Talk of 'good deeds passports' spurs doubt, cool response: Thailand

[belg]

my advice would be : national bully reporting database

[Jonmarleesco]

Ignoring the overtly nationalistic aspects of this scheme, the education ministry and the governing heads, whether military or civilian, would do well to bear in mind that such exemplary characteristics should be seen as a top down policy.

[Jonmarleesco]

Attending anti-govt protest gets 1 point per day. Can this little red book be used to enter heaven too?

There is just no one, no government agency, department or ministry that licks boots faster than the Education Ministry. They were on this before General Sarit finished the phrase "... and country-loving students" last Friday night. Dreadful people, all of them, first of all this woman claiming "Oh, it was just an idea". Nonsense. It will be rammed down the little darlings' throats with an extra verse of the national anthem and elimination of several math classes to study the history of glorious Siamese military expeditions and defences, because, as one knows, "Siam has always been at war with Burma".

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The extra verse to be included with the national anthem now to be played at schools twice daily, morning and lunchtime. Shudder.

I am so glad I have got my kids a long way away from this type of thing. On the surface it seems innocent but reality is, it is indoctrination of the most obvious kind.

Or brain washing.

[zaZa9]

Totally against this idea.

The opportunities for it to be manipulated are enormous.

[Merryman88]

I see we are a cynical bunch here, but let's pull our fangs back for a moment. Rewarding students to "be good" in context of civil society is a great idea. Call it what you want, (badges, stamps, passport, report card) whatever the mechanism, it may be necessary. Educators try to provide incentives (at least they did in my day) for children to learn, even if it is (was) propaganda. The point being that as a society, we learn to be trained. As a retired teacher myself, in today's brave new world I see a complete lack of training to the light side of the force. But there is an overwhelming incentive to move to the dark side, as mentioned in this thread many times. Kids are bombarded with crap 24x7, and educators are at a loss, with no "Iron Dome" to deploy. So a good deed report card, why not? Why not note in a student's record the good that they have accomplished to date, just as vigorously as we note the transgressions? Any parent alive (that is mentally functional) knows this technique. "If you behave this way, good things will happen...if you behave that way, watch out." If a parent forgets a child's good behavior and focuses on the bad, all the child get's from that is a degeneration into the underworld. What mechanism that you use is irrelevant, as long as reverence is achieved. By this screed so far you can see I am a bit passionate on the topic... and that's because I grew up inside probably the greatest public school system ever devised by man to date (I am a 60's child) - but one that has now fallen to one of the worst, in just a few short decades. Sure we were brainwashed to think the Commies were set to blow the bejesus out of our country and lifestyle at any moment, and that your classroom desk was your protection during a duck and cover drill... but we were also taught there is a difference between right and wrong, regardless of the doublespeak used... we were trained to follow the "right" path... to follow the light. And as we learned that light comes in many shades of gray, we grew better goggles that filtered out the crap. God help the children of today, who are born and then left in the dark.

"Brave new World" what a load of tosh manners should be a common decency of the young not for what you receive but what you achieve , I've already had enough of this silly idea !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TallPalm]

What they need are school diaries like we have in Britain. In it the students write their homework for each day which the teacher signs the next lesson (or whenever it's due) if they have done it. If they haven't they get a discredit. Discredits are also given for bad behaviour, being unreasonably late or similar misdeeds. 3 discredits and they get a detention - 1 hour litter picking after school on a Friday. At the moment there is very little discipline and no punishment for either bad behaviour, not doing homework or unreasonably poor performance e.g. sitting in class and literally doing nothing because they can get away with it. 3 detentions in a term and they get sent to the Headmaster (Director / Principle), a letter gets sent to the parents informing them of the child's continued misbehaviour and warning of what other punishments may consist of i.e. full week detentions (standing outside the headmaster's office each break and lunch time + detention on a Friday), suspension and expulsion.

Diaries also record 'commendations' received for good work and praise worthy behaviour (helpfulness etc.) 3 commendations are rewarded by a certificate, 3 certificates in one term are rewarded by a significant certificate and a prize e.g. a fairly decent fountain pen or similar (our school used to give Parker pens I believe). The certificates and special certificates + rewards / gifts were handed out each Friday at assembly - this acts encouragement as these are proud moments for the students. Students that were renowned for receiving these certificates were in the higher years made 'Prefects' that helped monitor behaviour of other students and were seen as students of respectability.

The diaries were also signed by the parents each week so that they can not only keep track of their child's performance but to show interest and play an active role in their child's educational development - something that I feel is rather lacking here (most parents from what I've experienced just want their children to get a 'pass' grade, whether they've actually learnt anything or not).

Edited July 24, 2014 by TallPalm