Thai High School Options ?

[Storekeeper]

My spouses 14 year old son will be the equivalent of a 9th grader next school year. He currently attends the local temple school and I'm not sure that's gonna cut it in the long run to get him into a Thai university. What are my options? I'd like to get him in to a school in Phichit or Nakonsawan that will give him a shot at a university. I'm willing to spend as much as 10K baht per month...even a school like a live-in academy. I'm not in-country so any long distance advice would be appreciated. Must get this solved before start of next academic school year.

[PeaceBlondie]

This may not be of much help, Storekeeper, but here goes.

My roommate attended temple school in his teenage years (20 years ago, up north), and once told me that about all he remembers learning was some ancient inscriptions in Pali.

There should be government Matayom schools near your stepson's home, although transport might be a problem. I've now taught in two matayom schools up north (same city), but I don't know if the rest are as good as ours (and they could certainly be much better).

Thai schools seem to be famous for teaching rote lessons, boring lectures in huge hot classrooms, collaboration, and test-taking that is called "Cheating" in the West. But it probably prepares them for Thai university, if they're really sharp and needn't go to the best unis. In succession, the Thai universities seem to prepare their graduates to compete in the business world of Thailand........circa 1983.

But I don't know much.

[sbk]

Where is he now? Does your wife have any relatives in Bangkok? Most of the local people I know who prefer to send their children away to school (schools here are terrible) send their kids to stay with relatives in Bangkok. The woman who works for us is sending her son to a private school in Ratburi (husband is gone, provides very little in child support, most her salary goes for her son's education), have your wife's relatives check around and see if there any good private schools in the area, if not, perhaps ones that take boarders?

[Spee]

My spouses 14 year old son will be the equivalent of a 9th grader next school year.

Suggest getting him in where he can get an intensive english language program. I could be wrong, but from what I'm gathering the Thai equivalent of high school is not very advanced and the Thai equivalent of early university years is barely equal to or hardly beyond a top western high school.

You're in the service so one thing to try might be getting him to your duty station so he can get into a good school there. But this is going to probably require english language functionality. Possibly you could have him finish Thai high school in Thailand, and then bring him to a military base high school for a couple of years to earn a US-style HS diploma. This would prepare him better for a decent university.

Another option is to look for a top "international school" but these are expensive (I think about $10-15K USD per year or more.)

I guess another important question is what does the boy want? What are his desires? Is he sufficiently motivated to be ready for these kinds of things? Would he be receptive to a school change?

FYI if you do a yahoo search for something like "Thailand schools" you will find a list of Thai schools that have some sort of website. Maybe you can find something there.

I wish you well. Good luck.