Education malaise
Apropos your news article, "Graft taints success of Thai students", (BP, June 25).
Gen Kosol Prathumchart, an adviser to the Education Minister, wants to clean up the Education Ministry. Good luck to him. I feel the education system is mired in malaise.
I send my two children to an international school. Though the school fees is pretty high, their teaching of disciplines such as math and science are poor. It is all fun until grade 8 and then the seriousness starts. It's like suddenly throwing the children into an ocean and asked to swim or drown despite knowing that they have no swimming ability. I believe it is the same in all international schools in Thailand. I had to hire a private tutor, a Singaporean national of Indian origin, to help my children get through the examinations.
Students of Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, India and China are way ahead of others in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education because the governments believed that those subjects are important and pervades every part of our lives. In Japan for example, the Kumon way of repetitive maths has made a difference in the lives of children. We Japanese are good in science and technology because of a solid basic foundation in maths and physics and, of course, competent teachers. That is missing in Thailand.
Why can't international schools hire a Japanese, a Singaporean or an Indian as a math teacher? Why can't a Taiwanese or even a Russian teach physics and chemistry? Why should it always be a native English speaker? Most of the native speakers I came across in Thailand are pretty ordinary and at sixes and sevens with the concepts of maths.
In 10 years, Chinese students have become excellent in English, maths and science. China, unlike Thailand, doesn't believe in hiring only native English speakers. They have taken in thousands of competent teachers from Taiwan, India and Singapore. One should not be surprised if China, rather than the US, leads in maths, science and technology in 10 year's time.
In the United States, in schools and colleges, one finds a mini-United Nations in teaching faculties. Almost 40% are Asians, especially Indians and Taiwanese, and there are a considerable number of Africans. Compare it to Thailand. There is one Thai-Chinese international school which wants only Americans and Canadians, and not even Brits or Aussies, as teachers. It reeks of subtle racism.
The way out for Thailand is to follow China and the United States and hire competent teachers regardless of nationality rather than restricting it to only native English speakers. There is no doubt that the prevailing way has failed and it shows in the competence of the students passing out from the international schools in Thailand. I am sure thought leaders in your letters column such as Messrs Eric Bahrt, Kuldeep Nagi, Burin Kantabutra and Somsak Pola will definitely have something to say about this subject.