Stop kowtowing
Re: "Woo tourists with safety" (BP, Oct 4).
I fail to understand why Chinese tourists are being given preferential treatment just because of several recent incidents involving them. These incidents are common to all foreign visitors. Furthermore, the temporary glitch in one month's Chinese arrivals may be due to numerous other factors, not least including the weather-related low season's adverse weather conditions affecting all nationalities.
I say stop kowtowing to Chinese visitors and treat all visitors with the respect they deserve. Improvements in that area include efficient handling of tourist arrivals by immigration officers, airport and general taxi problems and giving more than just lip service to the numerous scams which for years have gained world-wide notoriety. Don't even start me on the infamous gangs of marauding ladyboys in popular areas of Pattaya; how hard would it be to control them?
Then, I believe, tourist numbers will increase and not be limited only to Chinese who have their own unpopular behavioural problems when travelling overseas.
Martin R
Petrified albatrosses
Re: "Off the rails," (Life, Oct 1).
Thailand has long since passed through the post-war era when state enterprises were relevant and justifiable. The effort to privatise them, take PTT for instance, has been undertaken with the same halfhearted intention as the junta's promise of imminent democracy. The remaining state enterprises, like the SRT and Thai Airways, are petrified albatrosses still hanging around the necks of every Thai citizen. These rotting birds are choking the economic life out of what could otherwise be called a great Thai nation.
When the next government unfurls their reform flag be sure to look for the chicken emblem on it.
Michael Setter
Most men behave
It was disgusting to watch Donald Trump Jr say that as a result of the accusations made against Brett Kavanaugh all men are in danger of being accused of sexual abuse. While it's true that numerous accusations have been made lately, it is also true that most men -- including celebrities, have not been accused of such crimes.
Maybe there is a reason why people such as Donald Trump who bragged on tape that he molested women and Brett Kavanaugh who showed at the Senate hearings he's at the emotional level of a three year old child, get accused of these crimes, while most men who behave themselves around women don't.
Eric Bahrt
Out with the old
The shrinking of schools in Thailand as recently reported in the media is not a negative factor with regards to learning and schooling. As an educationist with years of experience with alternative methods and a true learner-centred approach, I would much rather teach in an environment of 100-200 total students than a school with several hundred or a thousand students.
The conventional governmental model of schooling comes from the Industrial Era of humanity and was developed through the limited psychology of Behaviourism. We have moved past this into the Digital Era and Transpersonal psychology (honouring the human experience itself). Thailand is not realising this transition within schooling because those in control are not coping well with the social transition and adapting through embracing change. They are actually harming the minds and intellectual liberty of the children by trying to force conformity to an outdated model. Simply put, Thailand is using analog methods for a digital era.
Instead of forcing children to be transported great distances from their homes and putting a greater burden, if not outright restriction, on their parents and families to support schooling, simply allow for an alternative method such as Montessori which is intentionally designed for small and intimate teaching environments, along with being created in the slums of Italy where there is no money. Instead of wasting money on transportation for relocation, use the resources to put "Smart Whiteboards" in the classrooms which then allow connections between schools and teachers around the country and world. Much easier solutions with no disruptions to students' lives and access to more sources and contacts.
The Minister of Education should see this as an opportunity to try something different since the standard method is not improving the intelligence of Thailand's youth.
Darius Hober
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