Education gap too wide for leap to Thailand 4.0

[webfact]

Education gap too wide for leap to Thailand 4.0
By Lars Sondergaard, Dilaka Lathapipat
Special to The Nation

 

One million students in small schools are falling further behind

 

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results brought several pieces of alarming news for Thailand. First, Thailand’s ranking slipped further – from 51st to 64th in reading; 50th to 55th in mathematics; and 50th to 54th in science. Second, the education system produces a disturbingly small share of “high performers” – only 1.4 per cent of Thai students demonstrated superior problem-solving and analytical reasoning skills compared to 35 per cent of students in Singapore, and 15 per cent, on average, in the 35 member-countries of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development. Third, the share of functionally illiterate students rose from 33 per cent in 2012 to 50 per cent in 2015.

 

But behind these headline figures is a trend that deserves more attention – students in Thailand’s smallest schools are falling further behind their peers in larger schools. This movement was already taking place between 2003 and 2012 – highlighted in the World Bank’s “Wanted: a Quality Education for All” report – but the trend continued between 2012 and 2015.

 

This year, nearly one million children are attending small, mostly rural schools in Thailand. Many are from society’s poorest families, and the quality of education they receive is not preparing them for modern work life. 

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/opinion/30304828

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-01-25

[canuckamuck]

16 minutes ago, webfact said:

only 1.4 per cent of Thai students demonstrated superior problem-solving and analytical reasoning skills compared to 35 per cent of students in Singapore, and 15 per cent, on average, in the 35 member-countries of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development. Third, the share of functionally illiterate students rose from 33 per cent in 2012 to 50 per cent in 2015.

1.4%  with analytical reasoning skills, and 50% illiteracy.

It explains a lot, but it is really inexcusable. 

It's working well for the families that send their kids out of country for their educations though.

[jerojero]

And the PM keeps blabbing on about reconciliation, technology, and other unattainable b's. Education is the key to country's progress.

[brucec64]

But on a positive note, Thailand scored first in the critical category of Memorizing Core Values.

Sent from my SM-J710F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[honoluludave]

50 minutes ago, jerojero said:

And the PM keeps blabbing on about reconciliation, technology, and other unattainable b's. Education is the key to country's progress.

Yes but an educated and informed public is much harder to control.

[yellowboat]

33 minutes ago, honoluludave said:

Yes but an educated and informed public is much harder to control.

They do not need to be controlled.  They become independent and self sufficient.  That is the real danger.  They need less government and their cronies. 

 

"This year, nearly one million children are attending small, mostly rural schools in Thailand. Many are from society’s poorest families, and the quality of education they receive is not preparing them for modern work life."

 

Too bad the government does not have problem solving skills. 

[mtls2005]

Education gap too wide for leap to Thailand 4.0

 

 

All that is needed is a great leap forward. Maybe China could help?

[djayz]

They should have started investing heavily in education years ago in order to prepare the general workforce for the 21st century. 

Their general education, skills and work ethics leave a lot to be desired. 

 

 

[mikebell]

It's degree ceremony season.  Lots of proud families will be travelling across Thailand to see their off-spring receive a worthless piece of paper that says they have everything necessary to become a teacher/lawyer/scientist etc.  Many will end up in a 7-11 store.  The only winners are the Universities who take on impossibly high numbers annually only to find there are not enough jobs to go round.  Only those who offer a brown envelope get a position.

Thailand's Education system is diabolical from bottom to top.

[trainman34014]

This is a trend that will continue as the Ministerial Misfits in Bangkok do not want an educated mass population, which would be a disaster for them and their Hi so buddies.  

 

Sadly; Thailand will be bottom of most educational rankings on the Planet within 20 years.

[jaltsc]

“… the education system produces a disturbingly small share of “high performers” 

 

Yet most of the stories that are covered focus on the accomplishments of this 1.4% of the students. What needs to be emphasized is the need to overhaul the present "education" system, which is based on nepotism and elitism, while ignoring the needs of the majority of the students. The first steps should be implementing an adequate system,  assess the abilities of the present staffs to teach effectively,  fire all those who do not qualify and make education/teaching an attractive major at the university level. 

 

Unfortunately, there is one major roadblock. Thainess

 

[djayz]

9 minutes ago, jaltsc said:

“… the education system produces a disturbingly small share of “high performers” 

 

Yet most of the stories that are covered focus on the accomplishments of this 1.4% of the students. What needs to be emphasized is the need to overhaul the present "education" system, which is based on nepotism and elitism, while ignoring the needs of the majority of the students. The first steps should be implementing an adequate system,  assess the abilities of the present staffs to teach effectively,  fire all those who do not qualify and make education/teaching an attractive major at the university level. 

 

Unfortunately, there is one major roadblock. Thainess

 

Spot on!

[tso310]

A recent article in the Nikkei Asian Review stated that Thai business chiefs had told he dear general that Thailand 4.0 was not achievable due to the lack of IT skills, amongst others.  

[Kasset Tak]

One Big problem is that many of the students just don't care!

* A Thai co-teacher and I went to see the parents of a student that had been absent from the college for 2 weeks. The parents told us that there was no problem as the student put on his school uniform and left home around 7 o'clock to go to school everyday!?

* I was told by the director in the first school I worked in that it's prohibited to fail students so therefore the students don't fear failing in a subject!

