78% of all new mothers in Bangkok are students

[oljoe]

I'm surprised that no-one has yet blamed the falangs for it!

[Pui]

UTTER rubbish

DON'T COME KNOCKIN IF THE CAR IS ROCKIN, THE COW DID A MOO, THIS RESEARCH IS DOO DOO

COMPLETE TOTAL AND UTTER DONKEY DUMP.

Yeah...I'm not buying it!

Edited August 31, 2006 by Pui

[farangtoone]

They dont have a chance to talk about it to their friends or parents in an open way (just because of the culture). How can they learn from another ones mistakes ..

[BlackJack]

what wonderful news

To know that the Thais are still living up to their reputation and that no one gives a tinkers cuss

And what makes me cry with glee is that the foreigners and the sex trade cant be blamed for it

Its the Thai's

this has made my day

[Pesche]

And we are surprised? Oh my Buddha!

On one side it is part of the natural process - "Kids having children" are worldwide in the sub-tropical and tropical belt - See Africa, India, South America - absolutely normal.

On the other side it is because of the moral (actually there is none here) of the society:

- Thai men (specially in rural areas) always want the youngest chick (even the own daughter! Sad but true)

- While sex is a taboo-talk, everybody is therefore even more curious about it

- Parents and society are NOT able to give sexual education as theyselves do not know!

My wife told me that when she received her first period, she went to her mother in panic:

Her mother just laughed without giving further comments!

I've explained to her, with the help of anatomical pictures of the female and male genitals how conception, pregnancy and birth happens. She was fascinated about the complexity and told me that it was the first time in her life she had seen this! She, my wife is 37 years old ! She has 14 brothers and sisters and, all sisters where like her: pregnant at 14!

And when they came home pregnant, the parents reacted (the usual way) asking who was the father and immediatelly discussing "the price" for the wedding!!!

- Look at the ridiculous and pathetic censorship in the movies.

This is the way the government/education reacts to this matter - it's sooooo obvious.

Anyway,

If you want a cold shower, I give you one about the 13% (I'm convinced it's much more then that) who where forced to sex:

It happened to in 1992:

I was invited by a very powerfull (not specially rich) family in Samutphrakan for dinner. We ate and drank a lot and at 03.00 we where all completely drunk and laughing. Then the father asked me if I liked his daughters. Politely I replied that they where lovely indeed.

Then he asked me if I would like to sleep with the eldest...

I politely told, that I don't sleep with a 15 years old child!

Smiling proudly he replied: Oh, she is good in bed - I teached her already...

[Pesche]

And we are surprised? Oh my Buddha!

On one side it is part of the natural process - "Kids having children" are worldwide in the sub-tropical and tropical belt - See Africa, India, South America - absolutely normal.

On the other side it is because of the moral (actually there is none here) of the society:

- Thai men (specially in rural areas) always want the youngest chick (even the own daughter! Sad but true)

- While sex is a taboo-talk, everybody is therefore even more curious about it

- Parents and society are NOT able to give sexual education as theyselves do not know!

My wife told me that when she received her first period, she went to her mother in panic:

Her mother just laughed without giving further comments!

I've explained to her, with the help of anatomical pictures of the female and male genitals how conception, pregnancy and birth happens. She was fascinated about the complexity and told me that it was the first time in her life she had seen this! She, my wife is 37 years old ! She has 14 brothers and sisters and, all sisters where like her: pregnant at 14!

And when they came home pregnant, the parents reacted (the usual way) asking who was the father and immediatelly discussing "the price" for the wedding!!!

- Look at the ridiculous and pathetic censorship in the movies.

This is the way the government/education reacts to this matter - it's sooooo obvious.

Anyway,

If you want a cold shower, I give you one about the 13% (I'm convinced it's much more then that) who where forced to sex:

It happened to in 1992:

I was invited by a very powerfull (not specially rich) family in Samutphrakan for dinner. We ate and drank a lot and at 03.00 we where all completely drunk and laughing. Then the father asked me if I liked his daughters. Politely I replied that they where lovely indeed.

Then he asked me if I would like to sleep with the eldest...

I politely told, that I don't sleep with a 15 years old child!

Smiling proudly he replied: Oh, she is good in bed - I teached her already...

[Donz]

This thread should be closed to to the utter rubbish.

I mean people wont read the article and just go away thinking nearly 80% of school girls in bangkok are pregnant.

