Thai Education Standards 'In Free Fall'

[Considered Opinion]

The 21st largest economy in the world has dropped to 25th, in just 5 years. In another 10, to 20 years, who knows? Malaysia, Indonesia, China, India, Vietnam, and many more neighbors are making a very sincere effort at improving their educational systems. Thailand is doing very, very poorly in that regard. Shame on the people involved, and shame on the education ministry. They could do better. Suggestion #1. Hire only fareng English instructors throughout Thailand. Suggestion #2. Publish all test results in the local newspapers. Suggestion #3. Fire all teachers who cannot pass their own exams. In a recent study, math teachers in 10 provinces where given their own math tests. This is the test they give out regularly. There was an 83% failure rate! Shame on Thailand for this travesty of an educational system. They could do much better.

Three suggestions to improve the education system in Thailand and you say the first thing is to hire only farong English teachers.

Yes for sure make learning English the number one project for improving the education system in Thailand. Thailand will have some of the best English speaking rice field workers in the world. That is providing the German speaking teacher can speak good English.

How about putting more importance on learning the basic for use in Thailand and at a later date if students want make English available to them. When you say farong are you aware that there are farongs who can not speak English.

English is a necessary language for about 3% of the population yet people want to teach it to 100% of the population. There are many sellers in the tourist industry who do not speak English and make a living off of tourists who can not speak Thai. There products are produced by many Thais who can not speak English. On the other hand there are many bar girls who can speak English. But most of them did not learn it in elementary school. They would of but the school had no electricity so they couldn't read the lessons.

Everyone misses the point totally, as soon as they introduce the word "learning" into any discourse on Thai education.

Learning has absolutely nothing to do with it. Thai students are "taught".

Problematically, as long as the teachers know next to nothing, nothing is "taught".

English speaking teachers who realise this elementary point, and find a way around it, are the most successful.

[FalangBaa]

I'm having a "deja vous" moment.

Deja vu = already seen. Deja vous = already you.

[hellodolly]

The 21st largest economy in the world has dropped to 25th, in just 5 years. In another 10, to 20 years, who knows? Malaysia, Indonesia, China, India, Vietnam, and many more neighbors are making a very sincere effort at improving their educational systems. Thailand is doing very, very poorly in that regard. Shame on the people involved, and shame on the education ministry. They could do better. Suggestion #1. Hire only fareng English instructors throughout Thailand. Suggestion #2. Publish all test results in the local newspapers. Suggestion #3. Fire all teachers who cannot pass their own exams. In a recent study, math teachers in 10 provinces where given their own math tests. This is the test they give out regularly. There was an 83% failure rate! Shame on Thailand for this travesty of an educational system. They could do much better.

Three suggestions to improve the education system in Thailand and you say the first thing is to hire only farong English teachers.

Yes for sure make learning English the number one project for improving the education system in Thailand. Thailand will have some of the best English speaking rice field workers in the world. That is providing the German speaking teacher can speak good English.

How about putting more importance on learning the basic for use in Thailand and at a later date if students want make English available to them. When you say farong are you aware that there are farongs who can not speak English.

English is a necessary language for about 3% of the population yet people want to teach it to 100% of the population. There are many sellers in the tourist industry who do not speak English and make a living off of tourists who can not speak Thai. There products are produced by many Thais who can not speak English. On the other hand there are many bar girls who can speak English. But most of them did not learn it in elementary school. They would of but the school had no electricity so they couldn't read the lessons.

Everyone misses the point totally, as soon as they introduce the word "learning" into any discourse on Thai education.

Learning has absolutely nothing to do with it. Thai students are "taught".

Problematically, as long as the teachers know next to nothing, nothing is "taught".

English speaking teachers who realise this elementary point, and find a way around it, are the most successful.

What you say is true.

But you are over looking the fact that only about 3% of the population will need to speak English.

Why the emphasis on learning English as necessary for a good education. How about some world history. Here in Chiang Mai at one school the students put on a parade. They were allowed to do all the planning themselves. They even got there own costumes. It was a show in which they all dressed as Nazi's. They knew nothing about the evil that they had caused.