* I have students that have studied English Program for 3 years and still don't understand the everyday question " How are you?"... They have had a total of 3 Thai teachers teaching in English and 5 differ foreign teachers so I know that the problem is not because of me!

* Time is not important for students, parents or Thai teachers.

- If a 2 hour lesson should start 08:10 and the students show up at 8:55 it's usually accepted by the Thai teachers.

- Here the School day start at 07:45 but still everyday I see parents dropping of their children around 08:30!

 

Another BIG problem are the Thai teachers that does everything but teach, either because they have to much work or are just lazy!

* In computer class my Thai co-teacher has been present 2 Times the last 14 weeks because he has other School activities that he has been ordered to attend... They gave me the books in Thai and all the programs are installed with Thai language which is a problem as I can't read and write Thai!

* Last semester I should have had a Thai co-teacher teaching "Layer production" but he NEVER came to class saying that he had no time to teach as he was working on his doctor degree!

* The head of my department teach 12 hour a week and still she works until 18-19:00 everyday because of all other work she has (she doesn't even have a Facebook profile because she don't have time!)!

* The schedule for meetings can become insane in the vocational colleges:

- When I was working in Tak the director was present in the college 3 days over a 3 week period because he had meetings around Thailand: Chang Mai - Udon Ratchatani - college - Bangkok - Yala - Bangkok - college (3 hour stop!) - Chang Mai - college - Roi Et - Udon Ratchatani - college.

- Even for me as a foreign teacher working in vocational colleges it has been crazy a few times...

2 days teaching - 1 day traveling - 3 days meeting in Udonthani - 1 day traveling - 1 day teaching - 1 day traveling- 1 day meeting in Chang Mai - 1 day traveling - 1 day teaching - overnight bus to Bangkok - 2 days meeting in Bangkok - overnight bus back.

Or like last time... 8 hours on the overnight bus to Bangkok, 8-10 meeting and at 11 o'clock on the bus at Morchit for an 8 hour ride back.

 

And then they wonder why Thai education is failing.....

[IMA_FARANG]

This is pertinent to the topic, but at first you may not think so.

As another poster has said before  on this forum,

I can explain t to you but I can't help you understand it if you choose not to think about it.

I recently bought a new computer and had windows 10 installed on that computer.

The person who installed Windows 10 made it  a Thai language keyboard and a Thai language display.

Even though he knew I did not speak or read Thai.

Fortunately I knew how to change the language options to English.

Now think about that, why would he chose Thai as the screen display and the keyboard language, when he knew I was a  Farang  who spoke English as my first language.

It's not logical is it to set the keyboard to a Thai keyboard and the screen display to Thai for a customer you know can't read or speak Thai.

That in a nutshell is what is wrong with Thai education, you can teach them but you can't teach them to use that knowledge constructively.

As I said before in this post, I can explain it to you, but I can't help you understand unless you are willing to think about it.

And this is NOT an anti Thai rant

[Ceruhe]

Someone saying Thailand can't go from 1.0 to 4.0 is in dire need of attitude adjustment me thinks.

[nakhonandy]

Unfortunately the students have little chance.

The majority of teachers are abysmal. The system is a farce. Adhering to the core values in detriment to real learning, obedience first, thinking not on the list.

Not allowed to ask questions.

No fail policy.

 

I could go on, but this is what the powers that be want.

 

Out of all the uni grads I have met only a few seemed relatively competent, all from money families, educated abroad.

 

Thailand 4.0, how?

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

only 1.4 per cent of Thai students demonstrated superior problem-solving and analytical reasoning skills

Seems perfectly in-line with the size of the elitist class that controls Thailand wealth and power.

[opouri]

7 hours ago, djayz said:

They should have started investing heavily in education years ago in order to prepare the general workforce for the 21st century. 

Their general education, skills and work ethics leave a lot to be desired. 

 

 

They are already investing heavily in education but the money does not seem to filter down to the ones it is meant for.

[selftaopath]

This is disgusting. All children DESERVE the right to a decent education. Thais are always talking about " FACE. " Seems like they are not too concerned about it in this educational climate.

 

My wife tells me these Isaan teachers are lazy and don't care if the kids learn or don't. Seems like the teachers do lots of things besides teach. 

 

Maybe someone will put this on G+. :-)

[clockman]

But the money spent on education is very big. So where does that go?

[Mobi]

You would expect a report on falling education standards by a leading English Language newspaper, which is then copied and pasted by a leading Expat forum, to at least have a title which can be understood.

 

"Education gap too wide for leap to Thailand 4.0"

 

Can someone tell me exactly what that is supposed to mean?

 

When the reporters can't write in halfway decent English, what chance does the rest of the country have?

[Becker]

3 hours ago, Mobi said:

"Education gap too wide for leap to Thailand 4.0"

 

Can someone tell me exactly what that is supposed to mean?

Can someone tell me what thailand 4.0 is supposed to mean???

 

PS. Rhetorical question. Falls in the same category as the much touted but undefined "roadmap".

[Rhys]

Sadly this is true for many schools, but there are islands of learning...very few of course.

 

 

 

 

 

[maxpower]

1 hour ago, Becker said:

Can someone tell me what thailand 4.0 is supposed to mean???

 

PS. Rhetorical question. Falls in the same category as the much touted but undefined "roadmap".

 

This .0 stuff has been quite fashionable in recent years. Goes well with the buzz words everyone is throwing around these days.