Unlike his kindergarten peers who learn how to write the alphabet and memorise their times tables, a typical school day for three-year-old Titus Deesaen consists of observing rice fields, moulding candles and folding blankets.
Ethical start: Panyaden School, Chiang Mai, is built from earth and bamboo, and organic vegetables and rice are grown on the school property. The school also treats its own waste water.
His mother Paweena Taweekitjaroenpaisal hasn’t always been a religious person — she only started to go to temples and read Buddhist books when she had her first child.
What she wanted, though, was an alternative education for her son; one with a lot less emphasis on academic achievement, so she has been sending Titus to a Buddhist-approach school in Bangkok since the age of two.
“I don’t believe in academics. Nowadays, 90% of what you learn at school is useless,” said Ms Paweena, who graduated from Thammasat University’s economics faculty and is now a housewife. “What is more useful is practical skills to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.”
Ms Paweena attends mandatory meditation retreats six times a year, provided by Thawsi School in Bangkok, which charges average tuition fees of 60,000 baht per semester for primary school students — roughly double the price of a normal private school education.
She is among the many parents who are riding the middle-class trend of sending their children to elite private Buddhist-approach schools, reflecting a desire to embrace a “slow living” way of life.
AN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
Before the first official schools were established by King Rama V in the 19th century, the only way for poor people to study was in schools found in Buddhist temples.
Driven by dhamma: Above, Paweena Taweekitjaroenpaisal wants her son Titus to have a stress-free education. Right, Phra Ajarn Jayasaro is an adviser to three Buddhist schools.
Then, Christian schools were considered an alternative approach, popular among wealthy parents who wanted their children to have good English skills and a Western-style education.
Now, it is a Buddhist education that offers an alternative.
“Parents send their children to Buddhist-approach schools because they feel they are good schools with a good reputation, rather than because they want a specifically Buddhist influence on their child,” said Phra Ajarn Jayasaro, a former abbot of Wat Pah Nana Chat in Ubon Ratchathani and adviser to three Buddhist schools — Thawsi School, established in 1990 in the heart of Ekamai in Bangkok, Panyaprateep, a secondary boarding school in Nakhon Ratchasima, and Panyaden in Chiang Mai. “It’s just the same as Buddhist parents sending their children to Christian schools.”
When he arrived in Thailand in 1978, the British monk noticed that although a vast majority of Thai people were still happy to call themselves Buddhists, their knowledge of Buddhist teachings was much lower than he had expected. One of the main causes, he said, was that most middle-class families who are sufficiently well off choose to send their children to Christian schools, or if they are wealthy maybe even to schools overseas.
Although few of those children convert to other religions, Phra Ajarn Jayasaro said they grow up without any real understanding of the essential teachings of Buddhism, on issues such as development and human potential.
“It seemed to me that this was a great shame and it meant that although the people in positions of power were conventionally Buddhists, their ideas and their values were often not very Buddhist at all,” he said.
Just as Phra Ajarn Jayasaro was reflecting on the predicament, Bupaswat Tachatatanun, founder and director of Thawsi, one of the pioneers of Buddhist-approach schools, was starting to feel dissatisfied with the kind of education she could give her children. She aspired to develop a better education system based on Buddhist principles.
This led to the establishment of the three schools, all of which use the same underlying principles. They are under the guidance of Phra Ajarn Jayasaro, who has veto power in decision-making. The monk has informal meetings with students every Wednesday morning at Panyaprateep, where he gives dhamma talks and meet teachers who have problems or questions.
DOWN TO EARTH
Before joining second grade at Panyaden School in the northern province of Chiang Mai, Preeya-orn Chundrapaoraya went to a private school with 50 students per class, where she was required to arrive before 7.50am. The heavy homework load stressed her out and she never wanted to get up in the morning.
Learning from nature: Above, Chutima Chundrapaoraya and her daughter. Right, Wallop Theerawechkul’s son at Panyaden School.
Her mother Chutima then decided to send her to Panyaden, a bilingual school with 63% foreigners and pupils who are half-Thai, and a tuition fee of 75,000 baht per semester.
On enrolment day, she was told the school’s ethos is not a focus on scholarship, but on a holistic education based on Buddhist principles integrated with a modern curriculum.
“They told me to go elsewhere if I wanted a school where first graders would be able to write their names,” she said.
Panyaden accepts children for kindergarten to Prathom 6, the equivalent of sixth grade, and each year level has only 25 students.
At school, Preeya-orn studies nature by observing leaves and raising snails.
“There are many ways to understand the value of the rice farmer. At Panyaden School, we prefer to find out for ourselves,” says a banner on the front page of the school’s website, which shows four students ploughing a paddy field.
The whole school is built from earth and bamboo, and organic vegetables and rice are grown on the school property. Waste water is treated and biogas produced.
“It answers my need for a school that teaches children moral and ethical behaviour, with a focus on living skills,” said Dr Chutima, an ear, nose and throat specialist at Lamphun Hospital who graduated from Chulalongkorn University. “I am not concerned about which university she will go to, because that’s something she will find out for herself when she reaches high school.”
