Yes the exams etc should be challenging, with some very difficult questions to sort out the men from the boys. However the national exams are instead mostly very difficult questions with a few challenging questions.

This is just one of the first things which needs to be changed. Tests which are too difficult decrease the level of motivation from students and, especially when multiple choice, don't give an accurate assessment of the students ability, since their scores are generally spread over only a small range (much the same as if the tests were too easy)

I always am chagrined when I go into a store and let's say have a purchase of 82 baht. To avoid getting a pocket full of change, I'll give the cashier 102 baht instead of just a 100 baht note. Then I watch as the girl squirms and tries and isn't quite sure out how much change I'm due.

And then there's my wife, a lovely lass with a Thai 4-year university degree who, as best as I can tell, doesn't know how to calculate simple percentages either in her head or even using a calculator, things like 3% annual interest on 1,000 baht is equal to XX baht? Or if a store is having a 20% off sale on a 200 baht item, what's the sale price?

Just never learned or was taught how to do those kinds of simple calculations. Good luck in changing the STEM teaching system here.

I've been involved in Thai education for 16+ years. I have seen a decline in the students' ability, HOWEVER, and it is a big however, I now seen students going to school that 16 years ago would not stand a snow-ball's chance in hell of going to school beyond the primary level.

Years ago, most of my friends in Thailand had to work very hard to get a high school education. In their families, most of the kids simply didn't go to school because the family couldn't afford it. Now, these people all have children, and their kids will go through school much like Western kids do. Like universal health care, universal education requires a great deal of input to make it work well for everyone. It wasn't working particularly well for the few, so I don't hold a lot of hope for it working well for the many.

The very basic problem is a cultural one, and that means saving face, not questioning authority and the host of other things which hold people back from progressing and ensures they know their station in life.

Not that someone with your astuteness, experience and knowledge needs any validation from me but I've been reading, observing and writing about Thai education for over 20 years and I couldn't agree more with that excellent post.

Talking of STEM. If they sorted out the stems of the questions, perhaps the questions would make more sense when I have to look at tests for the Thai teachers