Prem bestows scholarships to needy students

[rooster59]

Prem bestows scholarships to needy students

 

 

Privy Council chairman Prem Tinsulanonda on Sept 23 presided over a ceremony to hand out scholarships to 1,861 good but needy students in the Northeast.

 

The ceremony was held at the Tinsulanonda auditorium at the City Hall of Nakhon Ratchasima.

 

In his speech to those attending the event, Gen Prem, the statesman, quoted the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej as saying three years ago that efforts should be made to produce more good people than smart ones because the country needs more of good people than those who are smart but may not be good people.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/prem-bestows-scholarships-needy-students/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-09-24

[LannaGuy]

'good people' like him?  hope not

[Ossy]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

 [Prem quote extract]. . . the country needs more of good people than those who are smart but may not be good people.

And 1,861 'good but needy' Isan students receive scholarships from Gen. Prem on this premise.

Where do they go from here, for their 'goodness' to be more valuable to the country than their 'smartness'?

[Cadbury]

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

".....because the country needs more good people"

Is this an official acknowledgement that the country is short of "good" people?

[mikebell]

I granted two scholarships to my two step-daughters.  They attended college and one (so far) has been presented with a Teaching Certificate from the King.  She has a job at 9000 per month.  She regularly travels the country taking local authority tests (I think.)

Can anyone explain the necessity of these tests?  Could it be that College Certificates are worthless?

[JAG]

25 minutes ago, mikebell said:

I granted two scholarships to my two step-daughters.  They attended college and one (so far) has been presented with a Teaching Certificate from the King.  She has a job at 9000 per month.  She regularly travels the country taking local authority tests (I think.)

Can anyone explain the necessity of these tests?  Could it be that College Certificates are worthless?

It is my understanding that the certificate qualifies you as a teacher - and so allows you to be employed by a "formal school". It also has a few other fringe benefits - for example it exempts males from the draft.

9k sounds like it is right at the bottom of the starting salary range for a private school - 12k is more likely.

If you want to be employed by a local education authority ( "a government teacher") you have to pass the local assessment , although many will tell you that a preparedness to make a "substantial donation" (which I believe the banks will sometimes lend you!) eases the process considerably. With "government teacher" status comes a significantly better salary, regular salary increases, a pension scheme, job security and healthcare schemes.

Edited September 24, 2017 by JAG

[halloween]

3 hours ago, Ossy said:

And 1,861 'good but needy' Isan students receive scholarships from Gen. Prem on this premise.

Where do they go from here, for their 'goodness' to be more valuable to the country than their 'smartness'?

" Gen Prem said the late King also stressed the need to instil morality and ethics into children and said he wanted to see new graduates to go back to work in their home provinces for at least two years."

[Ossy]

1 hour ago, halloween said:

" Gen Prem said the late King also stressed the need to instil morality and ethics into children and said he wanted to see new graduates to go back to work in their home provinces for at least two years."

And back we go to my old hobby horse, education. Can we, as observers, expect to see any move towards this instilling in all the country's schools, starting with the infants, where basic, simple respect and parent/teacher discipline must, in my view, be the first step towards morality and ethics - two qualities that are now almost non-existent in this nation? How can a nation with the highest Buddhism following in the world (94%) who attend their Temple weekly, if not daily, exhibit such primal animal 'me first' instincts when it comes to the Tesco or 7-11queue? I'm always left with the sad conclusion that, in the ethics and morality stakes, religion excels at the 'giving' process, whilst education appears to excel at the 'taking'. There has to be a root and branch overhaul of the entire system or the country will spiral further down the drain, as opposed to meeting the needs in Prem's outpourings.

[LannaGuy]

1 hour ago, Ossy said:

And back we go to my old hobby horse, education. Can we, as observers, expect to see any move towards this instilling in all the country's schools, starting with the infants, where basic, simple respect and parent/teacher discipline must, in my view, be the first step towards morality and ethics - two qualities that are now almost non-existent in this nation? How can a nation with the highest Buddhism following in the world (94%) who attend their Temple weekly, if not daily, exhibit such primal animal 'me first' instincts when it comes to the Tesco or 7-11queue? I'm always left with the sad conclusion that, in the ethics and morality stakes, religion excels at the 'giving' process, whilst education appears to excel at the 'taking'. There has to be a root and branch overhaul of the entire system or the country will spiral further down the drain, as opposed to meeting the needs in Prem's outpourings.

