New Education Minister says Thai education system needs urgent revamp

[Noistar]

The system is being blamed as the cause of underachievment of students this week. Next week or the next Education Minister will repeat this as well as other much used excuses which have been used for ages.

When you have people in a position of authority, who fear intelligent competition from those who work for them, demand they be kotowed to, strut around in uniforms bedecked with ribbons, gained their position in one of several ways, of which most involved cheating or are illegal, were brought up in the same system, maybe its the people within the ;system' that are largely to blame.

What reward is there for someone to think outside the box, amd intoduce a modern way of approaching education? Those in charge have no experience in anything except getting what benifit they can from the system, themselves and they certainly do not want anyone more experienced, or more clever than they are to be visable in 'their' system.

This FEAR of intelligent competition is called FEAR OF LOSING FACE, and it ruins the entire Nation's social and mental well being...

deleted due to rubbish iPad app duplicating my posts Edited July 8, 2013 by Noistar

[Noistar]

The system is being blamed as the cause of underachievment of students this week. Next week or the next Education Minister will repeat this as well as other much used excuses which have been used for ages.

When you have people in a position of authority, who fear intelligent competition from those who work for them, demand they be kotowed to, strut around in uniforms bedecked with ribbons, gained their position in one of several ways, of which most involved cheating or are illegal, were brought up in the same system, maybe its the people within the ;system' that are largely to blame.

What reward is there for someone to think outside the box, amd intoduce a modern way of approaching education? Those in charge have no experience in anything except getting what benifit they can from the system, themselves and they certainly do not want anyone more experienced, or more clever than they are to be visable in 'their' system.

This FEAR of intelligent competition is called FEAR OF LOSING FACE, and it ruins the entire Nation's social and mental well being...

Get rid of 'Thai culture' and Thailand might, just might, be able to creep into the civilised world. In the meantime the country is a nation of robots, ready to produce the next generation of identical robots.

As I mentioned before, Thai culture is insular - always in the box. There is Thailand and not-Thailand. Black and white - hey, a Boolean! We're back in the land of robots!

Effort is expended on producing the same, over and over again. Horizon? Goals? Achievement? Forget it. Thai people are not aware of the philosophy of personal goals, or of being an individual.

Being different/better requires effort, and the state will not devote time/money changing things they don't want changed.

After all, Thais want to be like each other, but with more money of course.

Not going to happen, Thailand will remain a semi-totalitarian state (full blown totalitarianism waiting in the wings of course).

[Thai at Heart]

If nothing is graded rigorously you end up with the crazy situation that 50k people apply for 1k jobs. What's wrong with only accepting graduates with 3.5 average to be teachers and doing it by interview?

The problem starts that everyone passes, and there is no differentiation between the abilities.

All part of the planning that should go into this T A H.

There should be a clear career path mapped out for potential teachers with the correct degree as an entry requirement into a teachers collage or course.

Then you start talking about interviews or whatever.

But Hay I'm not the one who has to nut this out that's the job of the minister and his department.

Whether he has the will to really try to fix things or the department the ability to implement any new policies is another thing.

For all we know it's all mouth music at this point.

Well as long as there are 50k applicants for 1k places the odds you find the best is ridiculous. The entry requirements have to be raised to weed out the low entries.

[Noistar]

If nothing is graded rigorously you end up with the crazy situation that 50k people apply for 1k jobs. What's wrong with only accepting graduates with 3.5 average to be teachers and doing it by interview?

The problem starts that everyone passes, and there is no differentiation between the abilities.

All part of the planning that should go into this T A H.

There should be a clear career path mapped out for potential teachers with the correct degree as an entry requirement into a teachers collage or course.

Then you start talking about interviews or whatever.

But Hay I'm not the one who has to nut this out that's the job of the minister and his department.

Whether he has the will to really try to fix things or the department the ability to implement any new policies is another thing.

For all we know it's all mouth music at this point.

Well as long as there are 50k applicants for 1k places the odds you find the best is ridiculous. The entry requirements have to be raised to weed out the low entries.

It is the case that the possession of the piece of paper (aka 'degree') is all that matters. After all, the education machine exists purely for that purpose.

It's the ability behind the paper which counts, but I don't believe the interviewers are in a better place than the applicants re evaluating 'the best'. A major change is required. Until the interviewers are better placed to evaluate the best, perhaps other, better qualified, people should be asked to assist.

Sorry, I forgot. Thai culture is all about repeating the past and certainly not about asking for help. A better Thailand won't happen for generations.

Way off-topic, but an example of how a quick question to a Farang might have prevented an establishment opening itself to mockery.

By the motorbike park at Big C HangDong, a notice "Warnbing Tour Motorcycle To Disappear". What's the betting the author has an MA in English?

Humblest opinion etc

[Thai at Heart]

The system is being blamed as the cause of underachievment of students this week. Next week or the next Education Minister will repeat this as well as other much used excuses which have been used for ages.

When you have people in a position of authority, who fear intelligent competition from those who work for them, demand they be kotowed to, strut around in uniforms bedecked with ribbons, gained their position in one of several ways, of which most involved cheating or are illegal, were brought up in the same system, maybe its the people within the ;system' that are largely to blame.

What reward is there for someone to think outside the box, amd intoduce a modern way of approaching education? Those in charge have no experience in anything except getting what benifit they can from the system, themselves and they certainly do not want anyone more experienced, or more clever than they are to be visable in 'their' system.

The astounding thing really is, all you have to do to be supposedly smart is get the damn papers passed, which can largely be achieved for a fee anyway. If you read the level of rigour in many theses in Thailand, they are extremely shallow.

So, it doesn't really matter if you have any brain whatsoever, just stick a masters or doctorate on your CV, and you can spout absolutely as much crap as you like, and everyone around you nods sagely at your wisdom. I am no academic, but I did ok, and have been astounded by the nonsense spouted by older so called university lecturers here. The only one I have ever been really impressed by is a friend of a friend, who went to the UK to study physics and spends her time lecturing on a very very high level, and representing Thailand on high level conferences.

She is absolutely sharp as a tack, but, alas, her westernisation and ability mean that she is perceived as rebelious within her faculty.

[Noistar]

How about a system where graduates turn up for a job interview with more than a piece of paper?

An interviewee turning up, all cylinders firing stating 'I can do the job because and by the way here's the degree' must be in line for the job, even in Thailand.

I get the impression that graduates tend to attend interviews hiding behind 'I've got my degree' and little more.

Forget the education factory. 100 under-graduate robots please. Individuals? Nope. Just identical robots like we had last year.

[Noistar]

If we assume that education is more than the 3 Rs, perhaps it's time for Thailand to move beyond 'education'.

School mottos are very laudable, but are meaningless. I doubt the meaning is clear in school-time, let alone when the students descend on the general populace at kicking out time. Try to get a seat on a songtaow when the students appear.

A period of study, maybe 1 morning a month, where students are introduced to things like morals and rights and wrongs. Bearing in mind the 'me next please' when corruption is mentioned, it would be worth explaining what corruption is and the negative affects it has.

All these things would prepare them for life as the next generation. At least if they know about right and wrong they can make an educated decision re the path their adult life will follow. Not all Thais are bad. They are just made to assume that life is survival of the fittest.

Thai culture, 'me, me, me, money, money, money', the Cru Wai Day crap - how does that prepare a new generation? All it does is prepare the next batch of robots to join the lemming line and get their piece of paper and perpetuate all that is bad.

Education is preparation for the future - it is not an end in itself.

Humblest etc.