Report Thailand Waves Goodbye to Costly Scout Uniforms, Eases Parent Woes

[wwest5829]

5 hours ago, Emdog said:

When I was a boy..... scouts were totally optional, something you had to seek out, not mandatory by any means. This was in USA. I did cub scouts, but didn't go for boy scouts... whole structure seemed a tad too Nazi for my taste

Certainly has changed over the years. I was involved from age 7 through 64 1/2. We Boomers were all involved. You actually were the exception if you were not in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts during my public school days in the US at least in Southern New Jersey. I had a very good run with many fond memories. I take your point about the military origins, the heavy post WW Ii equipment largesse and for some … a definitely right wing emphasis. Ha! I figured that is why they needed my internationalized, more liberal outlook. One of the roles I retired from was my Western Kentucky Council’s International Representative. It tied in nicely with my Sister Zcities work and my teaching role.

[wwest5829]

2 hours ago, Hardcastle P said:

They all have uniforms for school  but not 3 I grant you .isn't a uniform to make all kids equal ,not allowing those with money to look better in designer cloths. 

I don't understand why kids need 3 when I was in the Cubs and Scouts in the uk we only had one uniform it did for all occasion even High Church parade once a month. 

This certainly is not the teaching of the world wide scout association. Plus it's a catholic order not a Buddhist one so I guess Thailand can make it's own rules as it cannot be recognised buy the world scout organisation as defined  by Baden Powell .

You might confuse folks referring to Scouting being a catholic order (meaning universal) rather than a Buddhist one. I do not think the World Scout Organization deals with national Scout uniform requirements. I noted only the International Scout Symbol on Scout uniforms with whom I came into contact.

[wwest5829]

1 hour ago, khunPer said:

 

Girls are not scouts, they are called "guides", so "boy scouts" is correct...

Varies with countries. USA Girl Scouts. uSA Boy Scouts of America are now Scouting as we had long ago included girls in the programs aimed at older students. 

[foureyes10]

Baden-Powell knew that the British Army would need skilled "scouts" in the future, his experience in war had shown a desperate need! A militaristic patriotic organisation seemed to fit the bill! The Thai government knew what they needed and knew the young people needed the discipline! The ideals of the Boy Scout movement install good morals and an understanding of ethical behaviour, it's not the kids that fail to pass on the message...it's the teachers! 

[roo860]

Always seemed a bit dodgy to me with a title like that.🤔😆

[UserC923]

5 minutes ago, roo860 said:

สำหรับฉันแล้วการตั้งชื่อแบบนี้มันดูแปลกๆ นะ🤔 😆

 

Are you aware of the real purpose behind Thai scouting?

 

[dinsdale]

Good. Now get rid of the whole thing in schools. 

[dinsdale]

51 minutes ago, UserC923 said:

 

Are you aware of the real purpose behind Thai scouting?

 

Military recruitment.

[Will B Good]

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Thank the lord, watching a neighbouring overweight 50+ male teacher dressed as a scout going to school in the mornings will no longer scare the mire out of me.

 

Albert Hitchcock was asked what was the scariest thing he's every witnessed........he said he was driving through a Bavarian village and saw a priest walking into the local church with a choir boy.

[spidermike007]

They sure do have an obsession with uniforms. Government officials looking like some sort of defense officials and such, with the 35 baht worth of ribbons. It is downright weird.

[kickstart]

In the wife's family the scouts, and guilds uniform are nearly all second hand, passed down through the family, most are in good nick as they are only used for one day a week, more than once I have heard about the high costs of the uniform.

More than one girl in the family has used a secondhand school skirt at some time in their education. 

One thing I can just remember as a scout, back in the sixties the old Baden Powell hats, still used here.

[FruitPudding]

I just got my kid's new scouts uniform. It was about 600 baht.

 

The last one lasted a couple of years and she had a fair growth spurt. This one might last three years as I expect her growth to be a bit less now.

 

When I lived in a poor village, I saw how much the so-called parents spent on beer, cigarettes, lao kao, lottery, and gambling - probably 30,000+ a year on booze and cigs alone - while utterly neglecting their kids' needs. 

 

If they cut all this crap, one kid could go to a better school, at least. 

 

Now, they can save a few hundred baht on the uniform to drink, smoke, or gamble with. Then, send their daughters to Pattaya. 

 

It ain't gonna help. It's just a big w@nk.

 

 

[kiwikeith]

7 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Thank the lord, watching a neighbouring overweight 50+ male teacher dressed as a scout going to school in the mornings will no longer scare the mire out of me.

Does this mean someone in the education dept is growing up?? 

[Caldera]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

Children can now sport regular school uniforms or PE kits, with scout scarves as the only requirement.

 

Wearing just a scout scarf with otherwise regular attire is just sad. Either do it right or don't do it at all.