Reminds me of Canada with one French speaking province Quebec and the rest predominantly English speaking yet they must all learn French. Even Though in British Columbia there is only 2% who speak only French. They probably have a larger % speaking Chinese or Hindi.

[metisdead]

An off topic post and replies have been removed.

[blazes]

The 21st largest economy in the world has dropped to 25th, in just 5 years. In another 10, to 20 years, who knows? Malaysia, Indonesia, China, India, Vietnam, and many more neighbors are making a very sincere effort at improving their educational systems. Thailand is doing very, very poorly in that regard. Shame on the people involved, and shame on the education ministry. They could do better. Suggestion #1. Hire only fareng English instructors throughout Thailand. Suggestion #2. Publish all test results in the local newspapers. Suggestion #3. Fire all teachers who cannot pass their own exams. In a recent study, math teachers in 10 provinces where given their own math tests. This is the test they give out regularly. There was an 83% failure rate! Shame on Thailand for this travesty of an educational system. They could do much better.

Three suggestions to improve the education system in Thailand and you say the first thing is to hire only farong English teachers.

Yes for sure make learning English the number one project for improving the education system in Thailand. Thailand will have some of the best English speaking rice field workers in the world. That is providing the German speaking teacher can speak good English.

How about putting more importance on learning the basic for use in Thailand and at a later date if students want make English available to them. When you say farong are you aware that there are farongs who can not speak English.

English is a necessary language for about 3% of the population yet people want to teach it to 100% of the population. There are many sellers in the tourist industry who do not speak English and make a living off of tourists who can not speak Thai. There products are produced by many Thais who can not speak English. On the other hand there are many bar girls who can speak English. But most of them did not learn it in elementary school. They would of but the school had no electricity so they couldn't read the lessons.

What an idiot response. (Btw, "would of" is incorrect English, and should of course be "would have"). English is needed by 100% of the Thai population. Why? Because it is by now the only universal language. It is common in Thailand to hear someone from Japan talking to someone from China or Thailand....in what language? English. Even if a person never actually gets to speak a foreign language, the mere fact of learning another language helps to educate a person in ways beyond the mere acquisition of language.

Listen to the announcements at Euro 2012 to see the pervasive use of English....

[blazes]

This is terrible news....I must ask the teacher to give students more pictures to colour and to sing more songs. I also agree with another poster here that, I thought everything was going just grand with all the parades and the long speaches the children recieve they don't even get to have a recess break because of the ceremonies they have to attend. While I watch with dismay how the Principal speaks at the children without blinking as the children passout on the feilds. Other children stand for hours as they try not to flynch, because when they do the staff promply slap them if they move .

These children brave the stupidity of their mentors ability to talk about crap the children don't understand. These sesssions go on at just about every school...I expecially like it where at one school franchise, every morning in an amazing theatrical display the Director is brought out with a load of children carring him in a gold and white chair to the stage where he will then walk to another very dramtic and flamboyant looking chair with gold leaf and beatiful thick wood trim, " like he is a lord" or something of that nature. Then he will speak for an hour while the children sit idol minded or pass out. This is great training though...I mean given all the speachs and talks the children will have to endure later on in life.

The best thing about the schools here across the board all the books we have to buy...expecially the English books that are supplied by a Thai company with a UK address . My child and I loves to go through those books to find all the grammer mistakes....because they make even me feel like I am an Linguistic specialist... so it's ok because it makes us feel more intelligent

I think we see the real concern with the Thai students just by watching the baht busses. The further out you get the worse things you see putting young children in harms way without any concern what so ever..

I have taken the liberty of bolding a sentence in your contribution.....let the sentence speak for itself.....

Edited June 20, 2012 by metisdead
: 30) Do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes, added emoticons, or altered wording.

