Stark lesson in reality needed

EDITORIAL

Published: 21 Dec 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

The new education minister, Phongthep Thepkanchana, is right to be unhappy with our country's poor educational performance compared with international standards. He is also right to take a serious look at the country's curriculum. But he is definitely wrong if he believes overhauling the curriculum alone will improve the performance of students.

Like many policy makers, Mr Phongthep believes that for Thailand to benefit from economic globalisation, Thai students must perform better academically. A few years ago, the Programme for International Student Assessment showed that Thai students' performances in maths, reading, and scientific literacy were well below the international average. This year, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement released the result of its latest assessment for the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which rates Thai students' overall skills in mathematics and science as "poor".

This is despite the fact that classroom hours of Thai students are among the highest in the world, according to Unesco. The budget for the Education Ministry, at 20% of the national outlay, is also higher than other sectors.

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ianprince
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Discussion 14 : 21 Dec 2012 at 11.5014
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Thai education is so bad, I don't want my children to associate with it, or any of their products.
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OldThaiHand
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Discussion 13 : 21 Dec 2012 at 10.1713
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These editorials periodically pop up with no impact on anything.

16 years of teaching university here and dealing with numbskull students and brain-dead Thai academics has frustrated me, beaten me up and worn me out.

The situation is hopeless unless the Thais actively welcome help from outside experts who actually know what to do, which will NEVER happen.

But, actually the main problem is a deep-rooted lack of respect for the culture of learning. Thais don't read, are not really interested in learning anything outside what's familiar and overall have a complacent smugness that resists change.
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felixqui
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Discussion 12 : 21 Dec 2012 at 09.4212
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The root problems with Thai education are exactly the same as the root defects retarding democracy - a Ministry intent on fostering mindless respect of the worthless patronage type and actively discouraging actual thinking, which can lead to such dangerous things as balanced and informed opinion, or worse, actual knowledge!

Stop the persistent, mindless drivel about morals (= don't think, blindly do this) and start encouraging the kids to reason and learn. Perhaps abolishing the Ministry of Education, and definitely the inane Ministry of Culture and the repressive Ministry misInformation and nonCommunication, would help a lot.
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dao
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Discussion 11 : 21 Dec 2012 at 09.1211
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I havent seen anyone up to the job honestly .I think Thailand needs help on this one .The measuring stick isnt long enough .
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tcr
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Discussion 10 : 21 Dec 2012 at 09.0910
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One big problem is corruption. When 30% goes into the administrators pockets, little is left to actually get the job done. A great example is the current purchase of tablets. A huge waste of money. A lot of which ended up in politicians pockets.

Also, the practice of having to pay to get your child in a good school needs to be stopped. It's a very bad practice. Basically, rich families are just buying a certificate...not really educating their children. Which is why the smarter families all send their children overseas for higher education.
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phetpeter
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Discussion 9 : 21 Dec 2012 at 08.429
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I watch with saddness, how many students spend their time learning to dance and sing,all competitions on TV, in the street etc., are geared to dancing as groups and singing and to get that good means something else is suffering....Maths, science, reading and writing!
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mrsdonesh
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Discussion 8 : 21 Dec 2012 at 08.228
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Phongthep Thepkanchana is a lackey and house 111 member. Say no more. Has never been involved in Education - so knows nothing. Students cannot fail exams so you can add that one as well.
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djay
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Discussion 7 : 21 Dec 2012 at 08.157
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I can't remember where but not too long ago I read a study about high school students in ASEAN. The study showed that most high school students in the ASEAN countries, other than Thailand, wanted to be engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc. Thai students wanted to be actors. Not that being an actor is bad, but...
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Ian
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Discussion 6 : 21 Dec 2012 at 07.326
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There are two English words which the Thais don't understand, one is democracy, the other is education. As a retired department head I have taken an interest in the schooling that my neighbour's children receive, it is abysmal. Combine this with a total lack of interest by the parents and the results are obvious.
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Victor
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Discussion 5 : 21 Dec 2012 at 07.075
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As long as the Thai education system still give a preference to 'quantity' over 'quality' there will be no hope to see any realistic change in a positive direction.
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