OPINION

Lessons from the past

Retired Mango's suggestion to "Let retirees teach" was full of good intentions. (PostBag, April 1). However, it is probably not a good idea in either the Thai or expat setting.

First, we are in a time of rapid technological change and today's Thai students are very different from the students of 10 or 20 years ago. Second, the issue is even more acute if Retired Mango was including expats in his solution to address our dire English proficiency problems.

Today's TEFL teachers have a minimum of a BA in TESOL, if not a Master's. Like their young Thai counterparts, they are trained in Systematic Instructional Design, High-Tech Instruction, Smart Classroom teaching, Curriculum Design and a host of modern teaching methods. Retired teachers generally don't have this training, to say nothing of a retired expat who was never a teacher.

While I honour the contributions of the past, there is indeed a reason why we retire in the present. A step into the future would be raising the pay and benefits of teachers so they are on par with the rest of Asean. Then there would be no shortage of qualified teachers but taking Thailand back to outdated, poorly trained, or backpacking teachers is not a step into the future. If anything, it is simply a step back into the past.

Re "Dogs are not to blame", (PostBag, April 2).

No Eric, I still do not buy your argument, which is heavy on emotion and light on logic. People buy dogs from breeders and pet shops because they want a specific breed, pedigree and thoroughbred dogs. This is their right.

While I do not deny that some owners subsequently abandon these pets, the feral dogs on the streets, beaches and parks of Thailand are not abandoned thoroughbred dogs, and nor do these feral dogs show any sign of cross-breeding from pedigree stock.

By simple observation it can be seen that they fall into several classes of what are commonly referred to as "soi dogs". Yes, their ancestors may have been someone's pet many generations ago, but they are now feral and a threat to people passing by, as I can attest from having been attacked on Mae Ram Phueng Beach more than once.

I might add that I do not consider soi dogs to be lesser than pedigree dogs, as my own ownership of two previous soi dogs attests.

Eric castigates Mr Brown for buying dogs from a breeder. I have pure-bred Thai ridgebacks, also bought from a breeder, and now breed my own. Reputable breeders do not sell casually to just anyone who comes along in the market for a dog. It is the vendors like those in the stalls at Chatuchak who are unscrupulous, who obtain dogs from puppy mills and resell them.

Dogs do breed, like people. I know many people who need to be "fixed" because they pump abandoned kids into the population, abandoning them, just like abandoned dogs. (Father Joe Meier, who runs an orphanage in Klong Toey, is an expert on abandoned and unwanted children of all ages). Eric Bahrt should turn his attention to perhaps opening a dog shelter, and donating money to those shelters which neuter their strays before putting them up for adoption, contributing a few sacks of kibble perhaps.

Meantime, bravo to David Brown for speaking out for dogs, and for having the courage to adopt two stray soi dogs.

Since 2012, when Vorayuth Yoovidhya killed a policeman with his Ferrari, the Yoovidhya family has only shown one attitude: total contempt for justice.

As the Thai judiciary system seems unable to bring the heir of Red Bull to account for his act, launch a worldwide boycott of Red Bull. Thanks to the internet, this is now easy to do. Most people in Western countries won't buy so easily from a company whose heir is a killer on the run.