khonkaen man

I went through a mock version and and it was multi choice, a bright 14 year old could have gotten 60% The harder part is the law/education section as they have changed quite a few laws in recent years. Some of it is insane I agree and somewhat confusing/irrelevant, however, you have to bear in mind the low pass mark. Not all teachers are on 6k a year, lot of my in law relatives are teachers so I do know a bit about it. One recently got a promotion and is now on 30k, BUT he works almost every weekend and has a workload that would make a TEFLer <removed by Admin> himself.

Actually the Thai Professional Teacher's License Exam is 9 parts. Maybe a bright 14 year old student could get 60% on one or two of these. Passing the other tests would be impossible, even for most university graduates in other fields. The tests are highly specialized in their content.

9 parts there may be but a brown envelope is sufficient to get letters afer your name. Slightly of track, I know of a woman who as just paid 200,000B to get her son into the police academy. His reason for joining the police, to make good money.

Government to be overthrown. Which government? The farcical surface entity or the ever-lasting hidden one?

Lets hope its the hidden one..the faceless families. While this crowd are pulling the strings corruption and poverty will go hand in hand. The end game is nigh

Why is it that this government wants money for a new highway when they still have not finished the East West Trade Corridor (EWEC) that runs from Mawlamyine in Myanmar through Thailand into Laos and Finishes in Da Nang Vietnam. This project was initiated over 10 years ago , by the Asain Development Bank, and was intended to run through 13 of the poorest provinces in South East Asia.

The idea was to help alleviate poverty in these regions and lift their standard of living. Why do we now need another super highway that is basically doing the same thing. Ah maybe they dont want to relieve poverty

My condolences to the relatives of the innocent victims of this tragedy

It is likely, that if it was the truck driver at fault, that he has done this many times before ( and may have had near misses before). The problem for these people is that most are incapable of learning from their experiences. Recently I saw some punk on a motor bike going thru red lights and not stopping and nearly get wiped up by a bus.

At the next set of traffic lights the same little punk was hopping around in agony with his bike wedged under a car. Incapable of learning from experience. Its got nothing to do with youthfulness. To be scared you have to think. Need I say more.

From the cradle to the grave most here are not expected to think about their actions and how they may effect others.

Maybe he's planning on being Prime Minister again?

After all, a majority of Thais will vote for him again.

Why should a military Junta decide what's best for the country?

You should ask him that. I think it's come to the point where Thaksin is willing to get into bed with those he was formerly opposed to. This is a win at any cost measure, and a dangerous one at that.

If he thinks he can get in to the PM position using military connections without the military controlling him in the end, then he hasn't payed attention to Thai history and what happened to the PAD. I've said before that TRT and PAD are similar, with different backers. Now he's trying to bridge that gap as his personal power wanes.

Maybe he thinks he can become a "Dear leader"?

Thai history is about to enter a new era. Six out of ten forum topics on the thaivisa homepage are about Thaksin, dont think anything is waning. Powerful and not so powerful figures are starting to align themselves with the likely winners of the upcoming battle.

Like it or not there may be an event( in the near future) that will prove the catalyst for the start of this war. As a Thai friend says to me ' Thaksin - coming soon'

Why do people bother making worthwhile assessments of this subject. The Thai education system is not intended to educate..full stop. A simple way to improve the system is to make it a requirement that every student should me made to ask every teacher one question everyday. That question should be 'WHY (make up the rest yourself) and it must be a requirement that the teacher gives the student an answer.

Just part of the buffer between the poor and the 'state within the state', poor teachers are just a uniform wafting bits of worthless paper (qualifications). We must remember they were educated in the same system. Enough said (going back to thedishes)

English courses in schools to attract expat children

BANGKOK: -- In order to attract more students from neighbouring countries, 14 top government secondary schools will be installed with English programmes from the next academic year, the Office of Basic Education Commission said yesterday.

This ambitious project, which involves a school in Bangkok, Phuket and Chon Buri, is also aimed at drawing the children of expatriates living in the four neighbouring countries, Obec's secretary-general Khunying Kasama Worrawan na Ayutthaya said.

The "Spirit of Asean project" is meant to accommodate plans to turn Asean into and economic and trade grouping by 2015, Kasama said.

[thenatio[/thenatitio2009-08-2-25

On the Thai Government "We need to make an announcement about something today" scale of stupidity and nonsense , this ranks a good 9 out of 10. Thai government schools are a laughing stock everywhere except inside the Thai ministry of education, and the so called education they provide to Thai people is (or should be) a national shame. Yet they presume to offer education to people from neighbouring countries!!!!!!!

Even inside ASEAN, what could Thai education offer? The Vietnamese are probably coughing over their breakfast.....

