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

[Doowat]

Be aware, the UK state system is mainly focused on getting the kids through their exams, which isn't necessarily the same thing as teaching them anything.  It's entirely statistics driven. My English grammar was better at age 11 than my 18 year old son, who left school two years ago. Furthermore, as with every other facet of life in the UK the education system is becoming more and more politicised. Kids in UK schools are being indoctrinated with left wing propaganda, and are being taught 'what to think' instead of 'how to think'.

[bkk_mike]

As someone who sent their kids to International school in Bangkok for years before returning to the UK where they finished secondary school, I'd actually say the Thai school was better.

 

(This was an international school where classes were taught in English by mostly UK teachers. I also remember an Australian... The only Thai teachers I met were teaching the mandatory Thai classes. And yes, it had the correspondingly eye-watering level of fees.) 

 

I don't believe the teaching itself is any better in general, but the kids are better behaved, so there is less time spent controlling unruly kids rather than teaching.

 

For an example, my kids couldn't believe it the first time they saw a fight in a school in the UK. Also, the first school they went to in London, they got bullied , so they ended up having to change school). 

 

Also the International school seems to give a lot more help for University applications (some of my daughters classmates are starting Uni in September, with King's College London, the LSE and Harvard some of the destinations of her former classmates). 

[Shouldhaveknownbetter]

My step daughter went to Princess Chulabhorn Science

High school.  She is well rounded and speaks almost perfect English.  She and her mates were admitted to the top UNIs in Thailand.  I am pleased with this young lady..

[DJ54]

I was thinking of putting together some of the comments and try to encourage neigh to Thai and Farang that education is important and good education is even better......

 

then half way through said to myself nobody’s going to listen 

[The manic]

7 hours ago, z42 said:

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.

I wish. How do you think generation England hating, snowflake pantywaste was created. Inner city urban schools are violent and fail their pupils and teachers. In somd schools English is not spoken by many pupils. The key is to send a child to  Thai school but get private  tuition for music, art and whatever the child is interested in. If you can not afford to educate your child then you should not have had kids.

[sead]

If you want them to respect the family then choose Thailand. If you want them to be smart choose Uk

[The manic]

13 minutes ago, sead said:

If you want them to respect the family then choose Thailand. If you want them to be smart choose Uk

Take a walk down the KSR and observe British backpakers

[scorecard]

10 minutes ago, The manic said:

I wish. How do you think generation England hating, snowflake pantywaste was created. Inner city urban schools are violent and fail their pupils and teachers. In somd schools English is not spoken by many pupils. The key is to send a child to  Thai school but get private  tuition for music, art and whatever the child is interested in. If you can not afford to educate your child then you should not have had kids.

I agree good education is possible in Thailand and there are options.

 

Plus, as already mentioned, parent involvement is needed and highly valuable (in all countries).

 

My Thai adult son and his wife have 3 kids, one at high school, one in primary, third one three y o soon. Son and his wife spend hours every week discussing their kids education and hours every week getting kids to school and back (no buses or vans). Son started a policy of whole family eat dinner together every night and he prompts his kids to talk about 'what did you learn today in science, etc. Also 2 to 3 hours every night watching that homework is completed, supervising the kids to pack their bags ready for tomorrow etc. Plus very involved with after school sport activities etc.

 

Bottom line - son and his wife are totally devoted to every aspect of their kids' education and development. Their kids are doing well with grades, balanced behavior, no hesitation to talk / ask questions to mum and dad, yes parents involvement is needed and highly valuable.

[bearpolar]

7 hours ago, kenk24 said:

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. 

 

My kids have lived between farang land and Thailand and have gone into schools in both countries.

 

Almost every single parents ask me tips on how to parent, when i barely parent. It's just Thailand rubbing off. My kids don't make noise on planes or trips, they don't scream all the time, they don't manipulate, they don't shit on adults(99,999% of farangland kids have 0 respect).

 

Kids grew up sleeping on the floor with inlaws , they grew up with randoms going up to them and being friendly, traveled/ate out every week etc.

