Teacher holding son's tablet

[SOTIRIOS]

...maybe your wife is in on it.....

...my wife would go to any lengths...and fabricate any tale...or scenario....to get the desired outcome..

....ruining our lives...our fun...our pleasure...our peace...

...and most Thais....if not all...would be willing accomplices....

[Jing Joe]

b.) Call the school, be polite and friendly, apologize for the misunderstanding and ask for the iPad back and ask if the kid can hand in the said iPad to the school office on Friday mornings and collect it when he leaves at the end of the school day as a solution to the problem

Great Lemonjelly.

Why did it take so many posts before your great suggestion?

So many words about this so far and so much angst could be simply resolved as above.

Confrontation and conflict rarely resolves in much peace?

Simpler to facilitate collecting it if the teacher "minds" it for the day, he will relish this authority and the student could get even better grades.

[slipperylobster]

Have the teachers car disappear for a month, and mysteriously appear, when the tablet comes back. Show your son how the real world works.

This may cost a bit..but i am just kidding.

Sure makes for a nice ending though

Edited December 2, 2015 by slipperylobster

[recycler]

Enjoy the weekend with you son while he's not full time occupied with the nonsense coming out these tablets and phones... a whole generation of zombies is created!

[ICECOOL]

Suggest you go to the principle as suggested and ask for YOUR tablet to be returned. Then arrange for the Tablet and phone to be kept by the school each Friday and collected by your son as he leaves

[BlindMagician]

Go to the local police, report it stolen, and provide the name place of work of the thief.

Ask them to recover the stolen property in school hours, and offer them a suitable reward for their trouble.

Alternative

Turn up at school during the day, ask to see the principal

Shout and scream until the thief is punished, make it as public as possible.

Thais hate confrontation.

Don't report it stolen. It was not stolen. It was confiscated.

If you knowingly report a false crime (meaning, you report an action as a crime, whilst knowing it is not a crime), then you might get into some trouble with the police yourself.

This is not a police matter.

It is a matter between parents-child-school.

Simple ask to discuss with the teacher and the Head or Dep. Head for 5 minutes. Acknowledge that it was not a good idea to bring it to school, but stress that your child had no intention of using it at school (be sure that this is factually correct first), and only brought it for the reason you explained in the OP. Then make it clear you expect it to be returned to you immediately.

Be polite, of course.

Then make arrangements so it doesn't happen again.

[csabo]

Get a lock that only you and your ex have the key or combination to and a tablet case that accommodates a lock. Usually anything with two zippers will do.

[Cueball2801]

I teach in a school in Chiang Mai. I do not allow phones or tablets to be used in class. I confiscate if i see them. I give them to the Director. He calls parents to collect them and warns them next time we keep until end of term. Students often say they use as a dictionary. I say use a book. Facebook is not a dictionary.

Answer is yes the teachers have a right to confiscate but are liable for damage or loss.

[LukKrueng]

You have a choice !

1. Explain quietly and polity why the boy had the tablet/phone in his bag and ask for its return This may/may not result in the property being returned as clearly the boy was aware that such items were banned from the school

Or

2. Generate a huge row ending with you having to explain your behaviour to the police.

When the items are eventually returned make other arrangements other than taking the items to school on Fridays.

+1.

As for the other arrangement for Fridays' tablet, I'd ask the teacher for permission to carry it to school on days the boy is picked up by you, but handing it to the teacher when he arrives at school and collecting it before he leaves.

[Thaidream]

I have had the same issue with my daughter's school. She had her I phone confiscated and held for the full term. I politely asked for its return, however this was declined. There are written rules allowing the school to do this. Since the school does not take every student who applies, my daughter would have been expelled if I made a big fuss. While I do not agree with them keeping the phone for such an extended period, I recognize the fact that in Thailand, I have to bend to their will. Going to the police or raising Cain will not really solve any issue but only make it worse. Your wife did the right thing as she understands Thai ways and does not want her son to be castigated as someone who does not conform to the rules. I still do not agree with any school keeping another person's property for such a lengthy period of time, but I have to accept it. Farang intervention is not viewed as helpful in Thailand.

[duanebigsby]

I teach in a school in Chiang Mai. I do not allow phones or tablets to be used in class. I confiscate if i see them. I give them to the Director. He calls parents to collect them and warns them next time we keep until end of term. Students often say they use as a dictionary. I say use a book. Facebook is not a dictionary.

Answer is yes the teachers have a right to confiscate but are liable for damage or loss.

I take the opposite approach, knowing students will sneak looks at their phones.

If I confiscated every phone it would take 20 minutes out of every lesson.

I have them use their tablets and phones for google images, dictionary, and translate.

I show them the problems with the translate part and we talk about it.

The thing I won't allow is headphones because then I know what they are up to.

The internet can be a useful teaching tool but I'm teaching older kids, mathayom 5 and 6.

Don't think my approach would work for younger students.

[sead]

Tell him you have very important info on that tab. As foreign bankaccount etc. And you need it back fast. If any money disapear he would be responsible.

