Abhisit Aghast At Lack Of Knowledge

[LomSak27]

Does Abhisit actually live in Thailand and interact with people there? If so this should come as no surprise

We know he lives here but obviously he rarely leaves his ivory tower and never visits anything other than Baan Potemkin villages.

[thaibeachlovers]

Well, Thai kids may not be good at maths or science, and can't speak English, but they're GREAT at computer games.

The local IT cafe in the village where I live is full of kids playing computer games after school, and the 2 boys in the house where I live play computer games for about 4 hours ( or more ) every night ( I'd love to say something, but I'm just a stupid farang ). They're so dedicated at learning how to kill things on the computer that they even eat their meals while playing.

When they leave school, their future is assured if they can find a job that involves playing computer games, otherwise................!

[thaibeachlovers]

'trisailer' timestamp='1304582946' post='4402874']

I was the worse grade school student ever. Never got even a C because my teachers were crap. Worse than anything I've ever heard in Thailand. In 5th grade I baffled everyone by making all A's. I did it because I had a teacher that could reach me and motivate me. In college I worked my tail off and graduated with a B average because I wanted to.

I have a friend who teaches here at an international school and he dosen't seem to have a problem with his students. There are hundreds of examples of kids doing 180's with the "right" teacher.

Those who can't do; teach. that's the problem.

I can agree to a certain point with what you have written , but one thing you did not manage to learn is the fact that no one can teach you anything unless you have the will and intent to learn , they can only introduce you to their knowledge at hand , as to those that cannot do , teach , is that somewhat along the same lines as ' You can lead a horse to water______________'

I have to disagree completely.

I can only use my personal experience, but no kid I went to school with responds well to boring lessons. In fact, I'd go as far as to say most kids inclination is to do as little "work" as possible. They need inspirational teachers to make them WANT to learn.

I did very poorly at school, because ALL my teachers were rubbish. The things I liked were those I could see a result from like art. I'd have liked to do tech drawing, but unfortunately I wasn't "thick" enough to do that, and had to do history, biology, book keeping, English in my final year. Gave up chemistry, maths as too boring, though those were the subjects I'd have benefited from in my future careers as a mechanic and a nurse. I didn't even qualify for UE- failed all subjects except English.

However when I left school and became an apprentice, I came top in my first year ( in the country ) in theory. Then when I was 35 I went on to become a registered nurse.

So I had the ability, but not the motivating teachers to make me WANT to do well.

I'd have loved a great teacher, and role model, but such were sadly lacking in my schooldays.

[wintermute]

Does Abhisit actually live in Thailand and interact with people there? If so this should come as no surprise

We know he lives here but obviously he rarely leaves his ivory tower and never visits anything other than Baan Potemkin villages.

Pretty much all the wealthy people in Thailand behave like this. They live in their own little gated worlds insulated from the sullied masses.

[Samuian]

Does Abhisit actually live in Thailand and interact with people there? If so this should come as no surprise.

it's certainly no surprise, as it's written all over the wall, even dumb, blind and the deaf pick it up, see it more like a wake up call!

personally I think that mark is not even remotely ingnorant to the imminent and very obvious problems in this country!

Why was he educated overseas?

[DP25]

Well, Thai kids may not be good at maths or science, and can't speak English, but they're GREAT at computer games.

The local IT cafe in the village where I live is full of kids playing computer games after school, and the 2 boys in the house where I live play computer games for about 4 hours ( or more ) every night ( I'd love to say something, but I'm just a stupid farang ). They're so dedicated at learning how to kill things on the computer that they even eat their meals while playing.

When they leave school, their future is assured if they can find a job that involves playing computer games, otherwise................!

You can make a living at computer games these days, tournaments for some games have broadcasting contracts and huge prize pools. Last week a Thai team won $25,000 at a DOTA2 (That's a computer game) tournament in Germany and they only came in 7th place. 1st place $1 million cash.

Of course it's about as likely as becoming a professional athlete. But I don't hear as many people complaining about kids wasting their time playing soccer

[scorecard]

Well as lecturer i would like your comment on a subject that i think was mentioned

earlier in this thread. That is how often are students allowed to say " why " or even

more so - " i disagree " ! ?

