Most Thai Students Afraid To Work In Other ASEAN Countries: Survey

[webfact]

Survey: Most Thai students afraid to work in other ASEAN countries

BANGKOK, 30 May 2012 (NNT) – A recent survey by Chulalongkorn University has revealed that most of the Thai education personnel and students are afraid to work in other ASEAN countries, citing language as the barrier.

According to a survey by Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Education, 70-80% of education personnel in Thailand have very little knowledge on the ASEAN Community, which is set to be established in 2015. Most do not know about government policies concerning the ASEAN integration.

Chulalongkorn University also stated that many educational institutions do not receive any supporting budget or any clear policy to prepare them for the ASEAN Community.

Meanwhile, 8 out of 10 students surveyed said they are afraid to work in other ASEAN countries as they have a language barrier. On the contrary, most ASEAN students are eager to work in Thailand.

Thailand currently draws in several ASEAN students in the vocational fields. The university expressed its concerns that if the ASEAN integration takes place in 2015, many Thais, especially new graduates, will become unemployed.

-- NNT 2012-05-30

[beano2274]

All these fresh graduates will find it hard to get jobs with ASEAN opening and also the wages promise given by the Government. Plus their language abilities will make it harder.

[Thai at Heart]

Expexct a flood of luuk krung from Europe

[clockman]

as i have said before 2015, watch this space!

[Payboy]

There's got to be an increased demand for motocy taxis, tuktuks, nuatphaenboran, or something?

Edited May 30, 2012 by Payboy

[BigJohnnyBKK]

They are right to be afraid.

Expexct a flood of luuk krung from Europe

No idea what you mean. You think ASEAN wages will be competitive with Europe's?

Maybe in twenty years, but no. Expect a flood of English-speaking public-facing staffers and professionals from the smarter ASEAN countries, Burma and Cambodia on the low end, Malaysia and Singapore on the high.

Thais better get cracking. . .

[animatic]

And the denigration of proper English Teaching in the schools has made this even worse.

When the teachers are too embarrassed to really learn the subject, because that means they must admit they don't know it, and the administration backs that up, is it any wonder that the students can't speak proper English?

Of course the best through simply adequate English speakers, are put under increasing strictures about teaching English here, for both face saving and Nationalist/Jingosit reasons. Visa requirements are made more difficult, teachers jobs and paperwork being made more difficult to accomodate.

People who have succesfully taught english here for years,

are now removed because they don't possess a certificate of level,

that the people removing them could NOT attain themselves.

And no there exists coherent national standard of English standards put in place by native English speakers of any flavor. How can someone write a standard with minimal knowledge of the subject?

When people with little or marginal actual skills at a language are the ones to sign off on localized standards and would lose face by consulting a Native Speaker, is it any wonder the students 2-3 levels down the food chain have fear of using the language?

A sad state, when bar girls speak better English from daily osmosis with customers and the occasional 1 month course, than University Grads with a passing grade in english.

Edited May 30, 2012 by animatic

[MaxLee]

That's not surprising. These young people have been taught to be "afraid of making mistakes and afraid of the unknown ever since the day they were born... They were propaganda brainwashed that mistakes and "losing face or admitting fault and accountability" is a disgrace to the Nation of Thailand... And if anyone finds a fault, they're being shot dead silenced...

Corruption rules this face-worry-saving society which Attucks fear into the young people in Thailand.

[beano2274]

Used to be a teacher at a University, on my first day in class one of the girls started asking questions as soon as I walked in the door, I thought hey this class are gonna be good, but I found out this was not going to be the case, she used the questions she had been taught at the door of a club getting punters to go inside.

Also at the same University, they have stopped teaching 3rd and 4th year students English, as it is not required. I had to laugh...........

Edited May 30, 2012 by beano2274

[Katipo]

So what's it going to be:

A) Thousands of young Thais missing out on jobs to better educated English speaking neighbours.

or

A massive loss of face by backtracking and making some bullsh#t excuse for not joining the 2015 intergration.

To be honest, the way things are going, I don't think it would make any difference if they waited until 2020. I think being thrown in the deep in might be just what Thailand needs. While it might take some time, it might force the nation to finally get its act together.

[marquess]

Well I keep telling my uni students that they need to buck up their ideas when it comes to English otherwise they find themselves at the lower end of the ladder when it comes to competing against other would be job finders from ASEAN countries. Lets hope that salaries for teachers in general and especially teachers of English will be raised in accordance with the new found need for English.

[swillowbee]

So what's it going to be:

A) Thousands of young Thais missing out on jobs to better educated English speaking neighbours.

or

A massive loss of face by backtracking and making some bullsh#t excuse for not joining the 2015 intergration.

To be honest, the way things are going, I don't think it would make any difference if they waited until 2020. I think being thrown in the deep in might be just what Thailand needs. While it might take some time, it might force the nation to finally get its act together.

