WEBVTT 00:00:11.237 --> 00:00:15.298 I'd like to share with you my experience 00:00:15.298 --> 00:00:17.980 about education. 00:00:19.698 --> 00:00:22.378 It may be different from what many of you may expect. 00:00:23.436 --> 00:00:25.764 I once though like everybody else that 00:00:25.764 --> 00:00:29.223 education makes our lives better; 00:00:29.223 --> 00:00:31.923 Education leads our lives 00:00:31.953 --> 00:00:34.443 to succeed. 00:00:35.115 --> 00:00:38.035 I once had that idea and tired hard 00:00:38.035 --> 00:00:40.725 for advancement 00:00:40.835 --> 00:00:43.442 by learning as much as I can. 00:00:44.882 --> 00:00:47.492 However, with I discovered is just the opposite. 00:00:48.995 --> 00:00:50.835 My classmates, 00:00:50.835 --> 00:00:53.855 60 of them whom I had gone to school with. 00:00:54.388 --> 00:00:56.588 The brightest one of our class 00:00:56.588 --> 00:00:59.488 is now a government official who has lots of debt. 00:00:59.866 --> 00:01:05.196 For many of them, their parents had to sell a whole herd of buffaloes 00:01:05.196 --> 00:01:10.082 to get money for their tuition fee. 00:01:10.302 --> 00:01:13.272 Some sold their farm and got big debt. 00:01:13.300 --> 00:01:17.480 Their kids, once graduated, couldn't even find a job 00:01:18.940 --> 00:01:22.480 and got money to recover their parents' farmland. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:26.480 They are unskilled workers 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:30.480 who continue to work untill they ache their bones. 00:01:32.029 --> 00:01:36.029 It make me realized that education for poor 00:01:36.029 --> 00:01:41.309 is like a gamble, especially now. 00:01:41.309 --> 00:01:45.910 I have seen them working so hard, 00:01:45.940 --> 00:01:47.890 spending more than 10 years of their lives, 00:01:47.890 --> 00:01:53.960 to get their kids' tuition fee covered. 00:01:53.960 --> 00:01:59.290 But their graduated kids can't get any job, 00:01:59.310 --> 00:02:02.640 or only get an odd job. 00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:10.825 From the poor people's point of view, 00:02:10.922 --> 00:02:12.935 education tortures us a lot. 00:02:15.935 --> 00:02:18.935 We study alot 00:02:19.255 --> 00:02:22.115 but what we need in lives is not what we have studied. 00:02:22.115 --> 00:02:25.895 Why should we waste so much time, 00:02:25.895 --> 00:02:28.925 about 20 years of our lives, and so much of money, 00:02:28.925 --> 00:02:31.545 to study something we're not going to use? 00:02:32.795 --> 00:02:36.405 I remember that I hate maths so much 00:02:36.405 --> 00:02:39.835 but I tried to understand Sin, Cos, Tan; 00:02:39.835 --> 00:02:43.365 pi radius squared, and so on. 00:02:43.365 --> 00:02:47.705 Today, I still don't know anyone who finding the square root in everyday life. 00:02:47.835 --> 00:02:54.565 (Applause) 00:02:54.565 --> 00:02:57.845 Many of my classmates had been studying English 00:02:57.905 --> 00:03:00.915 since they were in primary school until they were in college. 00:03:02.775 --> 00:03:05.335 Out of that 60, none of them're able to speak English. 00:03:05.335 --> 00:03:09.775 There's only me who can manage it poorly. 00:03:09.775 --> 00:03:12.125 How could they? Since our teacher barely can? 00:03:12.125 --> 00:03:14.673 So why should we study? 00:03:14.673 --> 00:03:21.475 Why should we waste our precious time, the time of our precious lives? 00:03:21.475 --> 00:03:26.735 Every minute counts, 00:03:26.735 --> 00:03:31.395 but we wasted it shamefully. 00:03:31.395 --> 00:03:34.345 When I have child of my own, 00:03:34.345 --> 00:03:37.820 I started thinking more about education. 00:03:37.820 --> 00:03:39.362 What the education really is? 00:03:41.792 --> 00:03:44.792 I have learnt that there are two things 00:03:44.792 --> 00:03:49.248 that education takes away from our lives. 00:03:49.248 --> 00:03:50.209 First, love. 00:03:52.919 --> 00:03:55.139 Love starts when we are close, 00:03:55.139 --> 00:03:57.578 bonded, and share. 