For parents in Thailand, one of the biggest choices is whether to send their children into the Thai educational system or the international system. Fortunately, as these four students clearly demonstrate, both systems have their success stories.
The four teenagers featured on this page have a lot in common. They are all Thai citizens and they each speak and write the national language fluently. They are all top students who are bound to succeed in whatever they choose to do in the future. To varying degrees, they have begun to think about what that future might be. Interestingly, however, the four students are enrolled in very different academic systems, an illustration of the diversity of educational choices available within Thailand.
Certainly, the most basic division is between the Thai national education system and the international school system. Among the international schools in Thailand, however, you will also find a surprising amount of variety.
For example, some local schools have adopted the British national curriculum while others have based their programme on the American system. Then there is the demanding European-influenced International Baccalaureate curriculum that is rapidly becoming a popular alternative. As you will see, all three of these systems plus the Thai national system are represented in our student sample below.
Sajinee Srichawla, 14, New International School of Thailand
"I’m planning to become a market researcher," says Sajinee Srichawla, a 14-year-old middle school student at NIST.
Asked how she could be so certain at such an early age, she replied, "I kinda explored some things I could be. I looked through the classifieds to see what seems interesting – also on TV and stuff. I like to judge things for myself. I think, well, if I was an advertiser, would I be good at it. Sometimes I’m not creative, sometimes I am. Would it be interesting to me?"
Sajinee may never become a market researcher, of course, but chances are she will employ the same analytical skills when she does finally make her career choice.
Such thinking is second nature to many NIST students. In fact, it’s part of the curriculum. Says Sajinee, "in every subject we take they (our teachers) always tell us to think it over carefully and come up with questions that matter to us and we can relate to the topic to ourselves. They don’t tell us the questions. They ask us to come up with the questions. Then in class together we decide which questions are important to us and why."
"(This) makes us very independent", Sajinee’s continued. "It makes us always judge and evaluate what we learn. And helps us link our subjects together and think how they link together. It makes us think a lot."
Sajinee’s course of study has been designed and accredited by the International Baccalaureate Organization. NIST is the only school in Thailand to use the rigorous IB curriculum for all three levels – primary, middle school and secondary. Upon graduation in four years time, she will receive an IB diploma which is accepted by most institutes of higher learning throughout the world.
The IB curriculum makes every effort to help students develop proficiency in their mother tongue. As a Thai national, Sajinee therefore has a compulsory 5-period-a-week Thai language class. "We learn Thai grammar, Thai spelling, Thai history – what you would learn in English – but in Thai," she explains.
Although Sajinee speaks, reads and writes Thai fluently, she admits that her Thai language skills are not on a par with students in the Thai school system. "I think I am at a disadvantage because I only get a period a day, so they know more Thai – they know it more fluently," she says.
Prae Owlan, 15, Bangkok Patana
Fifteen-year old Prae Owlan hasn’t given a lot of thought to what she wants to do, but she knows what she likes. "I like art and I’m interested in the sciences," she says.
Prae finds the sciences especially intriguing. "I like learning about things that you never knew – like something you never understood and then suddenly it’s like, oh, so that’s why that happens!"
This feeling of discovery is an important by-product of the way the sciences are taught at Bangkok Patana. "My teacher," explains Prae, "says it’s better if you discover it yourself because you remember it better, and I agree. He’d rather spend a long time helping me to discover it, than telling me the answer."
How do you test in such a system? According to Prae, that depends on the subject and the teacher, but a lot of her tests "are not multiple choice."
In the sciences, it’s a mixture of formats. "It’s always multiple choice, short answers and long answers. A short answer," she says, "could be name the chemical or something like that." Long answers are more "explaining" type of questions – "What would happen if this reacts with this?" or "How would you test for this?"
Prae’s English is flawless, indistinguishable from that of a native speaker. Her English is so good, incidentally, that she received a grade 8 – the highest possible – in her year 9English Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Interestingly, she has learned her English entirely in Thailand, mainly at Bangkok Patana. Robert Brown, the school’s ESL coordinator, attributes at least some of her success to the fact that she came to the school at a very young age. It is much more difficult for older beginners, especially above the age of 13, to achieve the same level of fluency.
What about Prai’s real native language, Thai? Here she remains fully functional in the language. At Bangkok Patana she takes five Thai language periods weekly and she speaks, reads and writes fluently.
What does she like best about her school? "It’s warmth," she says. "This is a very caring place."
What comes after Bangkok Patana? Prae will definitely continue her studies, but is not certain where. "My grandfather wants me to stay here for a year or so," she says, "because then I can make friends here, but if I have results which are good enough, my parents would like me to go abroad."
