Thai Brains and the Education System

[Inspire]

Thai Brains and the Education System
Gerry Carter



Inspire welcomes the first in a series of articles exclusively written by Gerry Carter.

It always seems to be open season to have a go at the Thai education system.

Its critics seem to find very little that is any good to say about it. Full of rote learning producing automatons designed only to tow the line for the society for which they are churned out. Geared only towards exams with a liberal amount of corruption thrown into the organisational mix, they say.

Creativity and critical thinking are but a dream and anyone going through the Thai system is destined only to go on to poor jobs in the local marketplace with no prospect of continuing in a better system in tertiary education abroad.

The only hope for expats and their children is to shell out hundreds of thousands of baht a year on an expensive international school education delivered by foreign trained teachers, the critics opine. And as far as learning English goes, Thais are going to be lucky enough if they can say “Hey You!” as they are left behind by the other NEC countries with their infinitely better systems for teaching the international language.



But is this really the case? Whilst there are doubtless many critics of the Thai education system even amongst Thais themselves who have a point, there are also incredible success stories that go almost unseen amongst mainstream media in the kingdom and are very low on the expatriate radar.

One of these is the remarkable success story from a very unexpected corner of the English language that shocks many expatriates – the promotion of none other than English Scrabble in the Thai school and university system.

Scrabble? That word game grannie tried to make you play? Surely you are having a laugh? Thais can’t even spell….

Not so. For the last thirty years Scrabble has been actively promoted in Thailand through the innovative and inspirational Thailand Crossword Game Club that has its headquarters in Bangkok.

Scrabble – called Crossword Game in Thai – has been played in English by hundreds of thousands of Thais throughout the country with many thousands competing in regular tournaments these days in Bangkok and the provinces. The game is played in public spaces like Central stores with curious shoppers showing an interest and buying the products produced by one of the leading Scrabble promoters in the world, the president of the club Amnuay Ploysaengam, himself an expert player.

So how good are the Thais at the game and is their lack of creativity and imagination, the commonly heard gripes, holding them back?

Hardly. Thailand was the first non-native English speaking nation in the world to produce a world champion no less. That was Panupol Sajjayakorn, one of the greatest champions of the world’s most popular word game who won the championships in Malaysia in 2003 at the age of only 18 beating a hundred strong international field of mostly native speakers.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.inspirepattaya.com/lifestyle/thai-brains-education-system/

-- Inspire Pattaya 2016-03-27

[klauskunkel]

Then maybe Scrabble should be part of the curriculum? If only to make complete sense of this article, which starts out with "Thai Education System" on the one hand and then jumps to a unrelated, independent gaming club on the other hand...

[mogo51]

Exactly, what is more important, 2003, only 13 years ago! My gf teaches English/Maths in a Thai Government School and 'teacher' pulls most of them up..

Except of course, the Farang/Thai students who leave the others in their wake mostly.

I could go on and on, but really they spend so little time learning, classes are cancelled so often for them to go off on some 'cultural' thing.

[Denim]

And yet we read that in the new constitution there will be three years less free education for Thai children.

Still, if they spend all their time learning Prayuths core values that will be more than enough education for them in his vision of perfectly happy citizens of the future.

[trogers]

Majority of Thai minds are geared towards creativity and not logic.

This is the reason for all those flowery excuses when caught doing wrong...

[louse1953]

Picked a hard school here Gerry.

[klauskunkel]

In a related story:

It was discovered that players at a scrabble marathon have inadvertently written what could be described as a complete and new Thai Charter, allowing for harmony, peace and prosperity for this burdened country. But then a man in black bumped the table...

[bangon04]

"Full of rote learning producing automatons designed only to tow the line for the society for which they are churned out."

"tow the line"??? Sounds like hard work - suitable for slave labour fishermen?

Impressive, Gerry Carter....

[HOAX]

Majority of Thai minds are geared towards creativity and not logic.

This is the reason for all those flowery excuses when caught doing wrong...

Creativity? You mean traditions? That would be pretty much the opposite of a creative mind. If it's anything Thais lack, it would be creativity.

Everyone in Thailand seems to do things the exact same way. They most certainly are scared of innovation, and Thai-logic they learn from their mothers and grand mothers, where they learn how little career, planning, priorities, financial structure, effectivity and quality matters.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[smotherb]

Government and industry have to work together on education, but the culture has to change to encourage and accept education.

[Roomuck]

Exactly, what is more important, 2003, only 13 years ago! My gf teaches English/Maths in a Thai Government School and 'teacher' pulls most of them up..

Except of course, the Farang/Thai students who leave the others in their wake mostly.

I could go on and on, but really they spend so little time learning, classes are cancelled so often for them to go off on some 'cultural' thing.

