There is a test, you know.

My good friend here in Bangkok, Om, has a 13 year old nephew named Ote.  Om's family comes from the northeast of the country in Buriram, a rural province.  They are farming stock, growing rice and raising pigs. 

As happens elsewhere in so many countries, country folk send their children to the big city for a better education in the search of a better opportunity.  In Thailand, that means sending them to Bangkok which is the central focus of opportunity for the whole country.

Ote in Bangkok

So Ote is ready to start secondary school at the beginning of the new academic year (2014-2015) this May.  His family has decided that it is best for him to go to Bangkok for his education.  So here he is staying now with Om and applying to get into a certain secondary college.  Part of the application process is an entrance exam as there are 650 students applying for only 220 available places at this school. 

Well, Ote passed the exam and got one of the 220 student places.  Well done, Ote!  Om took Ote to meet his new principal who told Om that many families, whose children didn't pass the exam, are coming to ask her if their children can still attend the school.  It must be a popular school.  Well, Om told me that those not passing could still get into the school if the family paid 20,000 baht (about $700) to the principal.  That is big money here for a working family. 

I was just blown over and automatically responded with my lines of 'this is what is wrong with this country' and 'it is no wonder Thailand has such political strife'.  The reality is that corruption is alive and well and at every level, involving all political sides and every sector of government.  The sad fact is that this country, and it is not alone in this, presently lacks the decent leadership and the political will needed to turn it around.  That strength of leadership and will is lacking on all sides of the political divide.  No one side can throw the first stone. 

This is so sad for the people here.  They deserve so much better.  Where to from here?  More protests?  More words?  More of the same?  There is a need for new and effective leadership, showing new and effective ways of operating.  But from where?  Here is the real impasse.