WHEN THE SYSTEM FAILS
Ms Paweena, the mother of Titus, grew up with the attitude that achieving good grades meant being able to get anything she wanted from her parents. She was in the top five in her class and chose to study science during her secondary school days, even though she wasn’t sure if that was what she wanted.
After earning an economics degree at Thammasat, she admitted the things she learned in university and high school were not really put into use.
“My husband said I don’t have a lot of life skills because I was a nerd,” said the 36-year-old.
In order to set Titus on a different path, Ms Paweena is hoping that Thawsi will inspire her son to be intellectually prepared for society and also emotionally mature.
Parents wanting to enrol their children at Thawsi, Panyaprateep and Panyaden schools go through a rigorous interview process and must spend a lot of time in meditation retreats every year. When the children graduate they receive the same certification as their peers who have gone through the formal education system.
While there are things that you can’t put a Buddhist twist on (there is no such thing as a Buddhist maths or a Buddhist physics, for instance), and a lot of the curriculum is compulsory and determined by the Education Ministry, the schools incorporate Buddhism by trying to develop emotional intelligence and awareness, as well as an understanding of the way the mind works.
To cultivate self-motivation, for example, students are encouraged to work out how to deal with boredom.
“I think it’s ironic that in the West now there’s a huge interest in mindfulness and all kinds of programmes dealing with the problems that arise in traditional Western-style education, where children have behavioural and emotional problems,” said Phra Ajarn Jayasaro.
With so much emphasis on academics and getting a good job, he believes developing social and emotional skills and a love of learning is the most realistic preparation for the future.
“We’re assuming that all the kids we’re teaching right now are going to the work market,” he said. “But most of the things we learned at school in my generation were a waste of time, and it’s going to be the same for this generation.”
BUDDHIST ELITISM
Vichak Panich, a Buddhist scholar, sees the current trend towards such schools as a result of cultural secularisation, which has made the religion appear increasingly soft and down-to-earth.
Vichak Panich.
He said Thailand’s adoption of secularised spirituality is influenced by the Western taste for small class sizes, environmental mindfulness, creative activities, and inner peace and wisdom through a Buddhist approach.
“On the other hand, it might also reflect the ‘slow living’ lifestyle of the urban middle class who like to meditate, eat organic food, drive hybrid cars, plant their own rice, wear Muji clothes and want to live in clay houses,” he said.
“These parents want to extend that to their parenting and family life.”
Parents are also attracted by the moral aspect of Buddhist schools, with a focus on teaching children to “be good” and grateful to their parents. This dusting off of some conservative aspects of Thai culture, said Mr Vichak, is feeding into a new, modern definition of Thainess.
But while he praised the system’s progressive techniques, he also warned of potential downsides and questioned whether the schools can truly engage with society.
“These schools are using Buddhism to create their own branding but do little to raise awareness on social issues,” said Mr Vichak, who earned a master’s degree in Buddhist studies from Naropa University, a Buddhist-inspired liberal arts university in Colorado.
“Since it is a type of education reserved only for a group of people who follow the urban middle-class way of thinking, it is questionable whether they can help improve society.
“For instance, the school might take the students out for a trip to visit farmers at rice fields. But when grassroots farmers travel to Bangkok to protest, would the students understand why they are fighting for democracy?”
WHERE THE FUTURE LIES
Like many of the parents Spectrum interviewed, Chonticha Asavanich, a runner-up for Miss Thailand Universe 2009 and a news presenter for Channel 9, first became interested in alternative schooling when she considered a Waldorf education for her child.
But the Waldorf approach, which is based on the principles of anthroposophy, was too extreme for her liking.
Last month she decided to attend an open house session at Thawsi School, located near her home in Ekamai.
“I’m a Buddhist and I think the Buddhist way is good, whether that’s the principle of karma or living life in the present,” said Chonticha, 28.
She plans to enrol her 10-month-old son at Thawsi in the next two years before sending him to an international school for primary education.
Wallop Theerawechkul is another parent who sees flaws in the conventional education system, and decided to send his four-year-old son to Panyaden School at the beginning of the year.
“Thailand’s education system is extremely messed up. It is outdated, with a focus on memorising for exams as opposed to critical thinking,” he said. “Mainstream education does not teach life skills or morality.”
Dr Wallop is delighted the school does not have a grading system and does not require students to submit any homework. There are no exams, no competition. Towards the end of the semester, teachers discuss with parents the development of their children.
Before sending his son to the school, Dr Wallop was an ordinary Buddhist who went to the temple once in a while. But he has since become a huge fan of Phra Ajarn Jayasaro and his dhamma teachings.
“If my son wants to be a doctor, I want him to be a doctor not because of the money, but because he wants to help sick people,” he said.
Looking forward to the future, he hopes that private tutoring will help get his son into university if he really does want to become a doctor. But he didn’t rule out skipping university altogether.
“If my children end up in mainstream education, then it is bound to be rubbish,” said Dr Wallop, a dentist who practices in Chiang Mai.
“At the end of the day, they don’t actually have to go to university. Even Steve Jobs and Bill Gates didn’t have a bachelor’s degree.”
The Asavanich family.