Teachers must adapt to changes

Wannapa Khaopa

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The world is changing very quickly in the 21st century. With information technology, people's lives and business trends have changed. IT is playing a bigger role in daily life, while tourism and hospitality, art and design businesses are growing in importance. Thai teachers can no longer ignore the changes, but should equip their students with the necessary skills for this fast changing century, a seminar was told yesterday.

"The world is changing. If you [teachers] do not adjust to the changes, how can your students? You have to embrace the changes, then teach your students," Professor Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, president of the National Institute of Development Administration, said in a speech before the seminar.

He said IT was playing a more crucial role in people's lives and careers. Therefore, Thai youth should be prepared in terms of IT skills. They should know how to search for broad or indepth information on the Internet, understand and be able to adjust to the cultures of Asean and other countries they will have to deal with, and be able to communicate in English.

Sombat said teachers should not focus exclusively on students with good academic performance, but try to recognise their different abilities. Some students' strengths might not be in the area of academic performance. Teachers should help such students develop their strengths, he said.

David Graves, chief executive officer of hospitality, art, architecture and design education at Laureate International Universities (LIU), told the seminar that creativity, design and problemsolving skills were needed for students to handle changes in business trends.

Bangkok Airways deputy director ML Nantika Voravan said the tourism and hospitality businesses were growing and companies needed more personnel with Englishlanguage skills to serve people from across the world.

Chalermchatri Yukol, founder and owner of FuKDuK Production Co, said online media businesses, such as those involved in games, advertising and ecommerce, were growing and generating higher incomes, so students should be trained to think creatively to be able to tell stories in interesting ways through different online channels.

"They have to think visually, then everything must be visualised when they communicate with people through online media," he added.

Pipat Apirakthanakorn, owner of ECO Shop, said product designers had to design carefully to create nice work because they would be accepted after people saw their work and were impressed.

More than 100 teachers from different schools attended the seminar held in Bangkok by Krungthep Turakij newspaper, LIU and Ekthana Education Services. It aimed at sharing ideas with them on how to guide their students as they prepare for a changing world.

-- The Nation 2012-03-24

Like virtually everything we read about 'education' this complete bunk - but very few ever see it. The most important skill these days is to filter out useless information - without this skill we'd quickly go crazy. Yet the System persists in its futile attempts to fill kids heads with stuff that they rightly see as useless and irrelevant. It is impossible to teach people anything they don't want to learn - yet we must give institutions worldwide full marks for trying. It's hard to make stuff relevant to life (outside school) because there isn't much beyond homework, TV and video games. If kids actually want to know something they can seek it out on the internet. They don't need to have it stuffed into their heads by teachers - this will only cause irreversible brain damage. Thus the peasants of yesteryear would see today's children as zombies. God help them.