[hellodolly]

The 21st largest economy in the world has dropped to 25th, in just 5 years. In another 10, to 20 years, who knows? Malaysia, Indonesia, China, India, Vietnam, and many more neighbors are making a very sincere effort at improving their educational systems. Thailand is doing very, very poorly in that regard. Shame on the people involved, and shame on the education ministry. They could do better. Suggestion #1. Hire only fareng English instructors throughout Thailand. Suggestion #2. Publish all test results in the local newspapers. Suggestion #3. Fire all teachers who cannot pass their own exams. In a recent study, math teachers in 10 provinces where given their own math tests. This is the test they give out regularly. There was an 83% failure rate! Shame on Thailand for this travesty of an educational system. They could do much better.

Three suggestions to improve the education system in Thailand and you say the first thing is to hire only farong English teachers.

Yes for sure make learning English the number one project for improving the education system in Thailand. Thailand will have some of the best English speaking rice field workers in the world. That is providing the German speaking teacher can speak good English.

How about putting more importance on learning the basic for use in Thailand and at a later date if students want make English available to them. When you say farong are you aware that there are farongs who can not speak English.

English is a necessary language for about 3% of the population yet people want to teach it to 100% of the population. There are many sellers in the tourist industry who do not speak English and make a living off of tourists who can not speak Thai. There products are produced by many Thais who can not speak English. On the other hand there are many bar girls who can speak English. But most of them did not learn it in elementary school. They would of but the school had no electricity so they couldn't read the lessons.

What an idiot response. (Btw, "would of" is incorrect English, and should of course be "would have"). English is needed by 100% of the Thai population. Why? Because it is by now the only universal language. It is common in Thailand to hear someone from Japan talking to someone from China or Thailand....in what language? English. Even if a person never actually gets to speak a foreign language, the mere fact of learning another language helps to educate a person in ways beyond the mere acquisition of language.

Listen to the announcements at Euro 2012 to see the pervasive use of English....

And 100% f the Thai population will be glued to the English speaking radio's and TVs to devour every word of it in English.

As I said in a earlier post I ran across many in Siem Reap who could speak English but not understand it.

You really should spend more time out in non tourists areas. Take some smelling salts with you it will be a shock.

[OldgitTom]

Thailand did have sound education plans post-WWII. It sent postgrad students to farang lands (at great expense) to perfect their English skills. These were intended to be the future trainers of teachers. Alas, came the economic boom, & most of thse gifted ones were lured into business, with vastly higher salaries than universities could offer. The Thais continue to struggle with this problem, manfully. Alas, w/out backing funds, educators are shackled, since that would entail higher taxes, which most pols run from.

Higher taxes? Now how popular is that, even in rich farang lands, where school & higher education systems are also decaying, as governments pull out & leave the payments to 'the private sector'? That means in practise, mom & pop have to pay full fees & living expenses for junior - in many cases, impossible for ordinary wage-jocks. The affluent classes send their kids to excellent private schools, then onto the smooth conveyor-belt to an ivy-league uni. This is the 1% consolidating itself. The 'brilliant' graduates emerge to take up top positions in business & government, where they devise ever-more cunning ways for the 1% to dodge taxes, & to push the tax burden onto the lower classes.

It's what's called a vicious circle - pretty much what the whole globe is today. OGT

Edited June 20, 2012 by OldgitTom

[lannarebirth]

Thailand did have sound education plans post-WWII. It sent postgrad students to farang lands (at great expense) to perfect their English skills. These were intended to be the future trainers of teachers. Alas, came the economic boom, & most of thse gifted ones were lured into business, with vastly higher salaries than universities could offer. The Thais continue to struggle with this problem, manfully. Alas, w/out backing funds, educators are shackled, since that would entail higher taxes, which most pols run from.

Higher taxes? Now how popular is that, even in rich farang lands, where school & higher education systems are also decaying, as governments pull out & leave the payments to 'the private sector'? That means in practise, mom & pop have to pay full fees & living expenses for junior - in many cases, impossible for ordinary wage-jocks. The affluent classes send their kids to excellent private schools, then onto the smooth conveyor-belt to an ivy-league uni. This is the 1% consolidating itself. The 'brilliant' graduates emerge to take up top positions in business & government, where they devise ever-more cunning ways for the 1% to dodge taxes, & to push the tax burden onto the lower classes.

