Thailand's educational spending highest in the world

[belg]

quantiy vs quantity

maybe they have & spend the budget, but how much % in wrong peoples pockets?

[selftaopath]

I find it very hard to believe that the Thais spend more on education than the Koreans. I've worked in both countries and the Korean kids go to school and then attend private academies until very late in the evening. I felt very bad for them because they worked their butts off.

Chinese students leave for school in the early morning and return home mid evening, then study. They go to school 6 days a week and guess what they do on their "day off"? If you answered STUDY you are correct.

I almost NEVER see anyone read a book/newspaper in our village or surrounding villages. I see many sleep throughout the day etc. Are they "bored" or have no academic skills to make their lives more interesting?

[wilcopops]

If Thai spending on education is the highest in the world, I wonder why proficiency in English, just to take one example, is deteriorating?

it isn't!

[wilcopops]

"while Thai students 2,000-3,600 hours"

They might mean in lifetime.....

The schools next to my house starts 8.00 morning, they start with cleaning, after one hour education (?!?!?!) starts.... at noon, one hour lunch and at 15.00 school is finished, 5 days a week. is 25 hour/week is 1000 hour/year.

I would say that even the university and the people who came with this study can't count......so what they learnt about when they where still at school ????

Has anyone found out how many days off school kids/teachers have in one year? Oh and btw I know of teachers from "the West" who work at govt. schools and only work 14 hrs a WEEK. Their salaries are much higher than Thai teachers. Fourteen hours a week; can you imagine?

you clearly have no idea what teaching involves....in any country.

[wilcopops]

I see kids where I work every day learning from 8 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon it is an absolute joke.

Primary kids back home start school at 9ish and are out the door by about half two, kindergarten kids are an hour less than that so why are grade 1 kids going through 8 1/2 hours days and learning for the exact same amount of time as G12 students?

And I detest this thing the Thai teachers have about forcing so many students to learn after school every day. Let them go home and have a life outside of school and breathe some fresh air.

this is a prevalent habit is Asia....it has no basis in scientific research on how we study and learn. It can have detrimental effects on students. If you compare the hours that high-acheiving Western students put in and compare them to the hours Asian high achievers put in it becomes quite clear that academic achievement has little to do with the number of hours studied....it is down to quality of teaching and study methods.

Thai Universities are about to change their study periods (semesters) to bring them in line with ASEAN and international patterns - this may of course reduce the amount of time students spend sitting pointlessly in classes/lectures.

Edited January 11, 2014 by wilcopops

[patongphil]

"Study hours for Thai students are five times more than countries such as the US and Canada where students spend 600-700 hours in classes while Thai students 2,000-3,600 hours."

Lets look:

52 Weeks have a year.

12 weeks are vacation

40 weeks lectures * 5 days a week = 200 days

3600 / 200 = 18 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 2am after midnight)

2000 / 200 = 10 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 6pm)

average = 14 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 10pm)

average = 70 hours per week.

I do not know what they are doing in the classes, but I doubt the data base and the validity of data collection too.

In Ramkhamhaeng (the largest university in Bangkok) and generally in Bangkok,i see every day oodles of students on the streets,

- shopping, in cinemas, in restaurants and in the evening in discos and pubs.-

No way that they study day per day, spending 14 hours in classes.

20% of State Budget for education?

If this is true, than we have here maybe another rice school scam.

My daughter's average school week is six days, not five.

Monday to Friday: start 8:00am finish 4:30 pm........8 and a half hours per day.

Saturday: start 8:00am finish 3:30pm.........7 and a half hours

Total...............................50 hours per week

x40 weeks per year

2000 hours per year in total

Admittedly that's at the bottom end but a lot of students also have private tuition, not 1500 hours worth I should think but some do have a lot.

Wow I am glad I am not your daughter. How can you subject a child to such long hours - shame on you.

[mok199]

...................................................................................when you pay teachers ''peanuts'' expect poor results,i say spend more time on english skills teach chinese and german,stop wasting hours on silly thai songs and proverbs ,that will get the student abosutley nowhere...teach skills that wll improve chances of a better future,raise min wage,this country is a beautyful jewel,but it still needs to be polished....yes the culture will still be embrased ,i have met many thais who have no clue where alaska is or who john lennon was...they listen to that rediculous music and watch that rediculous thai tv...why....they are brainwashed and.they live in a box......is time thailand starts thainking outside that box....

[indyuk]

The initiative proposed was supposed to have take effect by the year two thousand. To date it has not been effective due to the militance of Thai teachers in resisting the termination of rote learning and that they tend to be opinionated, racist and lazy.