I was watching a 2006 movie the other day called " The History Boys ". Have you seen it?

I recommend it ( here is the link :- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464049/ )

It is about a headmaster who is determined to coach an unruly group of 8 boys in a Sheffield school

so the can get into Oxford or Cambridge and it is fascinating to listen to the dialogue between the teachers

and the pupils. In particular regarding the skills of critical analysis to help them with

their pre- entry " interviews " .

Do you see this critical analysis in Thai schools and Universities and if not why not ?

I SO agree with what you point out here...

I teach English to ALL ages... and it's AMAZING how DIFFICULT it is to get ANY AGE student to raise their HAND {even!} !!!

And this is when I'm doing a class vote on this or that... where clearly 100% is the intended number!!! It takes two or three tries before I can get the 100%... and I even have to show some students that they actually have to RAISE their arm up ALL THE WAY, to be "raise their arm".

Always unbelievable to me... stay invisible, don't get noticed, don't ask questions, etc. has CLEARLY become the method of survival, for these kids and adults.

You have to wonder just WHAT the punishments have been, for anyone BEING noticed, ASKING questions, or the UNTHINKABLE, actually asking "WHY?"

I mean, really, many of us farangs, wondering why creative or analytical thinking is virtually absent in this country...???? These talents most certainly DIE, prior to the death of all the above (apparently forbidden) actions, yes?

I challenge this student {non}thinking by having the conversation parts of my classes go like this: A student will answer some simple question... and I'll ask "Why?" and after the shocked expression passes, and they come up with some answer, I'll ask "Why?" and we play this game until there is... "No Why!"

But it's fun, and funny for the students... they clearly NEVER get led down this path... and it's also clearly a NEW way of looking at things.

Whether or not much of it survives beyond my classroom...??? Hard to say. Maybe for some, it will expand their consciousness a bit, and for others it will just be a memory of "that strange farang teacher" and little more.

Mai pen rai... Koh-jai, laew!

PS: Thanks for the tip about the movie!!!! I'm downloading it NOW!!

I also have examples of not allowed to ask questions. My Thai son (speaks perfect Thai and perfect English) went to school in Singapore for quite a while then came back to Thailand to go to university.

On first day he put his hand up and said 'ajahn khrap....' (a Thai AJahn) and son was instantly jumped on severely by all of his classmates and after class was scolded severely by the Thai Ajahn who knew he had been to school in Singapore and she gave a tyraid of negatives about the disgraceful education system in Singapore. Son failed that semester.

He was also required to attend English classes (from memory 2 hours per week) at his Thai university. Teacher was a Thai girl 19 years old who had no qualifications or experience in anything and could not speak English. She arrived late to every class with a page ripped out of a notebook with 4 or 5 hand written sentences, example: 'Yesterday I will was go to shopping now.' Her hand written page was bulk copied (students had to pay) and the class had to read each sentence (in unison) about 20 times, no explanation of anything no explanation of the vocabulary. That was English class, and every lesson finished early.

My son gave me several of the handouts and asked me to rewrite some correct sentences and he carefully discretely gave them back to the teacher who was livid. She shamed him in front of the class and made derogatory statements about his western family name. He failed English for the next two semesters.

There's a long way to go.

Edited August 27, 2011 by scorecard

[thaibeachlovers]

Well, Thai kids may not be good at maths or science, and can't speak English, but they're GREAT at computer games.

The local IT cafe in the village where I live is full of kids playing computer games after school, and the 2 boys in the house where I live play computer games for about 4 hours ( or more ) every night ( I'd love to say something, but I'm just a stupid farang ). They're so dedicated at learning how to kill things on the computer that they even eat their meals while playing.

When they leave school, their future is assured if they can find a job that involves playing computer games, otherwise................!

You can make a living at computer games these days, tournaments for some games have broadcasting contracts and huge prize pools. Last week a Thai team won $25,000 at a DOTA2 (That's a computer game) tournament in Germany and they only came in 7th place. 1st place $1 million cash.

Of course it's about as likely as becoming a professional athlete. But I don't hear as many people complaining about kids wasting their time playing soccer

Kids aren't wasting their time playing soccer. They're avoiding obesity, gaining physical co ordination and learning valuable lessons about sportsmanship, friendship with real people and that you don't win at everything.