It's what's called a vicious circle - pretty much what the whole globe is today. OGT

My MIL was once Administrator of Autthaya Schools. She was educated in Singapore and speaking fluent English more than 50 years ago, Ayutthaya was the hub of enlightened education then and through her tenure. Everything's all gone to shit everywhere in Thailand these days.

[Ricardo]

Not to mention, that once the ASEAN borders are more-open from 2015, any country with low-standards of education risks merely being the supplier-of-cheap-labour, to Singapore and Malaysia.

[NBD]

Language is part of it, and I guess the most noticeable part for foreigners.

The other thing I would really like to put some emphasis on though, and there is no polite way of saying this, is using ones brain.

I don't mean in the sense of thinking what if a car is coming when I ride out of this junction without looking, I mean critical thought, curiosity, imagination and lateral thinking. All of which seemed to be drummed out of the kids I taught by the time they reached M3.

It seems like teaching and learning is something done entirely by memorising things. Back to language, try calling a Thai call centre, secretary or office of any description in English, and you will be told "mormen' pleeeease" then put on hold until someone is found who has memorised enough phrases to deal with a foreigner. This applies to other areas too.

I know this is a necessary phase of learning a language, or indeed anything else. But it seems like learning stops at that in the Thai education system.

As my Thai improved I started to take an interest in the history of the area, and Thailand in general and when I got to speaking to the history teacher about it his grasp of it seemed to be limited to say the least. He could remember dates, key events and former rulers, but he couldn't link any of it together or relate it to anything.

This I believe takes you up to about age 12 in western terms, after that your curiosity leads you down other avenues. You want to know why Guy Fawkes was trying to blow up parliament, and you look into the reformation, the treatment of Catholics and the rise of protestantism, the 80 years war and so on. You make connections, see links, and learn about the world you now live in.

Applies to most areas of learning, maths, sciences, social sciences and any technical expertise you care to mention. No different when I ask a mechanic to fix my brakes, and he changes the pads and does nothing about the leaking hose right behind them.

Of course it's much easier to keep a population happy on low wages when they accept everything they're told without questioning things or proposing alternatives.

[SOTIRIOS]

....N.E.S. and Thai teachers..ONLY......that is the solution....anything else 'doesn't add up'......obviously....

[Nigel1500]

What a bunch of rubbish. Thai education is better than ever. I will submit that 4 other countries have improved at a faster rate that Thailand. But if you look at education across the nation it is improving all the time. I have travelled to more that 30 countries, not through them during a fleeting trip, but in them for extended periods of time. I would have to say that I find Thai students some of the most polite, respectful, and caring in the world. But how is that factored into the OEC analysis? It isn't. Neither are the metal detectors and security guards that are needed in many American high schools.

Further, the preservation of language and culture is very important to Thai society. I'm envious that the Thai manage to achieve this while the English language continues to lose colour, vocabulary, spelling, etc. It seems these days that the word "like" can double for just about every verb we have. Swearing is common place in western schools and teachers have no authority and get little respect.

No, I don't think I have anything bad to say about the Thai education system at the moment. Keep up the good work.

[meand]

Money is probably the bottom line at many schools worldwide, yet you don't see the dismal results there. I don't think money is the sole issue, it is an issue with Thais accepting mediocrity, or not understanding that they are sending their kids off to get a mediocre (or less than) education. Parents need to step up the pressure, and demand certain levels of quality. Where else is the motivation going to come from?

Edited June 20, 2012 by meand

[Considered Opinion]

The 21st largest economy in the world has dropped to 25th, in just 5 years. In another 10, to 20 years, who knows? Malaysia, Indonesia, China, India, Vietnam, and many more neighbors are making a very sincere effort at improving their educational systems. Thailand is doing very, very poorly in that regard. Shame on the people involved, and shame on the education ministry. They could do better. Suggestion #1. Hire only fareng English instructors throughout Thailand. Suggestion #2. Publish all test results in the local newspapers. Suggestion #3. Fire all teachers who cannot pass their own exams. In a recent study, math teachers in 10 provinces where given their own math tests. This is the test they give out regularly. There was an 83% failure rate! Shame on Thailand for this travesty of an educational system. They could do much better.

