richard_smith237

That's crazy thinking to me. Wearing a seatbelt in a car or a helmet on a motorbike is only to protect your life. There is no downside to it. Not trying to argue with you, I'm just seeing things differently. I believe these laws requiring our safety are a necessity and should be enforced. Agreed..... I shouldn’t be permitted discretion as to whether or not my child needs to be in a car seat / wear a seat belt or not..... Any parent who doesn’t think their child should wear a seatbelt or be in a child seat and believes its there choice is a negligent parent. Additionally, there are many in Thailand who simply do not know the risks - such laws may save ’some’ children - that said, I believe this will just be a paper law which for the most part is ignored. ------ I see very wealthy families rock up at my son’s school... Children get out of their Alphards and Merc not a child seat or seatbelt in sight... the parents just don’t consider them necessary.

Agree with your sarcasm.... The comment you quoted highlights the avoidance of responsibility... It doesn’t matter IF the wires belong to a private company, they are being placed in a public area, thus its uptown to those in public office to ensure they are safe. As always any responsibility is deflected and side stepped.

Because he wasn’t wearing a helmet - so some idiots proceed that as he wasn’t wearing a helmet he wasn’t safe so it must have been his own fault for not seeing the wires !!!.... (some completely illogical and irrational fools on this forum).... It clearly wasn’t his [the old expats] fault, and neither is the the ladies fault. Fault lies primarily with the workers and companies for not removing the old wires when putting in a new one. Fault lies with authorities for not ensuing a better job is being done to police this mess and prevent it from happening.

There have already been many deaths from this issue.... ... So... to take your comment a little further... It may take the death of a someone considered important for something to be done about this problem for authorities to hold a two-week crackdown.

Unfortunately there is an elephant in the room.... and that elephant is not standing by idly but its s spaffing off into face of the lawmakers who’s laws and regulations go completely unenforced..... Laws are pointless if they are ignored and unenforced. That said, the recognition that seatbelts (for the whole vehicle) and child safety seats are required is a good thing... but again, will the police bother to enforce them after the first two weeks of announcements and crackdowns ? Then of course, that elephant is still in the room knocking one out over all the policy makers.... what about the pickup trucks with people stuffed in the flat bed ????? Motorcyclists without helmets etc etc etc.... Its great that Thailand is bringing in important laws.... but none of this means anything when that huge big fat elephant in the room is being completely ignored.... Thailand needs to address law enforcement on the roads, until then laws are pretty much irrelevant.

So are we not allowed an opinion ???..... When I have discussions with my Thai friends there is an incredible amount of common ground on many of the issues we discuss on this forum. Thai’s have very much the same opinions and complaints we have....

Pro’s and cons... the cons being more people are getting injured and dying because the police don’t enforce the laws... And... I get more tickets in Thailand than I ever did in the UK... thinks such as going 123kmh on the expressway rated ro 120kmh, or crossing the solid white line at junction (when the line is very poorly placed etc)...

Thats a good point... I don’t own a watch, I have a cheap nokia 3310 phone, I drive a rickety old motorcycle, I wear tattered and worn clothes and live in a s#it hole..... No one is going to rob me !!!!

Motorcyclists don’t have pockets ???..... Not quite the end of !!!

It would seem a great idea at first... but thats because I’m not a teacher with the skills to handle such a situation.... But, does teaching that ’trouble student’ that its acceptable for authority figures to hit someone weaker and powerless; even if it is just a rap across the knuckles, the right thing to do ??? Now, I would expect a qualified and well trained teacher to have the skills to handle such a child. I would expect support from the school and I would expect the education authorities to have a system in place whereby students who are a repetitively difficult and who could not be dealt with by a the teacher and the school to be schooled in an alternative establishment where they are less disruptive to other students and where there are better trained specialist to deal with their behaviour. I know this is difficult in Thailand, particularly because of the money in the government schools, but also because of the attitudes towards such children. Hitting a child because they are late, forgot their homework, were talking in class, didn’t remember the right uniform etc is outrageously wrong and is a far far cry from dealing with a highly disruptive or violent child. But, even when dealing with a highly disruptive or violent there are other options before resorting to physical means of punishment. As has been reported numerous times over the years, in Thai schools it is often the case that ‘other options’ are not sought and the go to response is violence - this is wrong.

At my age and with so few teeth, my wife now chews my grapes first Wife tried ‘treading’ mine !... ..... forgot I wasn’t wearing the mirrored sunglasses in the mall !!!...