Maybe that is not such a bad thing. Finland does the same and apparently produces the best students.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/this-is-why-finland-has-the-best-schools-20160324-gnqv9l.html

My girlfriend is definately smarter than me, speaks four languages, her English is way better than my Thai, is an engineer ( I can not understand one line of the work she brings home). I went to a private school in OZ but was a terrible student.

I have met other Thais I know are way smarter than me.

Nobody fails in Thailand which would have suited me as a student, that's for sure. Not having all that pressure on me to pass, I wouldn't have had to cheat all the time.

They produce the best Thai speakers in the world here.

There are plenty of opportunities for those with initiative, scholarships etc, and plenty of jobs to go around for the slackers.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Roomuck

[ScotBkk]

Then maybe Scrabble should be part of the curriculum? If only to make complete sense of this article, which starts out with "Thai Education System" on the one hand and then jumps to a unrelated, independent gaming club on the other hand...

Personally, I think Thais are just addicted to sitting in semi circles. They soon progress to card games !!!!

[rethaier]

What a ridiculous argument. Playing scrabble requires luck, strategy and vocabulary. Just because one knows and can spell words does not mean that one knows the meaning of the word nor that they can hold a conversation in English. Many Thais can read English but the overwhelming majority of them do not know the meaning of most of the words they read.

[bbbbooboo]

Hmmmm.....Thai brains and the education system. Maybe this is an oxymoron?

[joebrown]

Exactly, what is more important, 2003, only 13 years ago! My gf teaches English/Maths in a Thai Government School and 'teacher' pulls most of them up..

Except of course, the Farang/Thai students who leave the others in their wake mostly.

I could go on and on, but really they spend so little time learning, classes are cancelled so often for them to go off on some 'cultural' thing.

Maybe that is not such a bad thing. Finland does the same and apparently produces the best students.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/this-is-why-finland-has-the-best-schools-20160324-gnqv9l.html

My girlfriend is definately smarter than me, speaks four languages, her English is way better than my Thai, is an engineer ( I can not understand one line of the work she brings home). I went to a private school in OZ but was a terrible student.

I have met other Thais I know are way smarter than me.

Nobody fails in Thailand which would have suited me as a student, that's for sure. Not having all that pressure on me to pass, I wouldn't have had to cheat all the time.

They produce the best Thai speakers in the world here.

There are plenty of opportunities for those with initiative, scholarships etc, and plenty of jobs to go around for the slackers.

"They produce the best Thai speakers in the world here"

I hope you're referring to Thailand and not Finland with this remark?

[Roomuck]

What a ridiculous argument. Playing scrabble requires luck, strategy and vocabulary. Just because one knows and can spell words does not mean that one knows the meaning of the word nor that they can hold a conversation in English. Many Thais can read English but the overwhelming majority of them do not know the meaning of most of the words they read.

I can read most Thai words, but I don't know the meaning of most Thai words.

Scrabble requires you to write and be able to spell which is a lot harder than just reading them.

Have you ever learnt a second language? Same for everyone.

[ChristianBlessing]

Those with modest experience in playing Scrabble understand that one often wins by using words with no utility in modern English. I just won a game with "edh" and "nth". Take a stroll through the official Scrabble dictionary to discover just how useful the game is for learning English.

Edited March 27, 2016 by ChristianBlessing

[sanukjim]

What the article was referring to when it read "expensive international schools" was a misprint as it should have read expensive "fake" international schools with back packer" pretend" teachers.

[terryp]

when will thai immigration clamp down on "wannabe live in thailand media experts" ...they are painful, most of us know what the problems are here and that WE have no chance to change things, so what the real point of articles like this ? it certainly is not education/

[scorecard]

Picked a hard school here Gerry.

Who is Gerry? is Gerry 'qualified' to talk seriously about Thai education?

[scorecard]

Hmmmm.....Thai brains and the education system. Maybe this is an oxymoron?

Interesting:

- We have a subject that stands alone - Thai brains. Brain means just that - a piece of the human anatomy. Is that piece of anatomy physically different for Thai people compared to other people?

- We have another subject which stands alone - the Thai educations system.

Perhaps Gerry can share the connection, if there is any, and share the meaning of the original title.

[mikiea]

half the Thai population is male.....and yet i can walk for hours and only about 5% of the people i see "working" are males and most of those are old men . i do not count construction or cheap labor peep's as they are mostly Burmese . i truly only see hard working women , young , old and grannies . the edu system is more or less irrelevant . lack of a Thai culture among the males is what is impeding the growth of Thai society . most young men do not work , sleep all day and play all night . there mom's and grannies give them money , food , and a place to sleep . why would they change . the schools suck but the problem is already in place before the edu system has any chance to change it .

