Kamala Harris: Balancing Loyalty and Change in Her Bid for the Presidency

[MickeyMaow]

I took my kid back to west to be reared and educated and to be honest with you I've always been conflicted on whether I am doing the right thing. I feel maybe we'd have a better life in Chiang Mai, I know my wife would certainly be happier at home. I had a girl so  I've felt she'd be safer being brought up back home. Next reason is education, I feel she'll get a better education back home, but is that a misconception I have or bias I hold? Are you happy with your Childs education they are receiving here in Chiang Mai? What are the best schools? and how much do they cost?

 

 

Also anyone bring up little girls, do you feel you have to be extra vigilant with them?

[Bill97]

Well it could depend on where back home is.  The west ????

[FritsSikkink]

Impossible to answer when we don't know where back home is. Which would be obvious if one had a good education anywhere.

Edited March 3, 2021 by FritsSikkink

[pgrahmm]

Since you're in the CM group I'm going to guess you are looking there....

There are many good schools available from American to German, to religious based schools....

I've had 2 girls through Lanna Sarasas school....One has gone on to a university & is a exemplary student that works hard.... Daughter #2 just isn't excited about school and bumps along....

The english texts have the Brits spelling, but seem to lean toward American explanations.....

As far as safety, the campus is closed off to a guarded gate during class hours....

We've never had a problem with regard to student conflicts or unruly behavior...

I pick our daughter up every day & have not seen one inappropriate act or fight/disagreement/face off over the years.... There's staff/teachers monitoring every gate & it's always orderly....

School spirit seems to be strong here - much stronger than I've seen in the US....The kids seem happier than their counterparts in the US...No attitude...

We've visited family in US schools over the past few years and it was like visiting an armed camp with very little "happy" on display.....

[CMHomeboy78]

   My Thai wife and I have two daughters born in the early 1980s.

   From our point of view the education they received here was excellent.

   Sacred Heart.

   Monfort.

   CMU.

   They both seemed well-adjusted at those schools with plenty of friends, Thai and luk-kreung farang like themselves.

   Our eldest went on to do a masters in international law at Chulalongkorn and was recruited by a gov't ministry upon graduation. She subsequently was sent to London University for a second masters degree and is now a C-7 official currently in a foreign posting.

   Our second daughter after graduating CMU went to work and study in the US and is now on the staff of the Pharmacy Dept. at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC.

   Both girls turned out well and I give most of the credit to my wife who raised them in a traditional manner while preparing them for careers in the modern world.

[BritManToo]

11 hours ago, MickeyMaow said:

Are you happy with your Childs education they are receiving here in Chiang Mai? What are the best schools? and how much do they cost?

 

Also anyone bring up little girls, do you feel you have to be extra vigilant with them?

 

Sure, my kid's schools are great,

My daughter went to Mae Rim government school, then on to CMRU (12kbht/term), just about to graduate.

My son is at Mae Kat government school (3kbht/term) and seems happy enough.

 

@CMHomeboy78 Can't say I want my kids to move abroad and desert me.

Abandoning your parents in their old age is a very western concept, not one I admire

 

About bringing up girls,

Never allow them to be alone with a man, not their uncle, not the songtaw driver.

My girl, age 22 now, has never been allowed any 'private' contact with men, unless as part of a group or with a parent present.

Edited March 4, 2021 by BritManToo

[Mark1066]

I homeschool my daughter and I must admit I have a few reservations about the education she is receiving in Chiang Mai. For a start, I don't think her teacher is qualified and he has some terrible habits.

[cardinalblue]

What type of careers and jobs can they get in thailand compared to the West should be your end game....

[BritManToo]

22 minutes ago, cardinalblue said:

What type of careers and jobs can they get in thailand compared to the West should be your end game....

What sort of life can they live, and home can they afford should be your end game.

 

And the answer is ........

UK, after university they can rent a room in a house share or live with their parents, and suffer COVID lockdowns.

Thailand, after university, they can buy a house in their first year of working, and live a normal life. 

Edited March 5, 2021 by BritManToo

[canthai55]

3 hours ago, cardinalblue said:

What type of careers and jobs can they get in thailand compared to the West should be your end game....

