When is a Thai not a Thai? When they're a luk kreung

[bazza40]

Have had all of this. Luk Kreungs that can speak English put both the Thai teachers and the Thai children at a disadvantage,. Competitions in English in particular show this up. All Thais lose face. So they sort it to their advantage by saying "Not fair on Thai children" Not much you can do except make sure your child understands. Your step daughter is different she is not Luk kreung. There are fashions in Luk kreung. Before 50% european was fashionable, then 50% Chinese and then Korean. The fact that most Thais are in fact Chinese/Vietnamese/Khmer etc Luk Khreung seems quietly ignored. No Luk kreung is Thai, ever, even if they have Thai ID card etc.. And remember Issan people are barely Thai let alone hill tribe people to whom they won't give ID cards. It is difficult for you, let alone the child, to accept I agree.

Perhaps the OP should point out to the teachers Tiger Woods is most definitely Luk Kreung.

[Asheron]

Tell your daughter she lives in a house of love and caring, and try to distinguish the 'outside' world from her own privileged situation.

A loving Mom and Dad who will be there for here whenever needed, something so many local children have to miss out on.

Kids understand more then we take for granted.!

Love is all she needs.

"Privileged" in what way? Because of the color of the skin?

[fiddlehead]

I'd explain it to your daughter that the ones with the best English speaking skills will almost always get a better job.

She will be the other student's boss one day (and perhaps the teachers too)

So, she should just grin and bear it, with the knowledge that the hurt she feels will pass once it really matters.

(maybe you could explain that to the teachers also, if they can't figure it out)

While that may be true, if she goes to international schools. However, if she stays in Thai schools, the only way she'll be their bosses is if she works for a farang firm, but she will still be paid in Thai wages.

Possibly you are right.

But, the other day, I had my 10 year old Luk Krueng (or half Thai) son, with me at the tool store.

There were 3 other Farang shoppers there trying to communicate their needs to the staff.

No understand.

So, my son, helped all of them find what they wanted.

One offered him a job, somewhat jokingly, but only somewhat as everyone saw the need for a multi lingual Thai/English speaking helper.

That store made some sales that day that they otherwise would have probably lost.

I figure someday he'll probably own that store. (and employ multi lingual workers)

[Johpa]

Look, your kid has a ridiculous advantage over the other kids. Maybe there is a Thai kid with no native English speaker at home who is putting her heart and soul into learning English. Sure she may not anywhere near as competent in English as your kid, but she is deserving of being recognized for her achievements and your kid does have an insurmountable advantage that should be considered a disqualification in such a "contest". Be happy that your kid enjoys the gift of the gods, languages.

And as someone else mentioned, at some point you will need to get the kid out of the Thai public school system.

[mgjackson69]

...Thailand neatly ignores the massive Chinese/Khmer/Other immigration and ethnic mixing in its simplistic national view...

Which is why we are currently in "Thailand" rather than "Siam"

[mgjackson69]

Look, your kid has a ridiculous advantage over the other kids. Maybe there is a Thai kid with no native English speaker at home who is putting her heart and soul into learning English. Sure she may not anywhere near as competent in English as your kid, but she is deserving of being recognized for her achievements and your kid does have an insurmountable advantage that should be considered a disqualification in such a "contest". Be happy that your kid enjoys the gift of the gods, languages. And as someone else mentioned, at some point you will need to get the kid out of the Thai public school system.

It is not a "ridiculous" advantage. It is an advantage, yes.

Do we not try to teach our children to use what advantages they have to better themselves?

Or would you rather every kid received a first place trophy for participation?

Have you ever heard what the school kids learn as "English"? I have, from a bunch of nieces and nephews.

"Hello my name is <name>. I go to <grade> in <school name>. Every day I practice English. I want to say now my life is English."

They can regurgitate the words, but have no idea what they mean.

I taught the kids more English in 30 minutes with a picture book than they learned all year in school...and they taught me some Thai as well.

[212Roger]

Having been born and raised in California, this story reminds me of the Mexican kids who take Spanish I in High School and only receive a "C" grade.

[MyFriend You]

Thai mentality continues to boggle the mind - I have said it before, the Bangkok-onians don't consider the Isaan or the Pattani's Thai at all - they say they are either Lao, Khmer, or for the Southerners, Muslim - not Thai.

This makes about as much sense as a very Pretty girl not able to compete in a beauty contest because she is too pretty and not fair to the other competitors...................a great - big - W..T..F for crying out loud.

