My Daughter Just Got Rejected From Wattana Wittaya

[tinfoilhat]

Just received the rejection letter by registered mail.

It is pretty funny actually, as a lark we decided to run her through the interview process at Wattana Wittaya, siiting through the interviews and testing.

for a pre grade 1 student, reading and writing thai and english who flew through the interviews and was certainly more mature and better behaved than many there, it would seem she had only one shortcoming -- we entered a 0 in the box which asked how much of a non-mandatory donation we intended to make to the school.

It was decided after speaking to the staff that we would not be enrolling her even had shee been accepted, but the school was so close to home that we decided to check it out anyways.

I was not impressed by the abundance of grammatically incorrect posters in english that had been hung up for the occasion.

truthfully, i found their ideology frightening and left under the impression that their raison d'etre was to beat the personality out of their girls and turn them into proper 'thai' ladies

plan A it is then

[MrJohnson]

Well having had two daughters at this school for several years I think your conclusions drawn from your brush with WW are pretty accurate. First daughter entry required lobbying from some family friends who were former students and a donation of B100K. The school is the same as most Thai schools in terms of overly large class sizes - around 45. Classes of this undermine even the best teachers. Furthermore, the 'cuture' of the school is about grooming compliant housewives. Dad works - mum stays home and keeps house. With the exception of their most famous alumnus, Dr. Porntip, the roll of graduating students and their university entrance destinations does not make for encouraging reading. Having said this, the teachers were committed and caring despite the long hours and large class sizes. But we have now moved both kids to an IB international school, which was always the plan. Consequently both kids are literate in both Thai and English. Despite the school fees, the IB system is brilliant and the whole family is delighted to be out of the Thai system. The class sizes, a pedagogy that focuses on rote learning and a myopic and inward looking curriculum all contribute to the absolutely parlous state of Thai education. It is broken in so many ways I am not sure where reform should begin.

WW did you a favor by not offering your daughter a place but to be honest I don't know what your alternatives are. Good luck anyway.

[belg]

sad when schools and hospitals are turned into cash cows, i guess we have the greedy expat deals to thank for that, where the expat company pays super inflated rates for the employee's children's school and admittance fees...

any school fee above 10.000 baht per month per child is overinflated ...

if there were 0% companies paying the high entrace fees to start (up to a million baht, just for admitting) and another million per year school fee, those "so called" institution would soon die and dry out

[Spoonman]

sad when schools and hospitals are turned into cash cows, i guess we have the greedy expat deals to thank for that, where the expat company pays super inflated rates for the employee's children's school and admittance fees...

any school fee above 10.000 baht per month per child is overinflated ...

Lucky that Mr Johnson was only paying Bt.8333 per month, would hate to think WW being seen as "overinflated".

[kurnell]

My wife wanted to our kids to attend this school. She even asked some bird who claimed she would teach my girls how to pass the entrance exam. I wasn't aware of any bribe to assist the placement but would not have been against it. In the end we looked at Charter, Traill and Ascot and end up with the latter and I am very pleased that we did as it is a fantastic school.

[MrJohnson]

sad when schools and hospitals are turned into cash cows, i guess we have the greedy expat deals to thank for that, where the expat company pays super inflated rates for the employee's children's school and admittance fees...

any school fee above 10.000 baht per month per child is overinflated ...

if there were 0% companies paying the high entrace fees to start (up to a million baht, just for admitting) and another million per year school fee, those "so called" institution would soon die and dry out

I certainly made no mention of cost in my post. Thais are more than adept at ripping off each other without the need for 'Expats' to help them out. International schools are generally expensive because it costs a lot to get good teachers here and it costs a lot when you have small class sizes. Both of these factors are critical in terms of a child's development. You might also be interested to know that the majoairty of kids at most international schools in Thailand are Thai. What does that tell you? It tells me that Thais with enough cash realize the value of an international school and have the money to pay for it. Good luck to them too. It is a sad reality that the Thai system is in such dissarray that many people are looking for alternaives. If they choose an expensive international school and can afford it, good luck to them.

