Experts want education 'shock'

Wannapa Khaopa

The Nation

BANGKOK: - Academics are calling on relevant agencies to shock the Cabinet into realising the severity of the educational crisis before they propose concrete solutions for implementation under the revised national education plan.

"The education plan is like an academic text with content that can be used as reference, but it cannot be used in practice that much," Associate Professor Sompong Jitradub of Chulalongkorn Univer-sity's faculty of education said yesterday. He was speaking at a meeting hosted by the Office of the Education Council (OEC) to draw recommendations from relevant agencies for the second revision of the education plan.

"Don't give the Cabinet an overly academic draft of the revised plan," he said. "You [the OEC] have only about 10 minutes to make the presentation before the Cabinet decides on whether to approve the draft. So you have to use the draft to highlight crucial educational problems that will shock them."

The second revised national plan will be used from 2012 to 2016 to upgrade the country's education in accordance with current changes. The first revised plan was for 2009-2016, while the original plan was for 2002-2016.

Professor Paitoon Sinlarat, vice president of Dhurakij Pundit University, also said that the plan should be kept concise and simple, with priority given to actions needed to improve education. "This would help remind [schoolteachers and administrators] to implement the plan," he explained.

The academics told the OEC to collaborate with key education agencies to implement the plan. Both said agencies had so far preferred to follow their own plans, resulting in failure of the national education plan.

Details of the scope of the second revision are under discussion. So far, the main points its covers include upgrading quality, boosting educational opportunity, reforming the teaching profession, providing vocational and higher education according to the needs of the labour market, information and communications technology in education, supporting research and development.

It also calls for increasing human-resource competitiveness in preparation for the Asean Economic Community, improving education in the South, ridding institutions of drug crime, boosting vocational and technical students' image, and making small schools more effective.

OEC secretary-general Sasithara Pichaichannarong said it would write a new and more detailed strategy based on the government's educational policies to be used until 2015.

The OEC has targeted early next year as the deadline for Cabinet approval of the strategy and plan.

-- The Nation 2012-12-25

Just show them past results for National exams. That will take a few minutes, followed by the causes which should take 3 minutes (government policies which pushes all students through the system; no fail poilcy; no account for individual learning styles; archaic, irrelevant curriculum, no help for students with disabilities, etc), then another 3 minutes for some initial remedies (reduce class sizes, make the curriculum interesting and relevant; integrate technology, retrain teachers to make students THINK, rewrite national exams to reflect these changes). It's not rocket science. They just need to lose face a bit and accept mistakes have been make and continue to be made. After teaching here 12 years I can say the students are as intelligent as in my home country; it's the system that is letting them down.

"The OEC has targeted early next year as the deadline for Cabinet approval of the strategy and plan."

"It also calls for increasing human-resource competitiveness in preparation for the Asean Economic Community, improving education in the South, ridding institutions of drug crime, boosting vocational and technical students' image, and making small schools more effective."

Short :Get rid off loosing face. Let the kids fail. More teachers will be employed and all students will have to actually learn their subjects, not just copy.

It's time to face the music; you cannot keep a country in the dark and not expect a surprise. Get ready for a very bumby generation to realize, that they've been shortchanged by governments in sequence.

A country where vote buying is standard usually has no educational standards; as so proven nightly at all those non-existing gogo bars and massage parlours, motobiking gold snatchers, drunk driving and a social structure which exists only on paper.

Sad to see this going downhill in free fall!

These self professed experts might do well to see how the education system functions in Finland

The ongoing education of teachers and the involvement of students by example and challenge is exactly what should be happening here rather than the whole school having to bow down and praise the teachers as absolute oracles who cannot be questioned or ever be wrong.

A large percentage of Thai teachers are in fact not properly qualified, the Thai English language teachers are besotted with grammar. Grammar is not the language, its the bells and whistles that go with English and other languages for that matter too, it's all about conversation and communication that can be understood irrespective of the rules of grammar.Grammar comes along later ,of course if the language is being taught correctly the basic grammar usage is there.The same applies to all other subjects, if they're taught properly by qualified motivated teachers there should be no problems.