When I witnessed my teenage child being taught in the Thai system I was heartbroken for her. The status and authority that Thai Teacher's are accorded is way beyond there ability to comply with the requirements of the Ministry of Education.

​Based on my experience and opinion derived from it.

[Issangeorge]

*Oversized picture removed*

Where the heck do they get these figures? Thai students at most go to school for 46 weeks a year and in most cases a lot less than that. If they study 2,000 to 3,600 hours a year, and only go to school 46 weeks that means they study 43 to 78 hours a week. If they study every week of the year, it would mean they studied 38 to 69 hours a week. I have taught at 6 different schools @ every grade level and in the regular program and an English Program and Mini English Program, and even my most dedicated students would be hard pressed to reach the lowest level, yet alone the average student. When they are so far off on those statistics, it makes me feel the whole study is probably garbage.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ X using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited January 12, 2014 by Scott

[gp2002]

Oh no... And where is all this money going? Not in the corrupted pockets of thise teaching our kids?

It's definitely NOT going to the teachers.

Look at the ads on ajarn.com and you see these schools still offering 20-30,000 baht per month. This is how much salaries were 8 years ago. The school fees and cost of living are going up yet the salaries are staying the same.

[gp2002]

"while Thai students 2,000-3,600 hours"

They might mean in lifetime.....

The schools next to my house starts 8.00 morning, they start with cleaning, after one hour education (?!?!?!) starts.... at noon, one hour lunch and at 15.00 school is finished, 5 days a week. is 25 hour/week is 1000 hour/year.

I would say that even the university and the people who came with this study can't count......so what they learnt about when they where still at school ????

Has anyone found out how many days off school kids/teachers have in one year? Oh and btw I know of teachers from "the West" who work at govt. schools and only work 14 hrs a WEEK. Their salaries are much higher than Thai teachers. Fourteen hours a week; can you imagine?

180-185 school days per year. It's been like that for as long as I can remember.

[sumrit]

My daughter's average school week is six days, not five.

Monday to Friday: start 8:00am finish 4:30 pm........8 and a half hours per day.

Saturday: start 8:00am finish 3:30pm.........7 and a half hours

Total...............................50 hours per week

x40 weeks per year

2000 hours per year in total

Admittedly that's at the bottom end but a lot of students also have private tuition, not 1500 hours worth I should think but some do have a lot.

Wow I am glad I am not your daughter. How can you subject a child to such long hours - shame on you.

First of all I'm not saying the system is good or bad, just stating facts while you are obviously making comments without knowing the Thai educational system, or my family, at all!

Our daughter is now sixteen years old and has spent all her education in Thai schools apart from two tears in a UK school. We currently pay (the average?) 20-30,000 baht per year for her to go to a Catholic school run by Catholic nuns (who are highly unlikely to want to spend school funds on themselves or fast cars etc.)

The average school day at all (most) Thai schools is from 8:00 to 3:30 with the option of a further hour to 4:30. A large proportion (including our daughter) of students at the schools my daughter has attended stay for this extra hour to do homework because they can call on the teacher for help if needed. Most of the time our daughter only needs to do her homework at home when she needs to use her laptop and/or the internet. This extra hour was available from when she was seven years old and she asked us if she could do it!

Saturdays is another option that, again at the schools our daughter has attended, most students take up. In our daughters school it can be used for extra study on the pupils weaker subjects or just general revision on all subjects. Again our daughter first asked us if she could go on Saturdays when she was seven, to do extra English and computer studies, and has been going that ever since! During her junior school years she was never the best but was almost always in the top ten for her year and class sizes were 30+.

When she was eleven years old I needed to return to the UK for a few months so we decided to move there to give her (the benefit of?) a British secondary education. We chose a local academy close to where we live because, although a state school, it also received extra private funding and was considered one of the best schools in the area. She was put in a middle class out of eight for her year and we immediately received praise from her teachers on how well she was doing. By the end of that first year she had been moved up to the top class (with each class containing 15 pupils). But she wasn't happy. She'd come home and say things like I'm not learning anything Dad, and the teachers haven't got time to teach us properly because they spend too much time stopping the naughty pupils from miss-behaving. And, especially during the first year, she'd come home after doing subjects like maths, science, IT studies and even English and say she already done the work in Thailand. The one praise that she did give the UK school was the amount of equipment available for all pupils. Thai schools don't have that luxury.

We had been prepared to stay in the UK for the duration of our daughter's education but, after two years, we considered everything and decided to move back to Thailand.

