a fellow poster says the fact Mrs. Anna changed the schoolroom map
to an accurate one was racist. considering that the new map was correct
how is that racist? also the original map was quite biased against Burma
so wouldn't it have been racist as well?
It isn't at all racist, but racism is a topic that people have been oversensitized about and which they often see in everything. The worst you could say was that it showed a feeling of cultural superiority (the British map was superior to the Thai map) but as you noted, this wasn't a question of manners but of scientific fact. The map is correct.
The king knows this as well, and a major theme of the film is the king's own decision to deal with the colonial powers BY modernizing the country and coming to terms with the scientific developments of the 19th century. This was true in fact as well as in the play.
An interesting sidenote: On the map, the only two countries actually given borders and names in Europe are Britain and Norway, and Prince Chungalonkorn asks a question about Norway ("What is the green country?"). The historical Prince had a true fascination with Norway, traveled there in later years, and even went to Norwegian forestry school. He visited the North Cape, the furthest northern point in continental Europe, and there is a small museum there today that commemorates this.