Half children!: Encounters with Thais/schools

[kennypowers]

I find this part really strange: Wife goes to talk around..comes back even more shocked! She says: " Everyone says: Did you not realise?

Your children are not 100% Thai. They will never be
accepted as 'Thai' even if they become TV stars!"
Have you encountered this? How did/would you deal with it? What are the kids supposed to think/do?

Because... Thais are so quick to claim famous luuk rreung TV soap stars as Thai. If they are white and beautiful they are considered Thai. There seems to be an increasing amount of these racist stories popping up. I guess this is inevitable because the dynamics are changing. Previously it was the odd farang living here and there and one didn't see too many luuk kreung; so it was novelty. But now it's pretty much an everyday occurrence to see a handful of foreign "residents" on any carriage of the BTS/MRT in BKK, and for one child in a group of Thai teenagers to be luuk kreung. So perhaps now this is considered by some to be a problem. "They'll be taking over in years to come if we don't stop it now" - kind of attitude. Sounds much like the UK

[hansnl]

Half children

What is the remaining half? Machine? Animal?

I am sure this choice of words here is not very constructive. People of mixed ethnic originals are full Thai nationals, and often have twice as much to offer through a dual exposure to different cultures.

The remaining half, and that is chrystal clear, is ALIEN.

The whole thing is, most Thai/western children stick out.

They mostly speak better English as the teacher, which is of course a no-no.

Also, the children have mixed values, which is of course abhorrent for real Thai.

[khunbillmex]

My Thai/Mexican/American daughter is a red head [bright copper] . She, from an early age has been sensitive to excess attention paid to her here in MX and overwhelmed with it in LOS. As soon as we sell here in MX [proably never] we'll move to KK. My wife has been thinking of dying the child's hair a darker shade.

[kennypowers]

Other than a very select few, the whole international school malarky is incredibly hit and miss.

I'd say maybe a dozen, but more like eight are truly worthy of the label.

Past the top twenty and they're not "hit and miss" but just flat-out woeful.

Pretty straightforward indicators of quality:

• Tuition at least half a million per child per year, plus food, transport, trips etc. Best are up to 800K once you get to secondary/sixth form.
• No school run by Thais comes close. No Thais in pedagogical management over teachers, only admin/business, headmaster shields all foreign staff from owner's whims.
• All home-room and academic subject teachers (other than Thai language) are genuine native speakers, vast majority hired from overseas, lots of young western couples. No Filipinos or subcontinent except at TA level, maybe PE or art, music and then are truly talented specialists. Teacher salaries on par with those back home, with bennies actually higher.
• Higher proportion of students with foreign passports the better, and note even the best count luk krung as foreign even if Daddy's only home two weekends a month.
• And of course, the bottom line: more than a handful of students get into the elite international universities. Unfortunately the majority of these will tend to be the Thai kids, who for whatever reason (cough cough Tiger Moms) just flat-out work harder than the farang.

You wouldn't happen to have a list of these top schools would you? Just for future reference?

[soalbundy]

I have a son Thai/British 6 years old here in Isaan. he has been in the pre-school section of the village school since he was 4 years old. Never had any problems,he speaks both Thai and English fluently. When the teacher teaches English to the class she asks him to help with the pronunciation. If i did meet any such racism i would immediately consult with a lawyer concerning the laws in Thailand and on the possibility of suing the school.

I think the problem lies not so much with racism as more to do with embarrassing the English teachers who despite their qualifications aren't very competent with the language. The last thing they want is a smart Alex kid correcting them in front of the class.

I do know of a case where the British farang's Thai step daughter (she learnt all her English from him since she was a baby) was continually slapped on the hand with a ruler for correcting the teacher. When the farang confronted the teacher he found that her English was so bad that she couldn't make herself understood. He brought his wife along to translate and informed her he would inform the police and prosecute her for assault if it didn't stop and in addition would sue her privately for mental stress caused to his daughter. It all stopped.

[yourauntbob]

sounds like the school is worried that the teachers might need to actually answer some questions and have a clue on what they are talking about. Thai schools certainly dont want that.

[wym]

You wouldn't happen to have a list of these top schools would you? Just for future reference?

Ones I have direct experience with I can recommend:

Bangkok Patana

NIST

ISB

Shrewsbury

Harrow

Negative feedback or general reputation via the teacher grapevine (AKA hearsay), run names past me via PM.