And here's the crunch!! When we went to enroll her at the Thai Catholic school she had to do and entrance exam for assessment. After just two years in the UK school he was behind in almost every subject and had to drop back a year to catch up. Had it just been Thai language we would had considered extra tuition to catch up but it was almost everything.

I have only known one other family that have returned to Thailand and, like our daughter their's was also behind. They were away for three years though.

Just one last curious point. Over the twenty years or so I have been coming to, and lived in Thailand I have known a lot of people who've taken their children, of varying ages, to the UK. Most, but by no means all, had originally been brought up in the village by grandparents and attended the local village government schools, which are probably some of the worst in Thailand. If the UK education was so superior you would expect those Thai children to be way behind and struggle, But they don't. (almost) All of them do well right from the start. Strange, and, so far, nobody can explain why.

[Pattaya28]

Well something isn't working.

If Thailand is "spending the most", which isn't believable, what are we led to believe ?

And 5 times the hours the pupils are spending in lessons ?

The entire education system is laughable beyond belief.

[sumrit]

Well something isn't working.

If Thailand is "spending the most", which isn't believable, what are we led to believe ?

And 5 times the hours the pupils are spending in lessons ?

The entire education system is laughable beyond belief.

It's a pity people don't actually read what was reported before making their silly comments. What the OP actually says is:

Thailand’s spending on education, representing 4 per cent of gross domestic product or 20 per cent of the national budget, is the highest in the world.............or in other words, of the total income each country has available, Thailand spends a higher percentage of theirs on education than those other countries do.

Of course other, richer countries such a the USA and the UK spend more money than Thailand. But they don't spend such a high percentage of their GDP or total income that Thailand does.

For me the article is merely suggesting that, of the money available to governments of all countries, Thailand is investing a higher proportion than other countries in order to try and close the gap.

Of course there's problems in the system that need improving, some large, some small, and for those of us who have children who've actually gone through the system or (qualified) teachers who've taught in the schools, we can all suggest solutions to all those different problems. But it seems to me that most people on here have never had first hand contact with education in Thailand and are just pursuing their favorite pastime again....................Thailand bashing!

[sumrit]

...................................................................................when you pay teachers ''peanuts'' expect poor results,i say spend more time on english skills teach chinese and german,stop wasting hours on silly thai songs and proverbs ,that will get the student abosutley nowhere...teach skills that wll improve chances of a better future,raise min wage,this country is a beautyful jewel,but it still needs to be polished....yes the culture will still be embrased ,i have met many thais who have no clue where alaska is or who john lennon was...they listen to that rediculous music and watch that rediculous thai tv...why....they are brainwashed and.they live in a box......is time thailand starts thainking outside that box....

I like a lot of your comments here but I'm curious about one thing..............After looking at your grammar and spelling, where were you educated??? Turn on spell-check

[PaullyW]

My daughter's average school week is six days, not five.

Monday to Friday: start 8:00am finish 4:30 pm........8 and a half hours per day.

Saturday: start 8:00am finish 3:30pm.........7 and a half hours

Total...............................50 hours per week

x40 weeks per year

2000 hours per year in total

Admittedly that's at the bottom end but a lot of students also have private tuition, not 1500 hours worth I should think but some do have a lot.

Wow I am glad I am not your daughter. How can you subject a child to such long hours - shame on you.

First of all I'm not saying the system is good or bad, just stating facts while you are obviously making comments without knowing the Thai educational system, or my family, at all!

Our daughter is now sixteen years old and has spent all her education in Thai schools apart from two tears in a UK school. We currently pay (the average?) 20-30,000 baht per year for her to go to a Catholic school run by Catholic nuns (who are highly unlikely to want to spend school funds on themselves or fast cars etc.)

The average school day at all (most) Thai schools is from 8:00 to 3:30 with the option of a further hour to 4:30. A large proportion (including our daughter) of students at the schools my daughter has attended stay for this extra hour to do homework because they can call on the teacher for help if needed. Most of the time our daughter only needs to do her homework at home when she needs to use her laptop and/or the internet. This extra hour was available from when she was seven years old and she asked us if she could do it!

Saturdays is another option that, again at the schools our daughter has attended, most students take up. In our daughters school it can be used for extra study on the pupils weaker subjects or just general revision on all subjects. Again our daughter first asked us if she could go on Saturdays when she was seven, to do extra English and computer studies, and has been going that ever since! During her junior school years she was never the best but was almost always in the top ten for her year and class sizes were 30+.

