Thread: Don't get ripped off by Thai schools

In my opinion...

My kids seem to enjoy the change of pace.

They are VERY comfortable and confident dealing with adults in a one-on-one situation.

They all speak, read and write at US grade level.

Home schooled kids have an excellent track record of gaining admittance to US universities.

Their very diverse background will make them MORe attractive to universities.

All of them did well when they studied in the US.

I worked at an international school for two years it was a con 80% of the staff were either Indian Burmese Phillipino Arabic Turkish not one of them spoke anywhere near half decent English.The white staff we had were in the main unqualified one American guy claimed all sosts of things yet could never confirm his degree's.Snidey git he was too,always trying to get people fired.I have no education qualifications but I was a manager in charge of teachers so it didn't matter.We lost some good qualified experienced teachers in my time there.The school is on Rama 9 near Seacon Square.120,000 + baht a year to be ripped off by the Indian and Arabic directors

Originally Posted by andrewdicksonsmith

I worked at an international school for two years it was a con 80% of the staff were either Indian Burmese Phillipino Arabic Turkish not one of them spoke anywhere near half decent English.The white staff we had were in the main unqualified one American guy claimed all sosts of things yet could never confirm his degree's.Snidey git he was too,always trying to get people fired.I have no education qualifications but I was a manager in charge of teachers so it didn't matter.We lost some good qualified experienced teachers in my time there.The school is on Rama 9 near Seacon Square.120,000 + baht a year to be ripped off by the Indian and Arabic directors

aint international then.

^^ Hi ADS
Good to see you

Originally Posted by kingwilly

ISB is a good school.

It's an over-rated money pit.

Actually aside from the argument this has descended into I think the OP made some valid point about home education being better value for money than the overpriced International school education. It's something I would consider myself.

And I won't even talk about the drug/social problems.....

This is quite an interesting point that I often think of but rarely see brought up when discussing Int. schools. I have noticed that kids that go to international schools are far more likely to do drugs at an earlier age than children at govt. schools.

I really don't know the stats on that, it's just something that's always been fairly apparent to me from knowing people who have been to both types. Money, access and broader social circles is probably the cause.

I do not have statistics but i have spent 18 years in Asia and, in that time, I have known a lot of international school students and a lot of expat parents. I have heard a lot of stories. Both from ISB and HKIS. Pampered expats and the local super rich.

Some of my friends are very religious and they had real problems with drugs (kids with VERY expensive cars and trunks full of drugs and guns), sex (most girls had lost it by age 15 and some were active at 12 and 13) etc. One of my friends actually moved his entire family to Chiang Mai for a year because his daughter's best friend was the daughter of a massage mogul and this girl was already ahving sex at 12. He was VERY concerned about his daughter.

As far as quality of education goes, ISB is cetainly excellent. But socially I would be very careful about sending MY 3 kids there. Some of the smaller international schools are more of a mix of Thai and Western culture--respect of parents, not a lot of drugs, but poor educations and very expensive.

For us, ISB is not even an option--too far away. The other schools MIGHT be an option but we decided on the best Thai givernments we could find + extensive home schooling.

If anyone wants some free advice on websites etc, let me know.

This is an interesting option.
I have taught Kindergaten, primary, secondary and tertiary levels during my last 6 years in Thailand.
I have taught at both 3rd level Int schools and within a bilingual programme and can truthfully state that I have not come across any outstanding teachers.
As far as Maths is concerned I can teach basic calculus(plus other disciplines) and science at A level standard(Chem and Bio).
So if I can give my kids 1-2 hours of my time a day I reckon they could go to a Thai school and not be disadvantaged.
I don't have 1 million bht spare a year for each of my kids and I don't wish to return to the West so a top school like Shrewsbury is not on the cards.

Originally Posted by good2bhappy

This is an interesting option.
I have taught Kindergaten, primary, secondary and tertiary levels during my last 6 years in Thailand.
I have taught at both 3rd level Int schools and within a bilingual programme and can truthfully state that I have not come across any outstanding teachers.
As far as Maths is concerned I can teach basic calculus(plus other disciplines) and science at A level standard(Chem and Bio).
So if I can give my kids 1-2 hours of my time a day I reckon they could go to a Thai school and not be disadvantaged.
I don't have 1 million bht spare a year for each of my kids and I don't wish to return to the West so a top school like Shrewsbury is not on the cards.

Yes and my VERY STRONG SUGGESTION is English only at home and UBC exclusively in English.