[MyFriend You]

Look, your kid has a ridiculous advantage over the other kids. Maybe there is a Thai kid with no native English speaker at home who is putting her heart and soul into learning English. Sure she may not anywhere near as competent in English as your kid, but she is deserving of being recognized for her achievements and your kid does have an insurmountable advantage that should be considered a disqualification in such a "contest". Be happy that your kid enjoys the gift of the gods, languages. And as someone else mentioned, at some point you will need to get the kid out of the Thai public school system.

Sir, I think you are very moronic strange for thinking this way - you Sir are part of the problem, I sincerely hope your children never have to face this type of discrimination.

[Johpa]

Look, your kid has a ridiculous advantage over the other kids. Maybe there is a Thai kid with no native English speaker at home who is putting her heart and soul into learning English. Sure she may not anywhere near as competent in English as your kid, but she is deserving of being recognized for her achievements and your kid does have an insurmountable advantage that should be considered a disqualification in such a "contest". Be happy that your kid enjoys the gift of the gods, languages. And as someone else mentioned, at some point you will need to get the kid out of the Thai public school system.

Sir, I think you are very moronic strange for thinking this way - you Sir are part of the problem, I sincerely hope your children never have to face this type of discrimination.

Oh please, I am far too old to be part of this problem as would be any bonafide tunnel rat. My children did attend Thai public schools for some time and, to reply to the OP, they did experience various levels of discrimination. But the discrimination was easily endured and they never had to prove to their peers that they were better in English to validate themselves. Shoving some circumstantial advantage, in this case having an English speaking parent in the home, down the throats of others, especially children, is not a path to bettering oneself. Your head and the head of the OP are still in a dark space.

[Docno]

Seems most TVF members have negative feelings about Thailand and keep looking for the point where the system or the people is trying to screw them over...

I would guess that the problem is not her being a mixed Thai/farang kid, but the fact that they might consider her as a native English speaker whereas all other kids competing are not - therefore it would be like allowing a professional in any field compete against armatures. If I were you I'd try to politely ask the school's headmaster / teachers if that might be the case, and explain that to the child that her competing would not be a fair competition to the others.

My daughter was never ever singled out for being mixed (all the way from nursery to high school in local public institutes), and as English was her 3rd language she represented her school many times in English contests as well as contests in other fields.

This is where the school is wrong, how can they consider her to be a native English speaker, she was born, brought up and educated so far only in Thailand. This is likening a kid with a physics teacher as a Father can not enter physics exams.

Ahem, learning a science is very different from learning a language (our brains have evolved to learn language 'easily' during a specific age window, but not physics). Being 'brought up' and educated in Thailand doesn't mean that English is not a native tongue for her. So long as it was a language she was regularly exposed to and used at home, it's a native tongue... and I am assuming this is the case as in most Western-Thai households where the European language would be the one most commonly used by the parents. A good friend of mine was born in Canada but spoke Armenian exclusively at home (English in school, obviously). He considers Armenian to be his native tongue. My own son spoke French to his mother and English to me. He is fluent in both languages and both qualify as his native tongue. So I think it's fair to consider the OP's daughter a native English speaker based on the assumption that English is the language she's heard around the house since day one and is the language she primarily communicates to her father in (yes, these are assumptions in the absence of further information).

[LukKrueng]

Seems most TVF members have negative feelings about Thailand and keep looking for the point where the system or the people is trying to screw them over...

I would guess that the problem is not her being a mixed Thai/farang kid, but the fact that they might consider her as a native English speaker whereas all other kids competing are not - therefore it would be like allowing a professional in any field compete against armatures. If I were you I'd try to politely ask the school's headmaster / teachers if that might be the case, and explain that to the child that her competing would not be a fair competition to the others.

My daughter was never ever singled out for being mixed (all the way from nursery to high school in local public institutes), and as English was her 3rd language she represented her school many times in English contests as well as contests in other fields.

This is where the school is wrong, how can they consider her to be a native English speaker, she was born, brought up and educated so far only in Thailand. This is likening a kid with a physics teacher as a Father can not enter physics exams.

No it is not. First of all we are not talking about exams or downgrading her English grades, we are talking about an English language competitions for students whose English is their second (or 3rd) language and who have started learning English only at school level. In a way, it's like letting a professional athlete compete in an amateur athlete competition.