[Khon Thai Ben Khon Dee]

My daughter is LK and 22 years old. She will finish her art "studies" (i use the term very loosely after seeing her facebook pages) in London in the summer and wants to come to Thailand to be a teacher. She has dual nationality, speaks Thai but cannot write, but do you think that she will face discrimination, or difficulties ?

A friend's daughter just returned to Thailand after 10 years away.

Educated in an Int. School in BKK to the age of 12. Then in Australia for secondary and tertiary. She just got a job teaching and the agency told the school she was half-Chinese and told her to go along with it. The school has had a lot of resentment issues from the Thai teachers against the foreign English teachers there (shoes thrown in toilets etc.) and they think it would be too risky to have a known half-Thai but Westernized English teacher there as the Thai teachers might explode and kill her for daring to be so.

[Jonmarleesco]

Didn't a recent 'rhetorical' question on the site ask about racism versus prejudice? Apart from the fact that we again have Thais who fail to realise that Thailand isn't the centre of the universe - not even the Asean one - any incidents of racism in most other countries invariably lead to the involvement of human rights groups, international as well as domestic, and to publicity, usually adverse. To start with, why not bring it to the attention of local human rights groups and local media, plus, of course, social media sites?

[Jonmarleesco]

My daughter is LK and 22 years old. She will finish her art "studies" (i use the term very loosely after seeing her facebook pages) in London in the summer and wants to come to Thailand to be a teacher. She has dual nationality, speaks Thai but cannot write, but do you think that she will face discrimination, or difficulties ?

A friend's daughter just returned to Thailand after 10 years away.

Educated in an Int. School in BKK to the age of 12. Then in Australia for secondary and tertiary. She just got a job teaching and the agency told the school she was half-Chinese and told her to go along with it. The school has had a lot of resentment issues from the Thai teachers against the foreign English teachers there (shoes thrown in toilets etc.) and they think it would be too risky to have a known half-Thai but Westernized English teacher there as the Thai teachers might explode and kill her for daring to be so.

Shoes thrown in toilets? Is that a peculiarly Thai teacher thing, or are you referring to the foreign teachers?

[hookedondhamma]

My daughter is LK and 22 years old. She will finish her art "studies" (i use the term very loosely after seeing her facebook pages) in London in the summer and wants to come to Thailand to be a teacher. She has dual nationality, speaks Thai but cannot write, but do you think that she will face discrimination, or difficulties ?

A friend's daughter just returned to Thailand after 10 years away.

Educated in an Int. School in BKK to the age of 12. Then in Australia for secondary and tertiary. She just got a job teaching and the agency told the school she was half-Chinese and told her to go along with it. The school has had a lot of resentment issues from the Thai teachers against the foreign English teachers there (shoes thrown in toilets etc.) and they think it would be too risky to have a known half-Thai but Westernized English teacher there as the Thai teachers might explode and kill her for daring to be so.

shoes in toilets? ! Sounds like children throwing temper tantrums.

[Sam Gold]

Half children

What is the remaining half? Machine? Animal?

I am sure this choice of words here is not very constructive. People of mixed ethnic originals are full Thai nationals, and often have twice as much to offer through a dual exposure to different cultures.

Unfortunately xenophobia can't be reasoned with.

I bet the same woman who said that luk kreungs aren't worthy of her school has unnaturally white skin and has silicon in her nose or dreams of doing it.

Hate farangs but want to look like them - The Thai paradox. Fascinating.

[kennypowers]

You wouldn't happen to have a list of these top schools would you? Just for future reference?

Ones I have direct experience with I can recommend:

Bangkok Patana

NIST

ISB

Shrewsbury

Harrow

Negative feedback or general reputation via the teacher grapevine (AKA hearsay), run names past me via PM.

Thank you for that. I'll take up that PM offer nearer the time. Cheers.

[Khon Thai Ben Khon Dee]

^ Thais threw the foreign teacher's shoes in the toilets.

There was a bit of an uproar over it.

[SNGLIFE]

@OP - My 100% Thai daughter is discriminated against because I am her father and she is a top 10 student. Top 10 in the region and top 20 in the nation, that is. I homeschool her on weekends and she whips through USA standardized math exams a grade above where she is at scoring 93% or better and writes children's novel chapter summaries as English practice. She is darker skinned and I am not Caucasian. The school HATES that she is so much better. Still, they strut her out to compete academically all over the country and has never finished worse than bronze.

