Shock – Could Thailand be better to school my kids than the UK?

By Dan Cheeseman

 

 

The problem I have with trying to work out the best place to school my kids is that fellow parents all think they are right without necessarily have done their homework. Those that send their kids to International Schools in Thailand will say one thing and those forced back to the UK as they cannot afford the International Schools will say another. Their comments are no more than to reaffirm their own decisions, nothing more.

 

So, one week I think the UK and then the following week after hearing pro Thai International School arguments, I think Thailand. It is a nightmare and over the coming months I will do my own thorough research on both options, that includes seeing pass marks to schooling facilities from schools in the UK to International Schools in Thailand. Finally I will draw more robust, reasoned conclusions and will share it with any other parent interested.

 

 

Full story: https://danaboutthailand.com/2018/07/13/shock-could-thailand-be-better-to-school-my-kids-than-the-uk/

 

DAN ABOUT THAILAND

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21 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Finally I will draw more robust, reasoned conclusions

Well that will be a first for Khun Cheeseman.

I think this is whats' needed

I have a young lad approaching 10

I/we moved him from Sarassat (private ) not inter. (but most of them are now squeezing it in ) to another private where they learn in/out of classroom 

 

Sarassat had like 2500 kids with 30 in a class all day long

Plookapunya has 600 kids & in my lads class there is 16 kids (it's more expensive ) but I made that up from the Sarasat bus & cut his 12 hr days down

 

I have read quite a few threads about schooling, & as we know the Falang teachers only teach english ( but must know the whole story )

 

I would like to see a comparison between the the test at the end of each term to see the difference in what a child should know

 

I've been on some net sites & think there's a big difference (as in I think the thai system only teachers them half the stuff )

 

PS: We would all like to give the best education for our children if possible.

       BUT, lets face reality, were there have been stories of people spending 100's 0f thousand BHT to acheive this only to find out either the school was no good or their child wasn't meant to be a Brain Surgeon

50 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Could Thailand be better to school my kids than the UK?

 

Depends on many things, if Thai children yes, if English children I'd ask them what they want.

If you can afford the best private schools here maybe. Even the best local schools have big classes, poor teachers and are more interested in haircuts and straight lineups than education. Just look at the top Thai universities standing compared with other Asian countries. Choose carefully.

If you can easily afford a top international school in Thailand all is well.

 

The Thai public schools are not going to teach your kids how to think

 

 

2 minutes ago, Lungstib said:

Even the best local schools have big classes

Agree with that 

The Falang around the corner sends his lad to Assumption, where they have 45 in a class 

Same with the women across the road with her daughter (she could afford any school in Thailand )

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

Could Thailand be better to school my kids than the UK?

I guess that´s only a question a patriotic english citizen can give you an answer on.

5 minutes ago, TravelerEastWest said:

The Thai public schools are not going to teach your kids how to think

Don't understand that comment, Thai kids who want to learn will in my experience no matter what school, college, Uni.

Thai schooling is generally a numbers game. All about points on a test, all about how much money each student can make for the school, and how many can be crammed into a class (remember i said generally).

 

The UK system will create a more well rounded and resourceful individual in more cases than not.

2 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Don't understand that comment, Thai kids who want to learn will in my experience no matter what school, college, Uni.

He is right. Thai learning is based on Rote. Memorize and regurgitate. There are only 4 answers on any exam A, B, C, or D. No critical thinking is taught. Neither in reality are world geography or world history.  If you are happy with your child going through the educational system through university fine. They are then ready for employment with a degree but most likely only in Thailand.  I wanted mine to have more of an opportunity than that.

Homeschooling/home education?

8 minutes ago, GLewis said:

He is right. Thai learning is based on Rote. Memorize and regurgitate. There are only 4 answers on any exam A, B, C, or D. No critical thinking is taught. Neither in reality are world geography or world history.  If you are happy with your child going through the educational system through university fine. They are then ready for employment with a degree but most likely only in Thailand.  I wanted mine to have more of an opportunity than that.

Fair call, everyone's perception on kids learning as a parent is different IMHO, all my kids are happy that was my main goal.

1 hour ago, TravelerEastWest said:

If you can easily afford a top international school in Thailand all is well.

 

The Thai public schools are not going to teach your kids how to think

 

 

 Is it as black and white as that? No.