[MrJohnson]

sad when schools and hospitals are turned into cash cows, i guess we have the greedy expat deals to thank for that, where the expat company pays super inflated rates for the employee's children's school and admittance fees...

any school fee above 10.000 baht per month per child is overinflated ...

Lucky that Mr Johnson was only paying Bt.8333 per month, would hate to think WW being seen as "overinflated".

Well for anyone reading my post carefully, as you clearly did, you will see I made no mention of the actual school fees. From memory I think they were around B60K p.a. Very reasonable I think. My gripe was never with the fees. It was the system. The 100 donation I simply regarded as a contribution to the 'building fund'. Or perhaps a holiday fund. Whatever.

[Spoonman]

and 100k divided by 12 is 8333 so this is the minimum per month you payed then... sounds like the joint is "overinflated" after all.

[MrJohnson]

and 100k divided by 12 is 8333 so this is the minimum per month you payed then... sounds like the joint is "overinflated" after all.

Well, firstly it was for 2 children so we can divide that by half. Do the math yourself as you seem to have a caluclator handy. Secondly, it is not a 'joint', it is a school. They are two entirely different things. At the end of the day you get what you pay for. I'm not sure where you live or what you earn but I put a high priority on my kid's education and see it as an important investment. I also worked for many years in the education field and have a fair idea of what it costs to run a good school. Wattana is certainly not expensive by any means.

[Digitalbanana]

>it would seem she had only one shortcoming -- we entered a 0 in the box which asked how much of a non-mandatory donation we intended to make to the school.

Why not enter 300,000THB and lie like everyone else?

[Humbugged]

Should have put 1000000 in and then declined their offer.

As for international schools being reasonably priced, not here they are not.

When an international school here costs more than a good private school back home, then it is expensive when considering all the other costs by comparison to the western sibling.

[dave111223]

What happens if you put some ridiculous number in the "non-mandatory donation" box, are accepted, and then decide to donate nothing? They reverse the acceptance?

Edited November 26, 2012 by dave111223

[MrJohnson]

What happens if you put some ridiculous number in the "non-mandatory donation" box, are accepted, and then decide to donate nothing? They reverse the acceptance?

In our case the donation was required PRIOR to enrolment. I think perhaps they have that one worked out.

[dave111223]

What happens if you put some ridiculous number in the "non-mandatory donation" box, are accepted, and then decide to donate nothing? They reverse the acceptance?

In our case the donation was required PRIOR to enrolment. I think perhaps they have that one worked out.

So they send you a letter saying that "you have been accepted on condition that the donation is paid prior to enrollment" type of thing?

[MrJohnson]

What happens if you put some ridiculous number in the "non-mandatory donation" box, are accepted, and then decide to donate nothing? They reverse the acceptance?

In our case the donation was required PRIOR to enrolment. I think perhaps they have that one worked out.

So they send you a letter saying that "you have been accepted on condition that the donation is paid prior to enrollment" type of thing?

More or less, yes. That is what they did. This is a school that has a long waiting list so they can kind of call the tune, so to speak. My two kids spent around 6 years there. It wasn't all bad but I'm glad they are not there anymore.

[arthurwait]

My wife went there.

It seems her and her friends don't follow the stay at home and keep house theory.

[themadpoorfreelover]

This is the one thing i don't understand about all you guys who are putting your children into thai schools.

its pretty dam_n obvious that even paying for something like education in this country and you will have far below western standard, ie UK, AU, USA new zealand etc.

so it seems that at the expense of your child's future and education you would remain here because you like the Thai lifestyle or for whatever reason.

If you really cared about your child's future, you wouldn't school them here in Thailand. I mean unless you home schooled them that would be the exception. Or if you sent them to some exclusive school in Bangkok, but why deal with the pollution in that case. Any way an average to good public school in Australia Hands down will beat thai schooling any-day.

