Thai Eyes For The Oh-bah-mah Guy

[Jingthing]

Thai government planning at its best; without having statistics, or researched anything, lets just copy some stuff for a website and roll it out countrywide. The base assumption that children in the first world are absolutely the same as the kids back in Isaan must be just true!

Well, the US which is lagging far behind many countries in science and math education is now experimenting with Singapore math (the Singapore method of teaching math which has proven very successful). So nothing wrong with sharing good ideas across cultures.

[Heng]

I can't help but think that the fact the USA elected a black man will be positive for the many darker-skinned Thais, even if only on a sub-conscious level.

Having more darker skinned folks pushing themselves to succeed (of which there have been plenty) would do far more. Prejudice isn't just skin deep... although for some reason many people like to pretend it is. I suppose those same folks would say Africa would have the same economic output as northern Europe if only their skin were lighter.

[NovaBlue05]

I'm just saying that in this part of the world your triumph is slightly underappreciated.

You may be right. I really don't know. But can someone address my question about whether it is strange behavior for Thai people to want to TOUCH the picture of a political leader in a newspaper? This was new to me.

Perhaps these people were simply making some routine physical gestures during conversation that have no deeper meaning.

I do think most people who follow the news at all have a fascination in this because the global media has been covering it intensely and the concept of a black Prez is still pretty radical.

[JimsKnight]

one Thai perspective:

IMO slightly more competence than the last guy, more likely to strengthen the US$ than the last guy. Hence from the Thai side, hopefully will fatten my forex revenue (I can already count on Thai politicians both Democrats and PPP/TRT to do things that will keep the Baht weak).

IMO Obama is a smooth taker, snake oil salesman. Good at sounding like the man with the plan and that's pretty much it. Hopefully he'll pull off the transformation to an effective president.

I agree that the Dems in Thailand will likely weaken the baht (hopefully), but not the PPP (right wingers), who usually prefer a stronger baht.

[jts-khorat]

Thai government planning at its best; without having statistics, or researched anything, lets just copy some stuff for a website and roll it out countrywide. The base assumption that children in the first world are absolutely the same as the kids back in Isaan must be just true!

Well, the US which is lagging far behind many countries in science and math education is now experimenting with Singapore math (the Singapore method of teaching math which has proven very successful). So nothing wrong with sharing good ideas across cultures.

Obviously nothing wrong with sharing ideas and using good ones; but that was not what I was critical about.

Before implementing a nation-wide education policy (which results will be felt for a generation), someone would have to think its impact through. Something the current Thai government is more than obviously not able to. 'Copy and paste' is not due process and lawmakers showing such gross negligence on the job should be sitting in a prison, or at least not in the position they are currently holding.