I’ve said earlier that I don’t care much for traditional tourist activities, I am much more interested in seeing how people live, what they think and how the change their surroundings. I went out one day with a kid I met from the hotel and took a tour of a bunch of universities in Luang Prabang, there was a newer modern campus (ມະທາວິທະຍະໄລສຸພານຸວິງ) which I wasn’t able to talk my way into and could only shoot this one picture from the gates.
These two pictures are from the older campus of the same university, which the campus security was really nice to show me around.
This next photo admittedly isn’t the best image, but I had a really had time capturing the classrooms at the Law university (ວິຈິຕະກຳ) and wanted to including something here.
This last one was one of the most interesting campuses that I visited. It was a small arts university (ວິທະຍະໄລກົດໝາຍພາກເໝືອ), where students slept crammed in un-airconditioned dorm rooms. What stood out for me was the fact that all of the art being worked on, was traditional Buddhist imagery. Not that that stuff doesn’t have it’s place, but more that it often shows a lack of critical thinking in the arts. The work focuses more on technique, producing a Buddha image that is technically beautiful but not using art to make commentary on modern society, thoughts or feelings.
Many of the Laotians students who I spoke with, seemed impressed that I was studying university in Bangkok and somewhat jealous of the quality of education that I might be getting. I do have some classes which are very old-fashioned in their focus on memorizing facts for a test, but more and more I am seeing classes which focus on critical thought. Changes in the arts often lead other areas of society, and if the arts schools have yet to focus on critical thinking, I can guess that more traditional subjects have an even longer way to go.