00:04:01.398 --> 00:04:07.486 But when we go to school, 00:04:09.936 --> 00:04:11.997 love has gone. 00:04:11.997 --> 00:04:15.217 Because the bound is broken. 00:04:16.397 --> 00:04:20.446 Do you remember the saddest day in your life? 00:04:20.616 --> 00:04:23.889 It is the day your parents send you to school for the first time. 00:04:23.889 --> 00:04:25.937 Yes, it is. 00:04:28.687 --> 00:04:31.525 Why do we plan the start of a child's life with sadness? 00:04:31.525 --> 00:04:35.513 Since this world has so much fun. 00:04:35.513 --> 00:04:38.051 We can make things fun. 00:04:38.051 --> 00:04:41.504 But we force our child to be sad since the first day. 00:04:41.504 --> 00:04:43.971 Why do we put them in pressure, 00:04:43.971 --> 00:04:45.907 and study things they don't want to. 00:04:48.327 --> 00:04:51.644 When I was young, 00:04:51.644 --> 00:04:56.704 communism had been introduced into Cambodia, Laos, and Vietman. 00:04:56.704 --> 00:05:00.581 The rumors went something like: If we were communist state, 00:05:00.581 --> 00:05:05.101 kids would be brain-washed; 00:05:05.101 --> 00:05:09.686 adults would be forced to be a labor; 00:05:09.686 --> 00:05:15.896 and our parents would allow to eat only a cup of rice per day. 00:05:15.896 --> 00:05:18.820 I was terrified. I cried alone very often. 00:05:18.820 --> 00:05:21.666 Every time when I though of it, I cried. Why? 00:05:21.666 --> 00:05:25.666 Because I love my parents so much. I don't want to be apart from them. 00:05:25.666 --> 00:05:30.874 But today, what scares me the most 00:05:30.874 --> 00:05:33.254 is normal event in everyone's life. 00:05:37.244 --> 00:05:39.737 I don't understand. 00:05:39.737 --> 00:05:42.395 Why thing that I used to scared becomes normal. 00:05:42.435 --> 00:05:44.315 Why we separate child from parents? 00:05:46.535 --> 00:05:50.163 Love is not only an instinct. 00:05:50.533 --> 00:05:54.880 It is a legacy of life that has been developed 00:05:54.880 --> 00:05:58.606 and passed on through generations. 00:05:58.606 --> 00:06:01.459 But now, we stop passing on that legacy, 00:06:01.459 --> 00:06:04.879 to our children. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:07.998 We separate them from us 00:06:07.998 --> 00:06:09.987 to avoid bounding, 00:06:09.987 --> 00:06:13.121 to be independent, 00:06:13.121 --> 00:06:17.001 and then we're all alone. 00:06:17.001 --> 00:06:20.019 This is the first thing that I think it's taken from our life 00:06:20.019 --> 00:06:21.706 by education. 00:06:21.706 --> 00:06:25.876 Secondly, creativity. 00:06:25.876 --> 00:06:29.240 Creativity is something that popup during your lifetime, 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:31.945 especially when you're under 10 years old. 00:06:31.945 --> 00:06:35.841 This is the period that the brain is free. 00:06:35.841 --> 00:06:39.489 Children start to develop their creativity 00:06:39.489 --> 00:06:44.264 by playing with sand, dirt, leaves, and sticks, 00:06:44.264 --> 00:06:47.119 creating them into various sorts of things. 00:06:47.119 --> 00:06:51.999 That's the development of great creativity. 00:06:51.999 --> 00:06:55.025 When we grow old, we have less creativity 00:06:55.025 --> 00:06:57.502 because our brain is filled with information. 00:06:57.502 --> 00:07:01.502 So we are more imitating 00:07:01.502 --> 00:07:05.689 or following other people's thought. 00:07:05.689 --> 00:07:07.529 See our Thailand for example, 00:07:07.529 --> 00:07:10.241 when we want to develop something; election, democracy, 00:07:10.241 --> 00:07:13.451 government official, politician, you name it, 00:07:13.451 --> 00:07:17.240 we have to study it from other countries. 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:22.557 Why?! (Applause) 00:07:22.557 --> 00:07:25.126 Copy them, follow them, 00:07:25.126 --> 00:07:28.255 because we can't think by ourselves. 00:07:28.255 --> 00:07:32.545 Because we haven't trained to have creativity. 