Senators Against Thai Govt's Computer Tablet, iPhone, iPad Handout

[webfact]

Senators against Govt's Tablet, iPhone Handout

BANGKOK: -- A senator is asking the government to reconsider the policy to distribute free computer tablets to first graders. He said there's still a lack of teaching personnel who can use the tablets effectively and the current education curriculum has yet to be developed to be tablet-friendly.

One of the appointed senators, Tuang Auntachai, expressed his disagreement to the state policy to distribute free computer tablets to first graders, He said teachers and other personnel have yet to receive the necessary training to ensure that the tablets are put to the best use.

The current education curriculum has not been developed to be compatible with the tablet-intensive learning activities. He's asking the government to reconsider the launch date of the policy and warned the tablets will become useless electronic garbage.

Meanwhile, another appointed senator, Rossana Tositrakul is also calling for the House and Senate speakers to work together to cancel the plan to give each MP and senator an iPAD and an iPhone.

The plan to use billions of baht of taxpayers' money to finance the purchase of the two electronic gadgets has drawn a widespread negative response from the public.

Rossana suggests the money should be used to help solve the problem of rising cost of living, unemployment and flood recovery efforts.

-- Tan Network 2012-03-19

[gl555]

Well if they don't buy those tablets, how are the middleman cronies going to buy their new BMWs?

[Katipo]

It's good to see at least two public servants put on their 'brain caps' today.

[dominique355]

Populistic policies are implemented not because they promise any real progress, but because they are, well, populistic. They sound good in slogans and re-election campaigns. Nobody ever expects any improvement from them, at least not those with an IQ above room temperature.

[Reasonableman]

Populistic policies are implemented not because they promise any real progress, but because they are, well, populistic. They sound good in slogans and re-election campaigns. Nobody ever expects any improvement from them, at least not those with an IQ above room temperature.

Celsius or Fahrenheit?

[AngryParent]

Well if they don't buy those tablets, how are the middleman cronies going to buy their new BMWs?

Cancellation costs.

This way nobody has to produce any goods or do any work. All get paid. The government can claim in light of disapproval they have cancelled, and they save face. Those who were moaning about the costs will be happy to see 70-80% not spent (some of them may get a bonus) and they probably knew this was going to happen anyways and played their part so they get paid too.

Time for next big scheme....

[volk666]

It's good to see at least two public servants put on their 'brain caps' today.

They are not public servants as usually it means elected or being answerable to elected officials, they are appointed senators answerable to no one. Real public servants, Thai style, can't wait to get their hands on the iPhone and iPads, especially in light of a recent iPad upgrade.

[Unkomoncents]

"Tablet-ready"?! Try book-ready. Even if we use computers for everything nowadays, non-experiential knowledge still comes from one of two places: someone's mouth or a page. Literacy in Thailand is defined as being able to read and write one's own name. Sure explains a lot.

And as for the government: perhaps giving Thai politicians tablets/Apple products is a good idea. It might distract them from their current responsibilities enough that they don't siphon off as much resources from other Thais or otherwise distort their own political, economic and social system.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Unkomoncents

[BabySun]

If senators accept ipads and iphones,then they will have to use them,they will have to demonstrate to public their abilitiy to do it.Unfortunatly it is beyond many of them - gross loss of face is inevitable!

Shotcomings of their minds will be shown to all public.Celcius or Farhenheit? - never mind if you have no mind for it.Senators are not any better then teachers.

[dominique355]

Populistic policies are implemented not because they promise any real progress, but because they are, well, populistic. They sound good in slogans and re-election campaigns. Nobody ever expects any improvement from them, at least not those with an IQ above room temperature.

Celsius or Fahrenheit?

Thailand being a metric country, that's in inch, er... no... pints.. fl.oz.... oh all these US/Britsh units! In Celsius ©. Room temperature thus about 28 C.

[animatic]

How can you train the teachers, when the software isn't written yet,

because they haven't even decided 100% sure, what the platform is?

Ok, likely Android.... how many Android apps are there in THAI???

How many for learning? Tested? Based on what curriculum?

Since no one knows what the apps are, you can't train the teachers in more than OS basics.

That said, they only need one afternoon with a decent tech savvy trainer to be ok on a tablet.

And if an App is written concurrently they SHOULD be writing a teachers guid for the apps usage.

Still has the government Tablet Czars said ONE WORD about

what will be the applications on these tablets? Stone cold silence.

Edited March 19, 2012 by animatic

[animatic]

Populistic policies are implemented not because they promise any real progress, but because they are, well, populistic. They sound good in slogans and re-election campaigns. Nobody ever expects any improvement from them, at least not those with an IQ above room temperature.

Celsius or Fahrenheit?

Celsius... Edited March 19, 2012 by animatic

[Backwoods]

Populistic policies are implemented not because they promise any real progress, but because they are, well, populistic. They sound good in slogans and re-election campaigns. Nobody ever expects any improvement from them, at least not those with an IQ above room temperature.

Celsius or Fahrenheit?

Thailand being a metric country, that's in inch, er... no... pints.. fl.oz.... oh all these US/Britsh units! In Celsius ©. Room temperature thus about 28 C.

What makes anyone think the Senators are any more qualified to use these things than the first graders?

[BabySun]

They can play Angry Birds instead of dosing off during boring debates.

Special application of AngryBirds - custom made for this occasion: birds and pigs heads substituted by heads of members of different parties?

[Slaps]

Populistic policies are implemented not because they promise any real progress, but because they are, well, populistic. They sound good in slogans and re-election campaigns. Nobody ever expects any improvement from them, at least not those with an IQ above room temperature.

