I followed my niece's 5 year old daughter Annie to her primary school in the northern Bankok suburb of Rangsit. She attends a modest private Thai school where the fees are around 40,000 baht or 800 pounds sterling a year and the day seems to follow the same set pattern each day.

After observing and filming this at first hand it had given me a greater understanding of how the Thai psyche or the concept of 'Thainess' and a respect for authority and hierarchy - the 'pi-nong' relationship evolves and is programmed into Thai children via the education system. Each day being same same but different !

The children were uber well behaved compared to their western counterparts and the authority of the teachers is unquestioned and at the centre of the pupil-school relationship. Also interesting to note that British schools have almost become fortresses since the tragic Dunblane school shooting massacre in the 1990's and the thought of an adult videoing children and putting them on the internet would be unthinkable and forbidden in the UK sad to say.

"the authority of the teachers is unquestioned"

Yes, and so is their instruction/teaching unquestioned by the children

"the authority of the teachers is unquestioned"

Yes, and so is their instruction/teaching unquestioned by the children

i dont see the harm in that, as the "the 'pi-nong' relationship" is something teaches mutual respect as well.

the danger comes if the parents then fail to build on that by delivering common sense, basic thinking and the fact that the world is actually bigger than from village sign to village sign.

One of the many problems with the education system is that kids don't learn to think for themselves.

They learn to to shout the lessons in a group, if you ask them individual they can't reproduce it.

The teacher is always right, even if she turns a picture of goat in to a donkey!

Kids don't dare to ask a question because the others will laugh at the ones that didn't understand it.

And nobody can fail, so even if you've been sleeping the whole year you'll move on!

i can see why there is a strong feeling from some expats that they want to have their kids taught at a very expensive international school or risk losing their kids to 'Thainess'.

Good vid ....Im an ex teacher and often wonder what our 4 year old luuk krung laan sao ( child half grand daughter)does at school.

And theres nothing wrong with rote learning - the critics all seem to have forgotten that that was how their grand parents learnt and Im sure those old folk were not idiots.

Its at home and in the real world that the other half of a childs education takes place.

Providing a stimulating, warm and experiential home environment is where the majority of their real learning will occur.

My girls went to a local kindergarten (not cheap at 100k a year) and they learned practically nothing. We moved them to a moderately priced international school, where they are very happy and they are doing very well. In fact my 7 year old can already spell better than some of my friends.

I hope all continues to go well with your daughters education in Thailand and continues to go well

I don't have any knowledge or comment on the learning experience but 40,000 baht for annual fee sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Thanks for the vid, interesting insight.

very nice, but is it education or indoctrination?