paulmw

If you pay teachers peanuts like they do in government schools, sometimes you will get the wrong kind of people teaching your kids (individuals with low IQ that would fail higher level teacher training courses, control freaks, insecurity, and other personality disorders). At least in Bangkok there are reasonable alternatives to government schools that aren't that expensive, like the Satit demonstration schools - Thai schools with bilingual/ international programmes.

Thai teachers are well paid married to one thats how I know, so that excuse is a non starter.

Haven't Ford pulled out of Australia due to the strength of the dollar?

Yes plus it costs Ford 25% more to build a Ford car in Australia than any other Australian car, and a whooping 4 times as much than any other car built in Asia.

Thailand The HUB of BS

Sure they can, sell the whole lot to China for 1/2 price, the WTO may have a negative view on that I imagine.

Some time ago there was an effort to make a shipment to China with false accounting but the incident blew and there was a scalded cat pull-back. Governments are not allowed to sell goods at less than cost as this is considered dumping. The rising baht provides a convenient excuse but the level of subsidy kicks any small adjustment into touch. Once the stored rice starts to spoil then the policy is blown. The government will be pressed to deny rotting stores.

As I remember there is a 5% clause which means it could be sold at cost less 5%. 5% lol, like that really means anything in this situation.

This whole rice situation IS going to blow at some stage.

I busted a few numbers some time back and the situation is something like this......

Assuming the new rail system was in place, all the rolling stock was on a circular track and that the rice was in one place and had to be moved to one other place, it would take over 6 months just to move it.

Let's look at it another way.... All the rolling stock is pure cargo. It would take 100 trains @ 1 KM long to move 250,000 ton and Thailand has <>18 million ton.

So just straight off the top of the head. Storage, transport, wastage (which HAS to be massive), high exchange rate and graft (30%?) means it will need to be sold at double the price paid for it just to break even. In addition, I think I would be hard pressed to find anyone who expects the quality to be 'top'. Ivory Coast 'said' they had to dump 20%. Could be BS but I tend to think it was at the very least an indication as to its quality at present.

How does Goddess minister 'KNOW' THAT India and Pakistan will have Less rice later this year? is she getting uncle Taksin to buy it?

No wonder this country is backward. but if they were as smart as us.... It wouldnt be affordable or fun to be here.

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I guess India, Pakistan, and Vietnam will sell their year’s quota at favorable terms, leaving Thailand with the worst possible terms if they can dump old rice on the world market.

I remember when T. S. was in charge he dumped all of Thailand’s rubber on the market, and screwed the world market price he didn’t win and influence many in Asia then guess they are all having a good laugh now.

American bacon compared to Aussie Bacon. I know what I prefer. The Thais would do well to reject the American pork. Full of fat and a heart attack waiting to happen. The Americans have shoved KFC and Macca's into the faces of Thais all for the dollar with total disregard for thier health. Thailand reject American food.....

Two different cuts thats why they don't look the same, UK first streaky bacon cheaper cut, second back bacon more expensive but great.

So how about Thailand refuse US pork

and how about US refuse to import Thai shrimp

If one country uses protectionism the other country will do so

Moscow does not permit the sale of US pork, despite Russia's high growth in pork consumption. Moscow's policy is based on the need to ensure food safety and people's health, Surachai said.

And that's the real point, corruption in the USA allows poisons to be fed to their people.

Shameful!!! Keep it out of here!!!

The Thais never use chemicals or drugs to improve the sale of their produce! Some short memoires on here, shell fish banned by EU a couple of years ago that let in the Vietnamese.

Chemically induced early ripening of fruit in the north that caused a very big explosion, that highlighted this practice.

Get real folks they all do it.

I remember when Thailand was allowed to enter the WTO, several Thais telling me how great it would be for Thailand and how they would rule the world as everyone would buy their products.

Well welcome to the real world Thailand and a taste of what is to come when you enter ASEAN

Cp employs an army of vetinarians who are supposed to manage what inputs the farmers use. Everything is provided from them.

They use whatever they are legally allowed to do so.

It's a shame CP arn't into Tuna fishing.

ANFACO-CECOPESCA, a private organization of 210 Spanish seafood processors, called on the EU to get stricter with both Thai tuna processors and the country’s health authorities, after they found out that the EU rejected Thai canned tuna imports 17 times in the last 8 months. The organization also said the EU should de-list Thai factories that have been found to be in breach of EU sanitary regulations.

This was November 2012

piss off America send your pork to Afganistan,times are very hard here for farmers as it is ,a lot of local farmers have gone out of business already

But Yingluk's Gov't promised all the farmers would be rich.

So how about Thailand refuse US pork

and how about US refuse to import Thai shrimp

If one country uses protectionism the other country will do so

Moscow does not permit the sale of US pork, despite Russia's high growth in pork consumption. Moscow's policy is based on the need to ensure food safety and people's health, Surachai said.