All kids learn from computer games is ........... I can't think of anything positive that they gain, except obesity, if you count a mountain of lard as a "gain".

[lungmi]

  My students in a hill tribe school, Thai is the second language. English is good to make pancakes.<br>Save world life.<br>Run Paradise

Edited August 27, 2011 by lungmi

[bangon04]

I wonder if you started selling calculators in Thailand that gave incorrect answers, how long would it take before someone noticed?

What, you mean you never noticed this???

There is a special brand for adding up your tab in the beer bars.... made in thailand...

[wintermute]

You can make a living at computer games these days, tournaments for some games have broadcasting contracts and huge prize pools. Last week a Thai team won $25,000 at a DOTA2 (That's a computer game) tournament in Germany and they only came in 7th place. 1st place $1 million cash.

Of course it's about as likely as becoming a professional athlete. But I don't hear as many people complaining about kids wasting their time playing soccer

Physical sports promotes teamwork and fitness. Plus the upward mobility of pro sports is much broader if you have any ability. With computer games you're more likely to produce a chubby socially retarded bumpkin than any champion winning tournaments worldwide for big bucks.

[midas]

My son gave me several of the handouts and asked me to rewrite some correct sentences and he carefully discretely gave them back to the teacher who was livid. She shamed him in front of the class and made derogatory statements about his western family name. He failed English for the next two semesters.

There's a long way to go.

I will take your word for this but I find it very hard to believe and I find it shocking

Edited August 28, 2011 by midas

[geriatrickid]

Ok, the former PM is aghast at the lack of knowledge, This begs the question as to why his government didn't do something about it when it was running things? Lucky for him and his allies that lack of knowledge allowed the military junta to circumvent the law and overthrow a civilian government. The Thai people seemed to have enough knowledge to toss his government out of office didn't it.

[osiboy]

My son gave me several of the handouts and asked me to rewrite some correct sentences and he carefully discretely gave them back to the teacher who was livid. She shamed him in front of the class and made derogatory statements about his western family name. He failed English for the next two semesters.

There's a long way to go.

I will take your word for this but I find it very hard to believe and I find it shocking

i can understand why this happened , .firstly he looked & made the thai school look second class while at the same time his piers were inwardly envious of him , he made his english tutor and teacher loose face and so ultimately the school loose face ,........ this is a perfect example of why students dont ask the qustions they should ,... they have to be put back in their place ,....thais are followers not leaders , and always will be

ps . as for making derogatory remarks becouse he had a western name .........well,..... talk about glass house .. pot kettle , black . from khun wingnongruangkamklangbangtingtongnikinokinoo.

[osiboy]

Without Iodine deficiency Thais would have the highest IQ in the World, even without teachers.

Unlikely, just having correct iodine intake does not set your IQ level, other factors are involved.

really ?......... i think something may have gone right over your head mate ,............ its called sarcasm ! doh !

[animatic]

Ok, the former PM is aghast at the lack of knowledge, This begs the question as to why his government didn't do something about it when it was running things? Lucky for him and his allies that lack of knowledge allowed the military junta to circumvent the law and overthrow a civilian government. The Thai people seemed to have enough knowledge to toss his government out of office didn't it.

Tripe, utter tripe.

He did try, but the vested interests, entrenched stupidity and lack of incentive to change ANYTHING in the whole education hierarchy is not something easily moved or changed. As those few who have ever tried have found.

He made many moves to improve schooling and was fought tooth and nail by special interests and blanket, obstinant stupidity. As noted above on so many posts. And what efforts he did make were done in spite of all the other irrelevant crap you list as reasons for failing. Don't go confusing intelligence with being manipulated by a political machine, the lack of education made it more likely they would believe the oft repeated lies of the machine.

The new government wants to throw tablets at ONE GRADE... and no training for the teaching staff, and... Oh yes... what else do they plan to change in the teaching profession...by their own multiple public statements:... SOD ALL.

When you reduce public education success or failure to simply political hacheting of those you dislike, you remove any positive aspect to the discussion, and reduce it to baseless name calling and nothing more.

Edited August 28, 2011 by animatic