Ministry of Education ready to improve Thai education

[chilli42]

"Ready to improve Thai education" seems an unfortunate turn of phrase. Does this mean they were unready before and now ready or perhaps they were uninterested, or incapable etc. Anyway, the kids are fine, where are they going to get capable teachers when all of those now employed in teaching went through the same mind numbing scholastic system? Will the vision and will sustain over the next 15 to 20 years to get the problem fixed?

[sawadee1947]

to raise the standard of Thai education up to par with other nations'.

means start from the scratch.....Big deal. Will take many years. Unfortunately for Thailand other countries started earlier already (Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam....) Now Thailand starts in activism, not very effective. First improve teacher's education: every teacher HAS to SPEAK English....

Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia the hub of critical thinking?

I think not......

Not every teacher has to speak English....what a nonsense.....Do you think in France, Switzerland or Germany every teacher speaks English all the time?

The mathematics teacher of course should speak the local language.

The English teacher should really speak English.

what a nonsense.

The percentage of English speaking people in those mentioned countries is much higher than in Thailand (google). And of course every teacher should speak English. A bit a least. They learned this in High School and should improve in University. Nobody thinks about speaking English ALL the time. What a BS.! But being able to if asked!

And YES, High School teachers in Switzerland, or Germany are able to speak English.

No doubt about it that English teachers are to speak English properly!

[Thai at Heart]

A great start would be to teach" Critical Thinking method", like most of the world,rather than the "Rote ( parrot) method"

Unfortunately, the teachers have never been exposed to "crCtical Thinking" and are very resistant to teaching it even though the Ministery of Education wants them to.

How can they teach what they do not know?

The first step is to reeducate existing teachers and stop teaching university students to teach the "Rote" method.

You can not teach 'critical thinking' to those that can not critically think.

You'd have better luck teaching penguins to fly.

Of course you can teach critical thinking to children. It might work better or worse for some people, but all will improve in compare to teach them only to mimic a parrot.

Problem 1) where get the teachers from, Problem 2 ) they'll question the politician, police, courts, laws, tax, use of state money and power, society, religion. That would be very disturbing. No one want that. And there is no profit in it.

The entire culture would have to be unwound.

[Rykbanlor]

They say this pretty much every year, what it equates to is that they have moved a few civil servants around and replaced the Education minister who will come in with a new bunch of rules and "goals" which will do zero to help improve the education system, instead only achieving the creation of more work for the teachers who have to churn out a ridiculous amount of paperwork to adhere to the 3rd reich-like pedantry which pervades the educational bureacracy and ultimately shifts the focus away from what they are claiming they want to do.

[Jonmarleesco]

'After presenting its policy presenting to all of its education offices, the Ministry of Education is ready to raise the standards of Thai education.' Not before a dozen committees have reported, I'm sure. And that's just to raise it from a currently mediocre level; hardly difficult.

[AlphMichaels]

One is forced to ponder..., at 20%+ of the total fiscal year budget ( commendable), where does that money actually go?

[h90]

to raise the standard of Thai education up to par with other nations'.

means start from the scratch.....Big deal. Will take many years. Unfortunately for Thailand other countries started earlier already (Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam....) Now Thailand starts in activism, not very effective. First improve teacher's education: every teacher HAS to SPEAK English....

Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia the hub of critical thinking?

I think not......

Not every teacher has to speak English....what a nonsense.....Do you think in France, Switzerland or Germany every teacher speaks English all the time?

The mathematics teacher of course should speak the local language.

The English teacher should really speak English.

what a nonsense.

The percentage of English speaking people in those mentioned countries is much higher than in Thailand (google). And of course every teacher should speak English. A bit a least. They learned this in High School and should improve in University. Nobody thinks about speaking English ALL the time. What a BS.! But being able to if asked!

And YES, High School teachers in Switzerland, or Germany are able to speak English.

No doubt about it that English teachers are to speak English properly!

Yes there are more English speaking people there. How does it make them thinking more critical?

English is not the most important thing to learn, I would question if not maybe Chinese would be good for Thai children.