[NorthernRyland]

6 hours ago, mfd101 said:

For the 20% or 30% of the population who have basically no income at all or so small you wouldn't notice, paying for scouting uniforms is an impossible or painful and completely stupid imposition by corrupt bureaucrats and politicians who have no idea what poverty is like.

 

So what I'm hearing from everyone is that financial burden is simply too high for the uniforms. I would not have guessed this and how did they carry on for so many years. It's kind of like expensive books the universities mandate I guess.

[NorthernRyland]

6 hours ago, fittobethaied said:

No more scout uniforms, an easing of other dress restrictions like school uniforms, an easing of restrictions on haircuts, putting an end to corporal punishment, promotion of LGBTQ++++ rights, and the next generation of kids will make this place a worse cesspool than it already is. If you think "kids gone wild" in the USA is crazy, just wait. You ain't seen nothing yet!

 

Remember when they did this in the US? You can't even have a place for boys now and yes of course there must be some gay element to it.

 

 

[NorthernRyland]

11 minutes ago, Caldera said:

Wearing just a scout scarf with otherwise regular attire is just sad. Either do it right or don't do it at all.

 

The uniform was part of the whole experience and appeal. Thailand may be doing this because of widespread poverty, which is sad but this shouldn't be an indictment on the uniforms themselves.

 

[Keeps]

8 hours ago, Guderian said:

In my day, nobody cared much about the uniform, the only thing that mattered was getting as many achievement patches as possible. Therein lay the kudos.

I once had to cook a pork sausage over an open fire to earn a badge. Managed to get the outside blacker than charcoal yet a good vet probably could have got it up and running again, it was that raw on the inside.

 

Spent 2 days in hospital with food poisoning.

[PremiumLane]

8 hours ago, fittobethaied said:

No more scout uniforms, an easing of other dress restrictions like school uniforms, an easing of restrictions on haircuts, putting an end to corporal punishment, promotion of LGBTQ++++ rights, and the next generation of kids will make this place a worse cesspool than it already is. If you think "kids gone wild" in the USA is crazy, just wait. You ain't seen nothing yet!

 

Aww, you need a safe space, you big girl's blouse?

[recom273]

1 hour ago, kickstart said:

In the wife's family the scouts, and guilds uniform are nearly all second hand, passed down through the family, most are in good nick as they are only used for one day a week, more than once I have heard about the high costs of the uniform.

More than one girl in the family has used a secondhand school skirt at some time in their education. 

One thing I can just remember as a scout, back in the sixties the old Baden Powell hats, still used here.

I did this teaching project for a term, it was a really nice experience. Visiting these little schools in villages in Songkhla province in places I never knew existed. Kids were quite poor. I never forget, as you say, the uniforms were all hand-me-downs, a lot of the kids had socks that finished at their ankles, and they tucked them in their shoes.

[FruitPudding]

8 minutes ago, recom273 said:

I did this teaching project for a term, it was a really nice experience. Visiting these little schools in villages in Songkhla province in places I never knew existed. Kids were quite poor. I never forget, as you say, the uniforms were all hand-me-downs, a lot of the kids had socks that finished at their ankles, and they tucked them in their shoes.

 

You see this at "rich kid" schools too. Kids walking around with 5 toes and a heel sticking out of the sock (on both feet).

 

Parents are just feckless. Socks are 20 baht.

[scorecard]

15 hours ago, Emdog said:

When I was a boy..... scouts were totally optional, something you had to seek out, not mandatory by any means. This was in USA. I did cub scouts, but didn't go for boy scouts... whole structure seemed a tad too Nazi for my taste

 

And the organization since been charged with many cases of boys being touched / fondled / sex, by leaders. 

[emptypockets]

13 hours ago, mfd101 said:

For the 20% or 30% of the population who have basically no income at all or so small you wouldn't notice, paying for scouting uniforms is an impossible or painful and completely stupid imposition by corrupt bureaucrats and politicians who have no idea what poverty is like.

You are spot on. When the King passed away, the village boss said over the speaker system that whilst people should wear dark coloured clothing, people shouldn't take offence if some people could not.

I guess some posters don't realise that in rural Thailand some people can't afford the expense of even a T shirt. Food takes priority.

[mfd101]

3 hours ago, emptypockets said:

I guess some posters don't realise that in rural Thailand some people can't afford the expense of even a T shirt. Food takes priority.

Yes, my b/f - now 35 - went to school for the first time at age 10, and for one year only (during which he learned to spell words out painfully slowly in Thai - Khmer was his main language). On his first day he turned up stark naked, having no clothes and no food. Teachers had to run around to find him a pair of shorts ...

 

That was 25 years ago. I guess it's a bit better now in general, certainly in his large family as I supply the needy. But there are probably many kids no better off today than he was then.