A Funny Quote from The Merry Misogynist

I'm reading a mystery novel set in Laos that is titled The Merry Misogynist. I will write a review as soon as I'm done but for now I just wanted to share a really great quote from the book. This excerpt refers to the education system in the Communist Laos of 1978. Or does it?

"So as not to disturb classes, or, as teacher Oum would have it, wake up the pupils, he switched off his motor and scooted along the driveway to the building that housed the chemistry department. He'd been in graveyards less silent. Education, it appeared, had given way to copying large tracts of text from a blackboard. It saved the vocal cords of the teachers and the brain matter of the children."
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