Growing up in Thai society, we are taught to respect our elders, especially our parents and teachers. From a very young age, we are taught to revere our teachers with phrases such as "teachers are like your second parents" or traditions like the "wai kru" ceremony, which treat teachers almost like spiritual beings of worship. But is that reverent position we hold teachers in really helping anyone anymore? Doesn't it pave the way for teachers to think they can do no wrong?
I ask this because I feel like sometimes, there is a divide between students and teachers precisely because of the position of reverence teachers seem to hold. Students always seem to be at a disadvantage...when dealing with teachers, even when they are in the right, like in deputy director Aisoonpiyathorn's case. While the student in director Ananth's case was the one in the wrong, I feel like he didn't.deserve the public humiliation he received. Director Ananth should've known that doing what he did would only make the student look bad, and that there were other, better ways to deal with the problem..This only makes the student and himself look bad; the student for being disrespectful and him for being sarcastic. My point is, perhaps we should stop building up unrealistic expectations of what teachers should be. It doesn't help the students, and it sure as heck doesn't help the teachers. Teachers are expected to conduct themselves to fit the position of reverence they hold in society, which only makes it harder for them to connect with students, and students are demonised when they dare to point out the all-too-human mistakes of their teachers