Thais do not, largely, follow Buddhism or anything like it. They have a mix of Buddhism, Hinduism and Animism and are clueless about all three. Even every Wat is decorated Hindu style (many very beautifully) but Buddhist they ain't. 

[greenchair]

Would they be the 1800 good but not smart students that have been diseminating knowledge and attitude adjusting fellow students??

For the good of the country of course.  

[mikebell]

19 hours ago, JAG said:

9k sounds like it is right at the bottom of the starting salary range for a private school

Thanks for your response, JAG.  She has worked in a private school for over a year and, as you say, took a pay cut to work in this local authority one. 

 

She went for an interview locally where the principal (without principles) was more interested in me - a retired ex-Head of English in UK.  She was prepared to give her the job if I would work voluntarily part-time.  I agreed then a week later found another candidate had been preferred after an under-desk payment had been made. 

[Ossy]

14 hours ago, LannaGuy said:

Thais do not, largely, follow Buddhism or anything like it. They have a mix of Buddhism, Hinduism and Animism and are clueless about all three. Even every Wat is decorated Hindu style (many very beautifully) but Buddhist they ain't. 

Thanks LannaGuy . . . an interesting response to my 'Buddhism' observations, based both on day-to-day attendance at each of the 3 Wats that I cycle past, between 6:30 and 7 each morning and bits of web research. In my village - and I have to believe that it is fairly typical of Isan villages, if not most of Thailand - Temple life dictates the day, with many women (but fewer men) cycling over 2km, each way, in order to join the communal prayers. My wife - and especially her mother - attend the many 'celebration' days, when it seems that everyone in the village is busy making something to donate to the event, be it food or craftwork icons. As for my 94% 'following' figure, that was a discrete average of the Wiki figure of 93.6% and one of the many world survey sites that give a figure of 95%

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_Thailand

http://www.whichcountry.co/top-10-countries-with-the-highest-proportion-of-buddhists/

 

I'd be more than interested to know the foundations of your radically different view. Could it really be that 94% of the people are just pretending to believe in Buddha when, in fact, they do not?

 

[greenchair]

22 minutes ago, Ossy said:

Thanks LannaGuy . . . an interesting response to my 'Buddhism' observations, based both on day-to-day attendance at each of the 3 Wats that I cycle past, between 6:30 and 7 each morning and bits of web research. In my village - and I have to believe that it is fairly typical of Isan villages, if not most of Thailand - Temple life dictates the day, with many women (but fewer men) cycling over 2km, each way, in order to join the communal prayers. My wife - and especially her mother - attend the many 'celebration' days, when it seems that everyone in the village is busy making something to donate to the event, be it food or craftwork icons. As for my 94% 'following' figure, that was a discrete average of the Wiki figure of 93.6% and one of the many world survey sites that give a figure of 95%

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_Thailand

http://www.whichcountry.co/top-10-countries-with-the-highest-proportion-of-buddhists/

 

I'd be more than interested to know the foundations of your radically different view. Could it really be that 94% of the people are just pretending to believe in Buddha when, in fact, they do not?

 

Did you not read the topic. 

It is about prem giving scholarships to good people that can't pass their academic tests. 

[halloween]

2 minutes ago, greenchair said:

Did you not read the topic. 

It is about prem giving scholarships to good people that can't pass their academic tests. 

Did you not read the topic? There is nothing there suggesting those receiving scholarships are academically challenged other than a quote from the last king. "good but needy students" is the basis of most scholarship awards.

 

BTW 1861 Isaan students are very likely to be grateful for their assistance, no matter who it comes from.

[Ossy]

26 minutes ago, greenchair said:

Did you not read the topic. 

It is about prem giving scholarships to good people that can't pass their academic tests. 

OK, so I got side-tracked, having followed another side-track into Thai life, generally. I can't agree with your 'good people' interpretation, however. Where in the Prem thread does it so much as hint that the good and needy people can't pass their academic tests? It's so easy to misinterpret at times . . . and to get side-tracked.