Three suggestions to improve the education system in Thailand and you say the first thing is to hire only farong English teachers.

Yes for sure make learning English the number one project for improving the education system in Thailand. Thailand will have some of the best English speaking rice field workers in the world. That is providing the German speaking teacher can speak good English.

How about putting more importance on learning the basic for use in Thailand and at a later date if students want make English available to them. When you say farong are you aware that there are farongs who can not speak English.

English is a necessary language for about 3% of the population yet people want to teach it to 100% of the population. There are many sellers in the tourist industry who do not speak English and make a living off of tourists who can not speak Thai. There products are produced by many Thais who can not speak English. On the other hand there are many bar girls who can speak English. But most of them did not learn it in elementary school. They would of but the school had no electricity so they couldn't read the lessons.

Everyone misses the point totally, as soon as they introduce the word "learning" into any discourse on Thai education.

Learning has absolutely nothing to do with it. Thai students are "taught".

Problematically, as long as the teachers know next to nothing, nothing is "taught".

English speaking teachers who realise this elementary point, and find a way around it, are the most successful.

What you say is true.

But you are over looking the fact that only about 3% of the population will need to speak English.

Why the emphasis on learning English as necessary for a good education. How about some world history. Here in Chiang Mai at one school the students put on a parade. They were allowed to do all the planning themselves. They even got there own costumes. It was a show in which they all dressed as Nazi's. They knew nothing about the evil that they had caused.

Reminds me of Canada with one French speaking province Quebec and the rest predominantly English speaking yet they must all learn French. Even Though in British Columbia there is only 2% who speak only French. They probably have a larger % speaking Chinese or Hindi.

Hi and thanks for that. I'm not overlooking that issue at all, I have always said the needs of Thai people vis a vis speaking English were considered to be lower than many other countries. The unfortunate issue there, it that it actually reflects the world-view of the usefulness of Thai employees outside of the country.

An example: My partner went through a Thai School, held in very high esteem by Thai companies. I then put him through CM University where he topped his class in accounting.

His use of English was so good he was picked up by one of the big 4 accountants for a year and then moved across to a resources company, again for a year, during which he ran one of their overseas operations. He was 22 at the time. The reason - his English was so far in advance of his peers and anyone else in the market. He has now moved to another major national resources company, and provides auditing services to their operations country wide. He is 24.

To say only 3% of Thais will ever need English, whilst true, limits the capacity of those who are very good in their area, but because of their appalling English, they can only be employed in Thailand, which then limits the capacity of Thailand to operate on a world stage.

That's why English should not only be taught, it should be taught well. And part of that process has to include teeaching Thai students how to learn, because they sure as hell don't know now as they come out of the system.

[Moruya]

This is terrible news....I must ask the teacher to give students more pictures to colour and to sing more songs. I also agree with another poster here that, I thought everything was going just grand with all the parades and the long speaches the children recieve they don't even get to have a recess break because of the ceremonies they have to attend. While I watch with dismay how the Principal speaks at the children without blinking as the children passout on the feilds. Other children stand for hours as they try not to flynch, because when they do the staff promply slap them if they move .

These children brave the stupidity of their mentors ability to talk about crap the children don't understand. These sesssions go on at just about every school...I expecially like it where at one school franchise, every morning in an amazing theatrical display the Director is brought out with a load of children carring him in a gold and white chair to the stage where he will then walk to another very dramtic and flamboyant looking chair with gold leaf and beatiful thick wood trim, " like he is a lord" or something of that nature. Then he will speak for an hour while the children sit idol minded or pass out. This is great training though...I mean given all the speachs and talks the children will have to endure later on in life.

The best thing about the schools here across the board all the books we have to buy...expecially the English books that are supplied by a Thai company with a UK address . My child and I loves to go through those books to find all the grammer mistakes....because they make even me feel like I am an Linguistic specialist... so it's ok because it makes us feel more intelligent

I think we see the real concern with the Thai students just by watching the baht busses. The further out you get the worse things you see putting young children in harms way without any concern what so ever..