A child's learning is determined by the parents. Not the schools. We send her to public school to have friends - not to learn. She does accidentally learn a little, but I end up correcting most of the crap they "teach" her. That is the REAL struggle with sending her to public school.

I am homeschooling my son (leuk krung) just as I did my daughter to age 7. I KNOW he will have a rough go of it with harassment by students and teachers. I witnessed what happened with my daughter (they assumed she was my biological child until she had to start vociferously denying it so they would leave her alone). He is a boy and actually is half Thai. I see fist fights in his future (as I experienced growing up in the USA being the only minority most times) were I to send him to public schools. But luckily, someone where we live is launching what will very likely be a school with a leuk krung majority. He should fit in much better there because the parents are not like the ignorant parents of most Thai children!

[geriatrickid]

Well, my son's doctor, in explaining some health issues to us, told us that half breed kids have this skin problem. I tormented her for saying that.

Idiots!!

Is this one of those doctors supporting Suthep?

[utkb]

Did you consider the head master may have been fishing for a "gift" and was just clumsy about the way they asked for it?

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Beetlejuice]

@OP - My 100% Thai daughter is discriminated against because I am her father and she is a top 10 student. Top 10 in the region and top 20 in the nation, that is. I homeschool her on weekends and she whips through USA standardized math exams a grade above where she is at scoring 93% or better and writes children's novel chapter summaries as English practice. She is darker skinned and I am not Caucasian. The school HATES that she is so much better. Still, they strut her out to compete academically all over the country and has never finished worse than bronze.

A child's learning is determined by the parents. Not the schools. We send her to public school to have friends - not to learn. She does accidentally learn a little, but I end up correcting most of the crap they "teach" her. That is the REAL struggle with sending her to public school.

I am homeschooling my son (leuk krung) just as I did my daughter to age 7. I KNOW he will have a rough go of it with harassment by students and teachers. I witnessed what happened with my daughter (they assumed she was my biological child until she had to start vociferously denying it so they would leave her alone). He is a boy and actually is half Thai. I see fist fights in his future (as I experienced growing up in the USA being the only minority most times) were I to send him to public schools. But luckily, someone where we live is launching what will very likely be a school with a leuk krung majority. He should fit in much better there because the parents are not like the ignorant parents of most Thai children!

Life must be very stressful and challenging for you in Thailand.

It`s very strange because in all my 30 years here, my family and I have never had problems with prejudice or discrimination, just the opposite in fact, as we have been welcomed and accepted everywhere we go in Thailand. Of my three children, who all have a farang appearance and were popular at school and university, 1 son is a policeman in Chiang Mai, another son will soon qualify to become a Thai lawyer and my daughter is a secretary in one of the well known banks. So how do you explain this?

Perhaps you have attitude problems or your kids have attitude problems or maybe even an inferiority or persecution complex, have you thought of that? Otherwise I would describe this as just another Thai bashing thread.

[ralewis]

Shocking!

Being half thai and half caucasian myself, I've never experienced such racism from schools

however I was sent to International schools ever since I got out of Kindergarten, so it was just me being sent to a place filled with more people like me.

I did notice dirty glares from thai students whenever me and my friends walk around or go hangout in popular teen hangout places at the time, but I figured it was rather their disdain for international school students instead of race

Don't send your child to such a school, they are your child after all and time spent in school can really dictate what kind of young adult they will become.

Goodluck!

PS. you'd think seeing so many halfies on TV they'd favor them!

[H1w4yR1da]

Your children are not 100% Thai. They will never be accepted as 'Thai'

And for this, you should thank your lucky stars.

Why anyone would want to be Thai is beyond me!

[H1w4yR1da]

Perhaps you have attitude problems or your kids have attitude problems or maybe even an inferiority or persecution complex, have you thought of that? Otherwise I would describe this as just another Thai bashing thread.

Yeah, blame the victim as we all know that in your eyes, Thais can do no wrong and are above criticism. It has to be bashing, doesn't it?

Your posts are notorious for whitewashing and excusing bad Thai behavior.

