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can take place in many ways. You can learn through tactile sensation on your skin. You can learn through other activities besides just making children listen, which inevitably bores them. Drills are important, but not in a repetitive way. Reciting the alphabet letter by letter does not get children very far. But once they see letters in words, in context, they remember. Children memorize car brands faster than we can. So if they see words and sentences, they can start reading quickly and learn all the letters eventually.You were part of the team that revolutionized Thai education.I was involved in the revision of the primary school curriculum in 1985. I was the only adviser working in kindergarten-level education. I ended up working on that every day for six years, so now I know howthey work. My focus was on arts, dramatic arts, physical education and morals.Teaching ethics was already on the way out at the time. There was a committee consisting of 30 teachers from all over the country. I made the point that we had to admit our failure in teaching morality because we were only preaching. We were using exclu- sively Buddhist vocabulary. Muslim children would run away. And any child would find that hard to under- stand to begin with. So I asked the committee to think of moral principles that were universal. We came up with 35 of them and had fun in the process. After that, I went abroad for a while. As soon as I came back, an official approached me and said worriedly, “Ma’am, there’s a communist in your Ministry of Education team.” “Why?” I asked. He replied, “The new curriculum makes no mention ofTeaching ethics was already on the way out at the time. There was a committee consistingof 30 teachers fromall over the country.I made the point thatwe had to admit our failure in teaching morality because we were only preachingElite+ 7