The Classroom as a Battleground. A definitive scholarly inquiry into how the 1932 Revolution sought to liberate the Thai mind, and why that mission remains one of the most contested legacies in Southeast Asian politics.
Categories : Non-Fiction , 350 THB ,
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Thai Education: The Wind Beneath the Wings of the 1932 Revolution
(Power, Knowledge, People, and the Citizen)
By Pinyapan Potjanalawan
[Sa-ard : Cover Image]
An exploration of Thai political history through the lens of the classroom—from the aspirations of the 1932 revolutionaries to the unfinished ideologies of the present.
For decades, Thai education was engineered to serve a dual purpose: to supply the bureaucracy and to produce a populace compliant with state authority. In an era where freedom of expression was stifled and critical thinking discouraged, the dawn of June 24, 1932, marked a seismic shift. The Siamese Revolution redefined "education" from a tool of state control into the bedrock of "Popular Sovereignty."
Through the intellectual architecture of the Khana Ratsadon (People’s Party) and their "Six Principles," education became a revolutionary promise—a commitment to dismantle the old structures and empower the people through knowledge independent of the traditional regime.
But how long could such an ideal endure? With the 1947 coup d'état as a catalyst for a recurring cycle of military interventions—extending to the coups of 2006 and 2014—Thai democracy, and by extension, democratic education, has struggled to take root. This book serves as an incisive deconstruction of this historical struggle, focusing on three pivotal pillars:
Global Impetus: An analysis of the ideological nexus between the French Revolution and the adoption of Japanese "academic rigor" to modernize Thai education, shifting away from decades of British-centric influence.
From Pedigree to Proficiency: The restructuring of the educational hierarchy—from primary school to university—to establish a new standard where social mobility was earned through merit and knowledge rather than lineage or class.
The Broken Wings: A chronicle of the friction between democratic ideals and persistent coups, resulting in an educational trajectory currently dominated by "Conservative and Militarist" hegemony.
Commemorating over 90 years since the 1932 Revolution, this work is more than a historical retrospective; it is a vital inquiry into the present. It challenges us to ask whether we are learning to become "Citizens" or merely "Subjects."
“Education could be a national goal under the old regime, but that ‘nation’ lacked its people. Education, therefore, served the elite—those who lived in comfort while inadvertently suppressing their fellow countrymen.”
— Excerpt from Chapter 1
// Table of Contents //
Preface
Chapter 1: Education and Revolution: Why Reform Is Not Enough
Chapter 2: Between the Monastery and the Ministry: Power, Knowledge, and Education Prior to the 1932 Revolution
Chapter 3: The Constitution and the Six Principles: Founding Education on Revolutionary Ideals and Popular Sovereignty
Chapter 4: The Fires of War and Territorial Reclaim: Centralized Education in the Age of Militarization and Thai Imperial Expansion
Chapter 5: The Zenith of Educational Revolution: The Crisis and Failure in Establishing Democratic Ideologies
Details
▪️Format : Paperback
▪️Piyavit Tepumnuaysakul : Editor
▪️Chirawat Rotaim : Cover Design
▪️Art Direction by ● SM STUDIO ●
▪️Published : March 2026
▪️Length : 312 pages
▪️ISBN : 978-616-562-088-8
▪️Dimensions (in) : 5.25 x 8.25
▪️Price : 350 THB
