How Many Thais Perceive Right From Wrong...

PadThaiGuy · March 9, 2008

If you read the article again, you will notice that nowhere it was said that it was WRITTEN by the said teenager, but rather was the result of an "interrogation".
Nor did it say that it was not edited for grammar.

It said it's a confession, and is signed by 'the student,' so either he wrote it himself, or he said it during an interview and someone wrote it up. I do not think either happened, I think it is a work of fiction to illustrate a point that education in Thailand is corrupt.

Hey, maybe there is even a student that is gonna get off on cheating for writing this heartfelt anti cheating letter, or at least signing his name to the one they wrote for him.

That is ironic. A confession signed by a student that didn't write it.

Pepe' · March 9, 2008

Phd = Piled higher and Deeper...

marshbags · March 9, 2008

Marshbags thanks for the explanation and I completely agree with you. I was tired last night when I asked and hadn't read your post properly. I have first hand experience of this awful system too. I taught in Bkk for several years and was actually pulled up several times for giving students 'c' grades when they deserved them. Terrible time for me and totally unfair for all concerned

Thanks for your thoughts, seonai, and pleased it wasn,t a criticism of the articles content. ( the word " hel_l " threw me into thinking it was a negative comment )

Teachers like yourself, and i include the majority of those on T.Visa, really do get the rough end of the stick.

In my area i have talked to several at various schools who are concerned about the dropping of standards and extra large classes that make it impossible to pass on their valuable and hard earned knowledge / experience, along with making it impossible to give additional help to those who have difficulty picking things up but are eager to learn.

They are genuinely upset and demoralised, but have no choice but to soldier on and do the best they can for their students.

Monetary gifts ??? play a big part in how the schools are run and it is obvious in many cases it doesn,t go into the student welfare / educational funds.

These same givers of " gifts " do in turn expect that their children get top grades, when in all honesty they don,t even qualify for a pass result.

The parents that sacrifice their limited resources and time to provide a better future for their children are well aware of the situation, but if they say anything the end result is they get punished by being forced out of the school.

As for the failed yet high graded students, they carry on regardless, and don,t see anything wrong in how they achieve them, Thai culture being what it is.

Seems to me that somewhere down the line as the easy / lazy way of getting grades takes effect, many won,t have a clue, or the capabilties to consult the old grey matter to logically think things through.

We can only hope in turn, those that have taken education seriously, will be able to put their hard earned efforts to good use and reap the rewards they deserve, along with Thai society also reaping the benefits.

I read comments in the context of " this occurs everywhere." It Doesn,t

I cannot speak for everyone, but in my area of the U.K., you are graded according to your abilities, nothing more and nothing less.

The majority of failed students finish up where they have earned the right to be, Nowhere

marshbags

Edited March 9, 2008 by marshbags

Jingjok · March 9, 2008

I cannot speak for everyone, but in my area of the U.K., you are graded according to your abilities, nothing more and nothing less.

Yes, but, by definition, the abilities for which one is graded are not always solely the ability to understand and learn the material, but sometimes also the ability to get away with working the system. This includes (successful) cheating. As is most certainly the case in later life, outside academia.

I remember, from sometime back in the Cretaceous, whilst studying for the first year of a first degree in London, painstakingly inscribing flat strips of Wrigley’s Doublemint chewing gum with various information. To effect this feat of nanotechnology, I employed a 0.25mm Rotring Isograph draftsman’s pen. A most excellent instrument, which I still own.

The degree was a modular general science affair, which included such arcane knowledge as the taxonomy and anatomy of what felt like the whole of God’s creation. Of course, at that age, one is more interested in the anatomy of various female students and the anatomy of the bottom of beer glasses, leaving precious little time for the tedious business of study.

Said chewing gum strips were resealed into their wrappers and labelled with their new ‘flavours’. Cycad flavour, echinoderm flavour, liverwort flavour, a wholly indigestible mathematical flavour: something to do with Chi squared statistical analysis, which we were supposed to learn as a core subject, and so on. To this day, the latter material still leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Chewing gum was allowed in exams as a purported aid to concentration, and hence to passing. That’s rubbish of course, and I haven’t touched the vulgar stuff since, but in my case it was indeed a great aid.

However, what I vainly considered to be my clever plan – in that I could eat the evidence at the approach of an invigilator – went spectacularly wrong.

To my great distress, I found that the act of researching and condensing all that information had caused me to inadvertently remember the useless stuff.

This means I remain unable to pick up a sand dollar on Surin beach without tediously describing its anatomy to whatever poor victim I happen to be with, who no doubt wishes I had been a more successful cheat.

Ijustwannateach · March 9, 2008

Some unseemly squabbling and off-topic personal comments have been removed. Reprisal on this thread will result in warnings.

elkangorito · March 18, 2008

^ The above has nothing to do with Bill Gates <sigh> but is Charles J. Sykes, author of the book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add.
There are three other rules from Mr Sykes,

Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You're welcome.

Regards

Thanks "A_Traveller" for the correction. I wasn't sure if it was a "Bill" thing or not & as such, I stated that it was something that was simply mailed to me.

As far as Thias knowing "right from wrong", I think the tides are slowly turning. In my college & as I said before, cheating is not tolerated. Testimony to this is the number of students that must attend college during Summer Break in order to pass. Mind you, this is only for the students that wish to pass. Every year, there are a large number of students who must return to attend extra classes, if they wish.

Although I do not wish to speculate about the possible "monetary gains" attached to the students' reassessment, I do wonder about this (they pay extra to come back).

To me, the "right from wrong" issue is cultural & cannot be addressed by simply applying Western rules. Then again, I abhore rules, religious rules & cultural rules.

When EVERYBODY in the world begins to realise that there is no "right" & no "wrong", we will begin to live in peace. When EVERYBODY in the world realises that EVERYBODY suffers, we will begin to live in peace. When EVERYBODY in the world begins to realise that respect is "EARNT" & not deserved, we will begin to live in peace.

Generally, "cultures" try to NOT CHANGE because of a fear that something will be lost. It is human nature to cling to these things until it is too late. The strange thing is that nothing is "lost"...it is simply "changed". And what is the problem with this? I hear all the old 2nd World War diggers saying things like, "You young fellas are lucky that we stopped the Japs & the Germans because if we didn't, you'd be speaking Japanese or German right now...as well as eating their food". These comments sicken me. I can't see a regime ruling a race of a previously free (religiously, morally & culturally) group of people for any long period of time. As a matter of fact, I think it would've been a healthy change for the population to have undergone such a trauma. Imagine the increased communication that an extra language (or 2) could provide. Imagine the quisine that would have been adopted. These "old & unchangable" people promote fear...much the same as religions & cultures that have no self faith & therefore no real foundation. These sad people who believe in this have not yet realised that the world is not a bunch of seperate countries...it is in fact, a contiguous & singular thing.

It is also human nature to change. So human nature is split in two. It is this refusal to change that causes problems. The world is an ever changing place. To try to freeze time into a perfect picture only causes pain for everybody.

I therefore suggest that Thai culture, the same as many other cultures, is trying to freeze time by refusing to change...by refusing to acknowledge the rest of the world, even though it is an unstopable thing.

The longer Thailand tries to "live" in its' cultural past, the more problems Thailand will have in this world. If she could only see that the past is the past & the future can be shaped by new & "open minded" thinking, she could then "choose" what the current world has to offer.

This way of thinking will directly affect how students operate (ie cheat or not cheat).

Segregation is NOT the answer. Integration is the only answer.

elkangorito · March 18, 2008