When she was eleven years old I needed to return to the UK for a few months so we decided to move there to give her (the benefit of?) a British secondary education. We chose a local academy close to where we live because, although a state school, it also received extra private funding and was considered one of the best schools in the area. She was put in a middle class out of eight for her year and we immediately received praise from her teachers on how well she was doing. By the end of that first year she had been moved up to the top class (with each class containing 15 pupils). But she wasn't happy. She'd come home and say things like I'm not learning anything Dad, and the teachers haven't got time to teach us properly because they spend too much time stopping the naughty pupils from miss-behaving. And, especially during the first year, she'd come home after doing subjects like maths, science, IT studies and even English and say she already done the work in Thailand. The one praise that she did give the UK school was the amount of equipment available for all pupils. Thai schools don't have that luxury.

We had been prepared to stay in the UK for the duration of our daughter's education but, after two years, we considered everything and decided to move back to Thailand.

And here's the crunch!! When we went to enroll her at the Thai Catholic school she had to do and entrance exam for assessment. After just two years in the UK school he was behind in almost every subject and had to drop back a year to catch up. Had it just been Thai language we would had considered extra tuition to catch up but it was almost everything.

I have only known one other family that have returned to Thailand and, like our daughter their's was also behind. They were away for three years though.

Just one last curious point. Over the twenty years or so I have been coming to, and lived in Thailand I have known a lot of people who've taken their children, of varying ages, to the UK. Most, but by no means all, had originally been brought up in the village by grandparents and attended the local village government schools, which are probably some of the worst in Thailand. If the UK education was so superior you would expect those Thai children to be way behind and struggle, But they don't. (almost) All of them do well right from the start. Strange, and, so far, nobody can explain why.

I reckon your anecdote can be explained very simply. Perhaps the school you chose in the UK was sh1tty.

If you'd put her in a very top school perhaps she'd been behind. Perhaps not. Perhaps she would do well in any school. Perhaps she's brilliant and/or very hard working.

Nothing of what you said would suggest that the school system (overall) in Thailand is better than any (overall) in the west or most of Asia.

You have simply given a single experience at 2 schools among tens of thousands in the two countries.

Lastly, if your anecdote correctly described the country more generally, surely Thailand would be doing far better than the UK across any significant area of measure. But, we all know that's not true. Thailand can't compete with the UK or any Western countries or more other Asian countries in any important measure.

So, where does our argument go from here?

Edited January 12, 2014 by PaullyW

[kriswillems]

I see a few problems.

- The children are taught to remember and not think by themselves. Very little personal input is required or wanted from the student.

- A lot of the school time is spent on formal things, like greeting the flag, singing the national/king song, praying, teaching about how to behave good and so on. I wonder if that time could not be reduced somehow.

- The scout activity doesn't look very fun to me and could be organized out of school time.

- The books are not up to date. History books are tainted with nationalistic propaganda and the same is true for the Thai language books. Science books are of a very low level and are full with pseudo science.

- The level of mathematics is very low and so is the level of the books.

- Teachers lack basic knowledge and are usually very narrow minded and not open to new knowledge or new ideas.

- Teachers hit the children or have all kind of other sadistic tricks to "motivate" the children. I don't think anyone got ever motivated by hitting.

- Parents work a lot and believe money can solve all problems. They spend very little time with their children.

- The exam are almost only multiple choice. Not any form of creativity is expected.

- The education system is totally corrupt. The right amount of money can get you into a certain class or school and if you don't donate enough you can't enter or you have to leave.

- The government schools are full of underpaid, unmotivated teachers that stay there for the social benefits (free healthcare for them and their parents, pension, ...).

- A lot of time is spend on things that are not useful for daily life, f.i. Thai poems or Royal language.

Edited January 12, 2014 by kriswillems

[sumrit]

First of all I'm not saying the system is good or bad, just stating facts while you are obviously making comments without knowing the Thai educational system, or my family, at all!

Our daughter is now sixteen years old and has spent all her education in Thai schools apart from two tears in a UK school. We currently pay (the average?) 20-30,000 baht per year for her to go to a Catholic school run by Catholic nuns (who are highly unlikely to want to spend school funds on themselves or fast cars etc.)

The average school day at all (most) Thai schools is from 8:00 to 3:30 with the option of a further hour to 4:30. A large proportion (including our daughter) of students at the schools my daughter has attended stay for this extra hour to do homework because they can call on the teacher for help if needed. Most of the time our daughter only needs to do her homework at home when she needs to use her laptop and/or the internet. This extra hour was available from when she was seven years old and she asked us if she could do it!