Why do you put the IQ so high?

.

[kawaiimomo]

OMG, I was quite optimistic about this whole thing of the tablets (probably the only one here ) I had the opportunity to try one of those devices and I was quite impressed by the cpu power and responsiveness of the whole system. However I though they already had some app/ebook/whatever. What a surprise they don't have anything to put in the gadgets. I mean, there's no real need to have custom apps developed for the system, just a pdf of an already existing school book should be fine. I guess TiT and I didn't think of that :-P

[monkfish]

Is he unhappy about being downgraded from Merc to iPhone?

[moe666]

Give it to the kids they will be teaching the teachers in about an hour.

[wrevelate]

this tablet plan is beyond ridonkulous. i cannot begin to express my disbelief in the level of stupidity of this scam.

they are not ready in so many ways: software, support, training, curriculum, personnel.....etc

the thing that the govt doesnt understand is that the cost of buying these tablets are relatively cheap, compared to the costs required to create, maintain and improve a tablet based learning program. i guarantee the implementation of this program will be insufficient and the tablets will become nothing more for the kids to do time-killing activities in the classroom. actually i should say half of them, while the students with broken ones, slow ones, and lost tablets sit and stare at the wall - a great life skill for the children to learn, after they are the ones who must cope with the glaring inadequacies of a childish and short-sighted government.

[animatic]

They can play Angry Birds instead of dosing off during boring debates.

Special application of AngryBirds - custom made for this occasion: birds and pigs heads substituted by heads of members of different parties?

Which makes me want to redesign the game.,

A house of birds we get to throw blocks at! Or maybe just brickbats,

but not the redshirts choice of paving stones through windshields.

Edited March 19, 2012 by animatic

[animatic]

this tablet plan is beyond ridonkulous. i cannot begin to express my disbelief in the level of stupidity of this scam.

they are not ready in so many ways: software, support, training, curriculum, personnel.....etc

the thing that the govt doesnt understand is that the cost of buying these tablets are relatively cheap, compared to the costs required to create, maintain and improve a tablet based learning program. i guarantee the implementation of this program will be insufficient and the tablets will become nothing more for the kids to do time-killing activities in the classroom. actually i should say half of them, while the students with broken ones, slow ones, and lost tablets sit and stare at the wall - a great life skill for the children to learn, after they are the ones who must cope with the glaring inadequacies of a childish and short-sighted government.

Clearly there are many things this government does NOT understand.

Tablets is just one of them, education is clearly another.

[rubl]

Populistic policies are implemented not because they promise any real progress, but because they are, well, populistic. They sound good in slogans and re-election campaigns. Nobody ever expects any improvement from them, at least not those with an IQ above room temperature.

Celsius or Fahrenheit?

If we were drinking beer in a pub this would be an intriguing question. We might even throw in references to Réaumur, Kelvin and a few others. One may even wonder if a room temperature IQ in the North of Sweden is lower or higher than a room temperature IQ in Thailand. Furthermore how much would the standard deviation be depending on temperature scale used ?

[dominique355]

Many schools don't even have electricity, not to mention Internet access.

What most school, still today, need most, are:

- clean drinking water

- tables, chairs

- books, shelves

not to mention teachers with a proper training. The OBEC has not been able to provide that for years. After the flood the situation got worse, but the government still believes, tablets are more important. Bah, jang!

[Payboy]

Populistic policies are implemented not because they promise any real progress, but because they are, well, populistic. They sound good in slogans and re-election campaigns. Nobody ever expects any improvement from them, at least not those with an IQ above room temperature.

Celsius or Fahrenheit?

Same same at zero.

[4u2mad]

Oh, how about spending it on Thai English teacher training? Then they maybe even able to say a sentence in English?

[sirchai]

Rossana suggests the money should be used to help solve the problem of rising cost of living, unemployment and flood recovery efforts.

He said teachers and other personnel have yet to receive the necessary training to ensure that the tablets are put to the best use.

At least some people who know what's going on. What about a curriculum that lets pupils fail, not LOOSING faces.

What about sending Thai English teachers to study abroad, not just to learn English properly.

Also to come back and realize that being a teacher in this country isn't that spectacular.

Additionally, Thai teachers should realize that hitting kids doesn't make them more popular.

Destroy all their bamboo sticks and let them find a life...

Edited March 20, 2012 by sirchai

[jambco984]

Rossana suggests the money should be used to help solve the problem of rising cost of living, unemployment and flood recovery efforts.

He said teachers and other personnel have yet to receive the necessary training to ensure that the tablets are put to the best use.

At least some people who know what's going on. What about a curriculum that lets pupils fail, not LOOSING faces.

What about sending Thai English teachers to study abroad, not just to learn English properly.

Also to come back and realize that being a teacher in this country isn't that spectacular.

Additionally, Thai teachers should realize that hitting kids doesn't make them more popular.

Destroy all their bamboo sticks and let them find a life...

Here, Here

[BabySun]

Give it to the kids they will be teaching the teachers in about an hour.

Bingo!Mate! - you have just hit the nail in head!

Let's believe in new,young generation,forget about all old donkeys!

[OzMick]

Populistic policies are implemented not because they promise any real progress, but because they are, well, populistic. They sound good in slogans and re-election campaigns. Nobody ever expects any improvement from them, at least not those with an IQ above room temperature.

Celsius or Fahrenheit?

Same same at zero.

Try -40

[bhakta]

I have to wonder if there are any working brains in the country now? These ideas to spend billions on senseless things, just expose the idiocy of those elected. Talk about blind leading blind, we have the perfect examples here.