Only caveat is "You have to live in the West"

If you subscribe to the "Consume Consume at all Costs" theory I guess it makes sense. Along with being in debt until you are 173 years old.

Substitute "I Owe my Soul to the Company Store" to Bank

Prices sky high, police (18 year olds with a gun and an attitude), etc ...

There is a reason why 40 year olds are still living at home.

BritManToo gave the answer

[Presnock]

Well, I have an older daughter (51) who went to international schools in many different countries.  She makes more than twice the average salary for her state - a computer whiz. The longest she lived in any one place was in college U. MD.  My younger daughter (17) goes to ChiangMai International School in CM.  I pay for that education although she could go free in the US.  I feel she is safer here than in the US of today.  As for the school, it is accredited with US standards.  My daughter is fairly fluent in 4 languages, each with a different

alphabet...if she was in the US this opportunity would not even be close.  CMIS has a history of high scoring on the AP courses and have quite a bit of choice in what they want to take.  Other opportunities are available at the school.  Classes are small to very small, international students of many different cultures and countries.  I could very comfortably live in the US with the free HS but will stay here until she graduates next year and then we will make the trek back to the US for college.  Her grades are very high, scored well on the first SAT and meets the standards of entry in every major or non-major college/university that I have been checking.  I for one that has a choice made the choice to have her go to school through high school here in CM.  My older daughter also went to the International School Bangkok, but only for elementary school prior to our being reassigned to another country.  CMIS was already prepared for online learning prior to the pandemic hitting Thailand so the students there have missed NO school and there may be some possible mental considerations for the time spent online vs teacher taught but my daughter said she only missed her friends and teachers and now just misses the smiles as all wear masks all the time.  Only real problem here is a current one again this time each year as the burning of forests/fields etc causes high pollution so an n95 mask is a must.

 

[1FinickyOne]

I faced that decision a while ago and chose Thailand. The culture is actually better here and the children much better behaved than the attitude problems that friends have with their kids in the west. 

 

my kid is now 15 and i am very pleased with heer schooling in CM

[Dickp]

Our daughter start school in Thailand in the 2nd grade 1991 at RIS, Gr in 2001 then on to the US for Collage. PLU 4 yrs then work 1 yr, then to SFU for 2 yrs  and back to work for 4 yrs. Then OU for 4 yrs, 2 yrs of that time also spend doing internship at the at the VA,  Gr  2018 with PHD Counseling Psychology. Passed both US Psychology tests and State Licensing tests.  Did 1yr residents out of 2 yrs normally required by the VA and was hire on full time as a staff Doctor.  Been on staff 3 yrs how. 

 

So I think that it all depends on the the student, parent's and quality of the teaching staff at the school in Thailand. Not just one but all three.

[Bangkok Barry]

We are looking after my nephew while his mother is in Hungary with her Dutch husband, who has a place there. It's been a year because of the pandemic and who knows if she'll return. In my long experience, once a Thai leaves and sees the real world they rarely return. Anyway, said lad attends a private school and has been learning English for seven years, and he still can't put a sentence together. All he can do is spell and then say individual words. He came top in his class.

 

Does that answer the OP's question.

[hotchilli]

On 3/3/2021 at 10:54 PM, MickeyMaow said:

Are you happy with your Childs education they are receiving here in Chiang Mai? What are the best schools? and how much do they cost?

You ask this question after taking your daughter back home?

[cardinalblue]

Maybe career building in the usa is very different in Britain than the usa...some of you brits seem to have very sour grapes on the situation/your experiences  in Britain...

 

On the topic of consumption, thailand has one of the highest debt to income ratios in the world..that’s the definition of consumption combined with one of the lowest savings rates in the world...

 

what a falsehood - buy a home in thailand  after one year of working...are you talking about the children of the CP family?

 

give me some facts like nurses (RNs) make make 100b an hour in CM compared to $25-30 an hour in California...

 

if my daughter wants a career in any health care field, I will advise her better to  get educated in usa than thailand...her education, career advancement and buying/staying power clearly superior than in thailand...

 

Tell me again why Thai doctors and nurses are clamoring (only the best are chosen) to advance their careers here by doing internships, residencies, post graduate work and training programs in the west vs staying home....it’s a rhetorical question....

