Teaching coding to Thai kids good if teachers are equipped for new role – educational economist

 

(Photo) Dr. Kiat-anant Luankaeo, an educational economist at Thammasat University

 

Teaching of computer programming language in schools is a good idea, but schools, teachers and students must be prepared, otherwise the educational gap between privileged and under-privileged students will widened, according to Dr. Kiat-anant Luankaeo, an educational economist at Thammasat University.

 

To begin with, he asked, do the schools have the infrastructure or the staff needed to teach coding to their students?

 

Noting that the nature of under-privileged students is that they need closer attention than the privileged students, he questioned who would perform this role, adding that the Singaporean model, which the Education Ministry wants to apply in Thailand, cannot be applied in its entirety and has never been trialed here.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/teaching-coding-to-thai-kids-good-if-teachers-are-equipped-for-new-role-educational-economist/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2019-07-30

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Please, teach kids basic math, logic, reasoning and abstract concepts.  Encourage inquisitiveness and reward creativity.   You have to have something to work with.  As was mentioned in another thread about this topic, who is going to teach them?  Anyone worth their salt could make a lot more money actually coding, or managing those who do the coding.

Coding cannot be taught by rote learning. How will the system cope?

13 minutes ago, Chang_paarp said:

Coding cannot be taught by rote learning. How will the system cope?

I did closely IT related work for more than 20 years.  Product and project management, specs, testing and all that.  I'm surprised that I never maimed or killed a programmer.  But I also did sales, and you never want to kill someone who might be occasionally useful.

 

 

Stop stealing the school lunches,embark on a vast program of capital works,administer the system in an open and transparent manner,reduce class sizes,rescind the "no-fail" policy,train the teachers,cut down on the propaganda and teach the kids the joy of learning.

 

Then,and only then,start to introduce whatever new "buzz" takes your fancy...

As I watch my 5 yr old struggle with his homework , trying to write the symbols for 1-10 in thai script, R U KIDDING ME !!!! he can do that in Cultural class( if he chooses).......this Education system needs new minds and a complete makeover...but then ,it was never about the students, their creativity /imagination, its all about the Thai control box and the $$$$

3 hours ago, webfact said:

To begin with, he asked, do the schools have the infrastructure or the staff needed to teach

End of story.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

To begin with, he asked, do the schools have the infrastructure or the staff needed to teach coding to their students?

In a nutshell, no.

A few years ago the PM decided that schools had to dedicate one hour a day in after school programs at the end of the day to help the kids relax and become better students. There has never been a follow up on this, nor has it ever been implemented. 

 

Now, they want incompetent Thai teachers to become programming teachers, while they can't even use or understand English. I am always in awe of all these brilliant ideas that the top brass come up with in the MOE. 

2 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

Stop stealing the school lunches,embark on a vast program of capital works,administer the system in an open and transparent manner,reduce class sizes,rescind the "no-fail" policy,train the teachers,cut down on the propaganda and teach the kids the joy of learning.

 

Then,and only then,start to introduce whatever new "buzz" takes your fancy...

100% agree. 

 

Learn to crawl before walking before running. 

 

They always think they can bolt on whatever the latest buzzword is without any strong foundation. 

 

Has not worked before and will not work now. 

a Thai educational economist.  that's perfect! 

the teacher is the solution.  not reading.  not student's discussing and thinking.  not just coding up a simple "hello world!" program and then going off on your own like Woz, Zuck, Gates and Musk [who are just as famous as avid book and journal readers than as being billionaires? hello?] and a few tens of millions of my generation did in the USA.  no.  we need more better and better teachers.  and money and benefits for teachers.  that will solve the problem!

yet decentralization for instance has not been a topic since....... and which would be tons better than teaching C++ as a 3rd language and English as a 4th language.... and as for English it is mostly written English and grammar because it is a lot easier to mark up multiple choice quizzes and call them final exams and then take off for a week or two earlier..... but decentralization, yeah I know it's a tongue twister.... jeeeez... has not even been much a topic since the same weekend protests started against...... oh, that is completely unrelated.  okay, I got it.  better and better teachers. 

 

insanity is defined as repeating the same thing over and over again without any success as it is intended to play out.  but we are not any better in the west.  need an example?  it's about "fossil fuels".  not air travel and tourism which we divide by all 7,800 million of us so that it's "only 2 percent"..... but that is not how social and political things work.  but economist experts, the world over, must use numbers and charts to say what they want to say. our scientists too.  it is one planet, so we divide by all 7,800 million of us.  but that is not...... reality.  how the "real world" works.  yet if you do any serious reading on your own, you can discover what is and is not nonsense.  on your own.  and that is where the culture thing comes in, yes? 

 

4 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Please, teach kids basic math, logic, reasoning and abstract concepts. 

Coding can help with that if not enhance that, but teachers will have to be trained, and that will take years.  f(;;){

}  takes time to learn.

Coding as a third language?  They tink too much!  Better idea would be to make an after-school coding club with one knowledgeable teacher (does he/she exist?) who can encourage the students with coding projects/STEM activities etc.

Schools are a business. Nothing will change unless this does. Money first then what ever's left after pockets have been filled from the top down can go to educating children.

Not many people can become good coders.

 

I worked in the IT sector for just over 30 years. Every month looking to recruit people to become programmers. The company that I worked for even gave free coding lessons in the evenings. All the applicant had to do was to pass an aptitude test. 90% failed. After the session of lessons, we identified those few who might become good coders. We offered jobs to about 10% of the 10%.

