The failure of Thai education, as I see it, lies precisely in its rigidity, in its nationwide chanting of a daily paean to Bangkok. True, the system now assures that at least one person in the remotest of back villages can speak Bangkok Thai. But it has also resulted in young village Thais being urged to worship a government they neither understand nor respect. Equally fallacious is the assumption that if all Thai youngsters are taught to speak the national dialect they will rally around Bangkok. Common language does not constitute common commitment and rote utterances of loyalty will not satisfy the growling bellies and curious minds created by the worldwide tide of rising expectations.

– Extracted from Louis E. Lomax, Thailand: The War Thai Is, The War That Will Be, New York: Vintage Books, 1967, p. 136.