17 hours ago, Iamfalang said:

I’ve seen about 100 primary kids beaten.  I told the police, since I had friends who were cops.  He went there, school said no video, that was it……I asked the other foreign teachers why they didn’t help me.  Scared.   Disgusting.   I’ll say the school was on the moon, no libel.   Lol.  I left a few months later.  I tried, back then I didn’t really have a great phone with a camera. Never touch kids, unless you really are defending your life or someone else.  

I have taught in both Mattyom and Prathom schools, I did see some violence towards children in the Mattyom schools, but never in the Prathom schools, the teachers in the Prathom schools were always sympathetic and understanding towards the children, and I was surrounded by happiness all the time by both the teachers and the children.

17 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

Also parents not ensuring that their children are actively studying and students knowingly skiving off...

The unfortunate matter is that the majority of parents themselves are poorly educated, as they have come from a background of rural existence. Education was seen as something of value, not available to them, and the cost of educating children was an impost. It took them away from being unpaid labour to allow the family to eat have basic shelter in many instances.

 

Another reason why I would never let my children go to school in Thailand. Also, even those private international schools are bad. Those are the schools that the Pisa results are taken from. Just think how much lower all those public schools are in Thailand. Terrible.

Same in the west, I remember thinking long ago they don't teach you how to think, only what to think..! The hierarchy have no room for critical thinking, do as you're told and get in line.

3 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

he challenge is that most Thai teachers have been teaching the same class over and over for  umpteen years and are not so much teaching as regurgitating the same lessons.  This also happens in Canadian schools or schools where the teacher teaches the same lessons over an over again.

 

If asked a question that they have never been asked beofre they get flustered.

 

Also while I am ot saying it is alright to  hit a student I would like to know more about the student.  A teacher hitting a student because they asked A question does not feel right to me.

 

I think there is probably a whole lot more to the situation most Thai teachers I know just ignore the question>

 

Please explain to me , why knowing more about the student, could you condone hitting the student?

Assault is assault, there is nothing grey about that, it a criminal act.

Teachers are in a position of trust, and there to protect and teach, not to assault.

 

6 hours ago, vandeventer said:

It's not just the hitting of the students that is bad but how some of these schools operate. I had a friend that was teaching at a local private school in my area. So one day I asked him how many kids are you failing this year? He looked at me and said none. Than he said I can't fail any students as the school needs the money and they need to come back next year. As the VP of the USA said you need to go to the root of the problem.

When teaching in Mattyoms 3 and 4, I did fail these who were very poor. I even got a few blank papers which I just crossed off. I was one of four foreign  teachers, the other three were from the UK, US and Australia, the US teacher who was teaching Mattyoms 5 and 6 did tell me that he was told in a sort of roundabout way that he should not fail anyone.

On 3/9/2022 at 1:47 PM, worgeordie said:

That's the BIG problem here 

regards Worgeordie

Questions are discouraged because teacher dosnt no the answer.

reason for such an IQ in this country...

59 minutes ago, BusyB said:

Lucky you ... don't know when you were at school, but where I was sticks and slippers, and beatings till skin broke were fairly common. So was violence against teachers (wonder why?). That was back in the late 60s early 70s in the north east of England. Even I pushed a teacher backwards over a stool, but that was in self-defense as he kept trying to clout me across the face (he was an ex-boxer but I managed to keep blocking him). Then again I was at war with the system. Another story.

And that was a good school - Grammar-Tech.

I had a similar experience to this when a teacher tried to belt me for something I did not do, I refused to hold out my hand, he tried to grab it, so I pushed him up against the wall. I was about 15 at the time.

Who remembers the education minister addressing a girls school saying:

"You Don't need to study for exams, marry a foreigner"

On 3/9/2022 at 2:09 PM, DezLez said:

Did you ever get an accurate answer?

Good question and very important.  Decades ago in the Army one of the subjects we used to teach was "Methods of Instruction".  When young NCOs were teaching their soldiers they were taught how to handle difficult questions.  They should tell the soldiers that they, the NCO, did not know the answer but would find out and let them know at the next lesson.  Most important to do exactly that, then everyone learns and respect is maintained.

9 hours ago, heybruce said:

"The school was not named as they never are in defamation crazy Thailand."

 

Here's the other problem; in Thailand spreading unfavorable true information can get you sued for defamation.

It is also a criminal offence. 

Thai Criminal Code, sections 326 and 330.

5 hours ago, nikmar said:

5 hours ago, Harveyboy said:

yes ..sadly i have my 2 young sons in this education system . we've done the best possible regards some private schooling but still c##p sadly don't have the cash for better education..just do our best

same here. im both appalled and fascinated with the general <deleted> that is called an education here. most of my son'

s education has come from his mother and myself. he has gained next to nothing from his school

I’m sorry for both of you. I took my 9 year old non English speaking stepdaughter to UK and put her in free but good state schools. 4 months later speaking reasonable English then onto A levels including English and maths and a first class honors in Business Economics from a decent university. A graduate level job in a major online trading operation followed quickly and is now 27.
OK,I think she was far brighter than the average Thai and fiercely driven,but shudder to think of the wasted life that would have ensued remaining here. ???? 

Sad and pathetic. Those who rule Thailand are determined to keep Thai children, and thereaafter Thai adults, as ignorant as possible.

Some of these teachers are complete idiots. My younger boy tells me absolute nonsense his teacher told him, which I then correct him on. He came home one day and told me that Pablo Escobar was a wonderful person. I was surprised he even knew this man’s name, and asked him where he got it from……his teacher. I asked what did he say about Escobar? “That he is rich, and helps people, and is a good man.”

I proceeded to inform him he was a drug dealer who had many people killed, and wasn’t a good person.