.

.

... or:

... option ( c) ... (if this is anything as Thai commercial dealings) Thailand renigs on ASEAN free trade agreement, trying to cherry-pick the trade advantages while continuing to protect themslelves, and appealing that Thailand is a 'special situation' (the empty "Thailand is different" argument); or,

... option (d) ... after suffering losses in the free trade math, Thailand withdraws altogether from ASEAN free trade agreement, accelerating Thailand's move backward.

... Thailand seems at the confluence of a significant event, where it's system (the 'Thai way'), will have to stand on it's own against others ... it seems to be occupying a no man's land between cheap labor (which it no longer has) and modern economies (which it also does not have) ... moving backward to being an agrarian economy again appears to be one of few obvious directions.

... that won't make the millions of Thais happy, who now seem to be awakening to an expectation of a better life ... but, after generations and generations, that is all the Thai elites have prepared ... a public economic infrastructure which is little more than some elevated roadways, pubic rail sytem and an airport all built about a single city.

... even if Thailand had rule of law, competent educational institutions, clear commercial codes, freedom of expression, etc., it is simply not enough ... Thailand's competitive set will likely be Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos ... even Vietnam is better positioned to compete in ASEAN against Thailand.

Edited May 30, 2012 by swillowbee

[Lifer]

Expexct a flood of luuk krung from Europe

What does that have to do with anything? Why would you focus on that group of people with your comment. No, I am not a Luuk Krung.

[DGS1244]

For a lot of them it is not that they do not want to work in another country, they just don't want to work period. I have employed people straight from university, work you make me laugh.

[Wombat6]

Thai Students are afraid to work......PERIOD !!

[allan michaud]

So what's it going to be:

A) Thousands of young Thais missing out on jobs to better educated English speaking neighbours.

or

A massive loss of face by backtracking and making some bullsh#t excuse for not joining the 2015 intergration.

To be honest, the way things are going, I don't think it would make any difference if they waited until 2020. I think being thrown in the deep in might be just what Thailand needs. While it might take some time, it might force the nation to finally get its act together.

I have to agree. I am based in Cambodia and there are a hell of a lot of kids here that speak Thai and English very effectively and they are really eager to learn. The difference between the 2 countries is like chalk and cheese. Thailand is very much stuck in the dark ages in so many ways and it's really hampering the entire nation.

[Scott]

I don't know if an effective assessment of the ASEAN 2015 situation without looking at the other countries and what are their strengths and weaknesses. With the exception of Singapore and perhaps Malaysia, Thailand has good infrastructure and has a firm foot in the door on international trade agreements.

Language is a part of it--even a big part of it--but English is only the tip of the iceberg in the education arena. If you can't get English taught, what other subjects are you failing to teach?

[osiboy]

so has it now dawned on thais that english WILL be the language most used by the asean community ? ......well who would have thought that ehh ?? , i expect they will get by using their chinese notebooks to converse with their fellow aseans as the tide slowly turns toward the competition coming from the other better educated and cheaper surrounding countries that i can also see taking away thailands tourist industry , especially vietnam,cambodia ,malaysia and burma that also have coast lines and beaches but with less plastic bottles and bags on them , i look forward to the day when i see thais picking up litter from a cambodian beach to keep the tourists happy while wondering where it all went wrong ?!,................if they dont take some positive action it could be sooner than they think .

Edited May 30, 2012 by osiboy

[Ferangled]

Survey: Most Thai students afraid to work in other ASEAN countries ...

Lucky Thailand, "Most students afraid to work" would suffice for most Western countries, where that work might be would be irrelevant, the prospect of any work would be enough to scare most students off...

Edit: Sorry, having a cynical moment!

Edited May 30, 2012 by Ferangled

[dennisgb45]

Best to give the Thai bargirls the opportunty for the job positions. They speak better English , have more common sense and a better work ethic..

[puipuitom]

First of all: Thai students are NOT taught to SPEAK English ( sorry, it is more Thailish, on its max: Thanglish) , but to TRANSLATE . No wonder as a Thai teacher is already happy to be his students a half page ahead. Never any questions asked, so.. no need to have any Enlish knowledge. Even when studied some time at a “Western” Uni, I wonder what they did there.

Second: as others already wrote: “been taught to be "afraid of making mistakes and afraid of the unknown ever since the day they were born... brainwashed that mistakes and "losing face or admitting fault and accountability" is a disgrace to the Nation of Thailand... And if anyone finds a fault, they're being shot dead silenced...”

Third: Always follow His Supreme Knowledge, His Neverlasting Inspiration, His Continuous Source of Whisdom, His Always Being the Ultimate Decision Maker, His Never Failing Supremacy, called: Zhe BOZZ. Never any own suggestion, initiative, even advise, forget asking any explanation. Not Knowing = losing face, so .. better sit on your hands, tape your mouth as ever asking anything.