On the contrary what some people think there a few exceptions. Some government schools in the Bangkok area have the highest % of students who succeed in the entrance exam of Chulalonkorn university. Its for that reason my stepson took his daughter out of a privat school and let er study there, (and believe me, money is not the reason).

And the reachers their are realy motivated.

Prior to that my grand daughter was a complet unmotivated student,, now she follow extra classes and tutoring in the weekend, even on sunday. She realy is a studax now.

Her teacher even give her study books from her son who is at Chulalongkorn to prepare her the entrance exam.

And also outside Bangkok there are good government schools, my wiffinnished high school in nakhon Sawan, 52 years and she learned how to speak, read and write perfect English there. better than me anyhow LOL

But I agree that in general the Thai governments school are of a very very low standard.

But as always there are exceptions who confirm the rule

Dont you realise that Chulalongkorn is a bloody joke as well. Papers from here have no standing in the international community.

<snip>

"How could this happen? I really don't understand. I feel very uneasy that a non-senior person becomes acting police chief. I am the senior most officer and used to be acting police chief on behalf of Patcharawat for 22 times," Priewphan said.

-- The Nation 2009/07/08

That says it all. It clearly shows the a general problem with Thai politics. Common folks and politicians belief is "the more senior the better someone must be".

young bad - old good!

One reason why never the young blood got a real chance! Sorry for being a little off-topic but look at the acting PM. Not accepted by the "old guard"

Its not "the more senior the better someone must be" its the bigger the uniform the more you must respect that uniform.

One reason why never the young blood got a real chance! Sorry for being a little off-topic but look at the acting PM. Not accepted by the "old guard". Are you real with this comment. Abhisit has been groomed for this job by the 'old guard'

Now back on topic. Every politician, senior police officer and army general, in this country has absolutely non of the skills or experience required to hold their post. They buy their way in with money or family ties because these are the jobs with the best pay back.

What is more important is that the nationality of these post holders is not pure thai. You work out their nationality! And in your answer is the reason for every problem that Thailand cant or wont cure. Its just pure f---ing greed

RED SHIRTS

Ex-supremo threatens use of force if pardon blocked

By THE NATION ON SUNDAY

Published on August 2, 2009

Chaiyasit: Wedge driven between King and people

Former supreme commander General Chaiyasit Shinawatra yesterday threatened opponents of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra not to block the move to seek a Royal pardon for his cousin otherwise there could be use of force...

What a despicable threat to make. The only sufferers will be the poor from the North and the poor conscripts in the Army, many of whom will surely die. If the two sides do not negotiate there is going to be a lot of blood spilt. Yes u do negotiate with terrorists, The British government did it over Northern Ireland.

What has made the elite wealthy will be there eventual download...self interest. The army is already splintered with wealthy people paying generals to look after their interests.

Any Civil unrest will be short and bloody..and there will only be one winner. Check your history books

Yes, this petition is ILLEGAL under Thai law.

But we know how much the convicted fugitive leader of this travesty respects the law.

So was the coup but didn't stop it happening.

They had to get a conviction to save face.

The former coup is not illegal, read the constitution

Just remind me , who wrote the constitution that made the coup legal

To call it a "pointless exercise"

It is not pointless. The point is loud and clear. The red side is desperate and past all rationality. First a violent revolution attempt that FAILED MISERABLY. Now this ... flirting with core taboos of Thai unity. What next?

I will treat your innuendo with respect jingthing, even though it doesn't have a shred of credibility, because I respect my fellow posters. For that reason alone.

It is not mutual ... I don't respect true believers of any stripe.

'The red side is desperate and past all rationality' I think you will find that b4 this desperation, there was the desperation of the coup and when this did not work we had 6 months of the yellows

For right or wrong, if you dont 'flirt with core taboos of Thai unity' nothing ever changes. Please change the word unity for suppression. As other posters have suggested the LM law is the lid on the can of worms.

Are the Dem sympathisers getting the picture......good

Amazing Thailand! Rather than Little China or China Lite I think the new advertising campaign should be tagged:

Thailand! Burma with Electricity

Before anyone goes off the rails, these new saber rattlings from today's flavor of the day government probably will go the way of the smoking law, prostitution laws and standards for English teachers. This government has done absolutely nothing positive over the past six months except handing out Bt2,000 checks to the poor. They got the idea from the last truly elected deposed prime minister. You got to love this place.

Agree with u 100% except for 1 small point. The 2000bht was not given to the poor it was given to the 'middle classes'. Those wonderful people who believe they have to support yellow. The poor only received massive tax hikes in their few luxuries.. cigarettes and beer which was to pay back the 9Billion baht use in the handout.

What a wonderful society that makes the poor subidise the better off. All bets are off....D Day is just around the corner

Yeah, all the "well wishers" and "hope he comes back"

are those "big names" who lost their place at the feeding trough,

the others are misguided "hope fulls", caught in his luring web

of promises which are cost the country dearly already!