 

 

[Chongalulu]

Suggest you check out Thailand’s appalling rankings  (and worsening) in the PISA educational tables and the world rankings of its 'universties'. An education here will have little or no standing elsewhere in the world. I took my 9 year old stepdaughter to UK ,put her in a good state school. A levels in mathematics and English followed by a first in economics at a good uk university (paid for by student loan) and now she has a very good job with a major internet company and her own apartment . 

[BritManToo]

37 minutes ago, cardinalblue said:

what a falsehood - buy a home in thailand  after one year of working...are you talking about the children of the CP family?

give me some facts like nurses (RNs) make make 100b an hour in CM compared to $25-30 an hour in California.

95% mortgage is easily available.

25k/month income for 6 months will get you a 1m5+bht home loan.

Plenty of 2-3 bedroom houses available in and around ChiangMai under 2Mbht.

Repayments are 11k/month.

My daughter (bilingual English/Thai) finishes university next month and is expecting a starting wage of 25-30kbht/month.

 

Now try doing that in your home country!

Edited March 6, 2021 by BritManToo

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, cardinalblue said:

Tell me again why Thai doctors and nurses are clamoring (only the best are chosen) to advance their careers here by doing internships, residencies, post graduate work and training programs in the west vs staying home....it’s a rhetorical question....

Everyone knows the western world is paved with gold ........ greed drives many people.

I earned all the money you could imagine in the west, working all hours of the day and night, which only brought me unhappiness, dissatisfaction and a wife that hated me because I was never at home.

Edited March 6, 2021 by BritManToo

[1FinickyOne]

On 3/3/2021 at 10:54 PM, MickeyMaow said:

Also anyone bring up little girls, do you feel you have to be extra vigilant with them?

Yes, I would say that is true anywhere, though much less so than in the West... 

 

School has always taken up more hours than I ever remember spending as a kid.. but I would pick up my niece at 5:30 from elementary school, drive her home and she had only enough time to do a little homework, eat dinner and relax for an hour or so before bed, then getting up at 5:30 am to get on the school bus at 6 am... 

 

So, she was always in a supervised environment... though w/kids, I think if you are a concerned parent, there is always going to be some worry... but I think the schools here helped me to raise a very responsible and respectful, now 15 yr old... 

[1FinickyOne]

27 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Everyone knows the western world is paved with gold ........ greed drives many people.

I earned all the money you could imagine in the west, working all hours of the day and night, which only brought me unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

This is a large part of why I decided to educate my niece here.. She will have a better education than most Thai and not have the cultural <deleted> of the west... so what if she has a little less earning power, she will have an appropriate amount within the system here...

 

But, you had one of the best posts ever on this forum talking about your older daughter and what she said - - made her sound like a really great person w/plenty of values... 

 

I would love to see that post again and it would be apropos here... I would love to send it to a friend in USA too... we are discusing his problems w/a 22 yr old daughter who has loving parents and every imaginable advantage in life but has dropped out of school and become an alcoholic... bad attitude too... 

 

I think much of my success w/raising my niece has been the society here. Sure, school is not perfect, but they do learn respect and manners and so much more that is more important than a big salary and Mercedes. 

[Pilotman]

On 3/3/2021 at 10:54 PM, MickeyMaow said:

I took my kid back to west to be reared and educated and to be honest with you I've always been conflicted on whether I am doing the right thing. I feel maybe we'd have a better life in Chiang Mai, I know my wife would certainly be happier at home. I had a girl so  I've felt she'd be safer being brought up back home. Next reason is education, I feel she'll get a better education back home, but is that a misconception I have or bias I hold? Are you happy with your Childs education they are receiving here in Chiang Mai? What are the best schools? and how much do they cost?

 

 

Also anyone bring up little girls, do you feel you have to be extra vigilant with them?