I have actually attended good schools, but there wasn't a word English outside the English lessons. At University there were no English lessons anymore. But some of the specialized literature is only in English so you still improve.

While English is important I would rather focus on learning more mathematics and physics as most Thai people will never come in contact with English.

[SoilSpoil]

to raise the standard of Thai education up to par with other nations'.

means start from the scratch.....Big deal. Will take many years. Unfortunately for Thailand other countries started earlier already (Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam....) Now Thailand starts in activism, not very effective. First improve teacher's education: every teacher HAS to SPEAK English....

Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia the hub of critical thinking?

I think not......

Not every teacher has to speak English....what a nonsense.....Do you think in France, Switzerland or Germany every teacher speaks English all the time?

The mathematics teacher of course should speak the local language.

The English teacher should really speak English.

what a nonsense.

The percentage of English speaking people in those mentioned countries is much higher than in Thailand (google). And of course every teacher should speak English. A bit a least. They learned this in High School and should improve in University. Nobody thinks about speaking English ALL the time. What a BS.! But being able to if asked!

And YES, High School teachers in Switzerland, or Germany are able to speak English.

No doubt about it that English teachers are to speak English properly!

Yes there are more English speaking people there. How does it make them thinking more critical?

English is not the most important thing to learn, I would question if not maybe Chinese would be good for Thai children.

I have actually attended good schools, but there wasn't a word English outside the English lessons. At University there were no English lessons anymore. But some of the specialized literature is only in English so you still improve.

While English is important I would rather focus on learning more mathematics and physics as most Thai people will never come in contact with English.

If you want to learn any programming language or design software, you'll need to master English. You would need to use forums and databases with information. In fact any study in any field, bachelor or master, requires a decent command of English. A large percentage of published researches and articles are in English.

Bottom line is that if you want to master maths or physics, you would have to be able to communicate in the 21st century language of knowledge.

[slapout]

I* can see critial thinking, math and the application to the presentt system being omitted as the question could be presented from a student,''how does a education minister build a 16 million baht house over a 3 year time on his salary and still live a lavish life style?"

Why do we buy spoi;t milk for student consumption,? why are there mo text bools, but only memographed copies? Why pay a extra fee for material/trip but its not received? why football pitch cane up in pieces during first match? and on and on.

Get ried of the riff raff theft and give the teachers 1 year to get with the desired ststem or hit the road and look for a job hearding buffalo, for which you seem qualified

[slapout]

I* can see critial thinking, math and the application to the presentt system being omitted as the question could be presented from a student,''how does a education minister build a 16 million baht house over a 3 year time on his salary and still live a lavish life style?"

Why do we buy spoi;t milk for student consumption,? why are there mo text bools, but only memographed copies? Why pay a extra fee for material/trip but its not received? why football pitch cane up in pieces during first match? and on and on.

Get ried of the riff raff theft and give the teachers 1 year to get with the desired ststem or hit the road and look for a job hearding buffalo, for which you seem qualified

[Stan7444]

I really shouldnt bother reading these threads.

All I can say is things like

"Ministry of Education ready to blow more smoke up ordinary Thai peoples xxxxx"

or

"Ministry of Education ready to siphon more xxxxx"

or

"Ministry of Education ready to do absolutely xxxxxxx"

And there not even funny.

[Stan7444]

How about the Ministry of Misieducation?

[mancub]

Seems the only way to claim a raise in standards is to give everyone a gratuitous diploma.........rather like improving actual driving standards by including more multiple choice questions in the driving "test".

[h90]

Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia the hub of critical thinking?

I think not......

Not every teacher has to speak English....what a nonsense.....Do you think in France, Switzerland or Germany every teacher speaks English all the time?

The mathematics teacher of course should speak the local language.

The English teacher should really speak English.

what a nonsense.

The percentage of English speaking people in those mentioned countries is much higher than in Thailand (google). And of course every teacher should speak English. A bit a least. They learned this in High School and should improve in University. Nobody thinks about speaking English ALL the time. What a BS.! But being able to if asked!

And YES, High School teachers in Switzerland, or Germany are able to speak English.

No doubt about it that English teachers are to speak English properly!