The day comes, waiting for a traffic light a Thai will ask me with which leg to start walking when green light is already on. In the meantime, the Chinese already crossed, found a map of the area, planned a trip for that day, gathered info for what is possible in the evening, got all info for hotels, and contacted all prospects to introduce for a visit.

Fourth: For all Thais I got known since I started doing business with Thailand in 1976: the Thai time horizon ends after “Prung Nee”. What might happen next week or even further away…any critical path decision line.. beyond the sky.

Fifth: the Thais are so convinced about their own superiority (means: do not have an idea, what is happening / available outside Thailand) they are completely neglecting other ideas.

So, when anyone even got the idea of THINKING about hiring one from far away: what he/she can do better as a local around the corner ? None ? ? So, skip the idea !

That’s why there are so many expats working in Thailand on decision levels, and nearly only Thai ladies married with farangs here in the “West”.

Edited May 30, 2012 by Scott
formatting

[Thai at Heart]

Well, they are thai, foreign educated, often bilingual and can now work anywhere in asean, have no visa or foreign work paperwork requirements.

Expexct a flood of luuk krung from Europe

What does that have to do with anything? Why would you focus on that group of people with your comment. No, I am not a Luuk Krung.

[ANTIRACIST]

Change they say is the only thing that in constant in life. Thais will loose fro sometimes but not forever.Tourism for sure will now be shared with all the ASEAN countries,because with one single Visa tourist can move around all the 10 countries,no more Visa runs,and then Thais will also have to change all this law that forces Foreigners to have a Thais Wife before you open a company in Thailand,for cheap Tax.

Hos on earth can a man invest in a country in the name of a woman simply to get a visa to leave in Thailand? Is this happening in other countries of the world? We think we are special,we think our country is Paradise simple because tourist comes here,2015 will tell us the truth that all that we think we have other ASEAN countries also have,so tourist and foreign business men will have a choice where to invest their money.

And if we do not want to belong to ASEAN,for fear of the aboves,then tourist and foreigners will have open and free 9 ASEAN countries to invest without visa runs and condition of Thais wife.Thais just have to comply and be in ASEAN for our own benefits.

English which is the world Language is what we can not speak what a shame?????

[ANTIRACIST]

And also,Thais women will compete with other ASEAN women on farangs,farangs will not have choices on what quality of a wife they want. Real love or one who marries you for your money ,I laugh in English

Edited May 30, 2012 by ANTIRACIST

[Unkomoncents]

The unfortunate thing about not "wanting" to go to other countries for work is that the citizens of other countries might well want to work in Thailand. I'm quite certain that Vietnamese, Philippines, and Malaysians will not be so "afraid" of working in other countries. That means that in the competition for jobs and resources, Thais have Thailand. The other countries have each other, as well as Thailand. This won't be bad for Thailand at all, insofar as we are speaking of the landmass. The AEC will, however, be bad for Thai people. Lack of economic opportunities and cutthroat competition for jobs never bodes well for a country's general social or political health, and Thailand is already walking a thin line in those categories.

[silent]

So what's it going to be:

A) Thousands of young Thais missing out on jobs to better educated English speaking neighbours.

or

A massive loss of face by backtracking and making some bullsh#t excuse for not joining the 2015 intergration.

To be honest, the way things are going, I don't think it would make any difference if they waited until 2020. I think being thrown in the deep in might be just what Thailand needs. While it might take some time, it might force the nation to finally get its act together.

Is avoidance not just a traditional non-confrontational means of saving face, with the normal fear of the unknown having been exacerbated by either of the learned superiorty or inferiority complexes, (or the combination of both), depending on who the teachers in life have been?

All like a bullyng child refusing to participate for fear of losing face and control

[ANTIRACIST]

We need this competition if not for anything else,at least to remove this inferiority complex In Thais people,so we can be strong and work and stop depending on Tourism, we are not the only country that has Beaches or Islands.

[drdoom6996]

If I was Thai I would be afraid too. Here they can do what they want depending who their parents are and how much money they have. Not the same in other Asian countries.

Like the 16 year old little girl who ran a van off the road and killed a few people. What ever happeved to her. I never heard any more about it. Daddy took care of it for her and got her another car to drive as a battering ram.

[ANTIRACIST]

you mean 16 years old girl kill people in Thailand and nothing happened? this is what we are saying,our country is for the rich by the rich and for the rich,this is why am happy about this ASEAN coming up,all these nonsense will stop. Justice for all,if we do not give justice to all,then we might as well kiss investors and visitors goodbye

[timewilltell]

We need this competition if not for anything else,at least to remove this inferiority complex In Thais people,so we can be strong and work and stop depending on Tourism, we are not the only country that has Beaches or Islands.

Maybe the completion will show it is not a complex but a reality