 

Looking at the story from a different angle - do the schools really want to train a new batch of hackers?

My kid learned coding in High School back in USA and is now an engineering student at a prestigious University.

 

No wonder we're smarter.

 

why teach coding, when they cannot even teach descent english

Maybe they should start with teaching & learning English & simple arithmetic before going on to coding

49 minutes ago, WeekendRaider said:

a Thai educational economist.  that's perfect! 

the teacher is the solution.  not reading.  not student's discussing and thinking.  not just coding up a simple "hello world!" program and then going off on your own like Woz, Zuck, Gates and Musk [who are just as famous as avid book and journal readers than as being billionaires? hello?] and a few tens of millions of my generation did in the USA.  no.  we need more better and better teachers.  and money and benefits for teachers.  that will solve the problem!

yet decentralization for instance has not been a topic since....... and which would be tons better than teaching C++ as a 3rd language and English as a 4th language.... and as for English it is mostly written English and grammar because it is a lot easier to mark up multiple choice quizzes and call them final exams and then take off for a week or two earlier..... but decentralization, yeah I know it's a tongue twister.... jeeeez... has not even been much a topic since the same weekend protests started against...... oh, that is completely unrelated.  okay, I got it.  better and better teachers. 

 

insanity is defined as repeating the same thing over and over again without any success as it is intended to play out.  but we are not any better in the west.  need an example?  it's about "fossil fuels".  not air travel and tourism which we divide by all 7,800 million of us so that it's "only 2 percent"..... but that is not how social and political things work.  but economist experts, the world over, must use numbers and charts to say what they want to say. our scientists too.  it is one planet, so we divide by all 7,800 million of us.  but that is not...... reality.  how the "real world" works.  yet if you do any serious reading on your own, you can discover what is and is not nonsense.  on your own.  and that is where the culture thing comes in, yes? 

 

 

The most important lessons learned in Thai schools are Kreng Jai and how to graap (pay obesiance)

26 minutes ago, justin case said:

why teach coding, when they cannot even teach descent english

EXACTLY!

Do the step that you can.

It is amazing to see incompetence leading with "progressive" teaching ideas when all the educational system is IMO one of the lowest...

The future is NOT becoming a programmer but to have communication skills! So English should be THE priority to keep Thailand on top of South East Asia.

Look, even after 40 years of top holiday destination, how little Thais are having a decent English to communicate with guests and customers...

How do we communicate in business on Global Market?

In English!

32 minutes ago, justin case said:

why teach coding, when they cannot even teach descent english

Because there is not a 'they' and 'them'. Some, just some, Thai teachers are remarkably good at teaching coding.

 

Excluding a modern subject from the curriculum, because some older folks are still stuck in the they and them generalizations, is ridiculous of course.

 

Also, English is arguably the most boring subject in school. What do kids actually learn? And why?

 

Coding, as taught everywhere in the world, might be the incentive for kids to master this boring language. Learn by using a language.

7 minutes ago, Blue bruce said:

Maybe they should start with teaching & learning English & simple arithmetic before going on to coding

Why not combine, integrate, it.

43 minutes ago, justin case said:

why teach coding, when they cannot even teach descent english

Because we want them to go up in the world, not down?

4 minutes ago, Pesche said:

EXACTLY!

Do the step that you can.

It is amazing to see incompetence leading with "progressive" teaching ideas when all the educational system is IMO one of the lowest...

The future is NOT becoming a programmer but to have communication skills! So English should be THE priority to keep Thailand on top of South East Asia.

Look, even after 40 years of top holiday destination, how little Thais are having a decent English to communicate with guests and customers...

How do we communicate in business on Global Market?

In English!

Communicating with machines yes!

Lets all start to understand the AI revolution that us upon us. The world will be divided in those who can and those who cannot communicate with machines.

 

Coding is the language to do so.

Students are only as good as the teachers... that's the problem in Thailand !

I have first year kids that are illiterate, and I really mean illiterate as they don't know ABC or even the Thai alphabet... I teach in college, so that means that those students have passed primary and high school and still has not learned how to read and write!!!
So, coming with ideas like teaching coding might be great for some students, but there is really a need to take care of all students first!

2 hours ago, WeekendRaider said:

the teacher is the solution

True. And with the sslaries that teachers are paid here (foreign an Thai alike) the teacher is also the problem.

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Students are only as good as the teachers... that's the problem in Thailand !

A lot of students are better than their teachers, but are taught/drilled not to speak up. 

5 hours ago, LazySlipper said:

In a nutshell, no.

A few years ago the PM decided that schools had to dedicate one hour a day in after school programs at the end of the day to help the kids relax and become better students. There has never been a follow up on this, nor has it ever been implemented. 

 

Now, they want incompetent Thai teachers to become programming teachers, while they can't even use or understand English. I am always in awe of all these brilliant ideas that the top brass come up with in the MOE. 

Majority of the 'Top Brass' are ignorant and uneducated in a proper way themselves owing to the 'no fail' system and/or 'bought' status they endow themselves with !

3 minutes ago, SoilSpoil said:

A lot of students are better than their teachers, but are taught/drilled not to speak up. 

I have two Thai Niece's who are much brighter than their teachers and both speak and understand good English.   However; they say they dare not use it in class as the 'English Teacher' cannot understand them properly so tells them to be quiet !

"coder" was sometime in the 90's when software development was made by single lines of code. It's completely changed with the advent of libraries, freely downloadable from online repositories. These days you actually need a brain to connect the dots instead of hacking hex codes into an assembler.