[EXCERPT FROM THE VIDEO]
When Thai students from international schools come up to my desk to talk to me, they just walk up, stand next to my desk, and talk.
When students from Thai schools come up to me, they drop to their knees. To which, I tell them, please stand up and talk to me.
I may be your teacher. You may be my student. But we both are humans, with human dignity. You don’t have to kneel. Do it for your parents. Do it if you want to for the people you respect.
But don’t do it just because I happen to be your teacher or your poo-yai.
We just met today, for the first time, you can’t already have so much respect for me as a person that you would kneel before me. We just met.
Now, if you don’t want to stand over me, that’s fine. Pull up a chair. We’ll sit and talk. Our heads at the same level.
Many students were happy that they don’t have to crawl. Many just couldn’t help themselves, always automatically dropping to their knees whenever they come up to my desk.
It is as if something is imprinted in their DNA, telling them, “drop to your knees, now.”
Why is this?
The answer is, they have been trained to crawl at the feet of the poo-yai since kindergarten.
That’s more than 10 years of training to submit to authority.
More than 10 years of training to obey without question.
More than 10 years of training to believe in the social hierarchy, the righteousness of the poo-noi kowtowing to the poo-yai.
More than 10 years of developing the muscle memory to bend the knee.