This Is What They Teach In The Thai Schools

[chadintheusa]

Thai education is piss poor and taught by poorly educated Thai's that follow a curriculum that should have been thrown in the dustbin years ago.

My Thai wife had 14 years of Thai education then went on to further education and her knowledge of all things not Thai is abysmal.

She has very little knowledge of world affairs and struggles to name the capitols of most countries or point them out on a world map.

A few years ago I had to show her where Thailand was situated on a blank map of the world as she didn't know where it was.

Says it all in my opinion.

What concerns me even more is the fact i'm just putting our three year old daughter through Thai private school.

Unfortunately too many foreigners tend to marry uneducated Thais so that they can feel superior.

[Xangsamhua]

If anyone's interested, for comparative purposes, the Melbourne Declaration on National Goals for Australian Schooling has just two overarching goals:

Goal 1 Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence

Goal 2 All young Australians become

– successful learners

– confident and creative individuals

– active and informed citizens

http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/verve/_resource...(2009-2012).pdf

These goals were agreed to by all State Ministers for Education in December 2008.

A national curriculum based on these goals is currently being drafted and submitted to the community for consultation. Until now, curriculum has been the responsibility of each State.

[slapout]

SantiSuk; Well I guess Ireland could be described as off the coast of New York, especially when you take in to account where the question was asked. Yes, the education of present and upcoming students is acknowledged as a problem in many countries of the world. The education system seems to get the blunt of the blame for this, some say rightfully so. I attended a one room school (first 8 grades) small high-school (130+_)small and large Universities. In our family the failure/shortcoming of our education was not placed on the system but on our lack of dedication to getting an education/learning. Maybe we have grown use to the easy/non personal way of blaming the system, which without a doubt could stand improvement, whereas many of the potential students are probably lacking a real interest in learning. A man told me that the school room was there to teach a routine, interaction with peers, hear other peoples thoughts, etc, etc, and so everyone could work on the same assignment to determine if they were teachable. All students are teachable but most of us learn early on that the individuals are the primary limiting factor, not the teacher or the system.

There have been too many learned men through out history who were exposed to a virtual non existent formal/organized system, but were able to master the learning process.

[astral]

Unfortunately these failings are not exclusive to Thailand.

I seem to remember a story about a couple who booked a flight to Sydney

expecting to go to Australia.

They landed up in Sidney, Montana, USA

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw-...i-1111112761709

Teaching knowledge is all very well, but teaching people to THINK is much more important.

The problem is that many teachers do not have this skill.........................

[traderjm]

Very good post!

I have a child just starting school. In this country one needs to spend a lot of money to educate ones child to western standards.

No way I would send him to a Thai public school, or a Thai private one for that matter.

One of the first things my wife said when we found out she was expecting was to ask if we could please have our child educated in Canada (I'm a Canadian) she herself got her master's in the US and was shocked at how poorly equipped she was with her Thai BA. We looked at a couple of what we were told are the better International Schools and found them amazingly lacking IMHO.

The stories she tells me of when she went to school here as a child and what some of cousins go through are just astounding. Easy call for us, Canada still has a pretty darn good public school system so might as well put those tax dollars to work

[tgw]

I can't see any big flaws in the mission statement of Thai Education.

Of course, Education has to be improved big time, but on the other hand the mission statement is IMO fine.

1- It is natural that Buddhism is taught to children, even if they are of another faith. Thailand is 97% Buddhist, so everyone needs to know the principles of Buddhism. Families should be free to elect additional religious education different from Buddhism if they want.

Buddhist morality is in my opinion much more tolerant than western morality and cannot be directly compared.

One thing that is very important here is the sufficient economy.

The west, especially Europe, have been badly damaged by consumerism and a certain flavor of socialism. In short, the system makes economic growth mandatory, and people are made to feel equals, and pushed to consume to get that feeling of equality, fueled by credit.

The education system has also its part of responsibility.

2- here they emphasize knowledge and skills for thinking, which is in my opinion enough for someone to develop a health "critical thinking" if needed. I think the western requirement of promoting "critical thinking" is over the top and produces individuals who feel obliged to object to anything.

4- the patriotism has a slightly outdated touch, but I can certainly understand the need to teach that everybody is part of a Thai nation.

The adherence to a democratic way of life in a constitutional monarchy is certainly a challenge to fully understand and even more to teach, since the monarchy as an institution does not have its say in many things, including politics, because it "stands above".

5- preserve Thai culture: very important in my opinion.

Most posters here who enjoy Thailand forget that the country they love is the product of that education. Take away Buddhism and Thai culture, and you will have a country of selfish <deleted> who do not smile and who shoot themselves up and foreigners alike for 1000 baht.

...

I think the educational system should not promote equality but rather equality of chances, while maintaining a healthy distribution of skills in the population.

I mean, a very bright child born in a poor family in a poor village should have a fair chance at getting the best state-education available in Thailand.

On the other hand, a children showing low or mediocre learning abilities should receive basic school education and then be directed to a job training.

In Europe, too much of these mediocre students end up at university and earn a degree. And after that, everyone's a "manager" (translates in 90% of cases as "office clerk" really).

The problem with that is that they believe they have achieved something and that they have their say in everything.

Let's face it: the children are not equals and will never be.

It already starts with huge differences in the innate learning/reasoning capabilities.

It is a government's duty to be able to provide the adequate education to all children, which means that there must be some high-quality state schools and colleges which should stand clearly above the mass of other educational institutions which should nevertheless have a good standard.

There are some problems associated with that:

- how to make sure the state-owned institutions keep their elite status vs. private schools

- how to make sure that the standards are kept up in the other schools

- how to avoid abuse of the elite institutions by the privileged population (maybe by an anonymous admission test?)

Edited April 19, 2010 by tgw

[Loz]

The curriculum officially changes nearly every year (or more often), which is why it never actually changes.

THis much is true. And how much is spent on "workshops" to tell us all what we will be doing differently....

Thai Education is generally pretty poor in my view. I would like to see change but I think it must come from within, and the infrastructure will be slow to change. Bit like politics really.

On A practical note, I do however advocate finding schools where your values are shared and working hard to make a difference in the lives of the kids you come into contact with.

Yes, I am a believer in individual solutions. Largely because they come about more readily that global solutuitons.

[TheLaughingMan]

It's nonsense. They don't teach lots of that. Loyalty to Buddhist monks, the king and flag. Never ask questions. Cheat, plagiarize, copy, lie and steal big sums. Be a good Thai. It's not about learning.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/thai-Culture...ty-t355787.html

I really REALLY like this guy!