For all the pompous, bigoted and pious detractors of Thai education who consider Western education is preferable please read the attached just on BBC. Only this could happen in the States or no worse or better than Thailand ?

I have to ask though - do they actually check out pupils are of school age in the USA as a nomal process by referring to birth certificates, registers or whatever the formal birth registration and schoolastic entry requirements are there or if, as the article infers , because they look right they must be right ?

I will not be responding further on this subject, just interested in what responses are received. I am looking for responses from people qualified to reply sensibly on how the educational acceptance system works in the States rather than replies from opinionated and snobbish plonkers who don't or never had lived there.

US sex offender 'posed as pupil' Mr Rodreick was reportedly "fairly quiet" at schoolA 29-year-old convicted sex offender has spent four months at a US school after successfully posing as a 12-year-old boy, officials say.

They say Neil Rodreick shaved his body hair, covered his stubble with make-up and took a new name to attend Imagine Charter School in Phoenix, Arizona.

The 173cm (5ft 6in) man was eventually expelled for poor attendance in 2006.

He was arrested after trying to enrol at another school. He has since been charged with forgery and fraud.

Mr Rodreick spent seven years in jail after being convicted of lewdly propositioning a six-year-old boy in 1996.

'Age-appropriate'

Mr Rodreick adopted the name Casey Price to attend Imagine Charter School, investigators say.

We are just shocked

Mindy Newlin, pupil's parent

They say he blended well with the other pupils, many of whom were actually taller and bigger than him.

He attended classes and always handed in his homework on time.

"He absolutely looked age-appropriate," school spokeswoman Rhonda Cagle told the New York Times newspaper.

"By all accounts from the teachers, he was fairly quiet and withdrawn," she said.

Mindy Newlin, parent of one of the pupils at the school, said: "We are just shocked."

Mr Rodreick even convinced two men who had been looking for boys on the internet to pretend to be his relatives. He was caught earlier in January, after teachers at another school in Arizona - where had gone for a day - became suspicious. In all, Mr Rodreick spent nearly two years disguised as a boy

sorry moderator but just realised I posted it in wrong forum, can you switch to "General" pls

Actually, the best choices for 'what forum' were the trash bin, or "teaching in Thailand," so before the thread is closed or deleted, let's put it where the teachers can give you a more or less professional opinion.

The whole news clipping is bizarre. Yes, in the States, you almost always need full birth certificate, records from your last school, etc. But I once gave unemployment benefits to a 14 year old boy who posed as a 17 year old, and worked. One of my 12 year old Thai students in matayom 1 had a mustache.

This was a 'charter school' in Arizona, meaning a school outside the governmental controls usually practiced by state schools. A private school, funded by govt. funds. Not the most reliable form of education.

So, how does it relate to Thailand? I have no idea how easily an adult Thai could impersonate a Thai teenager and get admitted to a Thai school. Perhaps it relates in this way: if a school in the West, subject to rigorous standards, could make this big of a mistake, how easily can Thai schools make mistakes if they don't apply standards?

Naaa it wouldn't work in Thailand. I mean 5ft6 is average adult male height and the white skin wouldn't help either....