Fairy Tales & Thai Schools

[nasajsc]

Talking to my wife today and her 9 year old niece and 14 year old nephew,

I was quite shocked to learn that they dont know any of the classic fairy

tales, such as:

Wizard of Oz

Little red riding hood

The princess and the pea

The ugly duckling

The frog prince

Jack and the beanstalk

... etc ...

They do know the stories that have been made into movies by Disney and

such, but if its not a movie they dont know about it!

It seems that in thai schools, children do not spend time reading the classic

fairy tales (or the respective thai translations). Is this true?

I am interested in hearing from people who send their kids to schools here.

What do the children read and learn about the western classics?

Edited January 25, 2010 by nasajsc

[yabaaaa]

Probably the same as Western kids learn about Thai fairy tales.

[endure]

"Wizard of Oz

Little red riding hood

The princess and the pea

The ugly duckling

The frog prince

Jack and the beanstalk

... etc ..."

are classic WESTERN fairy tales.

That's probably why they're not taught in Thailand.

[garyh]

NO NO it's not right these people are not totally westernized.

[a2396]

Enough of them live in a Fairy Tale world already. No need to reinforce their unrealistic concept of how life should be.

[sanook2me]

OP funny post...

They only teach em f@cking Thai in schools as well ! can you adam and eve it !!!! (sentence to be said in mock cockney accent)

They probably think the World is flat still cus my misses has no idea where any country is when its mentioned on the news... does anything exist otherside of Thailands border..do they teach em anything about the outside world other than farangs will eat you...fairytales..!

[anchan42]

They probably didn't know what you are talking about.

They might know the stories but don't know the names in English.

You can try the Thai names below.

Wizard of Oz - This one is not very popular. I can't even think of the name in Thai.

Little red riding hood - หนูน้อยหมวกแดง

The princess and the pea – I don't know this one myself.

The ugly duckling ลูกเป็นขี้เหร่

The frog prince เจ้าชายกบ

Jack and the beanstalk แจ็คผู้ฆ่ายักษ์

The four above with Thai names are well known. Some of the names have even become Thai's idiom.

If you said แจ็คผู้ฆ่ายักษ์, people will know that you mention someone small taking down someone big.

If you go to book store and head for children section. I am sure you will find a lot of classics and Aesop fables in there. All translated to Thais, of course.

Edited January 26, 2010 by anchan42

[garyh]

They have never seen the movie "The King and I" either

Do you teach kids in your country about Blue ghost, tall ghosts etc.?

It's like the guy on here before last xmas could not get his head around the idea that Thailand does not have public holidays for xmas.

[nam-thip]

OP funny post...

They only teach em f@cking Thai in schools as well ! can you adam and eve it !!!! (sentence to be said in mock cockney accent)

They probably think the World is flat still cus my misses has no idea where any country is when its mentioned on the news... does anything exist otherside of Thailands border..do they teach em anything about the outside world other than farangs will eat you...fairytales..!

I would be very reluctant to spend my hard earned cash putting a Thai child through a private or government school in Thailand.

A good friend of mine who in his working life was a qualified teacher in the UK after seeing the educational standards of Thai’s coming out of standard and higher education booked a flight back to his home country insisting there was no way he wanted his child educated at a Thai school.

My misses spent 14 years in school followed by three years at a Thai university and in my eyes she's as clueless as any other Thai with her limited knowledge of the outside world.

Her seventeen years of Thai education impresses me none.

And she's still paying off the bank for the loans taken out for her education.

World Politics……….........little knowledge

World History............... little knowledge

World Geography..........little Knowledge

Mathematics.................Qualified to ATM transaction level

And the list goes on…………………

sanook2me has got it spot on

[Loz]

This is Thailand.

That not withstanding, I have bought a bilingual version of Aesop's Fables in the Mall, Korat. Such texts do exist but there is a fundamental flaw in the OP argument. Parents teach their kids about fables and fairy tales more than schools EVER COULD. bedtime reading favorites are culture specific. Don't be shocked to find out that they don't know Astrix and Obelix either. Its just not part of their culture. Imagine if they started learning Roman history in schools... Then modern history, then Global politics! No, lets leave it as it is... its nice here. Don't spoil it.

In the land of the blind...

[PeaceBlondie]

I knew a Mayan lady who thought the sun revolved around the earth.

[garyh]

I knew a Mayan lady who thought the sun revolved around the earth.

I think the ones who don't believe in evolution think that too.

[MrJohnson]

OP funny post...

They only teach em f@cking Thai in schools as well ! can you adam and eve it !!!! (sentence to be said in mock cockney accent)

They probably think the World is flat still cus my misses has no idea where any country is when its mentioned on the news... does anything exist otherside of Thailands border..do they teach em anything about the outside world other than farangs will eat you...fairytales..!

Maybe your missus didn't study Geography.

[anchan42]

We could do an interesting experiment here.

Just go out and show Thais you know the names below. See if they know the stories and report back.

Little red riding hood - หนูน้อยหมวกแดง

The ugly duckling ลูกเป็ดขี้เหร่

The frog prince เจ้าชายกบ

Jack and the beanstalk แจ็คผู้ฆ่ายักษ์

I have about 10 Thais in my office and they responses were "What a silly question, of course we know the stories"

We might not know as many stories as a western kid would but we do know a few famous ones.