The question you should be asking is who is at the feeding trough at the moment. They have been milking the country for decades. A thai friend who studies politics at uni described them (not 100%sure) as the 'Brotherhood of Twelve' refering to the families that run Thailand. The faceless thieves who get a cut from every piece of action going ...

An &lt;deleted&gt; disgrace. The sentence is okay but why are'nt all the teachers and government workers who sat and protested,at the airport, while still on full pay not going to prison. Stopping this rant now b4 some democrat justifys the airport sit in

Of course, Thaksin inspires many poor and rural Thais and things were clearly better when he was in power, though I don't think Abhisit is completely to blame for that. Being a social liberal, I find that Thaksin is clearly more palatable than the yellower more rightist elite alternative. It would be nice if someone else had the power to oppose this evil elite machine, but for now there's only Thaksin. Bring him on!

Wake up!

'Wake Up' Oh No not another one and you live in my part of the country. You see the poverty on a daily basis and you dont understand why they are poor. Its not about Thaksin as I have said before. Its about political awareness and the the poor are becoming more aware as they see their leader tackle those that ensure they stay poor.

Thaksin is only a vehicle for these people to vent their anger on the establishment and rightly so. If the 'meek inherit the earth' thaksin will then become surplus to requirements. The ruling classes are petrified of this man bcos his actions threaten their false status and wealth. Also the 'know your place society' we call Thailand, that has been cultivated by the elite for many years is under serious threat. Why do you think its about uniforms here and not the people in the uniforms. Bcos most people in uniforms here should not be p155ed on if on fire. They are merely a buffer that is not to be questioned by the poor.

Once that buffer is scraped away we are getting very close to the power brokers.

Remember Mr T trying to privatise Egat..did you ever think why. Control the power shut down the country. Privatise it in to small chunks and that does not happen. Remember the yellow shirts finding Egat workers to shut off power to that police station in BKK. Who are they loyal to?

Thaksin Ensuring Government workers could get cheap rate loans..obviously to buy favour with them. Who sat in at the airport..middle class teachers, government workers etc. The same ones Taksin was trying to provide with cheap loans.

Taksin trying to bring in individual assessment for teachers. In effect turning them against each other and breaking their loyalty to each other.

Are you getting the picture yet

Why is it that there are way too many of these grades of workers passing paper around in the office. Why are these the groups of workers that steadfastly wear matching t shirts on different days.

I cannot say anymore bcos I could end up in the clink. Please if you are going to live here try to understand your enviroment

As the first poster said' Taksin Bring him On'

Any of our resident Thaksin lovers are going to walk around with Thaksin's mask themselves?

If there are no sand storms here in Thailand why is your head entrenched up your anus. Comments like the above the above just reflect how little you know about Thailand. I personally dont like him but everybody is entitled to their own opinion.

For his own ends admittedly, he is the only politician to help the less well off and the poor dont forget that. Now you have a muppet controlled by the privvy. I know which I prefer as an expat.

In my early days here I had a friend (before cases like this one appeared) he was known to collect a bit of booze on this side. One day his contact drove him about 10 km from the bridge to a housing estate for a pick up. Entering the gate of a house to his utter horror a lady customs officer walked out of the house. Did you know adrenaline is brown and smells a lot like sh1t.

Quickly getting over his horror and trying to work out his excuses he notice she was carrying 1 of his cases of booze, then another and so on. Well u cant blame the officer, the wages are so cr4p.

B4 this he had a male officer bring everything in his pick up to their meeting point. Trouble was he got too greedy and his bosses found out he was not sharing the booty so they moved him to a post where he was not free to go back and too over the bridge.

So me personally feels sorry for the Brit who got caught, bcos when it suits those who protect and serve are bigger bootleggers than all of us farangs put together. Have you ever wondered why people 200 kms from a border cannot register(every 90 days) at their local police station. Well known in these parts about the little empire of corruption at Nong Khai that needs a steady suppy of farangs to maintain their profit margins

A disinterested person reading the comments calling for Thaksin's demise or comparing him to Kim Il Jung and Hitler, would wonder as to the sanity of such people making these wild and exaggerated statements. Do you people ever stop to consider what your comments reflect? Whatever, Mr. Thaksin's sins and faults they are no more than many of the people currently in power. And yet, I do not see any of you clamouring for the death of various military generals or condemning various ministers past and present.

I would have respect for your views if they were at least consistent. Thaksin is an easy target. However, I dare any of you brave self appointed defenders of democracy to go and confront one of the army generals and tell him what your views are. You won't because you are scared of the ramifications. Instead you piss all over Thaksin because like good bullies you can get away with it. The constant cheap shots at the people of Isaan, the Redshirts and Thaksin speak to your arrogance and ignorance.

