Cram Thai Schools Should Be Taxed And Controlled

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EDITORIAL

Cram schools should be taxed and controlled

By The Nation

They are simply a reflection of the Thai education system's failings

The Thai educational system is a complete failure. What is the evidence? One example is the growing number of cramming schools throughout the country. Although there are no official statistics, over 100,000 schools, at least, are hiring more than 7,000 tutors for well over 300,000 students. The accumulated fees that parents of eager students have to dish out are to the tune of Bt7 billion. With such a huge income, it is about time the government collected tax from these education mafias. At present, cramming schools are proliferating at all levels and there is a saying among parents - the younger the better. The conventional wisdom goes that if they start late, kids would not be competitive.

There are different reasons why students flood into cramming schools. Some attend classes because they want to be with friends. Others just want to stay away from home or their parents over the weekend. But most students attend cramming schools to learn how to achieve good scores on their exam papers, which determine the students' chances of going to certain schools or colleges. Unlike music or sports camping schools, these cramming schools do not promote students' multi-intelligence or their body of knowledge. But they do tell students how pass entrance exams or to get good TOEFL scores.

Many parents decide to spend large money for these cramming schools because, unfortunately, Thai students are solely judged by their test scores. Thai students are not tested by their essays, a means to express their thoughts, or their understanding about themselves and their communities, which are more important to make our children better-equipped persons in their future.

The intense but inhuman tutoring and memorising of hundreds of patterns and questions put out over and over again have enabled students to become masters of fast and correct answers.

By answering the questions, which often repeat themselves once every few years in some form or another as examinations, the students exposed to such tutoring would be able to give the right answers and go to good universities. Given the right answers seem to be the indicator of how the future generation of Thai students would be assessed. What really happens now is quite simple: these students may not have an increasing body of knowledge. But they can go to good universities.

Living in a dream

The Ministry of Education is living in dream, trying to convince the whole world that Thai students are smart because they win all sorts of contests in mathematics and sciences. This type of news is often used to illustrate the superiority of Thai education and its students. In fact, this is educational propaganda. These days Thai students do not learn how to think through or know how to write and express themselves. Memorising the right answers and patterns are important. What is the theory of Knowledge? The advertisements for these cramming schools often show rates of success that help their students be accepted into well-known schools or universities.

These cramming schools are simply a reflection of the failure of Thai educational system which does not teach students basic understanding about themselves or their communities. Students simply grow up aspiring to become someone else instead of excelling through their own strengths and uniqueness.

Therefore, the cramming school cannot be allowed the privileges that other educational institutions are entitled to enjoy. A cramming school is merely the business of enabling students to produce good grades.

On the other hand, the government should make musical schools, language schools or sports academies more easily accessible for Thai children because the infusion of art and sport would help nurture them into well-rounded human beings. Language skills will make students better global citizens through their cultural diversity awareness.

The government should also draw on the strengths of these cramming schools and see why they manage to attract students. For instance, some students may prefer to go to them because of a less-rigid study environment or higher attention from the tutors which the students don't receive in traditional classrooms which often seat around 50 students each. Some tutoring schools are also successful through their tutors' easy-going and approachable style.

In the meantime, students should study harder but at real schools - not at the tutoring places where teaching answering formulas would leave the future generation mundane and empty.

-- The Nation 2011-01-17

[geriatrickid]

They should be shut down.

Cramming doesn't help.

[Nisa]

I had to look this up to even begin to understand what these schools are ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cram_school (There is a section on Thailand)

[apollo13]

100,000 schools, 7,000 tutors, 300,000 students............3 students per school, ....0.07 tutors per school...............I presume this is yet another Nation fuc_k up.

[junglist]

Never trust anyone always do your own homework. We did the research and it proved that starting your child later is better than pushing them into a grade earlier. Best thing I ever did, my daughter is top of her class in most subjects. Even with this we double check all homework. My daughter often shows us the errors in the text books and homework sheets. The children are the future for this country and should be priority one not just a new way to make a fast Baht.

[Ijustwannateach]

They shouldn't be shut down until the actual schools are better functioning, but I would make sure every satang of that tax goes into teacher salaries to attract more competent personnel to the profession.

The other problem is that unless the *universities* are equally regulated- i.e., they are not allowed to set entrance tests with more difficult questions than a typical Matthayom would prepare students to answer- students will continue to have to find their competitive edge in the private sector. Simply not enough time to do the basic curriculum 'and then some' in regular school day hours.

[RickBradford]

What a stupid article.

First, the writer acknowledges that: "The Thai educational system is a complete failure."

Then he/she castigates schools which are trying to give children a decent alternative education as "mafias."

Perhaps the writer is simply reflecting the stupid and confused thinking of somebody who has been through the "complete failure" of the existing system.

[animatic]

They provide the only alternative to not having the ability to pass the tests.

And it can't be said actually having learned the right answers is a negative thing.

Adding understanding and practical application to those answers is what is needed.

But woe is Thailand if the 'education system' were to suddenly gain 'control' of these schools.

In short order lowered to the same style and level as the old ones by the intractable bureaucracy.

I don't think the number of tutors listed refered to those IN the cram schools, but the freelance tutors,

outside of the cram schools in addition to the cram school staffs.

[bangon04]

To generalise disgracefully, the attitude of most Chinese parents when told that their child is (slightly) underachieving, is to say "give them more work".

Just look at all the Chinese faces upstairs at Seacon , extra music, extra dance, extra Thai, extra English, extra IT skills.. All through the weekend at all the major shopping malls. And they are missing the soap operas and "boing" entertainment shows on television.

These must be the parents who either can't afford to send their kids overseas, or they have already booked a place at Thammasat for their 3 year old.

Can't take these schools away until there is something better...(not likely), and taxing the middle class (again) could be seen as too much.

[Scott]

I have very little respect for a system that determines success by the score on a test rather than an understanding of the material. If you understand the material, there is a good chance you will score well on the test.

[Thunder26]

I work for such schools during the weekend and I disagree with the article. I am a qualified teacher and I do quality work which is the best for the kids and I assure you that the kids who study extra are much more competitive than the kids who study only at general schools. I know it from my own experience. Do not generalize it. There are good cram schools and there are bad ones.

[brianq]

The function of a business is to make profit. As businesses are good corporate citizens, they pay a tax on their profit. Yes, cram schools should be taxed--just like any other business in Thailand. As they are in the education business, they should be carefully regulated by the Ministry of Education which, unfortunately, is lost some where in la-la land and seems to be more interested in preserving its own bureaucracy than anything else.

If Thailand wishes to tax "excess profits", that is a whole different story but I don't think that there is, at present, any legal way to do this. New laws would have to be passed but then, it would have to be for all businesses and I am sure that the hi-so people would not want this.

Brian