Prae has a choice because her course of studies at Bangkok Patana follows the internationally-recognised British national curriculum. Next year, she will undergo a battery of externally graded examinations leading to the (International) Certificate of Education. She can then continue at the school in its senior International Baccalaureate programme which will give her an IB diploma. Both are recognised by the Thai government.
Jarupon Sathirapongsasuti, 16, Triam Udom
There is a very good chance you’ll be reading about 16-year-old Jarupon Sathiraphonsasudi again some day. Perhaps it will be as a member of the Thai math Olympic squad where he is among the 25 finalists. Then again, he may be able to join that elite group of students with the highest scores in the university entrance exams. Or he could well become one of Thailand’s top physicians. Perhaps it will be all three.
Jarupon clearly thrives in the rigorous Thai system of education. As a matayom four science stream student at Triam Udom, his courses this term include biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, a computer course, two English courses, Thai language, social studies, Buddhist studies and health.
That’s nine forty-five-minute periods a day for three days and eight periods on the fourth. The fifth day, Wednesday, is for military studies at an outside location. Add to that two hours of homework a day and a full evening and weekend schedule of extra tuition, and you get a new appreciation of the word "demanding".
Is all that hard work really necessary? "It all depends what your goals are," answers Jarupon. "I’d like to get rather excellent (read: ‘the very best’) results." He is referring, of course to that all-important university entrance examination. Top results would assure him of being able to follow in his father’s footsteps into medical school. He has his sights on either Chulalongkorn or Mahidol universities.
His "deep, deep hope," however, is that by winning a government scholarship to study abroad, he won’t need to sit through the entrance exams at all. Here, according to his teachers, he has a very realistic possibility of succeeding, particularly if he is selected to the math Olympic team.
What is it like sitting in class at Triam Udom? According to Jarupon, it is quite traditional. Students largely listen to the teacher lecture and take notes. Questions are allowed in class but many students prefer to ask their questions outside of class. "That way we don’t disturb others by asking questions which may not be relevant to them," say Jarupon. "Questions during class time can also be time-consuming and they may go beyond the capacity of some of the students."
In the sciences, lab time is limited, as are the facilities. Extracurricular activities can also eat into course time, restricting the time available for lab work even further. Talk and chalk, sheet and explanation and lecture are the typical formats. "Having to analyse the content ourselves – child centred learning – would probably be difficult," he says, "particularly for less gifted students".
In social studies, the subject this term is law. Here the method is lecture with the teacher adding analysis. Occasionally, the students are asked what they think of a particular issue, once or twice per period on average. Again, time is a limitation. The curriculum is extensive and "it must be finished," Jarupon says.
Which is more important, the knowledge or the grade? "Of course, the knowledge, but at the same time, we can’t deny that the grade is important because it plays an important role in determining our future, both in higher education and our career," Jarupon explains. Clearly, he is taking no chances.
Termsak Cheevaprawatdomrong, 17, International School of Bangkok
Has his four years at ISB made a difference in him as a person? Termsak says his father certainly thinks so. "You’ve changed," he observed after Termsak’s detailed critique of the movie Suriyothai that the two of them had just seen together.
Termsak says being "analytical" is a necessity in the ISB academic system. "We can’t just listen to the teacher, then read. Since most of our exams include essays, we have to remember facts, but we also have to put them together – to organise them according to the question."
According to Termsak, transferring into ISB from the Thai school system meant a big change in his learning style. "In Thai schools," he explains, "students don’t participate. When I first came and the teacher asked something and the students started to raise their hands, I thought, like, ‘what??’". One thing hasn’t changed for Termsak, however. Exam grades are still "very important."
Termsak is in his last year at ISB and has already sent in his applications to several universities in the United States. Here, he has a distinct advantage because ISB follows the American curriculum. Also, when he gets to the United States he will likely be able to skip many of the first-year introductory courses because upper level ISB students take a full load of advanced placement or international baccalaureate courses.
Termsak enjoys life at ISB, but his idea of fun is a little unusual. "Computer science is fun," he says. "To spend hours in front of the computer is fun."
This term is he learning the programming language C++. It’s "kind of a hard class," he says. "You have to program in order to get something out and to get a result and not all the people can do that. Sometimes this person can do it. Sometimes that person can do it. If you are the person you, you feel like Wow!"
There is also a wow factor in his favourite extracurricular activity. Termsak is a member of the school’s light and sound club which involves adjusting the light and sound systems for high school drama.
"The sound is easy," he says, "but the light is not. Every time the person walks, you have to get the light on the person. And there are so many lights – like a hundred something lights and with many colours – so you have to use the right colours to express the right mood.
terryfrd@ksc15.th.com |