Just because the events in the quoted post haven't happened to you doesn't mean they don't happen to others. Or did to that poster's children.

And I'd recommend your keep quiet about the fact that your son is a Thai policeman as we all know what the Thai Police are like.

[Khon Thai Ben Khon Dee]

My daughter is LK and 22 years old. She will finish her art "studies" (i use the term very loosely after seeing her facebook pages) in London in the summer and wants to come to Thailand to be a teacher. She has dual nationality, speaks Thai but cannot write, but do you think that she will face discrimination, or difficulties ?

A friend's daughter just returned to Thailand after 10 years away.

Educated in an Int. School in BKK to the age of 12. Then in Australia for secondary and tertiary. She just got a job teaching and the agency told the school she was half-Chinese and told her to go along with it. The school has had a lot of resentment issues from the Thai teachers against the foreign English teachers there (shoes thrown in toilets etc.) and they think it would be too risky to have a known half-Thai but Westernized English teacher there as the Thai teachers might explode and kill her for daring to be so.

shoes in toilets? ! Sounds like children throwing temper tantrums.

Yes, two of them (Thai staff, not children) were caught on CCTV.

Not from the area, but unknown to them the video from a classroom next to the toilets could see them.

You can imagine the dramatics that followed.

The following term the new Westernized LK woman who started there was told to say that she is half-Chinese and not half-Thai, as not to be victimized and bullied by the Thai teachers for the betrayal of daring to be a half-Thai English teacher earning what they do in their school.

Edited February 12, 2014 by Khon Thai Ben Khon Dee

[Beetlejuice]

Perhaps you have attitude problems or your kids have attitude problems or maybe even an inferiority or persecution complex, have you thought of that? Otherwise I would describe this as just another Thai bashing thread.

Yeah, blame the victim as we all know that in your eyes, Thais can do no wrong and are above criticism. It has to be bashing, doesn't it?

Your posts are notorious for whitewashing and excusing bad Thai behavior.

Just because the events in the quoted post haven't happened to you doesn't mean they don't happen to others. Or did to that poster's children.

And I'd recommend your keep quiet about the fact that your son is a Thai policeman as we all know what the Thai Police are like.

As I said; it must be very stressful and challenging for some living in Thailand. The persecuted and the oppressed.

I certainly would not want to live in a foreign country where I was a victim and believed everyone around me hated my guts, hated those in authority such as the police and other officials, had no faith in the Thai system here at all and had nothing but contempt for most things Thai. BTW, what do you think the Thai police are like? Do they specifically pick on you like others seem to pick on some posters on here.

I am not whitewashing or excusing bad Thai behaviour, because as strange as this may seem to you, my family and I actually love living here. Or do you believe my situation is unique?

I keep my head down, keep a low profile, made an effort to adapt into a Thai orientated society, not because I`m a Thai wanabie, but because I live here and want to enjoy and make the best of it.

All I can say is; for those who for them, Thailand has not met their expectations, than why stay here? Rather than keep moaning and griping about how you are all victimised here, because no one has sympathies for the losers and the long and suffering. And this is not a why don`t you go home message.

[unanimosity]

The Head Teacher is quite right to be concerned, the issue is disruption to the learning speed of the class. Why not tell him/her that you've given your child explicit instruction to learn at half his/her normal speed thus allowing the rest of the class to keep up.

It is more than just the work ethic and intelligence, it is the xenophobic fear that the myths, superstition, and mistakes rampant in Thai schools will come to light and--God forbid--those impure students might even ask teachers questions.

Thai parents and educators seem okay with teachers like the one referenced in a post here at TV a few years back where the poster explained that his kid came home from school with what he had learned that day, that according to the teacher lions are female and tigers are male.

[lucjoker]

Tell the teacher that he did not understand the question,

tell him your 5 year old is applying for a job as head teacher

since he knows more than him .And that the little boy can prove it !

laugh and say that very important people in thailand are not even born in thailand !

[Emster23]

Being half cast or half breed can not be changed.

We can start using a more neutral language that does not legitimise discrimination, by insinuating these are improper people.

I agree with you completely.

Only used this terminology to emphasize the Thai problem.

It is not mine and not OP family problem, but it is here and very real.

