Analysis New school year, same old story: Thailand’s education system ‘stuck in the past’

[gejohesch]

On 5/22/2024 at 7:14 AM, gejohesch said:

Some theoricians state that the IQ is a fixed, absolute measure for a given individual. I don't think that's correct. I think most of the people around the world have pretty much the same intellectual potential to start with, regardless of country and ethnic considerations. I think that the IQ depends then to a large extent on the environment and the education system.

So, what about Thailand? With several years of experience, both in big city and in the countryside, both with Thai colleagues at work and with my wife's family and surrounding villagers, I notice that 99% of the people have very little intellectual curiosity, have a very little attention span, never read anything apart of media garbage, etc etc. Thais seem to live in a mega bubble of their own. I know I may sound politically incorrect in saying so, but my impression is that they suffer of some massive brainwashing. Too much quick instant satisfaction (the "sanuk" culture). Too much religion also (a clear case of "the people's opium").

I don't pretend to fully understand the Thais, they are so different to any other people I know...

As an example of how (I think) the education system is very poor in Thailand, I recall a few years ago when my wife's son (from a previous marriage, Thai husband died in a car accident) prepared for the entrance examination to the navy cadet school. He asked me to help him and we went through pages of questions and tests typical of that entrance examination. There were loads of questions where he had to chose the correct answer out of 3 or 4 possibilities. He used to get stuck with multiple choice questions, when he did not immediately know the answer. I showed him how he could often proceed by elimination, i.e. eliminating the obviously wrong answers. He had never heard of that approach!

 

I noticed a number of times, when debating a particular issues in a Thai professional environment, that if I was called to explain something and my explanation passed over the heads of my colleagues, some of them would automatically think that I was wrong. Really weird : "I don't know about this matter. You are explaining it to me. Sorry, I do not understand. Therefore you are wrong!"

[scorecard]

6 hours ago, MarkBR said:

Wonderful.  Unfortunately, your son threatened the whole system.

 

True.

 

This was a few years ago and tings are slowly changing:

 

1. My eldest Thai granddaughter went to a bilingual catholic school, they had English first and last period every day:

 

Morning, well qualified young British guy who focused quite successfully on progressive conversation development with kids encouraged to ask questions.

 

During this session the afternoon English teacher (old Thai lady) sat at the back and took notes and was under instruction to repeat the morning session late afternoon but in Thai language.

 

Afternoon, but she spent most of the period criticising the farang teacher and highlighting his mistakes (which weren't mistakes).

 

And you guessed it kids not allowed to speak and not allowed t questions.

 

*******

 

And mid term / end of term exams. Kids had to remember what each teacher had taught to answer the questions, often conflicting. 

 

Continuous complaints from the parents. A number of fathers were farng native English speakers, they sent handouts (given by the old Thai female teacher) back to the headmistress (who can't speak English) highlighting numerous mistakes. 

 

Regular response from the headmistress 'Well she's been teaching for a long time so she must be correct'.   

[MangoKorat]

8 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

No rational person with any meaningful experience in Thailand or knowledge of Thai culture would fail to realise that to do such a thing would be a clear f-you to the professor, so it isn't believable.  It isn't even a case of someone not being one to "take sh*t".  It's clearly a confrontational and disrespectful thing to do in Thai culture.

Your living in the wrong century.

[cardinalblue]

On 5/22/2024 at 11:08 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

and you apparently think education is better in western countries .

As usual one has to pay large to get good education and the kids I see ( if they even bother going to school, are a bunch of numpties that probably can't subtract 3 from 5. They are, however, really good at bullying on social media, looking at porn and taking days off to protest about things they don't understand like climate change.

 

Generally, it is superior in 3 ways - critical thinking, knowledge based and more importantly it is tied to getting a career/better jobs…do you know how many run of the mill college grads in thailand work in blue collar positions with zero advancement opportunities? “ put down your phone…You can clear the table now”

 

min wage in Ca for a Day - $160 …in thailand 400 baht or under $13

[0ffshore360]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:29 AM, bamnutsak said:

Functions as designed.

 

Beat discipline into students.

 

Teach prostration.

 

Haircuts.

 

Uniforms.

 

Bad food.

 

Rote learning.

 

Poor results.