 

There are basic Government schools, many still practice strict rote learning, others not, and there are experimental schools (government funded & controlled). Ultimately for parents the research is quite a task but of course worth it for the best education for their kids.

 

Some government schools now have maths, science, social studies and English taught by foreign teachers. From my understanding to attend these schools there are extra but reasonable fees.

 

At one point my eldest Thai granddaughter went to a similar school operated by a christian church (but little emphasis on christianity) for P5 and P6.

 

- Morning sessions: maths, science, social studies, English taught by foreign teachers, western style pedagogy with a lot of student involvement.

 

- Afternoon sessions: maths, science, social studies English taught by Thai teachers, total rote learning, students not allowed to speak or ask questions.

 

The Thai teachers involved could all comprehend and speak some English, they had to attend the morning sessions and take copious notes then repeat exactly the same learning point in the afternoon sessions.

 

But many times my granddaughter would come home and share that their afternoon English teacher (Thai person)  had again spent quite some time criticizing the western teacher from the morning session; grammar taught was wrong, spelling was wrong, sentence construction was wrong, word meanings taught were wrong, etc etc. Truth was that the Thai teacher was knowledgeable about English grammar but could not construct or verbalize even simple sentences. There was several incidents when the western parent tried to talk to the Thai lady who was the English teacher to discover that because of her strong lack of conversation ability a conversation was not possible. a conversation was not possible. Further the Thai teacher complained strongly about the rudeness of the western parent to appraoch her - and her spoke about all of this, with names, to the whole class.

 

Efforts to speak to the headmistress were always unsuccessful.

 

For English (and maths, science, social studies,) there were mid-term and final exams. One exam written by the western teacher and one written by the Thai teacher.

 

Often, for English, many students got good grades from their western teacher (and their English abilities were progressing well with correct English) but their Thai teacher failed them. 

 

My son moved his daughter to a different school to start M1; Maths, English, social studies and science all taught by western teachers, no Thai teachers involved. 

 

Selecting a school needs a lot of research and from my experience with my son and now his daughters, big fees / top name / excellent equipment is far from a guarantee of good education. 

 

The best decision we ever made for my Thai sons' education was to ask him if he wanted to complete high school in Singapore (he could already speak English at native speaker level and he already knew Singapore quite well). He was shocked when we asked him but instantly said 'yes please' and started to do his own research about schools entry requirements, visas etc.

 

Bottom line, the many benefits he got from high school in Singapore give him quite some edge over his peers (but he's Thai and careful to not stand out too much).

 

 

I think the largest factor for me was beyond education but where my kid might have the most satisfying life. She has a large, loving and close knit family here. When she was just a toddler, we were at a festival in the next village and she was getting sleepy before the entertainment. My wife and I were walking about. There was a group of relatives already seated on a blanket and we gave her to them and let her sleep, knowing she would be lovingly cared for until we returned for the entertainment. 

 

At that point, I decided that staying close to home and family was a life decision and not something to take her away from, unless at her request later on. 

1 hour ago, TravelerEastWest said:

If you can easily afford a top international school in Thailand all is well.

 

The Thai public schools are not going to teach your kids how to think

 

 

not sure about that but a good parent should have plenty of input - right? 

1 hour ago, GLewis said:

He is right. Thai learning is based on Rote. Memorize and regurgitate. There are only 4 answers on any exam A, B, C, or D. No critical thinking is taught. Neither in reality are world geography or world history.  If you are happy with your child going through the educational system through university fine. They are then ready for employment with a degree but most likely only in Thailand.  I wanted mine to have more of an opportunity than that.

 

Good point, I've had Thai folks in Executive MBA programs who come from poverty, taught themselves English, struggle for years to stay at school / uni and finished their MBA with an outstanding GPA.

19 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Truth was that the Thai teacher was knowledgeable about English grammar but could not construct or verbalize even simple sentences.

Well she was not knowledgeable then.

 

From my experience the situation you describe is typical of many schools.

Problems arise from most western teachers getting more money than Thai teachers and the common thought of how can western people know anything about the education of Thai people. 

Go for the best, go for Rugby School Thailand. The children go to school from 08.10  to 17.50. Homework is done at school and 2 1/2 hours of exciting daily activities are included. Sister's School to Rugby School in England.

39 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

not sure about that but a good parent should have plenty of input - right? 

Parents should have input to a school - agreed.

 

Also as one poster mentioned family nearby counts. As does learning Thai language and culture.

