the Iran hostage crisis, the Arab oil embargo, the World Trade Center attacks, Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the "war" on terrorism, etc etc. After all, why would any students need to learn about any of those silly kinds of things.

Agreed 50 years is ridicules. As for the way it is taught in the United States it does not mention the killing of millions of Native Americans to steal their land. It does not mention the invasion of Vietnam or the number of landmines planted in Laos for no good reason.

I don't know what the English teach but I doubt very much that it teaches about their attempt at raping any country they could conquer. And on it goes in any country.

I am all for rewriting the history books to include the facts in all countries but nothing in them about things that are still going on. The time period would be different for each country

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Agreed 50 years is ridicules. As for the way it is taught in the United States it does not mention the killing of millions of Native Americans to steal their land. It does not mention the invasion of Vietnam or the number of landmines planted in Laos for no good reason.

I have no idea where you get your wrong-headed ideas about what is and isn't taught in U.S. schools.

I was educated in the U.S. and later worked at a major U.S. university. And I certainly was taught during my student years -- and in later years the students at my university were taught -- about the history of Native Americans and the Vietnam War and all kinds of other unpleasant historical facts re the U.S.

Heck, some of the history instructors who I worked with at my university campus were, in their younger days, leaders in the anti Vietnam war, black and Hispanic civil rights movements, so you can darn well bet they held nothing back when teaching their students in the current era about that past episode of history.

The fact that 1960s student "radicals" and protest leaders could go on to become tenured professors at a major public university should tell you something about the U.S. higher education system at large. It's not without its warts, but it's worlds away better and more academically free and impartial than anything available here.

That's what happens when you have a reasonably free educational system, as opposed to the one here where the government seemingly dictates what one history textbook will be used and what content it will and won't include.

PS - BTW, I'm not a historian or history teacher, but I have spent a lot of time with them over the years. And re the Thai OP guy's comment about not teaching anything of the past 50 years, I believe history teachers might tell us that it can TAKE up to 50 years before a full and accurate history of real events can emerge. History is an evolving process as new facts and understandings emerge over time. But that's a whole different notion from taking the posture that history shouldn't try to teach about anything that's happened in the past 50 years. That's crazy.

Edited December 5, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[puukao]

I went to school in America, and we certainly never talked about native americans or vietnam. usually just justin bieber and the kardashians. tet offensive in 1968 was not discussed, nor cambodia post vietnam or smallpox for the indians. once i asked about the tunnels and 1975 and boat people and laos bombing from 1964 to 1973 and the teacher said, "we won't talk about that!!!" president johnson was never discussed..

man, i wish i learned about those things.....

lol

[LannaGuy]

History 'Thai style' = we conquered the world and were never colonized because of the Guardian Spirits

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I went to school in America, and we certainly never talked about native americans or vietnam. usually just justin bieber and the kardashians. tet offensive in 1968 was not discussed, nor cambodia post vietnam or smallpox for the indians. once i asked about the tunnels and 1975 and boat people and laos bombing from 1964 to 1973 and the teacher said, "we won't talk about that!!!" president johnson was never discussed..

You went to school in the U.S. and you had a college history teacher who spent time talking about Justin Bieber and the Kardashians in your history class? Really? Or that's what YOU talked about?

Just curious: How old are you (approx.) and what years were you a student in the U.S. I ask, because, Bieber only had his first album and became a public figure starting about six years ago in 2009.

Edited December 6, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK