Thai teacher's novel approach to stop students cheating in class

[trogers]

14 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

Stupid idea.

 

 

 

Now you know the quality of Thai education...

 

[Bluespunk]

Just now, trogers said:

 

Now you know the quality of Thai education...

 

I know the quality of the idiot who thought up this idea.

[optad]

Texting each other like mad under the shade.

 

Whatsapp perfect here. Either all get it right..... or ...  oll git in wrung.

[Essaybloke]

2 hours ago, Sphere said:

Now I know why golfers use umbrellas.

The state of my golf game I may as well use an umbrella!

[Get Real]

Just another atempt to make something stop. Maybe it works for 1-2 times. After that we all know that Thai people can´t follow the same routine every time.

Means that the cheats that might disappear will come back. Same true like the piece of cheese that you put on the upp shelf in the cooler, will be on the lower next time you see it.
Not because they eat it or use it. Just because things can never be the same and have a routine.

[hotchilli]

It's the year 2016 nearly 2017... God help Thailand if this is the best idea they can come up with.... but I fear if this proves to be successful it will be rolled out nationwide....

[Bangkok Barry]

How can anyone really have pride in what they do if they cheat? It baffles me, but not having pride in what they do is, as well as cheating and lying, is perfectly acceptable in Thailand if it gets a result. The not taking pride extends into so many areas, like littering, shoddy workmanship, poor customer service etc.

[Ceruhe]

I thought they have a "no one left behind, everyone advances anyway" policy....or so I've read several million times here already....not sure how preventing anyone from cheating is gonna solve any of that, hell, I wouldn't even bother to cheat if that's the case in the first place.

 

Education in thailand aside, schools need an overhaul, they aren't so much about learning rather than remembering (reading/writing/basic math and the essentials excluded of course). Not to mention the vast majority of stuff you will forget just soon after because you never needed to know that in the first place due to your field of work, no interest to begin with or failed to keep in touch with the material (like another language...use it or lose it).

I remember physics, chemics and biology being painfully boring in school and getting all the basic formulas to remember, scratching the surface of oh so many different topics but never getting into one...nowadays watching youtube, all of those fields are the most amazing shit ever and I wish school hadn't turned me off to those fields as badly as it did.

 

I most certainly would have been on a scientist career nowadays if I had gotten that excitement over a decade ago.

[toofarnorth]

Back to the box. I am an old fart but until I came out here and had to fill in various forms a tick ( correct ) was put in the box , now I see on a form maybe 2 boxes and I get told to put a cross ( incorrect ) in the right one , years ago ticked off teachers were cross.  I'll go now.

[ThaiFelix]

At the private school I taught (part of a large chain) many teachers encouraged cheating because they got the blame if the student did poorly.  In fact one time I saw a teacher give one of her best student's completed test papers to a student to copy because he was absent exam day.  Several times I have seen our Head of English hand out copies of the exam papers for the class to study a week before the exam!!  Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming the teachers (although the Head of English was a lazy bastard), it was the school.   Their policy was that no one failed thus propping up the reputation of the school. It was a business, not an educational institution.  If a student did fail, the school would come down hard on the teacher (especially Thai teachers) and was instructed to keep retesting the pupil until he/she passed.  Eventually the teacher would give in and either help the student pass or make the test so easy they couldn't fail.  The students also knew the policy so many just wouldn't apply themselves.

 

It makes my blood boil whenever I hear the government blaming the quality of the teachers for this country's poor academic record.  Never have I heard them question the quality of the schools.

[trogers]

40 minutes ago, hdkane said:

i was a professor at 2 state universities in the usa...cheating was rampant, especially among the black students...and any attempts to fix the problem were deemed racist...thailand and the usa has that in common...cheating is justified, even if you get caught...

 

That's why prestigious universities don't set multiple choice questions...

 

I remember an exam paper I had in the uni, the paper had only one question to be answered within 3 hours...

Edited November 29, 2016 by trogers

[claffey]

Here we have a Thai teacher using some 'outside the box' thinking! I say well done! However, most posters continue to Thai bash regardless of the topic. 

[Redline]

Why cheat if you can't fail?  Face?

[Sydebolle]

Red dress for head mistress at school is not the same red as used by umbrellas in class to prevent little buggers from cheating - hilarious 

[Deepinthailand]

Hey not only children cheat I did having to sit the computer based thai highway code exam for M/c licence as UK screwed my licence up and removed my bike entitlement. I found the answers on internet wrote them down in test order 1 2 and 3 on the large brown envelope I carried my photocopies in allowed to take into room of course then put a couple wrong answers on each test. all done. was I bothered I cheated absolutely not.

[ThaiFelix]

1 hour ago, Redline said:

Why cheat if you can't fail?  Face?

If you cheat and pass then its all over.  If you fail then you have to be retested again and again till you pass.....saves time I guess!

 

[KenKadz]

But cheating is in the Thai genes!

A long time Thai acquaintance told me, "I have to cheat you a little bit".

[Caveat Emptor]

This teacher could well find himself in hot water for drawing attention to cheating because although it doesn't seem to matter much it's also not to be highlighted.

[farcanell]

7 hours ago, tifino said:

 

plenty o fumbrellas, but the sky willcome raining down on his head: (once the defamation cases roll in from the parents) ...

 

...he's accusing their children of being cheats, 

 

and if they don't Pass exams, because of the lack of assistance by cheating,

 

the kids will be deprived of future 'higher' income

 

 

And thus, in turn, be unable to work as teachers in thailands planned hub of education.... this effort to thwart institutional cheating will have to stop!

[ThaiFelix]

8 hours ago, rkidlad said:

I remember teaching kindergarten level 2 (3 to 4 years old). We had to do exams for mid-term and final. This was my first experience so I was a bit shocked. Anywho, I just got on with it as instructed. In the test it asked the students to put a cross on the picture from the word above. So if it said chicken, put a cross on chicken. Now, the students were always used to putting a circle around pictures and not crosses (the person who wrote the test was a non-native high-so who studied in the US). I simply informed the students not to circle their answers, but put a cross instead. I used an example on the board that was not in the test. As soon as the Thai teacher saw, she went nuts. "No, no, no! No helping. No cheating. Cannot!" Another Thai teacher came in and explained no cheating, etc. I tried to explain, but they just very sanctimoniously tried to explain the core values of Thai culture. I just ignored them.

 

So, during the test, some kids had no idea. They knew the vocab, but being in a room with all the tables separate and the Thai teachers telling them to "shut up" really confused them. They were nervous. I felt really sorry for them. As a few of them struggled, I saw the Thai teacher walking around. She would erase some of their incorrect answers and walk off. If they still didn't have the right answer, she'd very clandestinely point at the right one. This whole process left me so confused. Why are we doing tests? So we can test the smart kids who we already know are smart, and give the same scores to the kids who weren't as smart?

 

Kids with low grades had their scores bumped up. Some parents who would often see their kids licking windows were absolutely jubilant to see that little Som Chai aced his exams. Not one parent ever said "Hang on a minute! My kid chews pencils. How did he get 90%?" Parents were happy and thought the school was wonderful. The whole thing was just a huge waste of the kids' time - all so the school and parents could feel good about themselves. The kids were used. 

Wow!  Word for word that was my experience at my old school??!!

[rkidlad]

14 minutes ago, ThaiFelix said:

Wow!  Word for word that was my experience at my old school??!!

I'm guessing it happens at many schools. 

[rijb]

9 hours ago, Scott said:

The issue of cheating is a complex one in Thailand.   In my experience, foreign teachers aren't suppose to allow cheating, but Thai Teachers can.   I have never seen a Thai Teacher get into trouble for allowing/helping with cheating, but as someone posted above, if a foreigner does anything, the reaction is quick.

 

I think this has a lot to do with the patronage system and students subtly  learn that if you are obedient, you can get by with such behavior.   I have seen many, many Thai Teachers 'help' students during exams, including foreign teachers' exams, with no consequences.   The help given was very, very obvious.

 

I know one foreign teacher who did two versions of the same test.   The questions were identical, but the questions were in a different order.   After the exam, when this was discovered by the administration, she was told it was 'not fair' and had to give the same exam to all the students again.  

 

It's a problem because it's tolerated and it's tolerated because, by and large, education is a joke.  

 

Don't forget the number one rule in Thailand.  It's always about the money.  

 

Parents won't pay tea money if little Somchai doesn't pass.

 

In Thailand, education is not a joke.  It's a serious money-making operation.  Learning is secondary.

[Redline]

7 hours ago, ThaiFelix said:

If you cheat and pass then its all over.  If you fail then you have to be retested again and again till you pass.....saves time I guess!

 

True enough

[sead]

Some ideas for the Thai teachers and student :)

[surangw]

monkey see, monkey do society 

[farcanell]

1 hour ago, sead said:

Some ideas for the Thai teachers and student :)

 

 

Im like... " shit!!!......"

which one of theses  groups might not be mentally scarred for life

 

im going with the teacher on the locker experience.

[Bluespunk]

12 hours ago, claffey said:

Here we have a Thai teacher using some 'outside the box' thinking! I say well done! However, most posters continue to Thai bash regardless of the topic. 

The idea is stupid. 

 

The idea would be stupid no matter where it happened.

 

The idea is not stupid because it is a Thai's idea, it is stupid because it is stupid.

[Scott]

An off-topic, racist post has been reported and removed.  

[Stargeezr]

My wife is from Thailand, and she says the education standard is known to be

bad.  When my nephews came to Canada  they had to redo one year to catch up

and they took Summer classes as well. Even the Universities, are not graded very

high except one in Bangkok which has a good standard, and the rich send their

teens to that University  if they can afford to.  This  is  a  great story  and I

applaud the teacher for his efforts.

Geezer

[A1Str8]

What's the issue with cheating? It's not like they are going to learn anything valuable in school. 

 

Besides its all backwards. 

In school you learn a lesson then given a test. 

In life you are given a test that teaches you a lesson.