dcpo

USD millionaire General Prayut.

The modern American Conservative. No conspiracy theory is too ridiculous. Except this one. Because there's just no way an essentially hostile foreign power with both the motivation and the capability could possibly do something like this. 

3 hours ago, snowbak said:

Thailand's education is a joke. they send most of their PhD students out of the country to schools abroad.

So providing an education that gets people onto PhD programs in the US and equivalent makes you a joke? I guess Western PhD programs are a joke too., since they accept such poorly educated students.

3 hours ago, notmyself said:

I wouldn't even recommend a Thai student go to university over here but that may be the only option for some so therefore the question is too vague. A degree obtained here would for the most part be worthless in a western country but could be good elsewhere.

It's just not true that a degree from a Thai university is worthless in the West. For one thing you can use a Thai university degree (from the better universities) to get admission onto a Western grad program. Try doing that without a degree.

As it stands this question is too vague. Where is the foreign student from? What other choices do they have? The universities in Thailand have problems but they're much better than the universities in Cambodia, Myanmar etc. The best universities in Thailand are better than the not so good universities in India, Malaysia, China and so on.  Thailand is also a nicer place to live than some of these places too. Even the best universities in Thailand don't compare academically with the higher end of universities in the US, UK, Singapore etc. but most young people don't have the option to study in one of these places anyway.

Also, most people posting on Thai Visa don't know anything about higher education, but I guess that's true for most subjects.

I wonder what percentage of the higher education experts commenting here have a PhD, or even a bachelors?

Thailand does have the potential to have a much more impressive academic presence than it currently enjoys. The facilities in the better universities are actually pretty good, very good by the standards of the developing world. If you browse through the lists of academic staff for places like Chula, Mahidol etc. you'll see many people with PhDs from strong Western institutions (or equivalents in Japan etc.), including Ivy leagues. If you dig deeper you'll find a lot of people who have produced high level research (and published in top journals). The problems in Thai academia aren't down to lack of facilities or academic staff (though obviously better staff and facilities are always welcome). The problems are to do with inflexibility and shortsightedness of the various interlocking administrative systems governing Thai higher education. In many cases the raw materials are already in place but they're being wasted by incompetent bureaucrats. If some of these essentially self inflicted problems were resolved, and yes, it's a big if, Thai higher education could be a regional leader. 

Of course the idiots on Thai Visa don't believe in in anthropogenic global warming. Who in their right mind 'follows the money' in climate change research and ends up with scientists warning about global warming? Do you realize how much money a climate scientist could make shilling for an oil company instead? Even leaving aside understanding the actual science behind it all, the idea that there's a global network of scientists propagating the theory in order to enrich themselves is just stupid.

America just went full Breitbart.

You never go full Breitbart.

Meanwhile the big story is the 'celebrity' who punched the other bloke in the face.

Must be bad spirits on that section of road.

5 years? Shame he didn't say a bad word about someone important while he was raping her and got 15 years for that.

Must be that Myanmar sorcery.

5 hours ago, F4UCorsair said:

Moderate muslims..........the expression 'oxymoron' comes to mind.

 

I suppose it's a relative term though, and compared with their opposition, they may be viewed as moderate.  That may be just not quite as barbaric as the other guys.

I read this post, and for some reason the word 'moron' just jumped into my mind.

There is no organization more corrupt and self-interested than the Thai military.

I don't understand how a sane person could look at Trump and Hillary and conclude that Hillary is the crooked one. Clearly rational minds are not at work here.

Russia is basically the Donald Trump of international politics. Their target audience doesn't care about facts.

The junta continue to set a fine example to the people. That said, having a dyke named after your wife seems like a mixed blessing.

Maybe the problem is with the puuyai and not the dogs.

It's kinda weird how Thais get from the teachings of Buddha to their belief in spirits and magic fungi that tell them lottery numbers. But then, it's kinda weird how Catholics get from the teachings of Jesus to massive cathedrals stuffed with gold and a man living in his own private city who tells them what to do (not that they actually listen to him if they don't agree with what he's saying). Human nature. It is what it is.

" Gen. Teerachai also confirmed that the Royal Thai Army will always stand ready to support the government’s efforts to solve any problems in the country. "

So long as it's the right government.

I think Yingluck would have been able to keep order just fine if the military had been backing her rather than hindering her. Also, it's a bit rich for (loosely defined) 'Yellow shirts' to praise the military for restoring order when they (the Yellow shirts) were the ones initiating the last round of disorder in the first place. I seem to remember at the time a lot of Yellow shirt supporters talking earnestly about how important the right to protest was. That went right out the window the exact moment 'their side' got a nose in front though.

I've noticed in Thailand people would much rather have a ceremony or event in honour of doing a thing than actually do the thing they're talking about doing.  

"Srisuwan Janya, the Secretary-General of The Association of Organizations Protecting the Thai Constitution" 

He sounds like a fun guy.

Jesus there are a lot of horrible people posting on Thai Visa.

He's very reasonable. All you have to do is agree with him unconditionally and there'll be no problem. All these people not agreeing with him are being very selfish. Don't they realise that agreeing with him is for the good of the country?