.

Dispite all the moaning about lack of individual thinking and low standards, this international competition, held in Germany, showed what Thai students can do for their country.

Come to think of it, Thai student engineers have beat Japan at their own game (robotics) the last two or three years running as well.

Students win gold, silver at math Olympiad

The Nation DAILY XPRESS

Thai students bagged one gold and five silver medals in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in Germany last week, ranking Thailand seventh among 104 countries.

Gold medallist Suthee Ruengwiset, the oldest at 17, won one silver in the IMO competition held in Vietnam two years ago and another silver in last year's event in Spain. He said mathematics could be made fun for students through the right teaching methods, and that he would pursue studies in advanced mathematics.

Suthee is from Triam Udom Suksa School, like three other students who have won silvers - Thanart Khuruthat, Phongphak Phoomiwat and Suphanat Khamtue. Phakhawut Jiradilok is from Assumption Bang Rak School, and Nipun Pitimana-aree from Pathumwan Demonstration School.

The 50th IMO was held in Bremen, Germany, from July 10 to 22. The top three countries ranked above Thailand are China, Japan and Russia.

Not bad, not bad.

KUDOS TO ALL!

'nuff said

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Cop that, all you people who denigrate Thai intelligence - well done, kids!

schools are not there to make kids smart... but conform... training a monkey to do well in a certain 'environment' and being usable as human 'resource'. Some people who can think out of the box will never cope with this system and therefore not excel in the society. The rest is about heritage, money, families. We all know how it works. Anyhow, it's good for someones ego to be so ... 'fit' to work.

Good schools they came from.

Not saying there aren't smart people here, I've worked with some.

But the basic school isn't for them. Money and contacts will put you into better schools.

Congratulations to them!

These Thai students are hand picked for these competitions - there are several gruelling rounds of competition, then those picked are trained by university lecturers to do well - in the same wat that top schools put their m6 through university material. I wonder how many of there competitors go through this? Just look at regular schools to see the state of education in this country. Look at the TIMSS reports as well - Thailand is an average performer on the world stage.

We have had some students involved in a competitiion. The competition is held every year and the students who are involved basically 'quit' school. They spent their day practicing--everyday and nearly all day long.

Students need to lern to be rounded. They need to be motivated and learn to utilize their time well. They need to be allowed to stop everything because there is a compeitition.

Basically this style encourages a kind of 'addictive', compulsive approach.

I don't know how other schools handle this. If that's how it's done other places, then the playing field is level.

Regardless, these students put forth a lot of a work and it has paid off for them.