And don't forget, Math and a few other subjects can be taught by a bright Thai. Maybe a local uni student looking for a PT job.

^ don't forget the Mandarin

Originally Posted by bruceveld

I have three kids and, as it works out, I live too far away from the nearest over-priced international school. It gives me a convenient excuse to avoid paying their ridiculous fees. Tey just hire my TEFL grads anyway!!

So what do I do with my kids? I send them to Thai school every other year and I hire one of my TEFL grads to tutor them on alternate years (home schooling). I buy books (mainly when I go back home but there is a heck of a lot on the internet for free or a very low access fee) that have the curriculum they need to cover and the tutor spends 5 hours a day with them (for 30,000 baht per month). (they even spent a few months back in the US and were top of their classes).

We've managed all this for 720,000 total in tutor bills over 7 years. Total for all three kids.

So, when you were in the US, you happily sent them to school because it was free. In Thailand, you need a "convenient excuse" to avoid paying for them to attend a similar type of school. And you feel proud that you currently spend less than USD1000 per child per year on their education.

I hope you are right about your faith in what you are doing, because otherwise they are paying a very dear price for your unbreakable desire to live in Thailand.

Smeg, the nearest international school (one hour drive from my house--BY CAR) is not a good school. ISB is one thing. This school is not ISB.

I can honestly say my kids are doing well. They are bright, inquisitive, intelligent, and socially well rounded. If this is because of or in spite of their education, we will never know.

Originally Posted by bruceveld

Smeg, the nearest international school (one hour drive from my house--BY CAR) is not a good school. ISB is one thing. This school is not ISB.

hmmm, so are you now conceding the ISB is a decent school after all?

Bit misleading if not just dishonest to include them in the OP then.

I never said ISB was not an excellent school. I said it did not have BANG FOR THE BUCK!

Maybe its from all those years of studying Econ as an undergrad but to me no one (except perhaps the Bill Gates of the world) purchase things strictly upon their quality without regards to price. All of us probably eat steak, but none of us probably refuses to eat any steak except Kobe beef because it is the best (and 100 x the price of normal steak). Intead we get the steak that costs 1/100th the price but is half as good. We all seek value.

ISB is an excellent school. Probably the best in Thailand. But that does not mean that it does not have problems. Is it worth $10,000 + per year? Personally, I do not think so. But, hey, if you have your own opinion, COOL. I guess I am not entitled to mine. lol

thats why I love TD

Originally Posted by good2bhappy

thats why I love TD

lol glad we are here to entertain you!

I get PM's and stuff saying I should just ignore it because the idiots are "just jealous". Hey if I were Bill Gates or Michael Jordan I would figure it comes with the territory but I just run a freaking TEFL course.... I simply do not deserve all this attention.

There is nothing wrong with home schooling if it is done right.

In outback Australia many hundreds of kids are educated by 'school of the air' not even have teachers present.

Others are educated with a governess or such and any combination of the above.

Many of these kids turn out well educated, many go from primary school like this onto very good boarding schools and excel.

So what is being discussed here is bascially the same and can be done I guess. But as I said before, hiring one person as a teacher for 30k baht a month who is good at all aspects of teaching would be hard to come by.

But I may just try this myself one day, get a nice little swedish backpacker teacher for a year at a time. Build a sauna and jacuzzi as well.

Originally Posted by bruceveld

Smeg, the nearest international school (one hour drive from my house--BY CAR) is not a good school. ISB is one thing. This school is not ISB.

I can honestly say my kids are doing well. They are bright, inquisitive, intelligent, and socially well rounded. If this is because of or in spite of their education, we will never know.

Do you deny that they are having to put up with a highly economised and disjointed education simply because YOU want to live in a developing world country and can't/won't pay out for the type of school they could go to in the US?
Do you not see the irony in a guy who advertises a school which charges $1590 per month who himself limits his own kids' educational investment to $80 per month each?

Originally Posted by bruceveld

I could do anything I wanted and it would be none of your f$#%ing business. So my suggestion would be to change the tone of your questions next time or you will NOT get an answer.

You start a DISCUSSION thread to tell the world about your private life and how clever you are and then get shitty and start swearing when people don't agree. Headcase....

Personally, I would NOT raise a family in Thailand unless I

1) Worked in a good international school and received free education for them
2) Had enough wealth to effortlessly send them to a school as good as they could go to in my native country
3) Worked for a multinational that paid for it.

Your hare-brained penny-pincher scheme about using thai schools and a TEFLer sounds daft to me. So sorry that you don't like my opinion.