All three of my children attend Bangkok Patana International School. So I would like to declare my bias upfront.
Bangkok Patana is a fantastic international school. What a superb organisation, blessed with a long roster of highly qualified teachers and staff, all dedicated to providing our children with a first-class education.
On behalf of the parents, I think I can say we are all eternally grateful. Last week, however, I was even more impressed when my son's Year 4 class teachers, Miss Miriam and Miss Paula, "summoned" my wife and I to listen to our son speak about his own progress at school. In that meeting, I was handed a sheet of paper which was labelled "Critical Thinking", and was told that it was imperative to the school that students learn to develop this ability as soon as possible. Hallelujah! The teachers were preaching to the choir, because in my opinion, the most valuable gift any parent can give to their child, is the ability to think critically, which will hopefully lead to independent thought.
But after reviewing Thailand's test results in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), visiting some rural Thai schools and reading Gen Prayut's 12 Principles textbooks, which will be disseminated to all state schools, it is my belief that for the past 50 years successive governments have disgracefully left millions of our children behind in a ramshackle educational system designed to bore the hell out of them.
This is obviously a sinister attempt to create impressionable, programmable, pliable, vacant and obedient young minds that can easily be told what to think, instead of how to think. Every Thai government has failed to educate our children; they have always tried to indoctrinate them. The indoctrination of children and denying them the freedom to think critically is wholly irresponsible, and in my view, tantamount to child abuse and it must be stopped. This is why I think the argument by the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) and members of the Bangkok elite against real democracy and universal suffrage is totally disingenuous. Their stance basically rests on the notion that real democracy can't be applied to rural communities, because a democracy requires an informed citizenry to function properly, and communities outside of Bangkok have simply not been educated yet.
No argument from me on that basis at all. An informed citizenry is essential for a thriving democracy. But the privileged class keep harping on about how unprepared the huddled masses are for democracy, but what have we done in the last 50 years to educate them? Absolutely nothing! It's tragic. Don't take my word for it, look at the latest OECD-sanctioned Pisa educational attainment test results. First of all they show huge disparities between Bangkok and other parts of the country in the areas of maths, science and reading. They also indicate that internationally, Thailand is way behind OECD averages. But most shocking of all, our average scores are all behind Vietnam, a mere developing country, compared to our status as a newly industrialised one.
Thai culture has an unhealthy obsession with producing subservient children, blindly obedient to the will of senior members of society. It is my hypothesis that this obsession is the probable cause for Thailand's inability to produce creative minds for the economy of the future and quality leaders required in all walks of life. Of course, teach children the value of respect, that's vital. But we should also teach them to have the courage to express themselves, otherwise we will be a nation of sheep without having produced enough shepherds.
Look at how sport teaches respect while preparing kids to lead. The US Masters golf tournament in the first day of play places the reigning Masters champion in the same group as the reigning US Amateur Champion. What message does this send?
The message is that kids of today should be empowered and their abilities recognised because they are the leaders of tomorrow.
During Scotland's referendum on the question of independence, the voting age was reduced from 18 to 16. What does this mean? It means Scotland thinks that on issues that will fundamentally affect the lives of future generations, they too should have their say.
In the United Kingdom as part of Ed Miliband's general election campaign, the leader of the Labour Party recently appeared on a BBC political programme called Free Speech, where he was mercilessly grilled for an hour by a bunch of young inquisitive voters.
But who will this benefit? It will benefit all of us, because it will create a culture where in return for respect, senior members of society, and even those running for prime minister, have to be accountable to the younger generations in our country.
Let's stop this nonsense. If the argument against democracy is lack of education, then let's educate them. Instead of using Section 44 to fix airline safety or land encroachment, why not do something for the future of our forsaken children?
Gen Prayut should abandon indoctrination and instead come up with a plan backed by legislation to revamp Thailand's education system by 2030 and order all political parties and the bureaucracy to sign on to this monumental national commitment.
After all, a Bangkok Patana education shouldn't just be available to rich people or to those living in Bangkok, it should be available to all Thai children.
Songkran Grachangnetara is an entrepreneur. He graduated from The London School of Economics and Columbia University. He can be reached on Twitter: @SongkranTalk