I have taken the liberty of bolding a sentence in your contribution.....let the sentence speak for itself.....

Is it permissible to turn an adjective into a verb?

[blazes]

This is terrible news....I must ask the teacher to give students more pictures to colour and to sing more songs. I also agree with another poster here that, I thought everything was going just grand with all the parades and the long speaches the children recieve they don't even get to have a recess break because of the ceremonies they have to attend. While I watch with dismay how the Principal speaks at the children without blinking as the children passout on the feilds. Other children stand for hours as they try not to flynch, because when they do the staff promply slap them if they move .

These children brave the stupidity of their mentors ability to talk about crap the children don't understand. These sesssions go on at just about every school...I expecially like it where at one school franchise, every morning in an amazing theatrical display the Director is brought out with a load of children carring him in a gold and white chair to the stage where he will then walk to another very dramtic and flamboyant looking chair with gold leaf and beatiful thick wood trim, " like he is a lord" or something of that nature. Then he will speak for an hour while the children sit idol minded or pass out. This is great training though...I mean given all the speachs and talks the children will have to endure later on in life.

The best thing about the schools here across the board all the books we have to buy...expecially the English books that are supplied by a Thai company with a UK address . My child and I loves to go through those books to find all the grammer mistakes....because they make even me feel like I am an Linguistic specialist... so it's ok because it makes us feel more intelligent

I think we see the real concern with the Thai students just by watching the baht busses. The further out you get the worse things you see putting young children in harms way without any concern what so ever..

I have taken the liberty of bolding a sentence in your contribution.....let the sentence speak for itself.....

Is it permissible to turn an adjective into a verb?

Point taken.

Alas, we live in a hyper-permissive age (or should that be "an" hyper?) and so anything is possible these days. Look up the word "like" on Wikipedia and you may be astonished at the variety of uses to which this four-letter word may be put.

[NBD]

What a bunch of rubbish. Thai education is better than ever. I will submit that 4 other countries have improved at a faster rate that Thailand. But if you look at education across the nation it is improving all the time. I have travelled to more that 30 countries, not through them during a fleeting trip, but in them for extended periods of time. I would have to say that I find Thai students some of the most polite, respectful, and caring in the world. But how is that factored into the OEC analysis? It isn't. Neither are the metal detectors and security guards that are needed in many American high schools.

Further, the preservation of language and culture is very important to Thai society. I'm envious that the Thai manage to achieve this while the English language continues to lose colour, vocabulary, spelling, etc. It seems these days that the word "like" can double for just about every verb we have. Swearing is common place in western schools and teachers have no authority and get little respect.

No, I don't think I have anything bad to say about the Thai education system at the moment. Keep up the good work.

None of which actually helps with basic arithmetic, English or general knowledge, which many Thais seem to lack in comparison with other countries. It's nice not to have metal detectors, and it is nice to preserve culture and language - I don't think there's any real threat to that. But it seems like a massive waste of human potential that these kids are never given the basics.

As for polite and respectful, well they wai a lot, duck their head when passing a table of adults etc, but do they actually consider other people around them in any given situation? When they walk into someone who's trying to exit a lift, or when they park across a junction in a traffic jam, blocking the road so they can be 20 feet closer to their destination. Maybe a bit beyond the scope of a discussion on education, but in a sense it ties in with what I was saying above. They have learned customs and gestures by rote, but have no real ability to (or interest in?) actually thinking "am I inconveniencing others here?"

[oops]

I do in a large part blame the culture of "face" for which incidentally I've never found a better explanation for than childish vanity.

No one will ask questions, and in the rare event that they do kids will ask an older student, and teachers another teacher. Never the native English speaker their school is paying for, who actually knows the answer. As my Thai got better whilst teaching, I started to notice this more and more, and was also able to understand that the advice given was almost always entirely wrong.

Not one single English teacher, in a large secondary school had ever spent any time either abroad or even working in a multinational where they were using English regularly. They were all book taught, and most of the books were really total rubbish, with glaring errors.