He informed his teacher of what I said, and the teacher was shocked.

Escobar did help many poor people, but it was on the back of his drug dealing, and the lives of those he killed or had killed. 
 With the availability of the internet it wouldn’t take much to find out some facts etc. Scary misinformation and telling eleven year olds this <deleted>.

On 3/9/2022 at 7:09 AM, DezLez said:

Did you ever get an accurate answer?

No, TAT were busy with other calculations on that day. ????

42 minutes ago, losername said:

Good question and very important.  Decades ago in the Army one of the subjects we used to teach was "Methods of Instruction".  When young NCOs were teaching their soldiers they were taught how to handle difficult questions.  They should tell the soldiers that they, the NCO, did not know the answer but would find out and let them know at the next lesson.  Most important to do exactly that, then everyone learns and respect is maintained.

Odd....my military  instructor would answer a question by replying "If I told you that I would have to kill you" ????

On 3/9/2022 at 1:36 PM, webfact said:

The school was not named as they never are in defamation crazy Thailand

Correct, but this was the best I could find and someone may know:-

 

"......had just moved school from Buriram and had just entered grade 3 at an elementary school. In Nong Prue Subdistrict, Bang Lamung District, Chonburi Province, in this semester, the day of the incident on March 7, 65, the school had an exam"

 

https://www.dailynews.co.th/news/837132/

If it was a farang kid I could understand, but it seems to really be what thai kids need to understand anything....

 

1 hour ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Odd....my military  instructor would answer a question by replying "If I told you that I would have to kill you" ????

Never been a TEFLer but have a mate who is, on occasion they have been a farang face short for a test or whatever and I have sat in. Each time the teachers had the instruction, nobody fails, nobody gets less than 40%.

On 3/9/2022 at 1:53 PM, spidermike007 said:

Without the ability to ask questions at school, question the teachers, the assignments, and the veracity of the lessons taught, there is no hope for the Thai educational system. Teachers like this need to be severely punished. If not by the authorities, than by the parents, or the students. 

When I attended Grammar School in the UK many years ago, we were actively encouraged to ask questions!

On 3/2/2022 at 6:52 AM, smedly said:

are you for real, western countries are providing them with tools to defend themselves, if you have a problem with that then you are part of the "problem".     #####

 

On 3/9/2022 at 1:47 PM, worgeordie said:

That's the BIG problem here 

regards Worgeordie

Indeed. The Thai way of teaching is to just obey. Do not even try to be curious or dare ask any question. The sheep teaching. 

5 minutes ago, sambum said:

When I attended Grammar School in the UK many years ago, we were actively encouraged to ask questions!

That's the way it should be, asking questions. A good teacher encourage questions.

Just now, Cocobeach said:

That's the way it should be, asking questions. A good teacher encourage questions.

And a scared, timid, uninformed, and ill prepared teacher is afraid of questions, and the possibility of being humiliated by a 13 year old. Truly pathetic. 

3 hours ago, RJRS1301 said:

Please explain to me , why knowing more about the student, could you condone hitting the student?

Assault is assault, there is nothing grey about that, it a criminal act.

Teachers are in a position of trust, and there to protect and teach, not to assault.

 

YOU seem to have missed the part where I said it is not alright to hit a student.  However, as most will tell  you Capital Punishment is used in Thai schools.

 

There is a big difference between a student that asks a simple question and a student that is a disturbance in class asking a question just to get the teacher going.

 

Just as there is a difference between a student that is a good student getting punished and a trouble making student punished.

 

The report makes the kid sound like an angel that the teacher picked on.  I have a funny feeling abased on past practices in Thai schools and my own observations as a teacher that there is than he just asked a question,

2 hours ago, nchuckle said:

I’m sorry for both of you. I took my 9 year old non English speaking stepdaughter to UK and put her in free but good state schools. 4 months later speaking reasonable English then onto A levels including English and maths and a first class honors in Business Economics from a decent university. A graduate level job in a major online trading operation followed quickly and is now 27.
OK,I think she was far brighter than the average Thai and fiercely driven,but shudder to think of the wasted life that would have ensued remaining here. ???? 

Just Googled "Education in Thailand and got this:-

 

"The Thai education system is seen by many American Chamber of Commerce member companies as inadequately educating students in two important areas: English and critical thinking. Science, math, and Thai language skills have also recently been dropping to levels below international standards and lower than its neighbors."

 

OK, it is a report by the American Chamber of Commerce companies, but it is indicative of how the education system in Thailand seems to be deteriorating rather than improving.

11 minutes ago, Cocobeach said:

That's the way it should be, asking questions. A good teacher encourage questions.

We also had discipline and respect in the classroom, which seems to be missing these days.

My ex wife in the UK was a full time teacher who retired to have children, then returned a few years later as a "Supply Teacher". She was amazed at the changes in just a few years, and I remember her saying that she wasn't teaching any more  - all she was doing was trying to keep order! 

41 minutes ago, rott said:

Never been a TEFLer but have a mate who is, on occasion they have been a farang face short for a test or whatever and I have sat in. Each time the teachers had the instruction, nobody fails, nobody gets less than 40%.

So the pass mark is 40% ????

21 hours ago, clivebaxter said:

Not just teachers is it, a few Dr's I have seen don't like questions either. Always try to see one that has spent some time abroad for education or work.

I've never met a Dr here like that, but I live in BKK. Most of them have a good education and I find they don;t mind answering questions. This is paticularly true of female doctors. Just met one yestersay who spent three hours with me doing a neurological study. She was quite happy to answer anythign I asked. If you doc doesn't like to answer questions, find another doc. 

There's the young man that I want in my class. 
"Please ask questions!  Lots of questions!"

I do hope that mom pushes for an arrest.