Half-caste (not half cast, btw) and half-child are not really that un-PC to be honest. I find the term African American more insulting, for someone who has never left America never mind been to Africa. Never mind that White South-Africans are not allowed to compete in some school's African American games in the States.

Eurasian sounds a bit crap.

Perhaps call them DC's. For Doubly-Cultured.

Though that would go against so many Westerners here not wanting their child to undergo any sort of Thai culturisms.

Brought to mind all the derision Theresa Heinz-Kerry got when she said she is African American: born in Madagascar and naturalized US citizen. More African than American blacks, but Caucasian ethnicity. And anyway, the largest city in Africa is Cairo, hardly a "black" city.

[unanimosity]

The Head Teacher is quite right to be concerned, the issue is disruption to the learning speed of the class. Why not tell him/her that you've given your child explicit instruction to learn at half his/her normal speed thus allowing the rest of the class to keep up.

It is more than just the work ethic and intelligence, it is the xenophobic fear that the myths, superstition, and mistakes rampant in Thai schools will come to light and--God forbid--those impure students might even ask teachers questions.

Thai parents and educators seem okay with teachers like the one referenced in a post here at TV a few years back where the poster explained that his kid came home from school with what he had learned that day, that according to the teacher lions are female and tigers are male.

[belg]

find a good bilingual school and the problem should be gone?

im glad to here my girls have at least another luk kreung in their class.. and they seem to like each other

[Thai at Heart]

<p>

Other than a very select few, the whole international school malarky is incredibly hit and miss.

I'd say maybe a dozen, but more like eight are truly worthy of the label.

Past the top twenty and they're not "hit and miss" but just flat-out woeful.

Pretty straightforward indicators of quality:

• Tuition at least half a million per child per year, plus food, transport, trips etc. Best are up to 800K once you get to secondary/sixth form.
• No school run by Thais comes close. No Thais in pedagogical management over teachers, only admin/business, headmaster shields all foreign staff from owner's whims.
• All home-room and academic subject teachers (other than Thai language) are genuine native speakers, vast majority hired from overseas, lots of young western couples. No Filipinos or subcontinent except at TA level, maybe PE or art, music and then are truly talented specialists. Teacher salaries on par with those back home, with bennies actually higher.
• Higher proportion of students with foreign passports the better, and note even the best count luk krung as foreign even if Daddy's only home two weekends a month.
• And of course, the bottom line: more than a handful of students get into the elite international universities. Unfortunately the majority of these will tend to be the Thai kids, who for whatever reason (cough cough Tiger Moms) just flat-out work harder than the farang.

I left because of the cost and dire quality of the international schools. They aren't a patch on private day school or top state schools in the uk.

Comparing them with boarding schools in the uk is chalk and cheese. I can think of about 6 that from stories of friends and teachers are ok.

[Thai at Heart]

Perhaps you have attitude problems or your kids have attitude problems or maybe even an inferiority or persecution complex, have you thought of that? Otherwise I would describe this as just another Thai bashing thread.

Yeah, blame the victim as we all know that in your eyes, Thais can do no wrong and are above criticism. It has to be bashing, doesn't it?

Your posts are notorious for whitewashing and excusing bad Thai behavior.

Just because the events in the quoted post haven't happened to you doesn't mean they don't happen to others. Or did to that poster's children.

And I'd recommend your keep quiet about the fact that your son is a Thai policeman as we all know what the Thai Police are like.

As I said; it must be very stressful and challenging for some living in Thailand. The persecuted and the oppressed.

I certainly would not want to live in a foreign country where I was a victim and believed everyone around me hated my guts, hated those in authority such as the police and other officials, had no faith in the Thai system here at all and had nothing but contempt for most things Thai. BTW, what do you think the Thai police are like? Do they specifically pick on you like others seem to pick on some posters on here.

I am not whitewashing or excusing bad Thai behaviour, because as strange as this may seem to you, my family and I actually love living here. Or do you believe my situation is unique?

I keep my head down, keep a low profile, made an effort to adapt into a Thai orientated society, not because I`m a Thai wanabie, but because I live here and want to enjoy and make the best of it.

All I can say is; for those who for them, Thailand has not met their expectations, than why stay here? Rather than keep moaning and griping about how you are all victimised here, because no one has sympathies for the losers and the long and suffering. And this is not a why don`t you go home message.

That's all good until u realise that the education is absolutely c**p.