Their opportunities for promotion depended on writing laborious long reports of total jibberish resembling English, then presenting them to a panel of other older teachers, who I assume were equally limited in their English ability. I assume they also had the same policy of never failing anyone, regardless of how ineffectual their English would be when confronted with a real native English speaker who didn't speak any Thai.

I had more sense out of the former bar girls who lived in the same town than out of any of the English teachers at the school. Funnily enough the former bar girls had more money too. So what does that tell you?

It's no good pouring money and resources, even snazzy digital ones, into a system that is run by people who are not knowledgeable enough to teach.

I pretty much like what you have to say. But there is one part left out that is completely overlooked by every one. When I was in Siem Reap I found many English speaking people but for the most part they could not understand English.

I can not speak very much Thai but even what I can speak I find myself having a hard time understanding when a Thai speaks to me. Comprehension should become a part of the learning process.

Just My Opinion

It's not that they don't understand but many farrangs have a different accent, even in delivery it is often deferent. Then everyone has their own ability in translation and even though people can speak a second language they usually translate it back into their native tongue which may take a few minutes to process so they will always say Mai Kow CHai why they are thinking about which is something I am sure you experienced once or twice with your efforts to speak.

With that said.....Learning here is not about ENGLISH. It's about basic learning skills, those skills include learning from mistakes which isn't taught here, which is why so many children die in road accidents.

[spidermike007]

I retired as a teacher in America. I moved to Thailand 4 years ago and have only found sporadic, part-time work. My experience has been that Thais value "saving face" and "nationalism" so much that any attempts at actual education is NOT tolerated.

One thing to keep in mind, whenever the feeble "saving face" comes up, is that it is simply an excuse for not doing any inner work, and not getting to know thyself. Think about it. What better excuse, for not doing the difficult work of introspection, than claiming you are embarrassing someone. How lame. How weak, how cowardly, and how pathetic an excuse is that? Do you really care what others think, if you are completely comfortable in your own skin?

[spidermike007]

The 21st largest economy in the world has dropped to 25th, in just 5 years. In another 10, to 20 years, who knows? Malaysia, Indonesia, China, India, Vietnam, and many more neighbors are making a very sincere effort at improving their educational systems. Thailand is doing very, very poorly in that regard. Shame on the people involved, and shame on the education ministry. They could do better. Suggestion #1. Hire only fareng English instructors throughout Thailand. Suggestion #2. Publish all test results in the local newspapers. Suggestion #3. Fire all teachers who cannot pass their own exams. In a recent study, math teachers in 10 provinces where given their own math tests. This is the test they give out regularly. There was an 83% failure rate! Shame on Thailand for this travesty of an educational system. They could do much better.

Three suggestions to improve the education system in Thailand and you say the first thing is to hire only farong English teachers.

Yes for sure make learning English the number one project for improving the education system in Thailand. Thailand will have some of the best English speaking rice field workers in the world. That is providing the German speaking teacher can speak good English.

How about putting more importance on learning the basic for use in Thailand and at a later date if students want make English available to them. When you say farong are you aware that there are farongs who can not speak English.

English is a necessary language for about 3% of the population yet people want to teach it to 100% of the population. There are many sellers in the tourist industry who do not speak English and make a living off of tourists who can not speak Thai. There products are produced by many Thais who can not speak English. On the other hand there are many bar girls who can speak English. But most of them did not learn it in elementary school. They would of but the school had no electricity so they couldn't read the lessons.

While there may be some truth to what you are saying, there is no doubt how much many Thai people in the tourism industry would benefit from some decent english. I was witnessing this recently, when some tourists were walking by a woman in a tourist area, who was trying to sell them on some silk scarves, and all she could say was "colors, colors, colors". This feeble an pathetic attempt at sales was met with howls of laughter, and tourists who walked to the next booth, got approached by someone who spoke rudimentary english, and got a sale out of it. I see this over, and over again. The really motivated ones teach themselves some english. The sluggards remain very poor, and wonder why the others are selling so much more.

[KKvampire]

"Hello Dolly" But most of them did not learn it in elementary school. They would of but the school had no electricity so they couldn't read the lesson

Nonsense .