And why he needs that in school. On the breaks he would only sit in corner instead of being social. Maybe he see other kids are jealous. Maybe he broke it.

[simon43]

...as they then take on responsibility for it should it end up lost.

Good luck with that

[Keesters]

Thai teachers like Thai doctors think of themselves as gods. Unfortunately ordinary Thai citizens perpetuate this belief. Time for that teacher to be taken down a rung or two.

[Rhys]

Man that teacher has something up his butt... send in a Transgendered help..

[Scott]

I am not sure what country some posters think they are in, but in Thailand, schools have broad rights over the students. These include the length and color of a child's hair, the type of uniform they are required to wear and what they can/cannot bring or have during school hours.

I get the job of occasionally speaking to foreign parents who decide the rules don't apply to them or their child. I have no problem with the parents getting angry with me and will put up with a fair amount of abuse, but if they don't comply or decide to take it further, the child is expelled from the school.

It took a fair amount of effort for our school to relent and allow students to bring phones to school. At the end of the day, they are returned. If a student needs to contact parents, or parents need to contact a child, they can call the school and there is a bevy of Admin who will take them to the office to return a phone call.

Even teachers are subjected to the same rules. Teachers get to keep their phone, but I know of one Thai teacher who was caught with her phone out when the KG students were napping and it was confiscated and she was told she could get it at the end of the term. Of course, if she didn't like it she could quit.

Searching of bags is done periodically and it sometimes applies to all students and sometimes it is select students who have their bags searched.

Oh, and if you think the local Thai schools are strict about some of their rules, I know a few international schools which are just as strict and they don't mess around with much complaining.

With a young child, I would guess that the school would be accommodating if they are approached in a reasonable manner. Thais, including schools, like to compromise.

If your goal is to see that your child gets a reasonable education and you are otherwise satisfied with the school, then try to find a workable solution. If you are not, there is a good chance you will get the opportunity to find a different school for your child.

[Paul944]

Just make an arrangement that the kid gives the tablet to the teacher or director before school begins and collects before leaving. If he is allowed to keep it in his bag on Friday the temptation to use it during breaks will become too much for him.

You probably have to visit the school in person to get it back before the end of the month. Mom will be too shy to request it firmly. If the teacher makes a fuss just tell him it is your tablet, your son borrowed it and you need it now.

The solution to buy a second tablet is not a bad one also.

[TheCruncher]

I managed to encourage the mother to go back to the school, and explain to them that I was pretty upset about the event.

She came back with the tablet. Don't know if there were made any arrangements for the future.

[hgma]

Buy him another tablet to keep at your place.

You can't be serious.

I am afraid he/she is, as it fits Thai profile on problem 'solving'.

What happens is that IF you go Thai-Way.....you give in and let someone else live your(and your son's!!) life!

My personal opinion is that the school can set rules but so do you.

It is up to both involved to find commen grounds .......by yourself.

You are parent and your son will appriciate you solving the problem instead of shoving a Thai national to the front!

[SoiBiker]

I'm Thai now?

I wonder when that happened.

[Myran]

I would just go and talk with the teacher or the principal and tell him that he has no business going through your son's bag and taking stuff and demand he returns the tablet immediately – "thainess" be damned. The school hardly has any business dictating what can and can't be in your sons bag in school, as long as it isn't anything illegal. If he wasn't using it during class it's none of their damn business. I can't stand the attitude some people have here, where you should grovel to these morons and "not make a scene" for fear of reprisals. If you haven't done anything wrong, stand up for yourself.

[expatbrit]

I would just go and talk with the teacher or the principal and tell him that he has no business going through your son's bag and taking stuff and demand he returns the tablet immediately – "thainess" be damned. The school hardly has any business dictating what can and can't be in your sons bag in school, as long as it isn't anything illegal. If he wasn't using it during class it's none of their damn business. I can't stand the attitude some people have here, where you should grovel to these morons and "not make a scene" for fear of reprisals. If you haven't done anything wrong, stand up for yourself.

I am sure you influence many and win dozens of friends with that offensive attitude !

[Myran]

I would just go and talk with the teacher or the principal and tell him that he has no business going through your son's bag and taking stuff and demand he returns the tablet immediately – "thainess" be damned. The school hardly has any business dictating what can and can't be in your sons bag in school, as long as it isn't anything illegal. If he wasn't using it during class it's none of their damn business. I can't stand the attitude some people have here, where you should grovel to these morons and "not make a scene" for fear of reprisals. If you haven't done anything wrong, stand up for yourself.

I am sure you influence many and win dozens of friends with that offensive attitude !

What offended you? Standing up for yourself? Taking back what is rightfully yours? Not groveling before people who've wronged you because they might use what little power they have to ruin as much as possible for you? You must be an easily offended person.

[expatbrit]

I would just go and talk with the teacher or the principal and tell him that he has no business going through your son's bag and taking stuff and demand he returns the tablet immediately – "thainess" be damned. The school hardly has any business dictating what can and can't be in your sons bag in school, as long as it isn't anything illegal. If he wasn't using it during class it's none of their damn business. I can't stand the attitude some people have here, where you should grovel to these morons and "not make a scene" for fear of reprisals. If you haven't done anything wrong, stand up for yourself.

