EDUCATION

[jhwest]

I have the most respect for the education of the Thai children here in Thailand and by the teachers and there is seems to be a lot of discipline, which is instilled in to them.
The children in the main are very, very polite, but I would like to ask a general quiestion.
I completely respect all aspects of Thai life and the culture and am married to a wonderful Thai lady and feel very privileged to be able to teach English on a voluntary basis and as an onlooker and also to be in Thailand.
I never ever criticise the teaching methods used by the Thais and I use the English that I was taught when I was a student in the U.K.
When teaching the alpherbet for instance I always pronounce each letter very very clearly and the H,L,M, N and X even more, but I have recently been criticised by an Education Manager stating that this is wrong. While I agree with constructive critisism, this is always the way I was taught English and never say how things should be said in Thai.
The point I am making is that all teachers have their own way of teaching and some have different ideas and if the end result is that the Thais understand some English, then I am very satisfied and besides the English I know has been taught to me by English teachers.
Why is it that this particular Manager states that the way I teach is wrong, though everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.

[Just-1-Voice2]

If you remain in the Thai education for very long, I guarantee that your opinion is going to change, and that you will be told that you're ways are wrong. Here's a few things to keep in mind.

1) The education system here in Thailand is a joke. There is no "free thought association" allowed, only rote memorization.

2)Students are not encouraged to think for themselves, and in many cases are actually discouraged from doing so.

3) World history is almost non-existent, or only touched lightly, as Thai feel the only history that counts is Thai history.

4) Most Thai learn the "Thai version" of English, which leaves them totally inadequate in the language. I've personally met 3 individuals who have MASTER's Degrees in English from Thai Universities, and they are unable to speak the language correctly, and can not write a grammatically correct paragraph.

5) I know of a teacher who gave his students a test, and later passed the test papers back to them so they could see their mistakes. He was SERIOUSLY reprimanded by the school administrator for doing that, and was told to ONLY give them their grade.

6) I know of teachers who are told NEVER to fail a student, as it causes loss of face to them and their families, and that they were to find "a suitable way" to make sure the student received a passing grade.

The Thai education system needs a complete overhaul from the ground up, or else it will continue to churn out people who are functionally illiterate, and no where near ready for a real university, or the real world. Why do you think that any Thai family who can afford to do so opts to sent their children to the U.S. or England for their education?

[alex1]

I have the most respect for the education of the Thai children here in Thailand and by the teachers and there is seems to be a lot of discipline, which is instilled in to them.
The children in the main are very, very polite, but I would like to ask a general quiestion.
I completely respect all aspects of Thai life and the culture and am married to a wonderful Thai lady and feel very privileged to be able to teach English on a voluntary basis and as an onlooker and also to be in Thailand.
I never ever criticise the teaching methods used by the Thais and I use the English that I was taught when I was a student in the U.K.
When teaching the alpherbet for instance I always pronounce each letter very very clearly and the H,L,M, N and X even more, but I have recently been criticised by an Education Manager stating that this is wrong. While I agree with constructive critisism, this is always the way I was taught English and never say how things should be said in Thai.
The point I am making is that all teachers have their own way of teaching and some have different ideas and if the end result is that the Thais understand some English, then I am very satisfied and besides the English I know has been taught to me by English teachers.
Why is it that this particular Manager states that the way I teach is wrong, though everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.

As all Thais, that never have been in abroad, want to have their own Thai Style english, and want us to learn to understand
that, a fisch is a fitch, a sword is a saword, a house is a houa, sure is tshua, and so on. The Thais speaking english
eachother is ok, and if the foreigners don't understand it, they don't care. So if You want to do a good job and have your
students speakin an excellent english, all the other english speaking Thais will not anderstand them.

[Just-1-Voice2]

Three things all Thai say perfectly.

1) Ok!
2) Hello?
3) Oh My God!

[TheGreatGonzo]

Here is a little true story that well illustrates the quality of English teaching in Thai school:-

A colleague of mine returned from the US with her family including 2 pre-teens after many years in the states. Meaning to permanently resettle here the children were put into prestigious Thai schools. The kids of course are fully bilingual, but like good Thai kids they submitted willingly to the school's English classes.
The little girl was asked to read a little passage which included the word "toothache". She did so. The teacher told her she was wrong, the word is pronounced "Toth-aishe". The little girl is quite puzzled, to her it was as if teacher was telling her black was white and up was down. Not knowing that in Thailand it is forbidden, she questioned her teacher, who promptly shot her down and entered her name in her black book for insubordination, willfullness and rude conduct.
After this and several other similar episodes the parents could abide it no longer and removed the kids to an international school.