[culicine]

I'm always surprised when some posters never draw any correlation between these two things. "The Thai education system has been in freefall for 30 years" and "The Democrats haven't won an election in 30 years". Then they blame the "elites".

Because the 'elites', whoever they are, are not aligned to any particular party.

Wish I had my crystal ball so I could see Thailand 30 years from now - will we be the new Burma, with our hard working neighbours advancing beyond us?

If the masses are not well educated the country cannot compete.

[BarryM]

I had a Thai post grad student stay at my home in the uk a few years back. His family own a large hotel in change Mai.

When he returned to Thailand he left a box full of papers behind that I cleared out. I read through his dissertation. It was total gibberish with no reasoning or thought process - so much so that i was reminded of Jack Nicholson in the Shining.

[meand]

There was another thread about this. The first thing you'd need to accomplish is get employers to recognize a strong degree. As it stands now, that simply isn't the case. Why is anybody going to go out and get a degree that isn't worthless if there is no market for it? There needs to be a good college in Thailand, with good professors, but to do that would cost money. Who would pay the tuition fees for something that doesn't pay off -- nobody in their right mind would. Short version -- Thailand's education system is pretty much f-ed at all levels, and it aint getting better anytime soon, especially if employers don't drive the market for exceedingly stronger degrees, which they'll never do that of course.

[Moruya]

Do many of the expat population on here use State schools for their children?

I don't - I use a reasonably priced private Thai school

[maidu]

For example, Vietnamese students were hardworking and they liked reading,

I've seen Burmese youngsters reading books also. How often do you see a Thai student reading a book - which is not an assigned school book, or which is not a joke book with doodles?

"We should not wait for great education ministers or prime ministers to help address problems in education, but educational people in different positions at different agencies should help improve in their different roles," he said.

Sounds good, but sorry to say, educational people, if they're Thai, don't take the initiative for real change. That's one of the things they learned in their educations.

Two issues which need to be addressed: Thai youngsters spend a frightening amount of their waking hours doing the following: Watching violent or stupid things on video/TV, and they're also glued to violent video games.

Edited June 25, 2012 by maidu

[maidu]

There was another thread about this. The first thing you'd need to accomplish is get employers to recognize a strong degree. As it stands now, that simply isn't the case. Why is anybody going to go out and get a degree that isn't worthless if there is no market for it? There needs to be a good college in Thailand, with good professors, but to do that would cost money. Who would pay the tuition fees for something that doesn't pay off -- nobody in their right mind would. Short version -- Thailand's education system is pretty much f-ed at all levels, and it aint getting better anytime soon, especially if employers don't drive the market for exceedingly stronger degrees, which they'll never do that of course.

There are graduates in UK and US with impressive-looking degrees, and many of them can't find meaningful work. Degrees from any educational facility are over-rated. Best thing a Thai can do is:

>>> Learn English. The most fluent (in English) Thai I know (who has never been abroad) was a young man who learned via listening to BBC radio. He went on to get a very decent job in Thailand.

I've met Thais with degrees who teach English, and most don't have a handle on the language.

>>> Learn to get info online. You first need to learn English. Then you need to tear yourself away from Facebook and the plethora of quick-thrill sites. Hopefully you'll gravitate towards educational and informational sites.

With those two skills, English and online prowess, coupled with smarts - any Thai can achieve success. Granted there are other factors (wisdom, compassion, innovative thinking, etc) which can be useful, but the two items mentioned above will give any student a long stride head start ahead of their peers. A diploma is not really needed, except for companies which insist on seeing them, of for being qualified to run for Thai government office

[Pseudolus]

I'm always surprised when some posters never draw any correlation between these two things. "The Thai education system has been in freefall for 30 years" and "The Democrats haven't won an election in 30 years". Then they blame the "elites".

Because the 'elites', whoever they are, are not aligned to any particular party.

Correct. They own all of them so no matter who is in charge of this moronocracy, they still pull the strings.

[Sturbuc]

...

It's no good pouring money and resources, even snazzy digital ones, into a system that is run by people who are not knowledgeable enough to teach.

3 * 6 + 2 = 2 + 6 * 3 ??

Ask your Thai Teacher.