Burmese boy won top prize in Thai Handwriting contest

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He has brought fame to the school. What they dont say is that a foreign immigrant gas mastered thai writing and shown through his diligence and dedication to study how lazy thai students are. Hats off to this burmese kid. Maybe somewhere in this country a thai student will see the shame of having a foreigner do better than a thai writing in thai language.

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By God it didn't take long did it till someone came along and slagged off an entire Nations children because one young hard working student who is not considered Thai won a prize! Do you know anything about the school work life of children aged 5-16 in this country? My 6 year old daughter currently has an hour or more of homework every single night, more homework than a kid in the UK the same age would get in a month. EVERY night (and that is without the time she takes to practice reading in Thai and English). Her mates have to go to 2 hrs extra classes on a Saturday AND Sunday, I simply refuse to cave in and send my daughter as she has little enough time to be a child as it is. She has also just had exams! Studying for exams at 6 years old! Do not tell me Thai kids are lazy because of one gifted young boy!!

Back to the OP, I was disappointed by this statement

Although born and grew up in Thailand, Yaza is considered as a Burmese immigrant.

Thailand really needs to sort itself out in respect of immigration, birth rights etc etc.

Congratulations to the young boy, his achievements will bring untold pride to his parents if he is from a poor back ground. I hope he continues to have the chance to develop and achieve.

Apperently you dont read the news very often about thai students. They have the most classroom hours per week than any other country. The families pay more per annum for education than most in the world. Their testing skills are beloe average than most kids in the world and the percentage of students who can read and write their own language even after graduation from universities is riduculiuously low. Who cares how many classes they take if they dont practise and if they are not diligent and dedicated and try. The Burmese boy went above and beyond what the normal thai kid is willing to do and it shows now with this contest

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whaaaaaat???

Most classroom hours?

What?

Lets see... (all middle school):

Japan: Start at 7.00ish, Assembly, home room and pre-chool clubs. classes begin around 8.10, 4 lessons in the morning at 50 minutes per lesson. 12.40ish classes end. Lunchy! 1.30, classes begin again. Usually 2 more classes. Class ends at around 3.10. Cleaning time for ten to twenty minutes. Then after school activities for M1 and M2. These last until around 5.30ish. One Saturday a month of extra classes (usually just sports though). Grade three students will usually end up going to Juku (private after school classes).

Korea: All lessons were 40 minutes. Students arrive at 8 to 8.20. Actual classes begin at 9. Four lessons in the morning. Lunch time around 12.30ish. One hour lunch break then another 4 lessons in the afternoon. Classes also on a Saturday morning. School finishes at 5pm on the dot. (kids almost en masse get an hour at home before being shuffled to Hagwon until 9 or 10pm - they often have 2 hours homework on top of this per day).

China: Kids are at school around 7.30am. Classes begin at 8 and are 45 minutes. They have two lessons, then a reasonable break (usually mass exercise - running around the race track) then another two lessons. Lunch is 1 hour 20 minutes OFFICIALLY, but almost every school seems to squeeze in one more (unofficial) class after the 30 minutes allocated for the eating part of the lunch break. They then have four more classes. break is standard 10 minutes between classes. Everyone goes home around 5. No honest idea what happens to P6/M3/M6 students because as Foreign English teachers we rarely see them (theyre too busy for "mickey mouse" classes like ours, (i imagine the argument goes)). Students are LOADED with homework. Seriously loaded.

Thailand: Kids get to school around 7.30. Actual classes begin around 8.30. Classes are 1 hour long. There are no designated breaks between the classes (a personal bug bear of mine), Lunch was 50 minutes. They had 2 classes in the afternoon. At 3.30 we all went home. There were some after school clubs, but it seemed entirely voluntary compared to the Japanese system where you HAD to be in one of those clubs and HAD to attend for the full duration.

By my reckoning the kids in Korea have it BRUTAL for time, followed closely by China. Japan has a few more 'team building' type lessons and arguably has one of the longest school days (though not all traditional classroom based - though certainly mandatory), with Thailand actually propping up the rest of the table with the lightest school day.

Dont get me wrong. My own school day consisted of:

Classes start around 8.30am. Lessons were 40 minutes Do 2 lessons, then a 20 minute break. Then do two lessons followed by a lengthy lunch break 12.00-1.40. Come back. Do another 2 lessons, then a break, then another 2. Off home at 3.30ish with barely any homework. Have some tea, then out to play. Pretty easy life. I love doing the time line to wind up my students So im not criticising a light day (comparatively). It also doesnt necessarily impact on education so long as its well structured and organised. Chinese students for example are WASTED by around 7th period and really could do with a bit of fresh air like their Japanese counterparts to break it all up. Also the 7 and 8 classes in Korea were really just a Tuesday and Thursday thing.

Edited July 31, 2014 by inutil