[newworks]

until someone here reads the actual report in thai or english and can refute its conclusions, who are we to say that those conclusions are false? go ahead and argue with the headline, but you're sticking your head in the sand if you dismiss this report sight-unseen.

and these statistics are for BANGKOK??? i would very much like to know about similar statistics for UPCOUNTRY. that is where i'll wager even more underage pregnancies, rape, and other bad stuff happen.

this country is in serious need of a wakeup call somewhere along the lines of the AIDS crisis back in the early 90's. i am shocked and dismayed that there are so many kids here doing it without condoms, when 1 in 100 people in this country are HIV+, and the fastest-growing HIV+ segment of the population is college students! these are more statistics that a bunch of you will probably want to disagree with, but that's what the latest gov't reports say, if i remember correctly.

meanwhile, there was a guy from the education ministry on the news tuesday night saying that 2 out of every 3 schools in thailand fail to meet minimum education standards (he referred to these schools and "ICU", intensive care unit, iow, in very bad shape but still alive) , and another one 1 out of every 3 schools were so bad that they didn't even make ICU status; they are classified as "coma". this guy was calling for a complete overhaul of the education ministry and system from the top down. he also stressed that the effects of these deficiencies were not only academic, but also social, because the research showed that kids from these poor schools were not only lacking in academic skills, BUT ALSO IN MORAL AND SOCIAL EDUCATION.

shame on the gov't and thai society in general for allowing the sex trade here to thrive unchecked and unregulated on the backs of the underclass, while failing to see and address the ill effects that it has had on thai society as a whole.

education, people, EDUCATION! and not just for bangkok kids. for all thais! if you love this country as a whole and not just as a place to get your rocks off, i don't know how anyone can just brush off these statistics.

[BlackJack]

until someone here reads the actual report in thai or english and can refute its conclusions, who are we to say that those conclusions are false? go ahead and argue with the headline, but you're sticking your head in the sand if you dismiss this report sight-unseen.

and these statistics are for BANGKOK??? i would very much like to know about similar statistics for UPCOUNTRY. that is where i'll wager even more underage pregnancies, rape, and other bad stuff happen.

this country is in serious need of a wakeup call somewhere along the lines of the AIDS crisis back in the early 90's. i am shocked and dismayed that there are so many kids here doing it without condoms, when 1 in 100 people in this country are HIV+, and the fastest-growing HIV+ segment of the population is college students! these are more statistics that a bunch of you will probably want to disagree with, but that's what the latest gov't reports say, if i remember correctly.

meanwhile, there was a guy from the education ministry on the news tuesday night saying that 2 out of every 3 schools in thailand fail to meet minimum education standards (he referred to these schools and "ICU", intensive care unit, iow, in very bad shape but still alive) , and another one 1 out of every 3 schools were so bad that they didn't even make ICU status; they are classified as "coma". this guy was calling for a complete overhaul of the education ministry and system from the top down. he also stressed that the effects of these deficiencies were not only academic, but also social, because the research showed that kids from these poor schools were not only lacking in academic skills, BUT ALSO IN MORAL AND SOCIAL EDUCATION.

shame on the gov't and thai society in general for allowing the sex trade here to thrive unchecked and unregulated on the backs of the underclass, while failing to see and address the ill effects that it has had on thai society as a whole.

education, people, EDUCATION! and not just for bangkok kids. for all thais! if you love this country as a whole and not just as a place to get your rocks off, i don't know how anyone can just brush off these statistics.

please go back home

dont change thailand and the way they live

[Donz]

until someone here reads the actual report in thai or english and can refute its conclusions, who are we to say that those conclusions are false? go ahead and argue with the headline, but you're sticking your head in the sand if you dismiss this report sight-unseen.

and these statistics are for BANGKOK??? i would very much like to know about similar statistics for UPCOUNTRY. that is where i'll wager even more underage pregnancies, rape, and other bad stuff happen.

this country is in serious need of a wakeup call somewhere along the lines of the AIDS crisis back in the early 90's. i am shocked and dismayed that there are so many kids here doing it without condoms, when 1 in 100 people in this country are HIV+, and the fastest-growing HIV+ segment of the population is college students! these are more statistics that a bunch of you will probably want to disagree with, but that's what the latest gov't reports say, if i remember correctly.

meanwhile, there was a guy from the education ministry on the news tuesday night saying that 2 out of every 3 schools in thailand fail to meet minimum education standards (he referred to these schools and "ICU", intensive care unit, iow, in very bad shape but still alive) , and another one 1 out of every 3 schools were so bad that they didn't even make ICU status; they are classified as "coma". this guy was calling for a complete overhaul of the education ministry and system from the top down. he also stressed that the effects of these deficiencies were not only academic, but also social, because the research showed that kids from these poor schools were not only lacking in academic skills, BUT ALSO IN MORAL AND SOCIAL EDUCATION.

shame on the gov't and thai society in general for allowing the sex trade here to thrive unchecked and unregulated on the backs of the underclass, while failing to see and address the ill effects that it has had on thai society as a whole.

education, people, EDUCATION! and not just for bangkok kids. for all thais! if you love this country as a whole and not just as a place to get your rocks off, i don't know how anyone can just brush off these statistics.