We have Thai graduates applying to us for English teaching positions who according to their degree have Honours in English, yet our year one students are more proficient in English than the applicants

Indeed it shows how corrupt and slipshod the education system is in Thailand.

Answers are written on the board in the classroom so as little Sonchai and little Porntip achieve a 100% grade as if he doesn't it makes the teachers look inefficient. Cross curriculum links don't exist ,every subject is in its own little box and therefore they never meet each other, indeed a narrow field of mental stimulation

This wonderful system of copy the answers from the board and the we must finish the course book syndrome, the no fail policies, the fact that many students within the university system pay others to write their thesis thus the student who graduates in reality is a thick as they come.This system has over the years produced a grand bunch of ill educated people.

One wonders if the fossils in the Education Ministry realize that todays children are the country's future ?

Note , this is a copy and slight rehash of a post I made a couple of days back in another thread here in T.V.F.

Siampolee

If I may just take the last line of your post which I agree with 100% and just change one word.

One wonders if the fossils in the Education Ministry realize that todays children are the country's future ?

One wonders if the fossils in the Education Ministry CARE that todays children are the country's future ?

"The OEC has targeted early next year as the deadline for Cabinet approval of the strategy and plan."

"It also calls for increasing human-resource competitiveness in preparation for the Asean Economic Community, improving education in the South, ridding institutions of drug crime, boosting vocational and technical students' image, and making small schools more effective."

Short :Get rid off loosing face. Let the kids fail. More teachers will be employed and all students will have to actually learn their subjects, not just copy.

Agreed, but it will never ever happen here. Not ever! The list is too long to go over, but FACE tops that list and stupidity is in the top three. It goes with my adopted saying that they will love you if you make them think they are thinking, but they will hate you if you really make them think. That is their culture in a nutshell. Make them think they are thinking. Have them copy a few reams of notes from the chalk board which the teacher put there from the book she copied. Throw in a field trip to the rice paddies and floating gardens. Have a few grandiose school assemblies with sour-pussed old men babbling away stern words of wisdom whilst flashing their Brigadier General uniforms and gold anodized bling bling, and then make the kids chant mantra after mantra of useless nationalistic tripe and then have them goose step around the yard and they'll really think they are accomplishing something. Then give them 5 months of holidays throughout the school year. Ah Hell, I didn't want to go this far, but it just rolled off my fingertips.

It would be a shock if anything changes...ever....unlikely....never!

Siampolee

If I may just take the last line of your post which I agree with 100% and just change one word.

One wonders if the fossils in the Education Ministry realize that todays children are the country's future ?

One wonders if the fossils in the Education Ministry CARE that todays children are the country's future ?

I do not think they have the capability to do either.

And as for "shock", how do you shock an imbecill?

There are a lot of problems with the education system, but part of the problem is that everyone in power went through school and many of them through the same system being criticized. It's a matter of, "If I can do it, so should they" type of mentality. Of course, they went to better schools, went to private tutorial and had other educational opportunities--including simply buying their degrees.

Schools also play an important part in the socialization of children and in the passing on of the national identity and culture. Good teaching methods would run counter to these aspects of education.

They don't need a shock. They need an education, which sadly does not really exist here.

These self professed experts might do well to see how the education system functions in Finland

The ongoing education of teachers and the involvement of students by example and challenge is exactly what should be happening here rather than the whole school having to bow down and praise the teachers as absolute oracles who cannot be questioned or ever be wrong.

A large percentage of Thai teachers are in fact not properly qualified, the Thai English language teachers are besotted with grammar. Grammar is not the language, its the bells and whistles that go with English and other languages for that matter too, it's all about conversation and communication that can be understood irrespective of the rules of grammar.Grammar comes along later ,of course if the language is being taught correctly the basic grammar usage is there.The same applies to all other subjects, if they're taught properly by qualified motivated teachers there should be no problems.