As her father is English, and she has been exposed to English from birth, it is her native language. You might refer to it as a father tongue instead of a mother tongue, which might be a bit lesser than a child whose both parents are native English speakers, yet to let her compete against kids who started learning English at school age would make it an unfair competition.

I am pretty sure that if her school was to compete against the American school or the British school she would be the first pupil to be sent to the competition.

[teacherpaul]

If I was in your position, I would arrange a meeting with the head. Very politely explain that you believe this to be unfair and then explain that unless your son is allowed to take part in this competition, you will go to the newspapers. if this happens, the whole school will lose face. It would be interesting to see their reaction.

[mki8]

If I was in your position, I would arrange a meeting with the head. Very politely explain that you believe this to be unfair and then explain that unless your son is allowed to take part in this competition, you will go to the newspapers. if this happens, the whole school will lose face. It would be interesting to see their reaction.

making threats will not get you anywhere here, if you let the head know they will lose face you will likely be attacked on the spot.

Better to post the heads picture on facebook and a picture of the school (you will also need to be in the picture pointing at the school so everyone knows what they are looking at, if you could get a pic of your girl pointing at the head that would help loads)

put you story with pics on facebook, get other opinions and let people know first.

Then go speak to the head, once it is public knowledge and with support of your FB mob.

mob rules here, you go speak to head alone he will tell you where to go kap.

[bheard]

I've heard the phrase 'half blood' mentioned in the past. This means half Thai and half 'anything else'.

The Thai half is all that matters to them.

A lot of this will come down to jealousy, to put it mildly : They hate you and your kids because they are inferior in intellect.

Ha ha, have heard that "half" thing before.

I'm from Aus and came to Thailand with a 'healthy' tan, and a massage lady would not accept that I was total farang, she said I was "half".

At the time I hadn't a clue what she was talking about, but it became clear in the fullness of time . . .

[Khon Kaen Dave]

When i went to Mahidol university to do my Thai culture course,this subject was broached by one of the lecturer's,about the Thai 100% feeling.I got talking to her over a break and what she told me,was something that I'd never even thought of.She said that Thai/forign students are,on the whole, far more intelligent than pure Thai kids.They tend to run away with most of the accolades handed out.They are less prone to need to cheat at their exams and most of them go on to University,or another form of higher education.They usually end up as lecture's,teachers,or professionals,such as doctors,dentists,etc.But,she said,there is a glass ceiling,Only 100% Thai people will ever get into government position's,the police force,(high ranking) or any military role of seniority.

This is purely because The government wants the country run by people who will always see it their way.And on no account can there ever be anybody of mixed race to start to see things any other way but the Thai way.She explained that Thai people are scared of the mixed race kids and what could possibly happen in the future.

As i said,I'd never given any thought to this but i do now.Imagine a future government official starting to feel that 'maybe the ferangs aren't always wrong' or 'wait a minute,lets hear it from the ferang point of view'

It could never happen.

[mgjackson69]

If I was in your position, I would arrange a meeting with the head. Very politely explain that you believe this to be unfair and then explain that unless your son is allowed to take part in this competition, you will go to the newspapers. if this happens, the whole school will lose face. It would be interesting to see their reaction.

making threats will not get you anywhere here, if you let the head know they will lose face you will likely be attacked on the spot.

Nonsense

[geramin]

I was born and studied in thailand until 6th grade. When i was there i experienced the same thing due to the fact that my mother is thai and father is caucasian, he was a teacher at my school (but he teaches secondary school). Most of my English classes i got pushed down by the teacher and wouldnt let me speak most of the time (when i want to answer the questions or when i have questions to ask) seems like the teacher rolled her eyes and have that kind of face like 'uhhh not her again' or something like that. It kinda makes me feel like i dont get that equal opportunity as everyone else in class... what i mean is, 'i am one of their students why wouldnt you let me answer or ask you anything!?' Most of the time no one raised their hands up so when i put my hands up she just go ahead and answer those questions herself.

I didnt attend international school in thailand because theres non where my hometown is.

:(

I didn't do anything about these kind of situations because i was just a kid and didnt know it will be big of a problem (lol come to think of it now i should of talked about it with my parents). I remembered that i cried sometimes but i also feel happy because of my friends who sometimes ask me questions and i can help them with something (English related stuff). I guess that is how i survive the situation.

Sent from my SM-G925I

[HenryB]

You can't honesty say that you are surprised that thais have a love hatred for "luk krungs"?

But the child when grows up passes off as a pure Thai.

They never admitted Luk Krungs to friends and fellow workers