Enough to give anyone a head aishe.

[pachangamac042]

3) World history is almost non-existent, or only touched lightly, as Thai feel the only history that counts is Thai history.

Well J1V2, you are right, but same thing goes for Thai history. Just ask a regular Thai about his history and you may found out, that they only will know some good things witch happened and not much negatives.

[jhwest]

Yes thanks for your support and I was beginning to lose a bit of confidence and anyway the school where I teach seem to appreciate my efforts very much and they do not complain at all and that includes the school managers and teachers.
It is just these so called Education Managers, who seem to think that there are always right and come around to the schools very periodically and I would not dream of criticising how they speak Thai, let alone teach Thai!!!
The students seem to appreciate my teaching and sometimes they may not understand, so I try to explain to them again and it does not matter how many times.
So when a so called higher official comes around and just criticises, then one just has to just get on with it and teach them in the proper manner
In addition the students tend to understandably tense up when they see someone who they do not recognise and then they get confused when they are told something completely different as against something that they have been taught.

[Just-1-Voice2]

Pach.

I've always been a "student of history" for as long as I can remember. I actually got "in trouble", so to speak, my freshman year in high school for correcting a world history teacher on something. Actually, he was more amused by it than angry. After class he told me he appreciated the fact that I spent a lot of time in both the school and public libraries reading history, and he wished others would do so as well, but he was limited, somewhat, by the teaching curriculum he had to follow. Then made a deal with me. Keep quiet, unless he called on me to answer something no one else could, take my tests like everyone else - WITHOUT expanding on the answers, and he'd give me a "A" for the semester. I agreed, but later realized that with my test scores, I would have gotten an "A" anyway. lol

In a discussion a few months back with my son (actually my Thai wife's son, but he tells everyone I'm his Pah) he shook his head and told me: "Pah, you know more about Thai history that most Thai!" I agree with your assessment that only the "good stuff" is taught, while anything that doesn't make the history look good is avoided.

There is an older couple who bought the single story house across the street from us some months back, but as it turns out, they actually bought the house for their daughter and her husband, who were both currently in the U.S. working. Last week the daughter and husband came home and we got a chance to meet them. Nice "kids" in their late 20's. When we were talking, the daughter told me that going to America had been a major "cultural shock" for them, especially when both of them realized that their Thai university degrees were practically worthless, and that there was so much more to history than what is taught in Thai schools that they now consider history classes in Thailand to be a complete joke and waste of time. After two years in the states, living in Washington, D.C., they best jobs they could come up with were working a PEP Boys, a nation wide auto supply store, for him, and a job in a public library for her. So now they are back and hoping to find jobs here in Thailand. But to me, the most important statement she made was: "Thai school prepare you for Thailand, but not the rest of the world."

[Jason McDonald]

From what I have observed the education system is at the root of all the problems in Thailand (the same goes for every ccountry in this great world of ours). The outcome of the education system in Thailand is the brainwashing of the population in to believing that:

Thailand is the best country on Earth. (maybe it is???)
Thai people are always right
Thai people do everything better than other nationalities
Thai people understand any problem or situation better than other nationalities
The Thai way of doing things is the only possible way of doing things.
Not to "think too much" as this stops you doing things the Thai way

These become well established and form part of the central belief system of Thai people. This perception, unfortunately, leads to problems when dealing with foreigners and an "eye openning" experience when Thais live overseas.

It is not the fault of the Thai people but their education system. If you understand the above central beliefs and accept them and don't argue the point too much you will have a great and rewarding time in Thailand. If you question these central beliefs you will have a very frustrating time in Thailand.

Obviously this happens in other countries too. But we're talkning about Thailand in this forum.

[bfrm]

archaic to some as the thai education may be , it's is not from from many occidental education systems that have a strong religious foundation. children are taught to pray like cherubins and therein lies the foundation of the family nucleus as the children grow up. yes, a couple of young children do grow up going astray just like the classic movie "TO SIR WITH LOVE" starring SIR sidney poitier AND THERE ARE THOSE WHO GREW UP TO SERVE AFTER ENTERING TO LEARN IN THE THAI SCOOLS. ISN'T THAT WHAT AMERICAN DEWEY AND HIS LIKES WOULD HAVE CALLED "EDUCATION" PAR EXCELLENCE? CVORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG - ESPECIALLY WITH THE BARAGE OF OF THE COMPUTERS AND TECNOLOGIES VYING FOR THE CHILDREN'S ATTENTION?