Need Thai School Advice For Wayward Thai Nieces..

[johnnymoretti]

My wife (she's Thai) and I are in a situation where her family has been trying to raise two young girls (ages 14 and 16) and guide them along the way. They lost their mother 13 years ago to leukemia and their father is a drunkard is not involved (hasn't been seen for years).

Anyway, the girls are at an age where they are now getting unruly and diverted from their studies and chores. They are good kids, but there is too much opportunity to stray since they don't have 100% oversight. They are not into drugs or having sex (though one of them bought birth control pills) and we hope to guide them better so their future is better.

My question: does anyone know of a good Thai language school for girls, perhaps even a boarding school, where we can send them to set them on the right path. We are a loving family and all very close and are not trying to pawn them off, but can only hope they are set on the right path to a good future. If we didn't care, we wouldn't even think of this.

A school in Bangkok or anywhere in Thailand would be considered. We live in Khao Lak, and the girls are in Bangkok (Bangplee)

Can anyone help us out??? Your healthy advice and meaningful comments are welcome. Your negative criticism is not.

Many thanks to this forum!

Johnny and Roong

[toasted]

Wow, no replies! Try putting this in the teachers' forum possibly. It might help if you stated how much you're willing to pay per term for each of them. Good luck.

[Boo]

I wil move this to the teaching forum.

[JSixpack]

Two boarding schools for girls only:

Santa Cruz Convent School, Bangkok (good value)

Saint Paul Convent School, Sriricha (more upscale)

From what you say, I'd move on this quickly before your nieces get pregnant (and they will, no matter the warnings) and possibly into drugs.

BTW, they will not like boarding school because of the rules, even though they will make some dear friends after a while. You'll have to be deaf to the pleas.

Edited June 22, 2008 by JSixpack

[PeaceBlondie]

If this started out in the Family Forum and got no replies, I will leave it here. However, as both a father for the last 42 years and as a teacher, I suspect your family problems are greater than your school problems. Two of my daughters had babies before age 19, but one of them became a teacher (who now has an under-performing 16 year old daughter). I wish my daughters had gotten on the pill earlier, but I love all 11 of my grandchildren.

[Ijustwannateach]

I just feel sorry that there's enough money to send two teenage girls to a boarding school, but not enough to keep them under control in some family member's house.

[JSixpack]

I just feel sorry that there's enough money to send two teenage girls to a boarding school, but not enough to keep them under control in some family member's house.

So many parents these days, from all social strata, are just not able to control their kids.

[pumpuiman]

Perhaps getting involved in some extracurricular activity with your nieces would help to keep them on the straight and narrow.

Volunteer work or a hobby/craft in which you all are involved may bring some unity.

I realize....easier said than done, but maybe they have an interest that you could support them in.

Good luck

[Heng]

That's great that you're trying to help, but nothing beats hands on time invested. Even boarding schools here nowadays have more than enough sexual and narcotic diversions readily available.

[PeaceBlondie]

That's great that you're trying to help, but nothing beats hands on time invested. Even boarding schools here nowadays have more than enough sexual and narcotic diversions readily available.

Agreed. You not only need to invest quality time with children, but a huge quantity of quality time.

[otherstuff1957]

Quite frankly, I don't think that there are many boarding schools in Thailand. Most Thais have fairly close extended families, so there is almost always an aunt or cousin or someone to live with if students live away from home.

[twschw]

We have boarding facilities at my school. PM me for details.

[PeaceBlondie]

Of course, English Language international schools have boarding facilities, but then you might be talking a million baht per student per year, not what was asked in the opening post.

[twschw]

Well, it was the best suggestion I could come up with and I offered it. Have a great day.

[JSixpack]

That's great that you're trying to help, but nothing beats hands on time invested.

Oh, easily said (yawn) but after a point nearly impossible because it's so late in the game. In fact, it's not uncommon that teenagers run away and the parents can't even find them for any "hands on". They may return in a week or so before they take off again. And the police are of no help at all.

If they haven't already, parents aren't now going to invest the time and huge effort needed. A lecture is given, resolutions made, and then things go on as usual w/ the kid constantly talking on the phone, listening to music, lying around watching nonsense on TV, neglecting her studies, and running around doing who knows what.

The boarding school solution is far more likely to give assured results: a kid who's learned some discipline, got his/her attitude straightened out, has much greater social skills, has stayed in school and will enter university. In other words, a success rather than just another pregnant dropout on her way down.

Boarding school is a great idea for the OP's nieces IMO as I've seen the success stories and I've seen the sad wasted lives of kids who should have gone but couldn't.