Violence of any kind is unacceptable.... this would be in an ideal word. The issue of course is that many of us recognise the realities of life and that we do not live in an idea world. I would like to argue that there is never any need for violence, but there are scenarios in which I would not hesitate to use violence - but these are extreme scenarios and not involving children or in a school. A school environment has to be a safe place for children - violence of any kind cannot be tolerated or sanctioned in a school, even in extreme situations. Is violence ever accepted in an civilised adult work place ????.... Why should it ever be accepted in a school ?

You obviously have no experience of, understanding of or exposure to schools such as Bangkok Patatana, Harrow Bangkok, NIST, ISB, Bangkok Patana, Shrewsbury, St Andrews, Bangkok Prep..... .... Just to name a handful which are all head and shoulders above the average comprehensive schools in the UK. I have a child at one of the above mentioned schools. I have friends and family in the UK who’s children go to good comprehensive schools in good area’s of the UK... the Bangkok International Schools are just a lot lot better at what they do.... (IMO). I also have family who’s children are at Private Schools in the UK - in having discussions with parents and the students the standards appear comparable to the International Schools listed above.

I think there is a higher risk of contracting covid or any illness in any built up area.... Is there even a true handle on how much covid there is out there and where it is ??? So many people now contract Covid-19 and treat it as a cold (we did and just stayed away from everyone). I don’t think blaming people for travelling is fair. Perhaps people could take an ATK when they arrive where they at their destination, just to be sure. We did recently (when travelling in from the UK) and given the queue at security and general airport chaos, and transit chaos and queue numbers I’m amazed we didn’t catch covid !!! (again). But, really, where do we draw the line now ????...... Of course, risk doesn’t disappear, but Covid is not the risk it once was. Is it not time to move on ? I’m sure there are people who fall gravely ill from covid, but there are also people who are falling gravely ill from influenza, food poisoning and many other factors.... In perspective, is Covid-19 still a magnitude of severity greater than other illnesses ???

No thats what he’s written or implying at all - he is recognising that the issue may not be as black and white as many of us like to believe. We are after all dealing with an imperfect system that doesn’t suit every child. Given your response it can be interpreted that your reading comprehension has suffered... did your school fail you ????

I suspect that is always a possibility, but one a good school and teacher has experience of and can deal with. At my sons school there are kids who are from overwhelmingly wealthy backgrounds... Family backgrounds many of you on this forum will have heard of... Owners of Major Shopping Malls and huge companies.... Some of these children are undoubtedly spoiled at home, we’ve been away on holidays with some of these families. There is a range in how the children are treated by the parents... some parents simply give the child everything they want, give into their every whim... whereas other parents are clearly more responsible and are grounding their children as much as possible. For the most part, the kids are lovely, even the ones who are completely spoiled by their parents - usually when they are that spoiled they are only behaving like this at home. Good teachers set their own standard in the class room, the children know this. Obviously as the children age and they realise the power their extremely wealthy parents have and they may attempt to flex - however, a good school will not worry about dealing with this. The top schools can be selective - there are waiting lists. Some extremely wealthy and powerful families are waiting for a couple of years to get their children into their preferred school. The parents had to fight and wait to get their children in the school... they will not wish to compromise this position with their child misbehaving.

As confusing as "teachers" always are. You are entirely happy to take money from the fascists of the Thai education system, but not to enrol your precious ones, or to even try to change/fix the fascist system. Excellent example of sheer hypocrisy. I hope your beloveds grow up and make you try to explain all that, which you cannot. He [SoilSpoil] cannot change the system he can only improve his lot. Its not hypocritical at all that he has worked in the Thai Governments schools, recognises their flaws and instead chooses to home school his child. It could be argued that this is an extremely sensible thing to do. Hopefully SoilSpoil's child will grow up with a decent enough education that he doesn’t embarrass himself and jump to such sanctimonious and pathetic judgements that you have just made !!!!

Perhaps flatulance is also an issue.... mask wearing clearly protects riders behind from breathing the flatulate left downstream from riders up ahead..... I think that adequately covers the issue of ‘dilution’ in open air with regards to Covid-19....