00:07:32.545 --> 00:07:36.595 Children can do that when they are not older than 10 years old. 00:07:36.595 --> 00:07:40.595 So, at this age, they shouldn't study. 00:07:40.595 --> 00:07:43.651 They should have fun, play, and feel the happiness; 00:07:43.651 --> 00:07:46.082 feel the freedom; 00:07:46.102 --> 00:07:49.054 feel the creativity; feel that they can do anything. 00:07:52.405 --> 00:07:53.914 That's the most important. 00:07:53.914 --> 00:08:01.191 But we send our 3-year-old children to preschool, 00:08:01.191 --> 00:08:04.061 force them to go to tutor school, taking a lot of courses, 00:08:04.061 --> 00:08:06.892 carrying a schoolbag heavier than ours. 00:08:06.892 --> 00:08:10.711 We put them in great pressure 00:08:10.711 --> 00:08:14.008 from their very earlier day. 00:08:14.008 --> 00:08:20.373 They wither before they yet to bloom. Why we're so cruel to our kids? 00:08:20.373 --> 00:08:25.583 Will they become smarter, if they study more? 00:08:25.583 --> 00:08:28.683 Look! There are so many universities in our country. 00:08:28.683 --> 00:08:31.601 There are so many graduates. 00:08:31.601 --> 00:08:35.441 But today, flooding in Bangkok becomes a major problem. 00:08:35.441 --> 00:08:38.206 Flooding used to be normal, 00:08:38.206 --> 00:08:41.976 but now, it becomes a problem; 00:08:41.976 --> 00:08:45.636 Clean water is in short supply, and people need to buy bottles of water. 00:08:45.636 --> 00:08:49.151 This is a mentally crisis, an educational crisis, 00:08:49.151 --> 00:08:51.948 that we can't resolve. 00:08:51.948 --> 00:08:53.970 We study just to make normal thing 00:08:53.970 --> 00:09:04.039 turns into problem. (Applause) 00:09:08.889 --> 00:09:15.559 When children can't use their creativity, they got stress. 00:09:15.649 --> 00:09:21.142 Then they get use to that 00:09:21.142 --> 00:09:24.079 and grow up to be a stressful adults; 00:09:24.079 --> 00:09:26.049 Life is like this. 00:09:26.330 --> 00:09:29.675 I'm born to work, to get paid, to pay, and that's it. Nothing more. 00:09:29.675 --> 00:09:32.788 They don't think much 00:09:32.788 --> 00:09:35.568 because the school has several main purposes these days; 00:09:35.568 --> 00:09:37.976 Train them to be obedient, conformable, 00:09:37.976 --> 00:09:45.931 and stay in the bordered line. That's all. (Applause) 00:09:45.931 --> 00:09:49.561 How? Everyone wear the same clothes, 00:09:49.561 --> 00:09:53.431 have the same haircut, the same answer for the same question. 00:09:53.431 --> 00:09:56.049 No thinking! There're only 4 choices; 00:09:56.049 --> 00:10:04.289 A, B, C and D. No thinking! (applause) 00:10:04.289 --> 00:10:06.500 After school, we don't know how to think. 00:10:06.500 --> 00:10:09.517 So we can only obey and conform. 00:10:09.517 --> 00:10:11.773 This becomes a social problem 00:10:11.773 --> 00:10:14.374 Graduates have knowledge, but no job. 00:10:14.374 --> 00:10:18.004 How can that be possible? 00:10:18.004 --> 00:10:21.363 Is that means that what we study is nonsense and useless? 00:10:21.363 --> 00:10:24.825 Look at everything we have studied. Everything is so far away from us; 00:10:24.825 --> 00:10:27.094 the earth, the moon, 00:10:27.094 --> 00:10:30.495 the president of that country, 00:10:30.495 --> 00:10:32.992 granite, lignite, and other kinds of rocks. 00:10:32.992 --> 00:10:37.735 But we haven't learnt anything about ourselves. 00:10:37.735 --> 00:10:40.483 We don't know how to make fire or how to cook. 00:10:40.483 --> 00:10:43.450 We have no idea which plant is edible. 00:10:43.450 --> 00:10:46.226 When we are sick, we can't do anything but see a doctor, 00:10:46.226 --> 00:10:47.946 who is very busy, by the way. 00:10:47.946 --> 00:10:50.745 We can get sick; It's normal. 00:10:50.795 --> 00:10:54.936 Why didn't we have taught how to take care of ourselves? 