And that's the real point, corruption in the USA allows poisons to be fed to their people.

Shameful!!! Keep it out of here!!!

The Thai’s never use chemicals or drugs to improve the sale of their produce! Some short memoires on here, shell fish banned by EU a couple of years ago that let in the Vietnamese.

Chemically induced early ripening of fruit in the north that caused a very big explosion, that highlighted this practice.

Get real folks they all do it.

I remember when Thailand was allowed to enter the WTO, several Thai’s telling me how great it would be for Thailand and how they would rule the world as everyone would buy their products.

Well welcome to the real world Thailand and a taste of what is to come when you enter ASEAN

Now that was nice to see. A Thai saying they want to see ASEAN as the hub and not Thailand as the hub.

Just maybe it’s beginning to dawn on some Thai’s that Thailand isn’t the center of the world.

Instead of loans, how about a raise in salary?

"The quality of education does not always mean good grades. It also means happiness of students, their being good morally and academically,"

Oh don’t worry little one if you don’t pass I will give you 50% to pass.

Also on Friday Vietnam lowered their currency 3 percentage points to keep their exports on track.

I think you will find this all came about late Friday afternoon.

The lead up to this was first the yen cleared 100 to the dollar, partly due to Japanese engineering their economy and good figures coming out of the USA, then right on the heels of this the Vietnamese dropped their dong 3% points to keep their exports alive and kicking.

So Friday afternoon saw a few backsides puckering in BKK.

Very difficult my friend I’m sorry to say.

Especially since last year’s new rules from the teachers council which now require a degree to get a teachers license.

All immigration offices require now a letter from the teacher’s council before granting a B visa for teaching and you need this to get a work permit.

As I understand now even some labour offices require a copy of the teacher’s council letter.

Can you really see a Thai parent accepting why her son or daughter failed in tests, until their mind set is changed not even community schools or small school networks will work here.

As you can see this is just a prelude to the protests, when Thailand will enter kicking and screaming into ASEAN and the AEC, welcome to the real world Thailand.

I am a teacher and live in Isaan. School rolls in my province, and I assume others too, are falling. How low do student numbers need to be before it is uneconomic and impractical to continue ? What this article and the original Ministry announcement failed to mention is that there is already a policy of closing schools if the school roll persists in falling. My school director where I taught in Khon Kaen province was involved in helping with such closures.

I come from the UK where such closures also happen. I used to live in a small village in Cheshire where there was a good but small school but over the years pupil numbers diminished to a point where despite dedicated teachers a decision was taken to close it down. Thereafter any pupils from the village were picked up by minibus and taken to a another far larger village about 5 miles away.

No one wants to see their own school close. I had a conversation on this topic about three months ago because students number in my own, current, school have been dropping for more than ten years. The evidence for this is easy to find on the status display boards so many schools have on office walls. For the last three years I have been part of a team that tours round nearby schools to attract more M1 and M4 students to my school at the start of each new academic year. We put a lot of thought and effort into the tours because we needs the students; apart from anything else more students means more money for the school and with a bigger budget we can do so much more. But, as I said, school rolls are dropping everywhere and students have choices about which school to attend and the competition for new admissions is getting more intense.

What is the reason for school numbers falling in Isaan? People moving away, low birth rate or children going to private schools.

I think you will find that most rural parents want to send their children to big town or city schools under the impression (and I do say under the impression) they will get a better education.

Plus the usual I have a bigger one than you idea.

We had students traveling 35 Km to get to school, costs paid by themselves.

I don’t know about giving more funds to the educational budget to keep these schools open, Thailand has one of the biggest educational budgets in Asia now.

Maybe a better educational system would be the way forward!

I have a feeling this revolt maybe due to teachers losing well-paid jobs for life& cheap loans, more than concerns of students.

If anyone knew the future they wouldn't need to work would they.

Soros got out of gold 4 weeks ago in a big way. So I guess the Thai's will blame him again same as when the baht went west in 1998.

fearing condo bubble...this is the mother of all bubblicious bubbles.

"I'll buy in five years," I told a young female agent showing me a Phra Khanong two-bedroom unit for 15,000,000 baht.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because it'll be less than half price then," I responded knowing that my free lunch invite had just been canceled. (True. I was not given the buffet and drinks in the lobby but was ushered off the elevator on the ground floor and presented a saccharine smile.)

"How do you know that?" she asked. [We were boarding the elevator when she asked.]

"How long have you been in this business?" I asked.

"Three years," she said proudly.

"So you have seen prices escalate. [quizzical look] Go up every day," I said. [Elevator doors opening on the ground floor.]

"Yes, why?"

"Because you can't imagine prices falling, and because it seems crazy, it will happen." [Agent boards elevator, nonplussed.]

I had the same discussion with colleagues in the US who were doubling down on real estate before the crash, internet stocks before the 2001 tumble, and, most recently, when wandering through Chinatown, Bangkok and the Chinese gold shops were packed after gold fell about $50 to around $1,700 USD.