 

I have never heard of a single Thai public school that meets my standards - which include teaching a child to think outside the box and public service and caring about the environment.

 

A long time ago I was a teacher and my Thai wife was a teacher - I have two children. I mention this to give a background to my comments.

 

By the time our small children growup the world will be very different which is why memorizing is not so important but learning to think on your own is very important.

kenk24 you are a good man.

10 years ago i told my oldest daughter: we not partcipating in tutor business. concentrate in the class, make your homework and ask if you don't understand. we taught her discipline and free thinking. she passed the thai, free, public school and is now in university and very much adult. without a single extra hour.

the little one was in a private school. she had fun but hardly learned anything. i had a look at the curriculum (see big books p.1-6 in any bookstore) and found out:

3 x 3 = 9 in any school in this world. she is now in a small christian school for free and learns a lot. basically because teachers are disciplined and they teach it, instead of driving her arround for hours we help her with the homework, develope her character with a lot of love.

fazit: i have employed some hundert people in my active life. the best were never those with the most excellent grades. those with a good character, fairplay and spirit beat them by far.

......and honestly i have not met in 12 years isaan any person of that island near europe with a good education, not to speak about character ..........

Hmmmm...... from what i have seen of Thai “education” in their schools I would doubt it very much. Unless you want children who can sing the Thai national anthem and play hangman

Who needs schools when you have youtube!? ? 

It all depends on what school.  My step daughter went to an elite government boarding school,  all expenses paid.  Of course you have to test to be admitted.  

My son goes to a government school but in an English program. 

Teaching language is English. 

20 pupils, one Thai teacher and one teacher from England in each class (Thai language exempt). 

They have diff uniforms, different lunch, separat toilets, aircon classrooms, computers etc. 

 

The teachers from England have teaching degrees and teaches various classes not only English.

 

Costs me 50.000 per year. 

I'm happy with this arrangement. 

Off course this is aviable for Thai only. 

Go for the best, go for Rugby School Thailand. The children go to school from 08.10  to 17.50. Homework is done at school and 2 1/2 hours of exciting daily activities are included. Sister's School to Rugby School in England.

That's a very long day for the pupils and even longer for the teachers.

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4 hours ago, TravelerEastWest said:

If you can easily afford a top international school in Thailand all is well.

 

The Thai public schools are not going to teach your kids how to think

 

 

depends on how smart the kid is. My wife attended a thai public school and has a medical degree now. 

2 minutes ago, davidst01 said:

depends on how smart the kid is. My wife attended a thai public school and has a medical degree now. 

Agree

As I mentioned prior

You could spend a fortune on top schools, but it's up to the child in the end 

33 minutes ago, PoorSucker said:

My son goes to a government school but in an English program. 

Teaching language is English. 

20 pupils, one Thai teacher and one teacher from England in each class (Thai language exempt). 

They have diff uniforms, different lunch, separat toilets, aircon classrooms, computers etc. 

 

The teachers from England have teaching degrees and teaches various classes not only English.

 

Costs me 50.000 per year. 

I'm happy with this arrangement. 

Off course this is aviable for Thai only. 

 

The same program is now offered in a number of locations in Thailand and overall seems to have quite good results.

 

3 hours ago, TravelerEastWest said:

Parents should have input to a school - agreed.

 

Also as one poster mentioned family nearby counts. As does learning Thai language and culture.

 

I have never heard of a single Thai public school that meets my standards - which include teaching a child to think outside the box and public service and caring about the environment.

 

A long time ago I was a teacher and my Thai wife was a teacher - I have two children. I mention this to give a background to my comments.

 

By the time our small children growup the world will be very different which is why memorizing is not so important but learning to think on your own is very important.

I agree about learning to think.. but when I said parent's should have plenty of input, I meant outside of the school. I would not, especially as a foreigner, have any expectation of changing a school, or even one teacher in the school. I was never even sure if I should correct the errors in some of the English language texts. I knew my kids teachers but only on a superficial basis. 

 

It was my dad at home who taught me to play chess, read the Wall Street Journal and do an analysis of companies, play games that involved code breaking... and he was a busy guy - I rarely saw him. 

 

If you have high standards, then lucky for your kids to have you at home to teach them what they cannot learn in school. But, my life experience has taught me that imposing my standards on others is not feasible. I bet you can accomplish great things with just one hour a day working with your kids.