00:10:56.296 --> 00:10:59.419 Anything that relate to ourselves, we haven't learnt about it. 00:10:59.419 --> 00:11:02.858 We studied about radioactive, uranium, 00:11:02.858 --> 00:11:04.704 but we hardly know anything about MSG 00:11:04.704 --> 00:11:12.912 that we are taking daily. (Applause) 00:11:12.912 --> 00:11:15.697 This makes me feel 00:11:15.697 --> 00:11:18.261 that the education system is causing a great damage 00:11:18.261 --> 00:11:22.261 in many people's lives. 00:11:22.261 --> 00:11:28.361 Many people lost the opportunity grudgingly. 00:11:28.361 --> 00:11:31.761 This makes me think very much of child. 00:11:31.761 --> 00:11:36.901 My child who is coming to this world; I don't want him or her to be like others. 00:11:36.901 --> 00:11:38.679 When I see kids go to school - 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:43.389 Watching them walking into the school 00:11:43.389 --> 00:11:47.389 makes me feel like they are walking into the factory, 00:11:48.679 --> 00:11:54.459 to be processed into industrial products 00:11:54.459 --> 00:11:58.459 which have sames good standard per industrial aspect. 00:12:01.291 --> 00:12:05.291 So for my own child, 00:12:05.291 --> 00:12:08.399 I think the most important things to be educated about, at least, 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:10.788 is the ability to take care of ourselves, 00:12:10.788 --> 00:12:14.788 to manage for 4 necessary living factors; Food, shelter, 00:12:14.788 --> 00:12:17.698 necessities, and medicament. 00:12:17.698 --> 00:12:20.651 This is the core life lesson that we need to learn. 00:12:20.651 --> 00:12:24.166 If we have a good foundation, we are ensured and will not be scared. 00:12:24.166 --> 00:12:27.193 We can live our lives proudly. 00:12:27.193 --> 00:12:31.032 But the education system has cut this out. 00:12:31.032 --> 00:12:34.801 No one have learnt these 4 necessary factors. 00:12:34.801 --> 00:12:37.163 So, we're so scared, when we're graduated. 00:12:37.163 --> 00:12:39.574 We all feel that we haven't learnt anything. 00:12:39.574 --> 00:12:42.610 We know nothing, aren't we? 00:12:42.610 --> 00:12:45.883 And we are so aimless. 00:12:45.883 --> 00:12:48.048 When you feel so insecure, so afraid, 00:12:48.048 --> 00:12:51.576 you will desperately seek for security. 00:12:51.576 --> 00:12:55.030 You will need money. 00:12:55.030 --> 00:12:58.341 So you're going to work hard, 00:12:58.581 --> 00:13:01.579 spending all your life working. 00:13:01.579 --> 00:13:07.039 So when I have my own child, I think of alternative education. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:10.609 In Thailand, you can have home education. So we choose to homeschool. 00:13:10.609 --> 00:13:14.929 The process is quite straightforward. 00:13:14.929 --> 00:13:18.251 You need to contact local education authority, 00:13:18.251 --> 00:13:20.676 develop curriculum, 00:13:20.676 --> 00:13:23.992 submit it, and then you can start teaching once it's approved. 00:13:24.094 --> 00:13:27.537 To please The Ministry of Education, 00:13:27.537 --> 00:13:34.577 create the curriculum in anyway you wish. (Applause) 00:13:35.365 --> 00:13:40.095 But we can teach differently, like I teach my kid. 00:13:40.095 --> 00:13:45.995 I show him how to plant vegetable. 00:13:45.995 --> 00:13:48.583 Preparing a garden plot teaches him maths, sciences, 00:13:48.583 --> 00:13:50.513 as well as, vocation, and technology. 00:13:51.606 --> 00:13:54.817 I spend several hours a day teaching 00:13:54.817 --> 00:13:56.947 mainly on Thai and English languages, 00:13:56.947 --> 00:13:59.363 and maths. 00:13:59.363 --> 00:14:01.443 Apart from that, it's all in his daily life. 00:14:01.443 --> 00:14:03.397 I don't need to teach him at all. 00:14:03.397 --> 00:14:04.857 He can manage by himself. 00:14:06.713 --> 00:14:10.303 My son is 9 years old. He has his own house. 00:14:11.207 --> 00:14:17.377 He builds it by himself. (Applause) 00:14:19.741 --> 00:14:21.681 I remember that since he was born 00:14:21.681 --> 00:14:23.981 I gave him less than 10 pieces of toys. 00:14:25.081 --> 00:14:26.658 He hardly wants toys 00:14:26.658 --> 00:14:29.378 because he can find something to play with in the garden. 