Have Your Kids Grown Up In Thailand

[Blackandwhite]

Inevitably we will move to Thailand with my daughter and wife from the UK, trying to stick it out but just as soon there is a chance I will find it hard to not at least try life in Thailand.

I am very interested to heard from any of you guys out there that have already done it and brought up children in Thailand that are now older, how did they get on, what do they do now, how do they feel about the decision you made for them, how was school and level of education, on reflection do you think your home country might have been better.

Simple answers are great but more info would be fantastic if possible, pm if you would rather and secondly if you have time

Thank you so much, if your read my previous posts you will see how much this topic means to me.

[torrenova]

My daughter is still young but education in international schools if in Thailand or private school if in the UK. For certain, foreign university financial planning whether in either country but certainly not university in Thailand as it is just not good enough on the world stage.

If you cannot pay for that, then probably better to go to your own country and get the kids at least a half decent education paid for by the government. Funding a UK university education for 4 years would cost about Bt6m minimum at today's money ! Top courses more.

[seaeagle]

We moved from northern England to Phuket in 2007. Obviously, education, and the whole future for our daughter was considered very thoroughly before our move. Our daughter is now 4 1/2 - very early in her life, and who knows how things will pan out in the future. But, we took a top-down approach to our thoughts - ie what would she likely be doing in her early 20's? So, this is what we considered for a place like Phuket:

1. Career / job

The only opportunities and industries on this island are in hotels / leisure or in real estate. Very limited, we thought.

Bangkok would have a much wider range of careers to consider, but she would be up there on her own.

Undoubtedly, there are many more opportunities, good careers, and good salaries to be had in the 'west'.

2. University education

Nothing worth considering in Phuket, and only half-decent universities up in Bangkok. - unless you pay an arm and a leg to buy your way in to one of the good ones.

In any event, anybody with a good job in Thailand has come from a rich family and / or got a degree from USA, UK, or Australia to, at least, supplement the poor quality degrees you'd get from a Thai university. Their degree awards mean very little on the world stage - an overseas degree carries a lot of weight here.

3. Secondary education

Quite good at an International School that follows, say, the UK curriculum, and offering IGCSE examinations. These will follow "proper" areas of education, rather than following the Thai tenets of 'Nation, Religion, Monarchy' that would be offered in Thai schools.

Secondary education at International Schools will be expensive. It's free in UK!

4. Junior / Primary education

Similar points to above. We (and I stress this is view shared also by my wife!) both think that the Thai behaviours of obedience and no desire to question / reason, are drummed into kids at an early age. A Thai government school is, in our eyes, totally out of the question for mixed race kids, or totally foreign kids.

Thai government and private schools will run English Programmes - fair enough. But that is just the Thai national curriculum taught in the English language. Probably the best Thai private school on Phuket is Kajonkietsuksa School. However, it's important to understand that this is still a Thai school teaching the Thai curriculum, which is solely run for profit. Vitally, the school publicly acknowledge their total Thai-ness in a quote from the school manager, K. Permkiat, "We follow all the Thai traditions and customs here. We have a quite clear idea on these issues and if people are looking for Western culture then they won't find it here."

So, even at this early stage and age, you have to seriously consider the benefits of International Schooling. Again, this costs a whole bunch of money. Free in UK.

***

I'm not going to discuss anything else other than education : lifestyle, family relationships etc. You can consider them separately at your leisure, I'm sure.

In conclusion, what we have decided is to stay here through our daughter's primary and junior schooling at an International School on Phuket. By the time she reaches, say, 10, we expect to head back to England for, in our opinion, the most important stage in her education.

That should cover secondary and possibly any university education. After that, she stands on her own two feet, and we'll be back here for my retirement, I suspect.

Hey, this is just a plan, and all the best plans have flexibility to change in them. It's important to have a vision and consider the future, but who knows what will happen. But, as regards education, this is our thinking and the rationale behind it. Good luck in your considerations.

Edited February 19, 2010 by seaeagle

[PattayaParent]

Have consdiered much the same myself and my wife's favoured idea was to go to Uk in the future for our child's secondary education say at around 13/14 years old.

But having spoken to a few teachers when we were in UAE their opinion was it's much better to keep the kids in international school overseas than in a state school in England.

Provided you can pay for it of course.

[Blackandwhite]

This is all so helpfull, education is my worry when consieding Thailand.

Anyone donealready and got grown up kids, be good to hear your thoughts

Simon

[MikeyIdea]

Simon, education is the prime responsibility of the parents, not the school of course and the education starts at home, not at school. The most important time is kindergarten through primary school because that's the time when most habits and traits that the child get are formed. To some extent, a person will keep these habits, personal strengths, EQ, you name it all through her life. I bet George Bush was an idiot and a strong leader already when he was 5 years old Secondary school and university is only knowledge, hard skills, soft skills are the important factor deciding future success.

I see nothing in Thailand that can't be compensated for but it will cost a bit. If the child is say 5 years old now, then it should be considered that what we as parents do today and the education we choose for our children today should be suitable in 20 years time. In regards to this, I am a person who advocate that Asia is going to be more important than Europe and America in 20 years time and there are going to be more opportunities in Asia than in Europe for sure.