Saturdays is another option that, again at the schools our daughter has attended, most students take up. In our daughters school it can be used for extra study on the pupils weaker subjects or just general revision on all subjects. Again our daughter first asked us if she could go on Saturdays when she was seven, to do extra English and computer studies, and has been going that ever since! During her junior school years she was never the best but was almost always in the top ten for her year and class sizes were 30+.

When she was eleven years old I needed to return to the UK for a few months so we decided to move there to give her (the benefit of?) a British secondary education. We chose a local academy close to where we live because, although a state school, it also received extra private funding and was considered one of the best schools in the area. She was put in a middle class out of eight for her year and we immediately received praise from her teachers on how well she was doing. By the end of that first year she had been moved up to the top class (with each class containing 15 pupils). But she wasn't happy. She'd come home and say things like I'm not learning anything Dad, and the teachers haven't got time to teach us properly because they spend too much time stopping the naughty pupils from miss-behaving. And, especially during the first year, she'd come home after doing subjects like maths, science, IT studies and even English and say she already done the work in Thailand. The one praise that she did give the UK school was the amount of equipment available for all pupils. Thai schools don't have that luxury.

We had been prepared to stay in the UK for the duration of our daughter's education but, after two years, we considered everything and decided to move back to Thailand.

And here's the crunch!! When we went to enroll her at the Thai Catholic school she had to do and entrance exam for assessment. After just two years in the UK school he was behind in almost every subject and had to drop back a year to catch up. Had it just been Thai language we would had considered extra tuition to catch up but it was almost everything.

I have only known one other family that have returned to Thailand and, like our daughter their's was also behind. They were away for three years though.

Just one last curious point. Over the twenty years or so I have been coming to, and lived in Thailand I have known a lot of people who've taken their children, of varying ages, to the UK. Most, but by no means all, had originally been brought up in the village by grandparents and attended the local village government schools, which are probably some of the worst in Thailand. If the UK education was so superior you would expect those Thai children to be way behind and struggle, But they don't. (almost) All of them do well right from the start. Strange, and, so far, nobody can explain why.

I reckon your anecdote can be explained very simply. Perhaps the school you chose in the UK was sh1tty.

If you'd put her in a very top school perhaps she'd been behind. Perhaps not. Perhaps she would do well in any school. Perhaps she's brilliant and/or very hard working.

Nothing of what you said would suggest that the school system (overall) in Thailand is better than any (overall) in the west or most of Asia.

You have simply given a single experience at 2 schools among tens of thousands in the two countries.

Lastly, if your anecdote correctly described the country more generally, surely Thailand would be doing far better than the UK across any significant area of measure. But, we all know that's not true. Thailand can't compete with the UK or any Western countries or more other Asian countries in any important measure.

So, where does our argument go from here?

First of all the school we chose (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Darby_Academy) was not, by any standards, within Shropshire, SH1TTY. It is attached to, has the same governors as and is sponsored by the same company as Adams Grammar School (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams'_Grammar_School) which is, and has been for many years, one of the top Grammar schools in the entire UK. They regularly exchange staff between the two schools.

I believe we did put our daughter in one of the top schools available to us, in a UK system that only allows us to choose from schools within the catchment area that we live.

And yes, I have just given an example of two schools among tens of thousands. They were two schools chosen with equal care and two schools we have experience of.

And lastly my post is not an argument, it's fact. It was also a post in response to another posters flippant comment about the number of school hours my daughter does. Plus a post about our daughters actual, real life, school experience, nothing more.

Edited January 12, 2014 by sumrit

[PaullyW]

First of all I'm not saying the system is good or bad, just stating facts while you are obviously making comments without knowing the Thai educational system, or my family, at all!

Our daughter is now sixteen years old and has spent all her education in Thai schools apart from two tears in a UK school. We currently pay (the average?) 20-30,000 baht per year for her to go to a Catholic school run by Catholic nuns (who are highly unlikely to want to spend school funds on themselves or fast cars etc.)

The average school day at all (most) Thai schools is from 8:00 to 3:30 with the option of a further hour to 4:30. A large proportion (including our daughter) of students at the schools my daughter has attended stay for this extra hour to do homework because they can call on the teacher for help if needed. Most of the time our daughter only needs to do her homework at home when she needs to use her laptop and/or the internet. This extra hour was available from when she was seven years old and she asked us if she could do it!

Saturdays is another option that, again at the schools our daughter has attended, most students take up. In our daughters school it can be used for extra study on the pupils weaker subjects or just general revision on all subjects. Again our daughter first asked us if she could go on Saturdays when she was seven, to do extra English and computer studies, and has been going that ever since! During her junior school years she was never the best but was almost always in the top ten for her year and class sizes were 30+.