After reading lot of posts, I am beginning to doubt my perception of Thais.

Are we really that bad?

Edited January 26, 2010 by anchan42

[Joints]

I am shocked that the OP is shocked. Some peoples etnocentrism never stop to surprise me it seems.

[Sabum]

Ya I'm hoping the op was just joking, otherwise he is extremely foolish.

[ManilaLover]

Guess they are not allowed or not stimulated to read anything that could eventually make them 'intelligent' 'broadmindend' 'think for themselves' etc. etc. because they would become trouble kids and a possible treath for the safe society

[bellste]

My wifes son goes school here, and they don't learn anything about this, and I think that is very good. If they did, I would complain.

Schools are not for fairy tail telling/reading. That is something the parents should take care of after scool. Schools are for learning, not entertainment.

Use the British model of education, and see what sort of results you get. They showed a documentary from WW II, to some British 12-14 year olds. They thought it was an action film from holliwood! Many og them had never heard about WW II. Half of them could not read and write peoperly either. 

Is this how you want it?

Edited January 26, 2010 by bellste

[bellste]

OP funny post...

They only teach em f@cking Thai in schools as well ! can you adam and eve it !!!! (sentence to be said in mock cockney accent)

They probably think the World is flat still cus my misses has no idea where any country is when its mentioned on the news... does anything exist otherside of Thailands border..do they teach em anything about the outside world other than farangs will eat you...fairytales..!

It is not farang who will eat them, it's ghosts. But they do NOT learn that at school. That is something they learn at home.

[MikeyIdea]

Totally agree with anchan42, I discuss kids’ education regularly with my Thai friends in the office and of course they know of the more famous classic fairy tales.

This is common sense - The replies people get is reflective of who they ask, who they associate with. If I ask in the office, most people know, if I ask my daughters mother, then she doesn’t know, and what’s worse is that she doesn’t want to know either. On the other hand, she knows all the classic Thai fairy tales.

What's even worse than my daughters mother even is of course that the OP is chocked, that’s plain boring. Thailand is full of fairy tales and they are very good. Instead of being chocked OP, learn some classic Thai fairy tales.

[Travel2003]

They have never seen the movie "The King and I" either

I guess we both know it is a little bit different reason.

[bendejo]

They don't need the Western fairy tales. Thailand and the other countries in this area have enough fantastic and moralistic stories based in their own cultures.

Right off I'd say the part in the Wizard of Oz where the house lands on the witch would be ridiculous in Thailand, because the house would be blown to splinters if the wind were that strong.

I think you're not in Kansas anymore.

[MrJohnson]

Ya I'm hoping the op was just joking, otherwise he is extremely foolish.

This thread is a wind-up, right?

[MikeyIdea]

No, don't think so. But it's easy for a guy who has posted 86 posts in 6 days to screw up so I don't think we should be too hard on him anyway.

OP, it's quality not quantity that counts, OK?

[Loz]

No, don't think so. But it's easy for a guy who has posted 86 posts in 6 days to screw up so I don't think we should be too hard on him anyway.

OP, it's quality not quantity that counts, OK?

cry for help?

thinkin' of that poor chap in Chaing Mai (or heaven, if his blog is for real).

[garyh]

No, don't think so. But it's easy for a guy who has posted 86 posts in 6 days to screw up so I don't think we should be too hard on him anyway.

OP, it's quality not quantity that counts, OK?

cry for help?

thinkin' of that poor chap in Chaing Mai (or heaven, if his blog is for real).

Not allowed to discuss that, might upset someone.

[givenall]

NO NO it's not right these people are not totally westernized.

After all they are fairy tales and who cares if they don’t know them. I rather people know more reality like the Haiti earthquake or Africa starvation than fairly tails

[bina]

http://www.ignca.nic.in/jatakint.htm

ethnocentric at its best.

my kids dont learn that stuff either. its european western 'classics' . i dont suppose your kids learn the old and new testaments as ethic and moral texts and with possible historic references either? mine do. they have to do their o exams even for that. and they know roman and middle eastern history 100% (from our point of view of course) ... they havent a clue about george washinton, the wizard of oz (apart from the movie or play, in hebrew), they dont know hwere kansas is, nor do they care.

the thai have a richer older group of 'fairy tales'' and moralistic tales: there is the ramakien(ramakana), the jataka tales (cant remember the full amount but a couple hundered at least, plus the ethnic folk tales, characters and a good oral tradition if u get a hold of some of the older folks (and if u understand their dialects through gumless mouths),

they have good courses on line about folk lore in thailand and lots of stuff if u google properly.

and when was the last time u read a classic? oedipus? jason and the golden fleece?

i would say that many of those 'classics' were stolen from either the old greek writings, from india and some even from 'horror of horrors' - africa, and were sanitized, cleaned up and turned into european material.

u do know hta in the original cinderella the girls chop off their toes to fit in the glass slipper? and sleeping beauty is about sexual awakening?

bina

israel'

[gvallee2]

They've never taught me any fairy tails in school besides the ones made by disney.

What is there to learn from them? most of them are horribly boring.

rather have my kid watch star wars or some kid show that talks about the begenings of mathetmatics or the universe than some stupid story about a prince that meets his love.

[Tee2008]

Well, sure they haven't seen " The King and I ". It was banned in Thailand years ago.