[LannaGuy]

1 hour ago, Ossy said:

Thanks LannaGuy . . . an interesting response to my 'Buddhism' observations, based both on day-to-day attendance at each of the 3 Wats that I cycle past, between 6:30 and 7 each morning and bits of web research. In my village - and I have to believe that it is fairly typical of Isan villages, if not most of Thailand - Temple life dictates the day, with many women (but fewer men) cycling over 2km, each way, in order to join the communal prayers. My wife - and especially her mother - attend the many 'celebration' days, when it seems that everyone in the village is busy making something to donate to the event, be it food or craftwork icons. As for my 94% 'following' figure, that was a discrete average of the Wiki figure of 93.6% and one of the many world survey sites that give a figure of 95%

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_Thailand

http://www.whichcountry.co/top-10-countries-with-the-highest-proportion-of-buddhists/

 

I'd be more than interested to know the foundations of your radically different view. Could it really be that 94% of the people are just pretending to believe in Buddha when, in fact, they do not?

 

With respect... what is this 'believe in Buddha'?  what does it mean?  Buddhism is not a religion and Buddha's teaching contains no Hindu or Animism. Thais may "claim" they are Buddhist and they also "claim" they are trustworthy and kind. Thais actually believe in "luck" and all sorts of nonsense that has NO relation to Buddhism. So you might be correct that 94% of Thais "claim" to be Buddhist but that's not the same thing as "Being" a Buddhist. 

[greenchair]

2 hours ago, halloween said:

Did you not read the topic? There is nothing there suggesting those receiving scholarships are academically challenged other than a quote from the last king. "good but needy students" is the basis of most scholarship awards.

 

BTW 1861 Isaan students are very likely to be grateful for their assistance, no matter who it comes from.

The topic says the scholarships were awarded under the umbrella of the speech good people are better than smart people that might not be good. 

Therefore the scholarships would most likely would be awarded to students that have low academic levels but do good things for their community. 

Because if the scholarships went to smart people that did nothing good, I guess it would be in conflict with the original speech. 

Someone that doesn't understand that logic might be considered a good person that's not smart eh ???

[greenchair]

1 hour ago, Ossy said:

OK, so I got side-tracked, having followed another side-track into Thai life, generally. I can't agree with your 'good people' interpretation, however. Where in the Prem thread does it so much as hint that the good and needy people can't pass their academic tests? It's so easy to misinterpret at times . . . and to get side-tracked.

The scholarships were given to good people that are not smart. 

Smartness at student age group is usually quantified  by academics.

How else would they measure good but not smart. 

[LannaGuy]

8 minutes ago, greenchair said:

The scholarships were given to good people that are not smart. 

Smartness at student age group is usually quantified  by academics.

How else would they measure good but not smart. 

 

Thailand wants "good" people (i.e. subservient) and not "smart" (who might challenge the Amaart)

[halloween]

1 hour ago, greenchair said:

The topic says the scholarships were awarded under the umbrella of the speech good people are better than smart people that might not be good. 

Therefore the scholarships would most likely would be awarded to students that have low academic levels but do good things for their community. 

Because if the scholarships went to smart people that did nothing good, I guess it would be in conflict with the original speech. 

Someone that doesn't understand that logic might be considered a good person that's not smart eh ???

When you write 'most likely' we understand you mean 'in my biased opinion, not supported by any evidence'. The only support you can offer is a reference to a speech made at a different time on a different subject. You 'guess' that the students have low academic levels because they are being exhorted to DO good things for their community.

[greenchair]

2 hours ago, LannaGuy said:

 

Thailand wants "good" people (i.e. subservient) and not "smart" (who might challenge the Amaart)

You are absolutely correct. 

[greenchair]

1 hour ago, halloween said:

When you write 'most likely' we understand you mean 'in my biased opinion, not supported by any evidence'. The only support you can offer is a reference to a speech made at a different time on a different subject. You 'guess' that the students have low academic levels because they are being exhorted to DO good things for their community.

Read carefully. 

It is not me that made the reference to the speech. 

It says it is giving scholarships in honour of the speech good people not smart people /verse bad people that are smart. 

 

Giving the scholarship to good smart people would not honour the spirit of the speech. 

You've got to use your noggin halloween ???