Chula’s duty is to foster critical thinking, not mindless deference
The hullabaloo caused by Netiwit Choltiphatphaisal’s pledging allegiance to Chulalongkorn University, bowing to the monuments of Kings Rama V and Rama VI, then walking away instead of prostrating himself before the monuments alongside his fellow freshmen
The lad said he was following Rama V’s order to refrain from crawling and prostrating in the royal presence. “There is nothing wrong with traditions,” the king said. “However, following them without [intellectual] principles would be tantamount to doing things blindly.”
I concur with University of Chicago president Hanna Holborn Gray, who said, “Education should not be intended to make people comfortable. It is meant to make them think. Universities should be expected to provide the conditions within which hard thought, and therefore strong disagreement, independent judgement, and the questioning of stubborn assumptions, can flourish in an environment of the greatest freedom.”
Her university upheld that principle even at the height of the Cold War, when it invited a Communist Party representative to give his point of view to students.
Thus I suggest that, while Netiwit could have been more diplomatic in putting forth his view, the reasons for Rama V’s no-prostration order and whether or not it should be followed during Chula’s initiation should be calmly and extensively debated and acted upon within Chula. Let us act not blindly, but with rationale.
Burin Kantabutra