Even boarding schools here nowadays have more than enough sexual and narcotic diversions readily available.

Please detail a case of a female student who has got pregnant while boarding at a Thai school for girls. I seriously doubt you know of any.

There is such close scrutiny and such tattling among Thai boarders that even the most minor infractions are quickly discovered. Students don't have private rooms, you know: they all stay in great room with very limited storage. And they are supervised pretty closely.

I also don't think you have any evidence of drug use at Thai boarding schools among boarders in the residences and I feel absolutely certain none goes on at the two schools I mentioned. Seems you are just blowing the usual ThaiVisa smoke.

Edited June 27, 2008 by JSixpack

[MyKowLope]

I used to work at an girls boarding school or a few years in Bangkok. Discipline? Yeah right .....the students (and their parents money) totally and utterly ran the school. Most of the (Thai) teachers there were constantly scared of being unpopular/being complained about/losing their jobs. The end result was that the teachers allowed the students to do whatever they wanted inside and outside of the classroom.

During the week the students lived at the school, then on the weekend they went home to be spoilt rotten by mummy and daddy (who basically threw money at their kids to ease the guilt trip of dumping them into school whilst they furthered their own money making careers).

Of course the school for face puporses, claimed it was teaching students manners....and how to be a lady etc etc.....blah blah blah...........................

Edited June 28, 2008 by MyKowLope

[JSixpack]

I used to work at an girls boarding school or a few years in Bangkok.

But was finally dismissed and have remained bitter . . . .

the teachers allowed the students to do whatever they wanted inside and outside of the classroom.

Oh, typical exaggeration. If it were true, then the kids would really LIKE to board. For example, TV watching is severly restricted and mobile phones often confiscated . . . no running around the neighborhood!

On the other hand, we're talking non-military Thai school and kids should have SOME fun.

During the week the students lived at the school, then on the weekend they went home to be spoilt rotten by mummy and daddy

But the OP can choose to leave his kids at the school on most weekends or selectively--and not spoil them when they come home.

(who basically threw money at their kids to ease the guilt trip of dumping them into school whilst they furthered their own money making careers).

And you know that because they told you. Now, assuredly these parents felt no such "guilt," as sending kids to a boarding school is hardly "dumping," except in your own little barefoot world of imagination. Nor would you have the slightest idea why they "threw money" if that were in fact the case. More likely is the obvious: most believe that boarding represents a good opportunity for the kids' development, esp. when they aren't developing at home but to the contrary, for whatever reason.

Of course the school for face puporses, claimed it was teaching students manners....and how to be a lady etc etc.....blah blah blah...........................

Yeah, OF COURSE the school didn't teach anything but claimed it was teaching merely for face "puporses" and the parents paid all that tuition and key money for dumping puporses and didn't expect their kids to benefit in any way, just accepted the false "face" claims.

Next . . . .

(Actually the OP now has a full range of opinions now, from the informed to the blowhard to the merely sneering, so I think it's time for me to bow out. Hope we learn how the nieces fare.)

[johnfb]

What are you prepared to pay per month per child for a very good school? Whats the max you can afford monthly (not boarding)? The key to this is to send them to a good school where rif-raf are not around and where they will mix with better behaved kids.

[MyKowLope]

I used to work at an girls boarding school or a few years in Bangkok.

But was finally dismissed and have remained bitter . . . .

Dismissed?

Actually I was offered a 20% payrise to stay on. I was also given a rather substantial bonus at the end of my contract even though the original contract never mentioned that they had to give me one. I was also given TWO first class references from both of my Thai bosses. I was told by the director of the school that I was welcome to come back and stay at the school for free ANY TIME I go back to Thailand and my bosses and the director told me I was one of the best and most hard working teachers that ever worked at the school. The reason I left the school was because I had already made up my mind to leave Thailand and had secured a job in another country, where I currently make 200+K a month.

Now I can't be bothered to read the rest of your misinformed/poisonous little rant BUT I will say this...... You're a LOSER if you think you can hide behind a computer and throw cowardly insults at me. All of what I said can be 100% verified. So how about this 'tough guy'...I'll be in Bangkok next weekend....you put up 100,000 baht of your money and I'll put up 100,000 baht of my money. We will both go directly to the school I used to work for and you can ask them as many questions as you like about me, including the voluntary bonus they gave me, about me being one of the best teachers to ever work there, about them asking me to stay on etc etc. Come on LOSER, have you got the balls/money to meet me? ...or are you going to carry on hiding behind your computer screen little man.

Edited June 29, 2008 by MyKowLope

[PeaceBlondie]

Closed before penalties are awarded. The OP has received enough advice to his questions.