 

Thailand is definitely better for kids and if you are poor and can't afford an international school.. just get an app from your country, you can probably do your home's curriculum for free on top of the thai one. I know france has one and it's basically 30 hrs per year for elementary schools.  I always thought that people keeping their kids in poor thai schools were abusers but after seeing 2 years of Canadian schools, <deleted> no. Half the kids in my kid's school are hitting teachers(i live in a wealthy neighborhood but the way it works here is that 70% of schools have to be filled with people from ghettos and they send middle class+ to whatever schools has hit their quota of ghetto).  Shit is sad here. One kid in kindergarten has a phd teaching parent in engineering, he already reads grade 3 level. He got D's in kindergarten and the school had no support for him. He has to pay 10k$  a year now to send him to a private school where he'll be skipping first grade.

 

<deleted> farangland if you can avoid it, its cancer.

[jorgenweihrauch]

Not at all - believe me that - but they are nice

[nontabury]

8 hours ago, Hans Rayong said:

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.

You’ve got to be joking. This school was recently set up by a very rich Thai family,in order to make even more money. The school opened last September, and so far has only attracted, mostly Thais,  who unjustifiable think because it’s fees are very high,that it must be a good school. Plus these higher fees are also an added attraction to some Thais, who want people to think they must have a great deal of money, if they can afford to send their children there. Allthough I now hear that due to only a small take up, that they are offering large discounts on fees. Will this make a big difference,I don’t know.

 

Edited July 15, 2018 by nontabury

[BEVUP]

1 minute ago, nontabury said:

You’ve got to be joking. This school was recently set up by a very rich Thai family,in order to make even more money. The school opened last September, and so far has only attracted, mostly Thais,  who unjustifiable think because it’s fees are very high,that it must be a good school. Plus these higher fees are also an added attraction to some Thais, who want people to think they must have a great deal of money, if they can afford to send their children there. 

 

Yes, have to be a Hi So

People think the school I send my lad to is Hi So. But infact there are more expensive ones like Wesley but to far out of town. Would of put my lad back to 12 hr days if they had a bus.

But on the other hand it is unbeleivable non of these Thai school/companies can keep an up to date Web Site.

After looking at the schools Web site prior to enrolling him I was shocked to be told that the fees were last yrs & have actually gone up 20 %.

I think this is due to them building a new building for High School students

[The manic]

4 hours ago, bkk_mike said:

As someone who sent their kids to International school in Bangkok for years before returning to the UK where they finished secondary school, I'd actually say the Thai school was better.

 

(This was an international school where classes were taught in English by mostly UK teachers. I also remember an Australian... The only Thai teachers I met were teaching the mandatory Thai classes. And yes, it had the correspondingly eye-watering level of fees.) 

 

I don't believe the teaching itself is any better in general, but the kids are better behaved, so there is less time spent controlling unruly kids rather than teaching.

 

For an example, my kids couldn't believe it the first time they saw a fight in a school in the UK. Also, the first school they went to in London, they got bullied , so they ended up having to change school). 

 

Also the International school seems to give a lot more help for University applications (some of my daughters classmates are starting Uni in September, with King's College London, the LSE and Harvard some of the destinations of her former classmates). 

Too true about the violence and  bullying in UK schools. 

[nontabury]

29 minutes ago, The manic said:

Too true about the violence and  bullying in UK schools. 

You should have said “ in some U.K schools.

We returned from LOS earlier this year, where for the first few years they were educated in a Thai owned international school. This school was a very happy place for them at the time, unfortunately the educational standards were not so high. Then moved them to one of the better international school, before returning to the U.K. 

Regarding schooling in the U.K. I think it’s very important that, firstly you do your homework on any U.K. school, as they are not all the same. We decided to enroll our oldest child, after he’d passed his 11+ in a selective school( Grammar). We could have quite easily have sent him to the local secondary school, where he would have been encouraged to bully his class mates, learn how to smoke,legal and illegal, and basically how to be anti social with a limited education.

  Regarding the Thai schools, I agree with those comments regarding the poor quality of Most Thai schools. However I do know of a couple of good bilingual state schools, and there must be others. Unfortunately when they do graduate from these schools,their only option is for them to enter a Thai University.

Edited July 15, 2018 by nontabury

[BEVUP]

2 minutes ago, nontabury said:

You should have said “ in some U.K schools.

We returned from LOS earlier this year, where for the first few years they were educated in a Thai owned international school. This school was a very happy place for them at the time, unfortunately the educational standards were not so high. Then moved them to one of the better international school, before returning to the U.K. 

Regarding schooling in the U.K. I think it’s very important that, firstly you do your homework on any U.K. school, as they are not all the same. We decided to enroll our oldest child, after he’d passed his 11+ in a selective school( Grammar). We could have quite easily have sent him to the local secondary school, where he would have been encouraged to bully his class mates, learn how to smoke,legal and illegal, and basically how to be anti social with a limited education.

