Thai Children’s IQ Considered Normal

[ThaiGoon]

Hmm good point. Frankly, I can only hope that Thailand will soon have an Education minister who's a visionary, truly understands all the problems and really cares deeply about the future of the country. Hmm.

Edited May 24, 2007 by ThaiGoon

[Steely Dan]

It's interesting that apart from Bkk which is an anomaly the North of Thailand gets highest IQ levels which get lower the further South you go.

Something I have noticed is that the further South you go in Thailand the more Austronesian the people appear. I have seen people in the South who would not look too out of place among Australian Aborigines or in Papua New Guinea. conversely the further North you go the more East Asiatic the people appear.

Food for thought maybe.

Maybe there is a genetic component to intelligence which is broadly based on race and not just on parental inteligence, of which the link is not in doubt. Studies are very hard to do due to environmental factors working on probably more than one gene, imho science is not yet at a level to prove this one way or another. The bell curve was a comparison of White and African Americans and it claimed to have found significant differences but other research papers contradict it's findings. Indeed some showed no corellation whatsoever between IQ and either skin colour or perceived degree of Negroid features. As I stated enviromental and cultural factors play a great part and so devising a rigourous methodology for testing IQ is difficult.

Returning to your observation, the North South divide could be due to other reasons than genetics, have you heard of the term 'Muscle beach' where people go to get a tan and show off their bodies? Well the whole leisure industry and hedonism related environment of beach resorts is not conducive to thinking (Oxford and Cambridge are about as land locked as you can get in the UK ). indeed imagine a 'brain beech' where the deckchair attendant asks you to do some calculus or algebra before giving you a chair. Environmental factors and social osmosis (water finding it's own level) could be equally responsible for the IQ differences.

[Prakanong]

The original point was that good education at good schools is free. For a few lucky ones.

I can assure you that more than 90% of students got into Triam Udom Suksa (and the Demonstration school that I went) through entrance exams. The rest got in through tea money and their parents' connections (at Demonstration schools, kids of university faculty have the priority.)

Where's your proof to back up this statement? In a society where corruption is endemic it's very unlikely that "90%" got in purely through entrance exams.

I experienced it myself. At Triam Udom, every year out of about 20+ or so classrooms of new students, about three of them are resereved for "Dek Phark" (students who got in through tea money.) We all knew which three classrooms they were. Similar thing happened at the Demonstration school I went.

They really have separate classrooms?

The people I knew who went to Public (private) schools in the UK on scholarships ie passed exams and those that pay were always intergrated.

For the Grammar Schools run by public bodies ie local education authorities it was by educational ablity alone - you could not pay to get in - at least that has been my experience unless someone knows different?

[Prakanong]

I've met 'em, and I have no particular motivation to prove anything to you. Go call up your school if you care that much.

When I went back to visit the schools, I still saw none. That was a few years ago.

You saw none so they do not exist?

IJWT has met them so they must exist

I am sure logicians would have a field daty with that one.

[sbk]

Interesting article here on Assessment Psychology that belies the idea that IQ scores are universally accepted as a measure of intelligence. After reading the article, it seems to me that even the professionals don't agree

So, the idea that Thai students have a lower "iq" is not necessarily relevant. Too bad the Education Ministry doesn't spend some of their money on developing useful educational programs instead of on tests that are or are not meaningless depending on who you talk to.

[quiksilva]

Furthermore, I can name one policy whose elimination would eventually go a long way towards solving many problems, though it would cause a lot of grief to those in the system right now:

NO FAIL POLICY!!!!

(for those who don't know what this means: in most schools up to high school level, students *must* pass (by law). Technically speaking, they can be failed but the law says that if they are failed the teacher is then responsible for reteaching and reteaching and retesting and retesting them infinitely AND INDIVIDUALLY (i.e., outside normal hours assigned) until they pass. Some students are, um, incorrigible- so teachers have realised that failing students simply punishes themselves. Therefore, we have a de facto no-fail system).

Amazing Thailand! Very interesting.

I have heard people mention this before in passing but I never took it seriously. Im genuinely shocked "must pass by law" what on earth were they smoking?

.... well come to think of it, it sure does explain a lot