Well its not rocket science to know these figure are a load of Sh1t.

There is no way that 8 out of 10 school students have kids in bangkok, if you believe something like that then it makes you look even more stupid

[PeaceBlondie]

Back to what ijustwannateach mentioned: there undoubtedly is teenage pregnancy among students, including young teenagers, but we'll never know how many. I worked in a city, with almost 7,000 students in two schools. No pregnant students were visible. And as an aside, only one wheelchair case (temporary), no amputees. We know how many motosai accident victims are amputees.

Two of my daughters got pg in high school. One was allowed to graduate magna cum laude, officer of the National Honor Society. The other was assigned, at her request, to a special school for pg girls (her boyfriend got to go to the same campus). Does Thailand provide for pregnant couples, or for severely handicapped students? At all?

I also seriously doubt the (ridiculous) 'survey' conclusion that most of the impregnators were schoolboys. Back home in the USA, they were usually much older males.

[Boomee]

When something like this comes along it almost sounds like its going to be the farangs fault,but as so many people have put it "it's a crock of bullshit".

[Buman]

I was missing the information on how many per cent of the young fathers were farang

[Donz]

I mean IF these stats were true then Uni student would have to go up to ATLEAST 90%.

Now nobody in there right mind would believe that, not even the Thai haters could make that sound even half true.

come one, have some common sence and close this silly thread

[Scott]

A couple of observations that need clarification:

1. What are they defining as sexual assault--are they using a legal definition or some other definition? Overage male/underage female is legally assault.

2. How does this fit into the overall birth trend in BKK (and in what time period)? The birth rate has been dropping significantly in Thailand and particularly in BKK. That also means that figures get distorted.

3. Are any of these facilities for young mothers taking in girls from other provinces etc? This can really distort the figures. I know of a Catholic organization that ran a very large Home for Unwed Mothers (years ago). It was in a relatively small town--thus statistically something like 95% of all children in the town were born out-of-wedlock!

[Martin]

Even ill winds blow some good; and, at least, this example of awful editting will add to awareness that all is not well in Bangkok, and hopefully produce a bit of thought about societal education (of, and by, parents and teachers).

On Bangkok's problems with its middle class, I recommend a book by Niels Mulder: "Thai Images: the culture of the public world".

One of its reviewers said:

"In Mulder's review of school texts, newspapers, popular fiction and the Thai government publication Thailand in the 90s, we are engaged in some of the deepest issues not only of contemporary Thai culture, but also of the field of Asian studies itself. He finds the elementary school textbooks hopelessly moralistic and repetitive. The secondary level texts do aspire to a conceptual grasp of Thai society but are simply inadequate and inconsistent, lapsing into moralism and quoting outdated American texts for legitimation. At the postsecondary level, Chiang Mai University's Reader on Thai Society and Culture comes in for praise and critical evaluation.

This author is too experienced to fall into the simple trap of ethnocentrism. Yet there are passages that leave one with a nagging doubt. Mulder's prescription for Thai society includes democratic patterns, belief in equality, rule of law, and the morally autonomous citizen (p. 175). This admittedly utopian package is a clear improvement over today's Thai society, but must Thai culture be reconstructed on a Western model with the "unassailability of the person" (p. 228; see also pp. 182, 233) as the fundamental principle? The Thai middle class follows the farang (westerners), Mulder argues (p. 175), because as a historically unique social group, they really have no viable Thai models to follow."

Up-country, we have a lot of young people getting married/having to get married at a younger age than many of their parents would wish.

But, having viable Thai models to follow (that have been handed down and refined over the generations), the extended famililies of the villages can cope.

There is an old joke about the city boy who had "put a girl in the family way".

He was asked what steps he was going to take, and replied "Long ones!".

Note that the joke is about a city boy. A village boy hasn't got that option.

We can expect to see Bangkok get smaller, as the price of oil gets larger. And maybe Thailand will be all the better for it.

[melbat]

Just shows how much young Thai's are using condoms! Thats if this story is true. If it is true, with HIV being around for 30 years or more now.. Dont you think that if HIV was so easy to catch.. 95% of Thailand would be infected by now??? Makes you wonder if the HIV thing is a big scare. It cant be because Thais especially young Thais are using condoms.. because every survey that is done says that they are not. So why no HIV epidemic here? Anyone can give me any answers??

[fruittbatt]

thanks for the reference Martin. it is indeed too easy to fall into ethnocentric/Eurocentric ways of thinking and judging Thai problems (yes, i too plead guilty!).

Edited August 31, 2006 by fruittbatt