  Regarding the Thai schools, I agree with those comments regarding the poor quality of Most Thai schools. However I do know of a couple of good bilingual state schools, and their must be others. Unfortunately when they do graduate from these schools,their only option is for them to enter a Thai University.

You mentioned your son passed an entrance exam for the English school.

So how would you compare the education standards (that is does your son come up to spec for age against age ) of the kids he is now with after being there for 6 mths & when he first started.

 

Trying to get a feel of the comparisons 

[Chongalulu]

9 hours ago, kenk24 said:

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. 

You have chosen an education which will determine the rest of your child’s life based upon the ease of babysitters.

The best thing I ever did was remove my stepdaughter from Thai education to the U.K. She has a first class honours degree in economics from a U.K. university and a job reflecting that. A degree from a Thai university is worthless outside of Thailand.

[BEVUP]

6 minutes ago, nchuckle said:

You have chosen an education which will determine the rest of your child’s life based upon the ease of babysitters.

The best thing I ever did was remove my stepdaughter from Thai education to the U.K. She has a first class honours degree in economics from a U.K. university and a job reflecting that. A degree from a Thai university is worthless outside of Thailand.

This is another area that needs to be probed, but I'm in agreement at the moment, as I have read on threads concerning hiring Thai uni graduates that they are a couple of yrs behind what should be acceptable knowledge gained from the uni education. This was from maybe (small ) foreign businesses here.

But! I have also heard of Thais being employed overseas (one place Japan ). Maybe 1 %

My thoughts for my son would be to get a proper Trade Cert with a couple of spin offs from it, as I just see the hoards of Thai kids being handed the Uni degrees on TV.

How many employment spots are there actually for these Graduates 

[nontabury]

1 hour ago, BEVUP said:

You mentioned your son passed an entrance exam for the English school.

So how would you compare the education standards (that is does your son come up to spec for age against age ) of the kids he is now with after being there for 6 mths & when he first started.

 

Trying to get a feel of the comparisons 

At the moment, he’s comparable with his class mates. How he’l be in a couple of years being taught with another 29children, as against 14 in his international school, I do not know. My youngest child was initially placed in a primary school, that was completely unsuitable for his ability. I therefore removed him, and after appealing to the local education department, he was placed in one of the better, “though” full (31 in his class) primary schools in the area.

Regarding U.K schools in general, it’s all a matter of doing your homework on potential schools, and then sticking to your expectations. While at the same time,realising that your child is only with their teacher for 6hrs x 185 days a year, therefore your imput is essential 

Edited July 15, 2018 by nontabury

[catman20]

Thai universities standing compared with other Asian countries.

 

 

[theguyfromanotherforum]

To me, the biggest mystery has always been how do you know from the early age that your child even wants to pursue higher education.

 

Most ready successful people on the planet barely finished high school and that is a fact.

[catman20]

20 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

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

i dont think its about the kids that want to learn or not i think its more about the whole country, ive never met a more stupid race of people in my life.

 

their not taught many things that we learn naturally just by growing up in the western world.

[catman20]

8 minutes ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

To me, the biggest mystery has always been how do you know from the early age that your child even wants to pursue higher education.

 

Most ready successful people on the planet barely finished high school and that is a fact.

cos their lots of things you learn naturally by growing up in the west without knowing it.

[retsdon]

Leave aside international schools for a moment because they're a different beast.

 

On Thai or UK schooling, there are swings and roundabouts. If you're looking at the straightforward quality of education, there's no comparison. The UK - outside of some inner city sink school - will be far, far, better. There's no comparison, none at all. On the other hand, if you're looking at opportunity I'm not so sure. IF your child grows up properly bilingual - and I mean properly  - then he or she will always find good work in Thailand or SE Asia. There are so few Thais who can read, write and speak English to a graduate level that any who can are like gold dust. Conversely, in the UK, well-educated or otherwise, your English speaking child will just be another face with no special attributes at all. But without time outside the country regularly,  this is a big IF.

