Published on June 27, 2005

Students will only benefit from an inter-disciplinary approach to teaching

The Education Ministry’s plan to reform Thailand’s age-old high school curriculum should be commended for its innovative vision, and receive full support from parents, teachers, students and all others concerned.

The proposed changes put forward by Education Minister Adisai Bodharamik are part of overall education reform promised by the government. The proposed changes to the high school curriculum are currently the subject of a feasibility study by the Bureau of Basic Education Policy and Planning, which is responsible for drafting regulation and implementation guidelines for the reform.

The most significant change included in the proposed reforms will put an end to the system of separating students according to their area of study. Thailand’s secondary education system currently divides high school students into two categories: arts and science majors. Students are not allowed to study courses outside of their chosen majors, which adhere to clearly defined curricula. Under the current system, a high school education consists of 40 per cent required courses and 60 per cent elective or specialised courses. Thai educators have long agreed that maintaining this division is necessary because students are either skilled in science or art, but rarely both. The division is thus thought to be in the students’ best interest, as students are spared the pain of having to take courses outside of their area of interest or aptitude.

For too long such limiting classifications have been forced upon students. Despite the firmly entrenched official opinion that all students tend to lack the skills necessary to study subjects outside the scope of their natural inclination and skills, it would be ridiculous to claim that exposing students to a wider range of material at school would affect the quality of their education.

In its current incarnation, the secondary school system produces students who lack an inter-disciplinary background.

As a result, we have no shortage of students who know every nook and cranny of such Byzantine disciplines as computer science, but who are completely tongue-tied when it comes to expressing themselves because they lack the sort of communication skills they might have been exposed to if they had followed the arts track. Meanwhile, we have arts students who are well-versed in poetry, but are completely disoriented by the fascinating world of science and technology.

The absence of any sort of inter-disciplinary approach to education explains why Thai academic life is so monochromatic – which influences the development of the students. Engineering students tend to be mechanical, and some of them can barely express themselves. English majors, meanwhile, have trouble solving basic maths problems.

The fact is, Thai students simply don’t know enough. And it’s not that difficult to see why. The country’s education system has never made much of an effort to expose students to areas of inquiry that might lie outside of their chosen educational focus.

What generally happens is that students are encouraged to concentrate on either science or the arts. High schools tend to devote their efforts to training either aspiring doctors and engineers or artists and linguists, overlooking the simple fact that such a restrictive approach deprives students of opportunities to learn things that are necessary for both their personal and professional development. What’s worse, such divisions create walls between high school students. Science students think of themselves as being superior to arts students, who are often accused of being weak in dealing with empirical concepts.

This system places early limits on what sort of job a given student can pursue. We’ve heard plenty of stories about engineering students who have decided to switch gears and start studying art halfway through their academic career. We’ve heard about doctors who are deeply dissatisfied with their work because, lacking any sort of sociological or economic training, they don’t like working with the poor.

In this way, the proposed changes to the high school curriculum put forward by the education minister promise to usher in a whole new era of learning. Students should find themselves with a lot more choices when it comes to preparing themselves to enter the world of work and higher education.

To that end, the education authorities must make sure that the new curriculum does not negatively affect students when it comes to entering university. With all the freedom to choose, students should also have access to advice that will help them pick classes that best prepare them for life after high school.

It will take all-round individuals who can bring together the best of both the arts and the sciences to propel innovation and increase the country’s competitiveness.

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