People do not follow a leader like Mr. Thaksin unless they feel disenfranchised and without hope. Treat the supporters of Thaksin with dignity and respect and stop exploiting them, and you will see Mr. Thaksin's support disappear. More importantly, I defy any of you to put your identities behind your pleas for Mr. Thaksin's death in a public statement, such as a newspaper ad, instead of hiding in an anonymous forum tossing cheapshots. You won't because you are cowards. Talk is cheap. If you are that unhappy go out in public, stand up and say something.

Spoken like a person who understands the real Thailand. Anybody else

If we repeat it often enough it must be true...... TIT

They just realise that the system as it is does not reward politicians/bureaucrats according to their services, so tea money makes it fair.

And the system, from elections down to cabinet decision making, prevents free and fair competition for those positions, i.e. politicians who can deliver more and steal/get paid less are weeded out on approach.

Same thing in the offices - relatives get cushy positions without earning them and that reflects on overall productivity, but somehow people think that brown nosing your incompetent boss is better than improving company performance, i.e. people don't feel like stakeholders, only as leeches whose goal is to take away as much as possible.

Of course not everybody is the same, hence not 100% answers in that survey.

I also don't think that there will be any change coming from the down up - it's up to the leaders to set better examples and make lower rungs feel included and involved.

When we have folks like Thaksin setting standards for fairness there's no hope at all. He doesn't feel like stakeholder himself, to begin with, he is a leech. You need statesmen at the top, people who put country's interests above their own, true patriots, and I don't know if any exist outside traditional elites and top military guys like Prem and Sorayud. Every one else just wants to have a good time at the expense of others.

As for revolutionary movement - they have absolutely no credibility left already and they haven't tasted the power yet. When they felt they were getting some, they tried to burn the country down. No future in these guys, they are like teenagers, lots of anger but zero sense. Maybe they wil mature one day, like those commies from 70s who now advise Thaksin on looting the country. Time does change idealists around.

Are you pulling my pud. These are the kind of people who will not allow democracy in Thailand. Their job is to maintain the status quo..... ensuring that the old elite stay rich and powerful even if it means toppling governments to achieve that goal.

It goes on and on because the present government really does not have a mandate.

Nope that's not it.

If the Democrats called an election tomorrow and won with a landslide, there would still be reds taking to the streets.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is a group brought together by a collective belief in certain upstanding political values and principles; rather it's a group bought together by one rich man and his few remaining friends of power, who having messed the country up and been kicked out, want the chance to come back, be whitewashed of all charges against them, and able to dip their snouts back in the trough for another feeding.

The core of the red shirts is held together by their desire to no longer be poor and downtrodden. They dont really care about Taksin. They are using each other for different goals.

Who's snout is filling the trough at the moment... somebody must be feeding from it, buts thats okay. I think you may find its the decendants of the original Chinese settlers The Tai Tribe. Me thinks that maybe Thailand does not mean land of the free but land of the Tai

Its a start in what may eventually become a automatic reflex and become standard behavior for drivers. If you pessimists have a better suggestion by all means lets hear it. No 50 calibers or RPG's are allowed in the hands of any BIB for enforcement purposes.

Its not about pessimism its about understanding that to achieve caring thoughtful people you will have to change the culture of the whole society...starting from birth. Then we may achieve people who are taught to think ahead, show respect for others and take responsibilty for their actions.

Stopping for crossings is not possible without thinking ahead, how many times have you walked into 7/11 and the lady in front lets the door go in your face and then when your standing in the queue somebody walks in the door and gets served before you.

All thais need to be taught to think at the early age and understand the consequences of their actions. No more mai pen rai b-llsh-t. That phrase undermines advancement of the Thai people

Somebody wiser than I once said " a nation culture is reflected in its driving" I dont think anymore needs to be said

It would appear that the woman has taken the pain bcos the sister is no where to be found. Normal practice, if you dont pay they get someone in your family to pay or your house or you get hurt. I have been told personally how it works and if you resist too much the pillion passenger is always carrying a gun.

Why is it allowed to go on bcos the whole money lending business is run by the local bib. Come the revolution its going to be open season on these boys in brown.

Totally agree with most posters, tv here is tosh. Its okay watching light entertainment but not every waking hour. Whos making the in depth documentaries about riots in Bkk and trouble in th south etc. Of all the great tv programmes mentioned in this thread they are nearly all about cerebal humour and a little visual humour.

Whereas thai tv is purely visual or put better slapstick, it does not require you to think. Case in point being that Mr Bean is the most popular foreign programme in Thailand.

Just of track slightly the best new programme they could create here is a Thai 'Question Time' were politicians get a public grilling from a Robin Day type character with the audience throwing in their two penneth worth. I would have to sit on the floor ....scared of rolling off the chair in hysterical fits of laughter