When she was eleven years old I needed to return to the UK for a few months so we decided to move there to give her (the benefit of?) a British secondary education. We chose a local academy close to where we live because, although a state school, it also received extra private funding and was considered one of the best schools in the area. She was put in a middle class out of eight for her year and we immediately received praise from her teachers on how well she was doing. By the end of that first year she had been moved up to the top class (with each class containing 15 pupils). But she wasn't happy. She'd come home and say things like I'm not learning anything Dad, and the teachers haven't got time to teach us properly because they spend too much time stopping the naughty pupils from miss-behaving. And, especially during the first year, she'd come home after doing subjects like maths, science, IT studies and even English and say she already done the work in Thailand. The one praise that she did give the UK school was the amount of equipment available for all pupils. Thai schools don't have that luxury.

We had been prepared to stay in the UK for the duration of our daughter's education but, after two years, we considered everything and decided to move back to Thailand.

And here's the crunch!! When we went to enroll her at the Thai Catholic school she had to do and entrance exam for assessment. After just two years in the UK school he was behind in almost every subject and had to drop back a year to catch up. Had it just been Thai language we would had considered extra tuition to catch up but it was almost everything.

I have only known one other family that have returned to Thailand and, like our daughter their's was also behind. They were away for three years though.

Just one last curious point. Over the twenty years or so I have been coming to, and lived in Thailand I have known a lot of people who've taken their children, of varying ages, to the UK. Most, but by no means all, had originally been brought up in the village by grandparents and attended the local village government schools, which are probably some of the worst in Thailand. If the UK education was so superior you would expect those Thai children to be way behind and struggle, But they don't. (almost) All of them do well right from the start. Strange, and, so far, nobody can explain why.

I reckon your anecdote can be explained very simply. Perhaps the school you chose in the UK was sh1tty.

If you'd put her in a very top school perhaps she'd been behind. Perhaps not. Perhaps she would do well in any school. Perhaps she's brilliant and/or very hard working.

Nothing of what you said would suggest that the school system (overall) in Thailand is better than any (overall) in the west or most of Asia.

You have simply given a single experience at 2 schools among tens of thousands in the two countries.

Lastly, if your anecdote correctly described the country more generally, surely Thailand would be doing far better than the UK across any significant area of measure. But, we all know that's not true. Thailand can't compete with the UK or any Western countries or more other Asian countries in any important measure.

So, where does our argument go from here?

First of all the school we chose (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Darby_Academy) was not, by any standards, within Shropshire, SH1TTY. It is attached to, has the same governors as and is sponsored by the same company as Adams Grammar School (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams'_Grammar_School) which is, and has been for many years, one of the top Grammar schools in the entire UK. They regularly exchange staff between the two schools.

I believe we did put our daughter in one of the top schools available to us, in a UK system that only allows us to choose from schools within the catchment area that we live.

And yes, I have just given an example of two schools among tens of thousands. They were two schools chosen with equal care and two schools we have experience of.

And lastly my post is not an argument, it's fact. It was also a post in response to another posters flippant comment about the number of school hours my daughter does. Plus a post about our daughters actual, real life, school experience, nothing more.

Sorry mate. Never goes well when one jumps in without reading back far enough... Just too lazy sometimes, you understand.

I tend to react strongly to posters who use anecdotes to argue that there are no significant differences between school systems in countries like UK/Canada and Thailand/Indonesia. But, that's not really what you were doing.

Back to my cigar. Cheers

[Pattaya28]

So, Thai pupils spend 5 times more than their counterparts being educated.

And the end result ??

No lights on motor bikes at night, no safety helmets (worn on head), and many ride their motor bikes against the traffic.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Pattaya28

[DrTuner]

So, Thai pupils spend 5 times more than their counterparts being educated.

And the end result ??

No lights on motor bikes at night, no safety helmets (worn on head), and many ride their motor bikes against the traffic.

Time spent on a task has never been a guarantee on end results. One simply learns how to shut off a part of the brain and go with the flow. Absolutely wrong approach when trying to learn something.

[Thai at Heart]

My daughter's average school week is six days, not five.

Monday to Friday: start 8:00am finish 4:30 pm........8 and a half hours per day.

Saturday: start 8:00am finish 3:30pm.........7 and a half hours

Total...............................50 hours per week

x40 weeks per year

2000 hours per year in total

Admittedly that's at the bottom end but a lot of students also have private tuition, not 1500 hours worth I should think but some do have a lot.