Yes there are more English speaking people there. How does it make them thinking more critical?

English is not the most important thing to learn, I would question if not maybe Chinese would be good for Thai children.

I have actually attended good schools, but there wasn't a word English outside the English lessons. At University there were no English lessons anymore. But some of the specialized literature is only in English so you still improve.

While English is important I would rather focus on learning more mathematics and physics as most Thai people will never come in contact with English.

If you want to learn any programming language or design software, you'll need to master English. You would need to use forums and databases with information. In fact any study in any field, bachelor or master, requires a decent command of English. A large percentage of published researches and articles are in English.

Bottom line is that if you want to master maths or physics, you would have to be able to communicate in the 21st century language of knowledge.

Everything true....But how many bachelors/masters in relevant fields (so not master degree in office administration (which seems to exist in Thailand)) exist.

Well really exist....not handed out from the some backyard university.

I have 2 master degree (I might be wrong and they are bachelors but I don't think so) technicians in the office, both confirmed and sure that they are (one made the degree while working with us). They couldn't solve a triangular problem that needed just simple pythagoras (c2=a2+b2). They looked at me with admiration (and they are rather difficult persons, who prefer to show off their supremacy). One is great on solid works. (actually with poor English, which surprise me)

Summarize:

Very few Thais are bachelor, masters and use design software. But many are farmer, builder, technicians. These need to have basic calculation skills and understanding of physics.

On the bachelors and masters (beside a few good universities) the basics are complete missing.

I am not telling: forget English...English is super important...but other basic things are equal or more important.

So I don't disagree with you, I think you don't understand the size of the problem.

[h90]

Seems the only way to claim a raise in standards is to give everyone a gratuitous diploma.........rather like improving actual driving standards by including more multiple choice questions in the driving "test".

yeah that also works fine....just lower the levels enough than everyone can be doctor and even at 14.

We do that in the west (not that extreme but making everything easier all the time)

[sawadee1947]

to raise the standard of Thai education up to par with other nations'.

means start from the scratch.....Big deal. Will take many years. Unfortunately for Thailand other countries started earlier already (Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam....) Now Thailand starts in activism, not very effective. First improve teacher's education: every teacher HAS to SPEAK English....

Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia the hub of critical thinking?

I think not......

Not every teacher has to speak English....what a nonsense.....Do you think in France, Switzerland or Germany every teacher speaks English all the time?

The mathematics teacher of course should speak the local language.

The English teacher should really speak English.

what a nonsense.

The percentage of English speaking people in those mentioned countries is much higher than in Thailand (google). And of course every teacher should speak English. A bit a least. They learned this in High School and should improve in University. Nobody thinks about speaking English ALL the time. What a BS.! But being able to if asked!

And YES, High School teachers in Switzerland, or Germany are able to speak English.

No doubt about it that English teachers are to speak English properly!

Yes there are more English speaking people there. How does it make them thinking more critical?

English is not the most important thing to learn, I would question if not maybe Chinese would be good for Thai children.

I have actually attended good schools, but there wasn't a word English outside the English lessons. At University there were no English lessons anymore. But some of the specialized literature is only in English so you still improve.

While English is important I would rather focus on learning more mathematics and physics as most Thai people will never come in contact with English.

most Thai people will never come in contact with English.

and do you know why? Because of lack of knowledge. If they would learn they would have more contacts

[sawadee1947]

To h90

well, you are right. But look: you expect something and compares with our standards. And here is the problem. You can't make a country jump from one century into the next. What you need here is time. The problem is, that here plans are made, speeches and promises. And that's it. What is necessary to START with something. Doesn't matter if it is maths, science or English.

[jackted]

Why on earth would the rich, mainly western educated, ruling class want to educate the mass populass? Answer .....they don`t, never have , never will. As usual all talk.

[RubbaJohnny]

I think 'ALMOST' omitted from the title.

Of course local ministry not quite ready to perform the job it's paid do,perhaps like Bangkok's finest they are awaiting a reward.

Cannot accuse them of premature Education

Edited October 20, 2015 by RubbaJohnny