 

 

The last thing the power-that-be wants is an educated populace.

 

 

 

 

The way the world is rapidly becoming then absolutely the "system" does not want a generally highly educated population.

While Thailand is stuck in the past at least it is not going backwards which more than one opinion is of the way the wider world's education is going.

In the interim period before AI educates itself to completely remove any need for most human occupations including the philosophical, (therefore  random ) interference no doubt the most likely solution is to create a massive global conflict and unleash stashes of primitive weapons to effectively reduce redundant global populations while cosseting a select core of elites who will oversee the extinction of the current edition of self destructive humans. Generals at the rear as always to direct the end of yet another Empire to confirm the established empirical histories.

If a PHD only gains employment as a taxi driver why tilt at the windmill ?

 

[JimTripper]

On 5/22/2024 at 9:00 AM, Galong said:

Most of the time it sounds like a prison riot. At other times, there are events going on whereby the teachers or other adults are singing (very poorly) to the students over very loud speakers... like it's karaoke or something. 🤦‍♂️

When school lets out, the parking lot is full of vendors selling nothing but candy, ungodly sweet drinks, and junk food. 

Occasionally, the students are in class. Most often, you can hear them chanting rote rehearsal style.

Noise basically. Very similar to what the adults are doing near me. Maybe left out rushing. Being scuttled and rushed from place to place. No time to think or reflect which leads to critical thinking and problem solving.

 

There should be a required meditation class without distractions or chanting. 

[Sydebolle]

Stuck in the year 5,000 B.C. But as the saying goes, the oligarch elite is not interested to educate the underlings to a level which would allow the latter to think and ultimately get rid of the Phooyais. Simple as that. 

Any country charging for education is a banana republic - sorry. School should be absolutely free and paid for by taxes which allows any kid to learn and study as far as (s)he can/wants/is able without a financial sword swinging over its head. Such programmes have been running most successfully in the First World, i.e. some European countries. 

Here though it starts with taxes - the majority does not pay income tax due to the absence of a decent income. Fun and Games overruled the education system here ever since there is a Thai word for education. Education secures the future of a country but this needs to be understood and shared ...... 

[Minnierogers]

On 5/22/2024 at 6:08 AM, happysoul said:

We were living in the country side up North, son went up to P5 in the local school, daughter in P2, so 8 years for the boy and 5 for the girl (counting anuban too). They hardly learned anything, military education, don't ask questions, just learn by heart what the teacher says and NEVER contradict him/her. The teachers in rural places are still considered, as it was 50 years ago, as the knowledge (that they don't have) and considered just under the boss (puyaibaan or kamnan). There is a Thai writer that wrote a book about a young teacher coming to teach in some rural village in the 1970's - 80's (can't remember the name of either book or writer). Well, nothing has changed. And probably not the salaries too. You cannot get a good education system if you don't pay correctly the teachers AND educate them too. But all this needs founding and won't bring back money profits. So probably not a priority (and as said above, keep people ignorant so the gig can continue). My daughter had some hard times going to school (only 2 half Thai kids in the school probably didn't help) and it was a heartbreak to force her put on her uniform (wife and I had to hold her very strong to force it on).

 

We now moved and they go to a private school. Tution budget has gone through the roof (from almost zero to much more ;)) but they love it. Also over with the times we get notified of 1 month holiday the day before it starts, the multiple absence of teachers for "patchoum" (meetings or so called) and have finally educated teachers that know where is thailand on a world map. They now have to forget the teaching style they know, get to ask questions and participate in class. Hopefully they'll get some logic, analytic and critic mindset. For now thinking is not prohibited yet 😉

It's sad to see how little has changed, especially for rural schools. While improving the educational institution is important, it is not enough to improve the quality of education or close the urban-rural productivity gap. Students need better resources and learning methods that can help them compete globally. I have found that writing services such as https://essay-company.org/ can be a useful tool for students who struggle with academic writing. It also helps to balance better while studying. We hope to see more significant changes to the system soon!

 

What's quite sad is that 80% of the population cannot afford that kind of education.

 

Today is a day off, daughter is sad as she wanted to go to school, things change 🙂

 

 

 

It's great your kids now enjoy school! Quality education should be more accessible. I hope everything will be fine, happy learning!