Wow I am glad I am not your daughter. How can you subject a child to such long hours - shame on you.

First of all I'm not saying the system is good or bad, just stating facts while you are obviously making comments without knowing the Thai educational system, or my family, at all!

Our daughter is now sixteen years old and has spent all her education in Thai schools apart from two tears in a UK school. We currently pay (the average?) 20-30,000 baht per year for her to go to a Catholic school run by Catholic nuns (who are highly unlikely to want to spend school funds on themselves or fast cars etc.)

The average school day at all (most) Thai schools is from 8:00 to 3:30 with the option of a further hour to 4:30. A large proportion (including our daughter) of students at the schools my daughter has attended stay for this extra hour to do homework because they can call on the teacher for help if needed. Most of the time our daughter only needs to do her homework at home when she needs to use her laptop and/or the internet. This extra hour was available from when she was seven years old and she asked us if she could do it!

Saturdays is another option that, again at the schools our daughter has attended, most students take up. In our daughters school it can be used for extra study on the pupils weaker subjects or just general revision on all subjects. Again our daughter first asked us if she could go on Saturdays when she was seven, to do extra English and computer studies, and has been going that ever since! During her junior school years she was never the best but was almost always in the top ten for her year and class sizes were 30+.

When she was eleven years old I needed to return to the UK for a few months so we decided to move there to give her (the benefit of?) a British secondary education. We chose a local academy close to where we live because, although a state school, it also received extra private funding and was considered one of the best schools in the area. She was put in a middle class out of eight for her year and we immediately received praise from her teachers on how well she was doing. By the end of that first year she had been moved up to the top class (with each class containing 15 pupils). But she wasn't happy. She'd come home and say things like I'm not learning anything Dad, and the teachers haven't got time to teach us properly because they spend too much time stopping the naughty pupils from miss-behaving. And, especially during the first year, she'd come home after doing subjects like maths, science, IT studies and even English and say she already done the work in Thailand. The one praise that she did give the UK school was the amount of equipment available for all pupils. Thai schools don't have that luxury.

We had been prepared to stay in the UK for the duration of our daughter's education but, after two years, we considered everything and decided to move back to Thailand.

And here's the crunch!! When we went to enroll her at the Thai Catholic school she had to do and entrance exam for assessment. After just two years in the UK school he was behind in almost every subject and had to drop back a year to catch up. Had it just been Thai language we would had considered extra tuition to catch up but it was almost everything.

I have only known one other family that have returned to Thailand and, like our daughter their's was also behind. They were away for three years though.

Just one last curious point. Over the twenty years or so I have been coming to, and lived in Thailand I have known a lot of people who've taken their children, of varying ages, to the UK. Most, but by no means all, had originally been brought up in the village by grandparents and attended the local village government schools, which are probably some of the worst in Thailand. If the UK education was so superior you would expect those Thai children to be way behind and struggle, But they don't. (almost) All of them do well right from the start. Strange, and, so far, nobody can explain why.

I reckon your anecdote can be explained very simply. Perhaps the school you chose in the UK was sh1tty.

If you'd put her in a very top school perhaps she'd been behind. Perhaps not. Perhaps she would do well in any school. Perhaps she's brilliant and/or very hard working.

Nothing of what you said would suggest that the school system (overall) in Thailand is better than any (overall) in the west or most of Asia.

You have simply given a single experience at 2 schools among tens of thousands in the two countries.

Lastly, if your anecdote correctly described the country more generally, surely Thailand would be doing far better than the UK across any significant area of measure. But, we all know that's not true. Thailand can't compete with the UK or any Western countries or more other Asian countries in any important measure.

So, where does our argument go from here?

My kids just came back. In some subjects they are up to speed others not. How the op would have been up to speed in say French god knows.

I was very fortunate and went to great schools and spent quite a lot on privately educating my kids in thailand to keep them up to speed linguistically. They were top or close to top in their school in thailand.

I came back because there is a very highly rated comprehensive where we will live. I think what the op possibly missed and I had forgotten this about school, is the type of work undertaken in the uk curriculum. Kids are not expected to just regurgitate facts.

They are expected to analyse, critique and provide reasoned views. My son is getting to the idea that he can provide opinions if they are reasoned.

At the end of the day I was not going to allow my kids to be taught academic subjects by a bunch of part timers who took up teaching a week before. I understand that the thai system needs them, but do they really need to employ any farang who wants a job?