00:14:29.378 --> 00:14:32.013 If he wants to buy something, he can earn money himself. 00:14:32.013 --> 00:14:34.893 He used to do baking sale to get money for his LEGO. 00:14:34.893 --> 00:14:38.303 He used to make a flashlight from old phone battery, 00:14:39.055 --> 00:14:41.615 then sold it for 150 Baht. 00:14:42.508 --> 00:14:46.508 This is what he do. 00:14:47.545 --> 00:14:50.285 And I hardly need to pay him anything. 00:14:50.564 --> 00:14:52.397 I think it's very convenient. 00:14:52.423 --> 00:14:56.003 And I can see that my 11-year-old child 00:14:56.013 --> 00:14:58.884 can manage to learn by himself. 00:14:58.884 --> 00:15:02.144 He started to design his own house. He can do many things himself. 00:15:02.144 --> 00:15:04.747 And I think this is so interesting. 00:15:06.591 --> 00:15:09.501 We mainly teach him about 4 factors necessary of living. 00:15:09.911 --> 00:15:12.754 Let him take care of himself, for if he can do that 00:15:12.754 --> 00:15:15.335 parent like me can die in peace. 00:15:16.605 --> 00:15:20.548 He can survive. (Applause) 00:15:22.802 --> 00:15:26.972 We have many example. 00:15:26.972 --> 00:15:29.402 Here's our friend, Tonkla. 00:15:29.402 --> 00:15:32.722 Tonkla is 13 years old. 00:15:33.852 --> 00:15:38.189 When he was 12, also homeschooling. 00:15:38.189 --> 00:15:42.019 From the beginning, his main task, his main subject is duck farming. 00:15:42.019 --> 00:15:46.019 His dad does farming. He does duck farming. 00:15:46.898 --> 00:15:50.758 Duck farming teaches him all subjects. 00:15:50.758 --> 00:15:54.037 Two years ago, he went to USA with my son. 00:15:54.037 --> 00:15:56.857 They are not asking me for a dime. 00:15:56.857 --> 00:16:00.274 He gets all 60,000 Baht, air ticket, and other expenses 00:16:00.274 --> 00:16:05.864 from egg sale. (Applause) 00:16:07.578 --> 00:16:11.418 So, education shouldn't be hard; 00:16:11.535 --> 00:16:14.755 It shouldn't be a great burden. 00:16:14.778 --> 00:16:18.778 It should be easy and fun, not stressful and frustrated. 00:16:18.778 --> 00:16:22.080 It shouldn't be a burden for parents and for the students themselves. 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:24.560 It should be a burden for government. 00:16:24.590 --> 00:16:28.003 Children should study what they're going to use for living; 00:16:28.003 --> 00:16:30.753 That's a kind of education that creates sustainability, 00:16:30.753 --> 00:16:32.963 and happy proud life. 00:16:33.393 --> 00:16:36.393 Different from our education system these days, 00:16:36.393 --> 00:16:39.479 we have to depend on so many things. 00:16:39.479 --> 00:16:43.556 So, now we can create our own lessons. 00:16:43.556 --> 00:16:46.901 I think it will be create magical ideas, 00:16:46.901 --> 00:16:49.747 diversities, 00:16:49.747 --> 00:16:52.637 and sustainability. 00:16:52.637 --> 00:16:54.838 The education system 00:16:54.838 --> 00:16:58.038 which is tightly controlled by The Ministry of Education, 00:16:58.038 --> 00:17:00.826 try to develop the same way of thinking. 00:17:00.826 --> 00:17:04.676 Having the same ideas, same actions, lead us to failure. 00:17:04.676 --> 00:17:08.135 Diversity, on the other hand, is security and sustainability; 00:17:08.135 --> 00:17:11.125 Diversity is beauty. 00:17:11.125 --> 00:17:14.985 So, education should be free from tight control 00:17:14.985 --> 00:17:18.868 of The Ministry of Education. 00:17:19.008 --> 00:17:23.878 It should be human rights. (Applause) 00:17:27.294 --> 00:17:29.374 Communities must design their own lesson 00:17:29.374 --> 00:17:31.577 in order to response to their needs, 00:17:31.577 --> 00:17:33.787 and not to enslave themselves to the system 00:17:33.787 --> 00:17:37.787 like what it is today. 00:17:37.787 --> 00:17:40.787 I'd like to encourage you to think: 00:17:40.787 --> 00:17:43.424 Should we continue torturing our children? 00:17:43.424 --> 00:17:45.594 or should we find them an alternative? 00:17:45.594 --> 00:17:49.594 Thank you very much.