I am sure you influence many and win dozens of friends with that offensive attitude !

Edited December 7, 2015 by expatbrit

[JHolmesJr]

Good you sent ur mrs instead of barging in and doing a charlie bronson...you might have caused loss o face for the teacher and they can make life difficult for ur kid.

[expatbrit]

I would just go and talk with the teacher or the principal and tell him that he has no business going through your son's bag and taking stuff and demand he returns the tablet immediately – "thainess" be damned. The school hardly has any business dictating what can and can't be in your sons bag in school, as long as it isn't anything illegal. If he wasn't using it during class it's none of their damn business. I can't stand the attitude some people have here, where you should grovel to these morons and "not make a scene" for fear of reprisals. If you haven't done anything wrong, stand up for yourself.

I am sure you influence many and win dozens of friends with that offensive attitude !

What offended you? Standing up for yourself? Taking back what is rightfully yours? Not groveling before people who've wronged you because they might use what little power they have to ruin as much as possible for you? You must be an easily offended person.

I am not easily offended nor am I loudmouthed , rude or ignorant.

If you wish to be assertive learn how do do it politely.

What gives you a right to call people "morons" .

[Myran]

I would just go and talk with the teacher or the principal and tell him that he has no business going through your son's bag and taking stuff and demand he returns the tablet immediately – "thainess" be damned. The school hardly has any business dictating what can and can't be in your sons bag in school, as long as it isn't anything illegal. If he wasn't using it during class it's none of their damn business. I can't stand the attitude some people have here, where you should grovel to these morons and "not make a scene" for fear of reprisals. If you haven't done anything wrong, stand up for yourself.

I am sure you influence many and win dozens of friends with that offensive attitude !

What offended you? Standing up for yourself? Taking back what is rightfully yours? Not groveling before people who've wronged you because they might use what little power they have to ruin as much as possible for you? You must be an easily offended person.

I am not easily offended nor am I loudmouthed , rude or ignorant.

If you wish to be assertive learn how do do it politely.

What gives you a right to call people "morons" .

A teacher going through a student's bag to confiscate a tablet he wasn't using, telling him to tell his mother to come pick it up Monday, only to tell the mother when she arrives on Monday that he will keep the tablet for another month just because, is a moron in my book, and I don't need your or anyone else's approval to voice that opinion. I couldn't care less what your idea of proper assertiveness is.

[Lannig]

What's with people not realizing that they are in a different country with different rules and culture? Scott's and JHolmesJr's posts really made a lot of sense.

Teachers are immensely respected in Thailand. I remember escaping a fine for a traffic violation just because to the young policeman who pulled me over and asked where I was working, I replied "in xxxx university". He immediately let me go with a "drive carefully now, ajarn" (and a lot of "krubs"). Hell, I wasn't even teaching, but working as a sysadmin!

This allows them to make their own rules and it gives them a lot of power. One has to live with it or pay an obscene amount of money to put one's child in an international private school that runs with western-style rules and lets you yell at teachers provided that you sign the checks.

You made a very wise decision letting thais sort this by themselves, and it proved to be efficient. All other advice received (go to police, make a lot of noise etc.) is both pure nonsense and dangerous for your son and yourself.

[Scott]

An inflammatory post has been removed. Please keep it civil.

[TheCruncher]

Well I have an unexpected update to this thread, more actually of the teachers behavior, which I think I will now personally deal with.

This evening around 6pm the mother called me to ask if the boy was with me, because he hadn't come home with the schoolbus, to which I had to answer negative.

About half an hour later the boy apparently arrived at home by foot. The house is approximate 12 km from the school and is on the East side of Sukhumvit, while the school is located in the center of Pattaya.

My son is signed up for the extra class and takes the schoolbus after that at 4pm.

What happened today is that another teacher had asked my son to help him with something, whereby he missed the biggest part of the extra class.

When he arrived late at the extra class the teacher punished him by forcing him to complete all his homework, and other tasks from the extra class, before releasing him.

By the time he was released from the classroom the schoolbus had left already.

Since he isn't allowed to bring his phone, and didn't memorize the number from his mother, he wasn't able to call to inform her, and he decided to walk home which took almost 2 hours.

Thereby he had to cross 2 major busy roads, being Thepprasit and Sukhumvit. You will know that by the time he arrived home it was dark already.

I don't know all the details yet as to why nobody at the school made a call to his mother, but to me it is UNACCEPTABLE that an 11 year old boy, who by the way has some learning difficulties, was allowed to leave the school unguarded.

It is also UNACCEPTABLE to me that a teacher refuses to release a student knowing very well that the schoolbuses leave at 4pm.

I hope I have cooled down by Friday when the school starts again, because if i had to go there tomorrow I'm sure the teacher would need medical care.

Is there still someone who wants to tell me that I should have respect for this teacher?

Edited December 9, 2015 by TheCruncher