[themadpoorfreelover]

sad when schools and hospitals are turned into cash cows, i guess we have the greedy expat deals to thank for that, where the expat company pays super inflated rates for the employee's children's school and admittance fees...

any school fee above 10.000 baht per month per child is overinflated ...

if there were 0% companies paying the high entrace fees to start (up to a million baht, just for admitting) and another million per year school fee, those "so called" institution would soon die and dry out

I certainly made no mention of cost in my post. Thais are more than adept at ripping off each other without the need for 'Expats' to help them out. International schools are generally expensive because it costs a lot to get good teachers here and it costs a lot when you have small class sizes. Both of these factors are critical in terms of a child's development. You might also be interested to know that the majoairty of kids at most international schools in Thailand are Thai. What does that tell you? It tells me that Thais with enough cash realize the value of an international school and have the money to pay for it. Good luck to them too. It is a sad reality that the Thai system is in such dissarray that many people are looking for alternaives. If they choose an expensive international school and can afford it, good luck to them.

its funny that they call them international schools. if it is thai kids have the larger percentage i think that makes it a thai school. and its also funny i was living in pattaya and all the local international young thai kids would come round with their mums on the pretense to see my wife, meanwhile there would always be english worksheets shoved under my nose like please, can you help them.. etc...

[MrJohnson]

This is the one thing i don't understand about all you guys who are putting your children into thai schools.

its pretty dam_n obvious that even paying for something like education in this country and you will have far below western standard, ie UK, AU, USA new zealand etc.

so it seems that at the expense of your child's future and education you would remain here because you like the Thai lifestyle or for whatever reason.

If you really cared about your child's future, you wouldn't school them here in Thailand. I mean unless you home schooled them that would be the exception. Or if you sent them to some exclusive school in Bangkok, but why deal with the pollution in that case. Any way an average to good public school in Australia Hands down will beat thai schooling any-day.

I put my kids into a Thai school for their early years so they would be literate in Thai. Job done, move on to a good international school. I'm not sure how long you have been away from Australia but you will find that the quality of public funded schools very variable. I do care about my kids future by the way.

[MrJohnson]

My apologies as I messed up the quote above. The final paragraph is my post.

[tinfoilhat]

Well having had two daughters at this school for several years I think your conclusions drawn from your brush with WW are pretty accurate. First daughter entry required lobbying from some family friends who were former students and a donation of B100K. The school is the same as most Thai schools in terms of overly large class sizes - around 45. Classes of this undermine even the best teachers. Furthermore, the 'cuture' of the school is about grooming compliant housewives. Dad works - mum stays home and keeps house. With the exception of their most famous alumnus, Dr. Porntip, the roll of graduating students and their university entrance destinations does not make for encouraging reading. Having said this, the teachers were committed and caring despite the long hours and large class sizes. But we have now moved both kids to an IB international school, which was always the plan. Consequently both kids are literate in both Thai and English. Despite the school fees, the IB system is brilliant and the whole family is delighted to be out of the Thai system. The class sizes, a pedagogy that focuses on rote learning and a myopic and inward looking curriculum all contribute to the absolutely parlous state of Thai education. It is broken in so many ways I am not sure where reform should begin.

WW did you a favor by not offering your daughter a place but to be honest I don't know what your alternatives are. Good luck anyway.

Sorry i missed all these replies.

I realized WW was not what i wanted after meeting the faculty over interviews. You also put it far more nicely than i could have. My initial impression was WW was intended to patiently beat any of the individuality they could find out of my child.

The idea was a basis in thai before moving on to international school, as she is already reading and writing english.

As for my alternatives, im going going with srivikorn for now with an intention to upgrade for high school.

[kblaze]

its funny that they call them international schools. if it is thai kids have the larger percentage i think that makes it a thai school. and its also funny i was living in pattaya and all the local international young thai kids would come round with their mums on the pretense to see my wife, meanwhile there would always be english worksheets shoved under my nose like please, can you help them.. etc...

So Thai kids aren't under the "international" umbrella? It doesn't matter if its 100% Thai students, it could still be an international school. The term "international" is referring to everything besides the student make-up. Courses offered, teachers, extra-curriculars, languages used, etc. They are schools that offer a curriculum based on an international, not Thai, standards. Some are part of the British system, some American, etc..

[apiwan]

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Thaivisa Connect App

Does anyone. Know what a decent sum would Be ?

As I want to enrol My 2 boys in a boarding school in chonburi.

And they will Be asking for a donation.

I was thinking about 30/50 K .I believe its a one off payment.

But I really need to get the 2 boys in this school.

The fees are reasonable for me.