You should not feel conflicted.  Our Brit/Thai daughter, now 23 years old, was born in Thailand, but we quickly moved her to the UK.  My job meant a lot of travel, so the choices for us were  base her in Thailand in Private School, or in the UK at public school.  We chose the UK for what we believed to be obvious reasons.  She would be out of the clutches of the Buddhist mafia here, she would not be subjected to obvious discrimination for mixed race kids here, it would dilute her Thai cultural identity, which my wife and I both felt was a good thing, and still do, and most obvious of all, her education would have much more credibility world wide for her future career. We felt for her future benefit that she should consider herself foremost to be British and secondly Thai.  As it worked out, due to my job, she spent time in private education in UK and at an international school in Taiwan. Her University education was in UK.  She thanks us now for the decisions we made in terms of her education and future and states clearly that she would not have wished to be educated in Thailand, either privately or in public school.  How does she see herself?  Definitely as British first and foremost.  

[madmen]

I know it's poor form to keep your kid here. In  the west with 1st world education the sky is the limit. 

 

But even if the kid fails there are still big opportunities. What are the opportunities here? Factory, 7/11 and the ability to make" quick " money on the side would be hard to resist for the girls 

 

 

[BritManToo]

17 minutes ago, madmen said:

I know it's poor form to keep your kid here. In  the west with 1st world education the sky is the limit. 

But even if the kid fails there are still big opportunities. What are the opportunities here? Factory, 7/11 and the ability to make" quick " money on the side would be hard to resist for the girls 

Most of us have chosen to live in Thailand ..... shouldn't we allow our children the same option?

If OZ, UK, USA, EU are such great places, why have we all chosen to live here?

 

A career was never my point of living, it was just a way to earn enough money.

Why bother with an education and career, if you can easily earn enough to support a home, partner and family?

Edited March 6, 2021 by BritManToo

[Pilotman]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Most of us have chosen to live in Thailand ..... shouldn't we allow our children the same option?

If OZ, UK, USA, EU are such great places, why have we all chosen to live here?

 

A career was never my point of living, it was just a way to earn enough money.

Why bother with an education and career, if you can easily earn enough to support a home, partner and family?

In answer to your first question, no.

I live here  because my wife is Thai.  If we had not married I would not be here.  As for our daughter, we both agreed that being Thai and Thai educated is a ticket to nowhere. As to your last point; you are in work for the majority of a life, better to enjoy the ride and if you can find it, the passion, ( as flying was for me) and make something of it and yourself, rather than just do it for the money. Personal view of course, it wouldn't do for us all to be alike. 

[BangkokReady]

On 3/4/2021 at 10:41 AM, BritManToo said:

About bringing up girls,

Never allow them to be alone with a man, not their uncle, not the songtaw driver.

My girl, age 22 now, has never been allowed any 'private' contact with men, unless as part of a group or with a parent present.

 

How does this sit with your sex positive, hedonistic, "Western views on sex are puritanical", "prostitution is great" type of views expressed in other threads?

 

Is that different because they aren't your daughters?

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, BangkokReady said:

 

How does this sit with your sex positive, hedonistic, "Western views on sex are puritanical", "prostitution is great" type of views expressed in other threads?

 

Is that different because they aren't your daughters?

Not different at all, she has free choice to find a lover to support her with my blessing.

Providing all for a woman while other guys bang her is not my way.

 

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I live here  because my wife is Thai.  If we had not married I would not be here.

As to your last point; you are in work for the majority of a life, better to enjoy the ride and if you can find it, 

Point 1,

Come on, that's not actually true. Your wife is Thai because no woman from your home country wanted you.

Same for all of us.

 

Point 2,

I worked from age 23 to age 45 (22 years), then I had enough money so I stopped working.

That's 1/3 of my life, I chose something that paid me most money so I could get out ASAP.

Edited March 6, 2021 by BritManToo

[Pilotman]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Come on, that's not actually true.

Your wife is Thai because no woman from your home country wanted you.

Same for all of us.

well that's probably true as well, but who wants an old fat farang woman, when you can have a dark eyed, dark skinned, long haired beauty.   Apologies to my first, late wife, who was a blond haired , fair skinned and rare beauty. 

[BangkokReady]

4 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Not different at all, she has free choice to find a lover to support her with my blessing.

Providing all for a woman while other guys bang her is not my way.

 

So the not being alone with men is more about safety?  She can get a boyfriend?

 

But if she has a boyfriend, you will no longer support your daughter financially?