When I realised that the English program at the local school was staffed by guys who were running bars a year before that was the clincher. Maybe the kid is talented but comparing the uk curriculum and the thai and saying they are equal is a bit of a stretch I think.

To an age it's ok, but much beyond 12 and the gap gets too wide in terms of how the kids are expected to work.

[cup-O-coffee]

And people protest about Thaksin for making money from business deal; all of which have nothing to do with their children's educations, or taxation, or their cost of living, or their insurance, or daily and annual expenses...

People won't protest about their children's educations, or taxation, or their cost of living, or their insurance, or daily and annual expenses...

People would rather instead get caught up in meaningless political agendas which only benefit the elite when the smoke clears and all the beggars and peasants go back home to work twice as hard to get back on keel and break even.

It really does not make sense; what these people seem to think matters, and what does not matter.

Lunatics all!

[uptheos]

I know rates are low, but the interest received on this account is probably the lowest!

[sirchai]

Thailand's educational spending highest in the world

I would therefore conclude that Thai's are the smartest people in the world.

A. Either the numbers are wrong

B. The money never gets spent

Look at the cars some Deans are driving, look at their offices, equipped with very expensive sumptuous furniture, then you know, where the money is being spent. See how farang teachers are being treated, they are being kicked out with no reasons given, and replaced by Chinese teachers, who are being lured into the country with the promise to earn 25KTHB, but end up being paid only 15 to 18KTHB/month. Some teachers found out, that even their social security expenditures have not being paid. The whole system is ruled by the greed of those, who have access to the money given by the state and/or parents.

They also spend a lot of money on so called "educational tours" for the Thai teachers, which are in fact all expense paid holidays to all parts of the world, providing they spend a couple of hours at some university lecture.

And they're abusing..aeehh using social security money, where also foreigners pay in, to travel to such exotic places like Munich to spend some time at the Oktoberfest.

My son (15, M.3) had just told me yesterday, that the director of his school wanted to abuse...aeehh use a girl from M.2, who's thirteen, just turned fourteen.

Had worked at a well- known high school where the gay director always had "visitors" in form of his own students and "educated" them in sexual frustration.

My ex neighbors, all so called "Kathoyes," have no problems to "take a boy home for lunch". Had a rough time to see and not do something about it.

By the way, our son isn't somebody who makes "stories up.".Will go and by my doctorate degree now. Good day.-

[sirchai]

I think the article was inappropriately titled. Should have been Educational Budget, not Educational Spending. I would not be surprised if less than 10% of that budget goes to actual delivery of instruction. With so many schools and so little oversight, Education is a perfect budget to launder money to the hogs at the trough.

That said, even if the money got to the schools, the methods, training and curriculum seem to be designed to blunt and stunt any inclination a student may bring to school.

I was a teacher in USA and wished we had uniforms. Why? levels social class distinctions greatly. Gives students a sense that they are not just dropping by, but are there for a purpose. Easy to identify who belongs there and who doesn't. And I would argue that there is less pressure on parents budgets with uniforms: kid won't be crying for latest fashion etc. They have to wear something to school, and a uniform worn every day is less than trying to somehow keep up with fashion (and derision that may be heaped on poorer kids that don't have resources to keep up).

A real good one,and kids don't get killed, because of a pair of sneakers. It's not the students' uniforms that need a reform.

Those who wear the highly decorated, white uniforms with the license to hit innocent kids, and an IQ of almost nil, should be dismissed immediately.- .

[NHT]

I always was, and will continue to laugh about

puppets pretending to be better than a puppeteer, or

an egg not hatched, yet, playing a cock already

or, a Tha* tell they are the best.

They sure are, best in entertaining.

Besides all this laugh -

parents have to pay on average Bt25,000-35,000 per student each year

per year? is that all, or, could it be you meant that to be in a month?

Heck, I don't know how you count ;-)

My dear DR, Einstein, Professor ... at the world laughter Univeristy of Mahidol, next time before you make such noise, make sure you got your facts straight. You may be the highest in Thailand, no doubt, but let me guarantee you, not in the world.

Besides, if your students and parents spend ..., why is it that you slip back on the "quality" scale, in Asia alone?

And where are all this wizbits?

I wouldn't even dare to juxtapose Thai with greater Asia, and you, you claim the world?

Thank you, at least I found my reason today to laugh

[Chao Lao Beach]

speechless..

I agree

[HaleySabai]

Sure, I see numerous high-budget buildings recently constructed in and around the CM campus,all empty and with no apparent future function. Wife says the 'Mantra' in the CMU Faculty is to "spend" the budget so key people can "skim" the budget...... Corruption 101!