Unless freedom of movement is stopped there is always a risk of transmission anywhere, as there is transmission of any respiratory disease. Your comment simply reads that you have a chip in your shoulder about those from Bangkok for some reason. Can someone from your village tranmit the virus to those in another village?.... y’know the only people who cop it and get covid in other smaller villages is from stupid people coming from your village not wearing a mask ??? or is it only blamed on Bangkok ? I think you get my point there - mask wearing may help, but is not the sole prevention method. Vaccines and antibodies are a major factor and how many people in your village who 'copped it’ were vaccinated ??

Answer is simple, you are almost 6 times more likely to die from flu, pneumonia, and other respiratory disease than a motorcycle accident. Flu's are contagious and accidents are not Over 31,000 people die each year from flu and pneumonia, 5500 from motorcycle accidents. https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/thailand-influenza-pneumonia Edited 3 hours ago by Skallywag A utterly flawed comparison to the point of being quite silly... ... Not one person in Thailand evaluates the risk of not wearing a facemask vs the risk of not wearing a helmet on the basis of a World Wide statistic that they are 6x more likely to die from a respiratory illness. Additionally - your '6x more likely figure’ includes aggregate whole population numbers world wide and as such the comparison is fundamentally flawed... not even an apples vs oranges comparison but rather and apples vs eggs !!!.... IF you want to provide less flawed and distorted statistic you would perhaps consider a direct comparison: - Risk of Motorcyclists in Thailand dying from a respiratory illness vs risk of a motorcyclist not wearing a helmet dying in an accident.... I think then when you achieve an accurate stat for that comparison you’ll find that motorcyclists who do not wear helmets in Thailand are at a far higher risk of dying than those who do not wear face-masks.

A perfect example... a humdinger of fookwittery !!!!!

My son goes to a top international school in Thailand - I agree with everything you have written. That said, teachers at the top international schools are also under the microscope, high standards are expected and their performance as teachers is monitored closely. I also consider it my role as a parent to ensure that my son understands the standards expected of him while at the same time giving him the freedom to make his own informed and educated choices. I know a number of teachers at International schools here, some at the top International Schools, some at Mid-range international schools and some at Schools I’ve never heard of. The standards of those individuals differ, those at the top schools are rarely joining late for a beer after football on weeknight, whereas we see those at the ‘lower-tiered’ schools often staying late and calling in sick the next day etc.... the behaviour is notable. To a T, all the teachers I know who work at reputable internationals schools here find the actual job of teaching in a classroom far easier here than in the UK where discipline is often an issue. Teachers at the reputable internationals schools here do no need to be disciplinarians for the reasons you [Gecko123] highlight, they can spend quality time actually teaching, they are also provided the tools required that international school fees bring to a school. Are teachers at internationals schools better teachers ?.... (which seems to be something some may allude to as pointed out in your post), no, I don’t think so, but its easier for them to do a better job of ‘educating’. An excellent teacher will be an excellent teacher at whatever school they are at. Meanwhile those who are not at the top of their game are likely to find it easier at a renowned international school than at a government school which faces many of the issues you [Gecko123] highlighted. Teaching is a calling, many are natural born teachers and those who are find little need to discipline children, in many cases their presence and enthusiasm is sufficient. It seems to the ‘poorer quality’ teachers who lack the skills to engage children and students, they end up resorting to desperate methods because they lack the skills otherwise.

Agreed.... but thats at the local immigration office. Immigration at the airport have no interest in TM30 or 90 day reports and thus have no interest in your address or where you’ll be staying unless profiled and singled out for further questioning - which IMO is extremely rare (never happened to me or anyone I know), but reports on this forum suggest some are stopped and asked questions (maybe visa runners etc).

The answer is obvious a big fat no.. Immigration never ask for proof of accommodation. It is only requested that you list your accommodation on the TM6 form, which, if the news is correct has been stopped (but there is conflicting information on this). Immigration couldn’t possibly check the accommodation details of everyone, so its a non-starter. But, if stopped and questioned (for whatever reason) you will obviously need to prove an honest and clear answer - at this stage you are being profiled and if they doubt your response they can double-check if they so wish. For many of us, there is no hotel or booking, we simply go home. If pressed I have a copy of my Tabien Baan (yellow house book with my name in it) which shows my accommodation). But many won’t be travelling in with proof of their rental agreement or home ownership etc...

Ah... the good old fashioned seatbelt reply...... as in “I never wore a seat belt in a car and I’m ok”.... Times were obviously different back then... but that doesn’t make hitting children right or any more acceptable, we (as a society) know better now.