LOCAL
It’s an unfair world
Fixing Thailand’s university entrance
system isn’t going to be easy
The current
university entrance system worked very well for these incoming
Kasetsart University students, but critics charge is very unfair
for many less fortunate students. — Sarot
Meksophawannakul |
One ongoing controversy that
isn’t likely to end soon concerns the process for selecting students
for places in Thailand’s 24 state universities. Should selection
be based primarily on a Ministry of Education set of entrance exams
or should a student’s high school grade point average (GPA) figure
in prominently as well? Alternatively, should universities
set their own entrance exams?
In the interest of
fairness, the Ministry has been pushing universities towards increasing
the weight of a student’s GPA. Next year, in fact, the guidelines
originally called for a 50-50 weighting between GPA and the central
entrance exams.
The reasoning behind
that idea seems logical enough. There is little dispute that the
university entrances exams exert an inordinate influence
on upper secondary school students and teachers. Topics expected
to appear on the exams are covered in great detail. Those that are
not are slighted or ignored altogether – a big reason few
Thai high school students learn to write English competently.
Worse
yet, students and their parents often do not trust their schools
to do the job. As a result, after-school tuition centres have become
a multi-billion-baht industry. As long as the GPA counts very little,
the reasoning goes, many students will pay little attention to their
regular lessons and rely instead on the tuition centres to secure
their place in the university.
Fairness, too,
has been a big issue in the move towards increasing the importance
of the GPA. Few upcountry students have access to tuition centres
and their schools are thought to be far less capable of preparing
students for the entrance exams.
The
ministry’s plans have been greeted with howls of protest
from a large number of students, parents, and many academics. While
the current system may not be totally fair, they admit, relying
on GPA would be far worse since the standards of education in schools
around the country are anything but consistent. As one Bangkok
Post reader put it, a 3.0 from “Wat Nowhere” cannot be considered
equivalent to a 3.0 from a top school like Trium Udom.
The
critics certainly have a point. Here is a sampling of actual
questions from Thai secondary school examinations that were recently
submitted to a popular forum for expat English teachers.
How would you evaluate an “A” student in one of those classes?
1. When I went to school,
they ....................................
a. made us worn
b. make us to wear
c. make us wear
d. make us wears
2. “ ....................................
does Momo have? It has 100 kilos."
a. How weight
b. How far
c. How many
d. How long
3. “His house is near .................................... river.”
a. a
b. the
c. that
d. some
4) I .................................... ever been to Chiang Mai.
a. have
b. have to
c. was
d. will
Judging
from my copy of a recent English entrance exam, the test writers
have largely avoided pitfalls like having no correct answer
or several correct answers. However, you can still argue that there
are fairness issues in it as well. Take this question, for example:
A
police officer is chasing a robber and wants him to stop. He shouts,
“ ....................................”.
a. Stand up!
b. Cool!
c. Sit down!
d. Freeze!
I
wonder if any English curriculum in Thailand would cover something
like this. Most native speakers would likely chose the correct answer
(d) but not because of anything they learned in school. Their knowledge
would come from television or the movies. The only recourse for
students learning their English in Thailand, on the other hand,
would be to guess.
It
is not surprisingly, therefore, that some university faculties have
opted to select their students directly without going through
the centralised examination system. Rectors at state universities
have also decided unanimously on a go-slow approach, gradually
increasing the GPA weight over the next two years. Don’t be surprised
if they eventually decide to slow down the process further.
Ultimately,
everyone agrees that the standards in Thai public education need
to be raised dramatically nationwide. That alone won’t end the controversy,
however, and, as one Bangkok Post reader suggested, it may
be necessary to introduce a truly standardised testing and evaluation
system similar to the one in place in the UK.
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ongoing
continuing
controversy
something that causes disagreement
alternatively
as a second choice or possibility
exert
to use power or influence to affect someone or something
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inordinate
farm more than is usual or expected
slighted
not given respect or importance
secure
to obtain or achieve
howls
loud cries showing anger, pain or dissatisfaction
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sampling
a set of examples
expat (expatriate)
a person living in a country that is not their own
pitfalls
difficulties or dangers
opted
decided
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rectors
people who are in charge of universities or colleges
unanimously
agreed by everyone
eventually
at some time in the future
ultimately
in the end; finally
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INTERNATIONAL
The Glazers’ take on Manchester
Stiff fan resistance has greeted the news
that Manchester United is now under American ownership
Calling
themselves “avid Manchester United fans” hasn’t seemed to have won US billionaire
Malcolm Glazer and his son Joel many friends back in the city of
Manchester itself. There, the genuine United fans greeted the news
that the Glazers had successfully obtained a majority stake
in their legendary football
club with a mixture of fury
and apprehension.
There doesn’t seem much they can
do, however. By yesterday, the Glazers were expected to have accumulated
more than 75 percent of the United shares, enough to give them complete
control of the club and even to take it off the London Stock Exchange
if they so desire. The
big question now is whether they can reach a 90-percent stake, which
would give them the right to buy the remaining ten percent without
the consent of the share owners.
Manchester United fans are worried
that the Glazers will treat the club strictly as a business. And
since most of the purchase is being financed by bank loans, fans
expect ticket prices to rise sharply. They also worry that with
the organisation so heavily in debt, it will not be able to spend
enough to obtain quality players.
Joel Glazer, who will likely be
most involved with the operation of United, denied that the new
owners will weaken the club. Saying that he and his father were
“long-term investors”, he gave a firm commitment to keeping Manchester
United at the top of world football.
“Our
intention is to work with the current management, players and fans
to ensure Manchester United continues to develop and achieve even
greater success,” Glazer said.
Upset
fans promised an all-out
effort to force the Glazers to pull out of the deal, threatening
boycotts and public demonstrations. It is probably no coincidence, therefore, that the deal
was concluded after the last home game. Now disgruntled fans will have to wait until next season to show their
displeasure and the new owners clearly hope that emotions will have
cooled by then.
Meanwhile,
later today, a famous British politician is scheduled to testify before a US Senate committee to defend himself against allegations
that he profited from his friendly relationship with former Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein. The Senate committee has Iraqi government
documents which seem to indicate that British MP George Galloway
was secretly given the right to sell Iraqi oil under the UN Oil
for Food programme, a charge he has consistently denied.
This
is likely to be a very lively committee meeting since Mr Galloway
is not a timid person. It will be interesting to
see how US Senators cope with the outspoken
London MP who recently won his seat in parliament running against
his former Labour Party’s policy on Iraq.
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avid
extremely eager and interested
stake
share (of ownership)
legendary
very famous and admire
fury
extreme anger
apprehension
worry or fear about what may happen
accumulated
collected
if they so desire
if that is what they want to do
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consent
permission
all-out
complete and with as much effort as possible
boycott
refusal to buy something or take part in something – in this
case, refusing to buy tickets and attend games
coincidence
chance; a situation when two similar or seemingly related
things happen at the same time in a way that is unlikely and
surprising
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disgruntled
unhappy, annoyed and disappointed about something
testify
to give or provide evidence
consistently
always behaving or happening in the same way
timid
lacking confidence; shy and nervous
outspoken
expressing
strong opinions
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