That's one nice thing about getting old. The eyes may not work as well, but they see a lot more.

In summary, Real Estate anywhere in the world => not good , share anywhere in the world => not good , gold => not good.

Before , it was nice to get some interest on your K . Now it's already nice to just keep your K as it is.

What can we do with our money , please ?

Tell that to the people queuing up overnight in Singapore to buy condo units even before they are built.

Reason not much land left in Singapore to build on, many are moving across the causeway.

she runs a small resort of 4 bungalows in koh lanta....... Her ex-boyfriend is 76 he funded the resort......

It would be interesting to know how much the last guy got fleeced for? Obviously we all can't buy them a resort!

he paid 800,000 baht for sinsod.

I think you will find that Sin sot basically translates to pure or un touched.

I know a lot of Cambodians who learn English. It's expensive for them. They made a choice. They want their expenses in time and money profitable. They are strong-willed. They understand that the tourists or farangs will never speak Khmer. VERY DIFFERENT in Thailand.

I get a little bit annoyed with Thai teachers who say the students can’t understand my West Country (UK) accent when they themselves have great difficulty stringing two sentences together in understandable English.

Or students who write their nicknames, Tle = Ton? Ple = Apple? Ploy = Puy? Then laugh how stupid the falang teacher is, when you use the Phonetic spelling sound (Phonetic alphabet) they have given to get them to try and change their ideas.

Until they understand there is a world outside of Thailand, they will never understand what the problem is.

You can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink the water.

That about sums up the Thai educational system.

Cambodians and Laotian people understand that a good knowledge of English could mean the difference of putting food on the table or going hungry.

Thai teacher salaries are crap. I don't blame them too much for having a job on the side, streaming in some cash from another source such as sales. Just keep it away from students. They should not be clients. Seems like common sense, but to use the tired phrase, "This is Thailand."The flip side of this coin is this. Thai teachers go above and beyond in certain aspects of the job that a Westerner would balk at. At my former Thai school (K-M6), Thai teachers practiced on their own time for a massive celebration for the school principal. Hours of dance rehearsals, singing practice, comedy skits. You name it. They did it. In order to get funds for the show, they sold homemade food items on the school grounds, and naturally the students were the likely customers. It was odd. Of course to attend the production was free, but students shelled out money for goods so teachers could have enough money for make-up, costumes, props, etc...Just my 2 baht. Thanks for reading.

Here we go again Poor old Thai teachers, hard done by.Thai Government teachers are on very good money compared to most Thai’s, ask a government teacher what their salaries are before stoppages for all the loans they have taken out.In the large increase they got a few years ago it was meant to be linked to productivity but alas the later never happened.Plus they get a review twice a year which can up their salary 2% each review.That was probably why they were so keen on doing so much for the director’s party. Trying to get up a rung on the crawling ladder.It’s a job you cannot get fired from either. My Ex’s salary was just under 33K per month after loans were taken out she walks away with 14K per month.Check it out please before lending a shoulder for a poor old Thai teacher has such a rough job.Your mail even brought tears to my eyes

Paying them more money would heighten their commitment much more along with manditory classes to improve their skills.

I think you will find gov’t teachers are fairly well paid, plus all the perks they get being gov’t officials.

A few years ago their pay leaped in leaps and bounds. Ask a gov’t teacher what her salary is, not what she takes home after all her loans are taken out.

It was linked to their performance, but alas it never came to be. (The performance part of the deal that is)

Again - who is running Thailand? And all this press about Thaksin, his decisions, his opinions? Thailand you are the laughing stock of international politics. What (if any other) country would allow it's government to be run by a convicted criminal in exile? Will someone please step up to the plate and throw these corrupt puppets out and instill decent tangible governance?

Thailand you are the laughing stock of international politics.Yes,Europe is doing a lot better.No problems at all.Only Spain unemployment 26%,Greece even higher.USA:The National Debt has continued to increase an average of

$3.84 billion per day.Yes a shame Thailand with an unemployment rate from only 1.6%

Thailand doesn’t have a reliable unemployment register the same as western countries my friend.

If you get laid off back home to the farm you go, no signing on the unemployment register, no unemployment payment.

That is the only saving grace Thailand has over western countries, they don’t have to pay the unemployed so can keep gov’t costs down, unlike western countries where it is a major drain on gov’t funds.

I'm sorry but my opinion is if a man comes here and at the age of 59 marries a girl who is 29 and thinks that she loves him for him is just not thinking strait. Yes it is a very sad waste of life but I don't understand why someone would marry a person 30 years younger then them.

Myself, I need to have something in common with the woman I want to spend my life with. I know this happens all the time and think bad of me if you want but it is just not worth marrying someone young enough to be your grand-daughter.

Your wrong sir 100%.

We have a great loving relationship.

I love her body, she loves my wallet.

Sorry gone just couldn’t resist it.