We have Thai graduates applying to us for English teaching positions who according to their degree have Honours in English, yet our year one students are more proficient in English than the applicants

Indeed it shows how corrupt and slipshod the education system is in Thailand.

Answers are written on the board in the classroom so as little Sonchai and little Porntip achieve a 100% grade as if he doesn't it makes the teachers look inefficient. Cross curriculum links don't exist ,every subject is in its own little box and therefore they never meet each other, indeed a narrow field of mental stimulation

This wonderful system of copy the answers from the board and the we must finish the course book syndrome, the no fail policies, the fact that many students within the university system pay others to write their thesis thus the student who graduates in reality is a thick as they come.This system has over the years produced a grand bunch of ill educated people.

One wonders if the fossils in the Education Ministry realize that todays children are the country's future ?

Note , this is a copy and slight rehash of a post I made a couple of days back in another thread here in T.V.F.

Great post. Here're the words from a M.2 student which was part of her speech about the English language:

" Thai students have to learn a lot of Grammar, rules how to use this and that. But they don't have the needed vocabulary to use any Grammar."

Siampolee

If I may just take the last line of your post which I agree with 100% and just change one word.

One wonders if the fossils in the Education Ministry realize that todays children are the country's future ?

One wonders if the fossils in the Education Ministry CARE that todays children are the country's future ?

They know fine well that todays children are the country's future. They also know that they want to keep the 'status quo' as regards involvement and awareness of the populace, so no development is the way forward.

You can't fix STUPID!

"But they don't have the needed vocabulary to use any Grammar"

Prolly easier to test grammar than vocab.

Avg IQ here was said (in the papers) to be 88 ten yrs ago. Since then 86, and now 84.

When typical Thai kids watch typical Thai TV, their IQ goes down.

I just took a complete waste of time to find any notable Thai authors, writers, etc. Thai literature is in the dark ages. It mostly focuses on political or romantic tripe; not anything I would curse anyone with other than court ordered punishment for felonies and misdemeanors.

I think that these Wikipedia numbers show it all: journalists (6), poets (10), science fiction writers (2), novelists (11), writers (33) dating back a few hundred years or so; I didn't bother to check. I know that most states in the USA have twice that much if not more.

60 recognized and so-called literature producers out of 75 million people who all whine and complain more than twice their numbers makes for a very bleak outlook for the "future generations" and clearly paints a picture of monkeys ****ing a football whilst the ship goes down. I don't mean to be harsh, but.... ah hell, why not. I deserve that right as any loving father would deserve.

This simply gets my goat as I watch my son grow up in this culture and feel compelled to take extra time to do for him what the Thai culture will inevitably fail to do, and subsequently will its retarded or static growth on him as is "norm". Additionally, I will be constantly on my toes to break the bad habits that he continuously picks up at the schools that he will be attending (habits towards study, finishing what he started, doing it right the first time. planning well, contemplative thinking, rationale, logic, deduction, cause and effect, problem solving skills, etc. etc.). None of the former are ever realized by this culture, nor is the self-will and self-discipline indoctrinated into their minds, let alone the brain itself being cudgeled to develop more than one or two wrinkles and one or two synapses. So yes, I am a bit miffed at this simian mentality that will bend every effort of its (near) Banana republic will upon my son's mind.

The real shock here is that the "experts" actually think they can improve education. This is in lieu of me referencing only 60 Thai literature experts from one source (questionable at best) and that they intend on doing this the Thai way; leaving out any foreign literature. That is asking an awful lot from literature that borders upon the nauseatingly boring, inept and inaccurate; not to mention most of it is poetry, proverbs, romance, and political tripe. Overshadowing it all is the fact that it is all written under the influence of FACE.

Ya want a shock? There ain't gonna be any shock! How about them apples? This is just all my opinionated thought that yet again rolled off my fingers.