 

I also faced this problem, and we decided on Thailand -  although to be honest a lot of that decision had to do with the difficulty of visas, housing costs and employment in the UK. And at this stage I've no idea if we have made the correct choice or not. But I console myself with the thought that when I look at young Thai professionals here, I don't see that their quality of life is in any way inferior to their counterparts in the UK. They might not earn as much, but they definitely seem happier. And there's another factor. I have boys who in the UK would be odd Chinese looking blokes with British names. Here they'll be 'krung' and none the worse for that as they are both, even as children, regularly described as 'Law maak!!'. Consequently, when they get old enough for it, their love lives will be far, far more entertaining here than back in dear old Blighty. Good friends, food on the table, girls in the bed.... there are worse things.

 

On international schools - the problem there is that once you go down that route you're stuck with it until they leave school. Unless you put them to a nationally curriculum-affiliated school (my kids used to be at a British school in the Gulf so could have moved to the UK easily enough) they'll have problems moving other than to another international school. And for sure you won't ever be able to get them into a Thai school if for any reason you felt the need. They're worth looking at for the last two years or so though...

Edited July 16, 2018 by retsdon

[retsdon]

16 hours ago, Doowat said:

 Kids in UK schools are being indoctrinated with .....propaganda, and are being taught 'what to think' instead of 'how to think'.

We always were. It's just that because the 'what' now is different to the 'what' when you were at school yourself, you notice it. For my own part I still can't shake a sense of British superiority, and a gentle, benign contempt for foreigners - attitudes that were drilled into me through relentless propaganda as a child. But whatever...

[1FinickyOne]

10 hours ago, nchuckle said:

You have chosen an education which will determine the rest of your child’s life based upon the ease of babysitters.

The best thing I ever did was remove my stepdaughter from Thai education to the U.K. She has a first class honours degree in economics from a U.K. university and a job reflecting that. A degree from a Thai university is worthless outside of Thailand.

glad things are working well for your kid but you have misinterpreted my choice. It had to do with proximity of loving family. Not easy for me to even remember using them as baby sitters other than a rare momentary situation... My wife and I have been a constant presence in her life and I never go out at night... pick up the kid from school every day - 40km each way... and our constant and caring parenting has resulted in a great kid... she loves school and is doing well. 

 

i made a judgment that she would ultimately be happier in this culture, with the support of a functional family. Though she may earn less here than the West, it is a friendlier culture and not wrought with dysfunctional families and violence. As another poster mentioned, I too have friends who moved back West and the kids have discipline and anger issues in spite of loving parents... 

 

There seem to be plenty of Thai people who do leave and do fine w/whatever degree they have... so, I question your premise but I doubt my kid will ever feel a need/want to move out of Thailand... as most. 

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, catman20 said:

Thai universities standing compared with other Asian countries.

 

 

Interesting comment. Yes there are things that need to be sorted in the higher education area in terms of overall policy and more and there are things that need to be sorted within universities.

 

However IMHO one of the biggest problems ultimately connects to the students:

 

- In many cases, go to uni to find new friends and laugh and play all day. 

 

- In many cases, never listen or participate, just make sure the professor doesn't catch you playing games / checking shopping sites etc., on your smartphone.

 

- Come back from lunch an hour late then complain when you can't do the assignment etc. (Just one similar example: during a final exam with 4 situational questions, all worth a possible 25 marks, one of the boys puts his hand up, I go to his desk, he points to one of the questions and he says 'Professor I wasn't here for this class so please change my total questions to 3 questions, 33 possible marks per question and can I have A please'.)

 

- Plus start university thinking it's the same as primary school and high school, not allowed to ask questions, just remember the key words but don't even try to understand.

 

 

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, catman20 said:

i dont think its about the kids that want to learn or not i think its more about the whole country, ive never met a more stupid race of people in my life.

 

their not taught many things that we learn naturally just by growing up in the western world.

Disagree many countries are culturally different,  use of stupid is ignorant.

[TravelerEastWest]

On 7/15/2018 at 3:12 PM, davidst01 said:

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

Actually someone like your wife may have become a nobel prize winner in medicine if she had been taught to think outside the box - note I am certain your wife is very smart and the best in everyway I just making a example.

[TravelerEastWest]

On 7/15/2018 at 3:16 PM, BEVUP said:

Agree

As I mentioned prior

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

It surely is up to a mix of school teachers, parents and the child but if the child has the best environment he or she will tend to do better.

 

Are there exceptions - yes.

[catman20]

6 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Disagree many countries are culturally different,  use of stupid is ignorant.

read what i write and not what you think ! its nothing to do with culture these thais are stupid.