[TKDfella]

Well, I don' know about scrabble and other related games but here's an example of my personal experience. Up until 5 years every Sunday I would go to the office of a company director where he and I would converse in English. His English was fairly good but I wasn't there to teach, just to talk. Occasionally he'd call me during the week to help with contacts in Malaysia as he seem to lack the confidence when it came to product specifications. However, (even though it was Sunday) it was often the case that he'd have brake off and deal with a work problem and for those times I would have a book handy which I would read until he was available. On one particular Sunday I was reading a math introductory book on Vector Calculus and while reading one of the project engineers commented that this was very advanced stuff. It most definitely isn't and American High School or English 'A' level students (in Calculus) require the next volume up and that's before university. Is this an example of Thai education versus others?

[Kwasaki]

In my experience people who want to learn will learn despite their situation, their opportunities will be either luck or money.

[Suradit69]

"Full of rote learning producing automatons designed only to tow the line for the society for which they are churned out."

"tow the line"??? Sounds like hard work - suitable for slave labour fishermen?

Impressive, Gerry Carter....

"Full of rote learning producing automatons designed only to tow the line for the society for which they are churned out."

A common complaint about schools throughout Asia, but when it comes to foreign students doing graduate work in maths, the sciences and engineering in the US or other farang countries or the foreign tech workers in demand in places like Silicon Valley, the majority are from Asia and those same school systems.

The top 10 countries and economies of origin of foreign S&E [science and Engineering] doctorate recipients (both permanent and temporary residents) together accounted for 68% of all foreign recipients of U.S. S&E doctoral degrees from 1991 to 2011 (table 2-13). Six out of those top 10 locations are in Asia.

...

As a result, the proportion of S&E doctoral degrees earned by white U.S. citizens and permanent residents decreased from 53% in 2000 to 43% in 2011

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/index.cfm/chapter-2/c2s3.htm

Edited March 27, 2016 by Suradit69

[mesterm]

Maybe Gerry just misses playing Scrabble.

[thailand49]

"Full of rote learning producing automatons designed only to tow the line for the society for which they are churned out."

"tow the line"??? Sounds like hard work - suitable for slave labour fishermen?

Impressive, Gerry Carter....

"Full of rote learning producing automatons designed only to tow the line for the society for which they are churned out."

A common complaint about schools throughout Asia, but when it comes to foreign students doing graduate work in maths, the sciences and engineering in the US or other farang countries or the foreign tech workers in demand in places like Silicon Valley, the majority are from Asia and those same school systems.

The top 10 countries and economies of origin of foreign S&E [science and Engineering] doctorate recipients (both permanent and temporary residents) together accounted for 68% of all foreign recipients of U.S. S&E doctoral degrees from 1991 to 2011 (table 2-13). Six out of those top 10 locations are in Asia.

...

As a result, the proportion of S&E doctoral degrees earned by white U.S. citizens and permanent residents decreased from 53% in 2000 to 43% in 2011

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/index.cfm/chapter-2/c2s3.htm

cc

I'm not going to dispute the stats you posted but I did take a look before I've got something at stake here and I live here for a long long time and do not see it like you so I took a look because even before looking it would have surprise me if Thailand was one of the six you noted! and when I look Thailand wasn't on the list. And if it was I would wonder like so many here how could that me because they can't even patch a road correctly or even provide simple solution to solve traffic congestion or stop Thailand from moving up year after year as being the 2nd worse for accidents in the world. Last when you speak of workers in Silicon Valley the biggest complaint is not that they are more better educated it is because they are circumventing the B-1 Visa process so they can hired cheaper labor particularly from India. It should also be noted this article is about Thailand not about SEA!

Edited March 27, 2016 by thailand49

[Emster23]

"Full of rote learning producing automatons designed only to tow the line for the society for which they are churned out."

"tow the line"??? Sounds like hard work - suitable for slave labour fishermen?

Impressive, Gerry Carter....

Ahem.... the phrase is "toe the line" oh wise one. http://grammarist.com/usage/toe-the-line/

[thailand49]

I'm not trying to take anything away from Pthatanupol Sajjayakorn. I tried to pull up his Bio but there is very little on him. I did this although I do not believe it is impossible based on the Education system being written, living and reading all the negatives about the system seeing first hand the results I would find it hard to believe that Panupol Sajjayakorn is a product of the public system that resulted him learning English and being able to be Champion. I do not find the rag to riches stories here that you might find or compare to the U.S. that being said I do not believe a poor child can even be PM of this country. So I would not be surprise if he came from a well to do family that provided him with Western opportunities or influence to learn his English. If there is I have no problem anyone pointing it out that I'm wrong in fact it would be refreshing to hear. But before someone does I'm talking poor from a Thai public school!

Edited March 27, 2016 by thailand49

[Roomuck]

Funny that this subject should come on Easter.

I was taught at school that Mary was a virgin. A Thai mate of mine found this a little hard to believe.