Children of Thai Farang unions

[paranha]

JJ, I think he is trying to say that because he broke up with his girl a few times this proves that she isn't a bar girl. Something like that anyway.

Oh, right. Thanks for that MM.

I thought he was just a driveling, drunken bore with a limited intelligence and an equally limited future.

Good to know. I was wrong.

Cheers mate.

Hmm.. do I smell a little prejudice here JJ or most likely a tad of honesty was a bit too much for you?

[Scottish Gary]

I cannot state enough how bad the Thai education system is. It's doctrination that starts at nursery level. The Thai teachers are generally lazy, incompetent

DsD.

My eldest daughter spend her first 5 years of education at a local Thai school in Nakhon Sawan and that wasnt my experience at all.
I found the teachers positive and attentive considering the class sizes. The kids also seemed to be a lot more polite and disciplined than the rabble in the UK.
When my daughter had a week off sick her teacher turned up at my house asking when she was coming back. Thats something thats never happened in the UK.
.
Maybe i was lucky we lived beside a decent school but i was certainly satisfied with what i seen.

[Marmite the Dog]

(mum just directs him to the maid all the time) and he speaks Thai like the maid (an illiterate, backward woman in her 50s). My little 'un who has not yet turned 3 was more developed and responsible.

Thai or Isaan if the truth be told? Sad is all I can say. I have been lucky enough to have very normal kids who do well.

Whichever language she attempts, she mauls it and sounds like a fog-horn.

[chedi]

vuvuzela?

[buriramboy]

I cannot state enough how bad the Thai education system is. It's doctrination that starts at nursery level. The Thai teachers are generally lazy, incompetent

DsD.

My eldest daughter spend her first 5 years of education at a local Thai school in Nakhon Sawan and that wasnt my experience at all.
I found the teachers positive and attentive considering the class sizes. The kids also seemed to be a lot more polite and disciplined than the rabble in the UK.
When my daughter had a week off sick her teacher turned up at my house asking when she was coming back. Thats something thats never happened in the UK.
.
Maybe i was lucky we lived beside a decent school but i was certainly satisfied with what i seen.

All good and well Gary what you experienced, but if you look more closely at the standard of education your daughter received as in what she was actually being taught at that age compared to a kid in the UK system of the same age, i think you will find huge differences and not in your daughters Thai school favour, but at the end of the day we all make our own choices and while my daughter did attend a Thai private school which i was very happy with till the age of 5 it wasn't a risk i was prepared to take letting her get educated in Thailand any longer than that.

[Attilla the Hen]

I don't have any kids (thank fuck), but, know a lot of couples that do.
From what I hear, Thai primary school is OK, but, when it comes to Secondary school where the real learning comes in; where you learn knowledge that will stand you in good stead for a job, Thai schools are abysmal. Best to go back to the first world for a secondary education.

[jandajoy]

Good posts from various people.

There's obviously a diverse range of views.

IMHO it comes down to circumstance.

Sure we'd all love to have our kids in the best school in the world, but it's unlikely to happen. So, we compromise. Home ed. is good. Seeking external tutors is good.

We're looking for a guitar teacher as I write.

The thing for me, in this tiny village in the middle of nowhere, is that the boy can cycle to school of a morning, safely.

He can make his own way home at the end of the school day, safely.

Gaps in the curriculum we can deal with.

Safety, isn't so easy.

I can't help him with his Thai stuff but I can help him with English.

Maths/numeracy is universal.

Geography (something I'm passionate about) - google.

The social stuff is very well dealt with by the school.

The "indoctrination" stuff ?

He comes home and we talk.

We talk about his day and what he did.

We talk about the stuff he was told and the stuff he had to do. The singing to what's his name and all the rest of that stuff.

We talk about why he does that? Why does the school want him to do that?

But, and this is the important bit, we don't put it down.

We simply question.

This is a boy aged nearly 9.

He's passed, pretty much, the cognitive stage so he's thinking. I see our role, apart from imparting knowledge, as facilitating the capacity, freedom and ability to think.

Off soap box

Cheers.

[Attilla the Hen]

^
Yeah, but you just don't have the knowledge to guide him in the secondary school stage. the subjects become too specialized. What will you do?

[jandajoy]

but you just don't have the knowledge to guide him in the secondary school stage. the subjects become too specialized. What will you do?

Well, I do actually, but I don't expect to be in that situation.

We'll make a decision on that when the time is right.

[Attilla the Hen]

So, you know the syllabus for Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, English etc etc.
I find that hard to believe. Why do teachers specialize in one subject? Too hard to specialize in more than one?

[Nawty]

If ya can teach a coon....ya can teach anyone.

[peterpan]

Good words JJ, My thoughts exactly, in my formative years my parents were committed to their export business, as a result they both spent a lot of time away from home.
I never wanted children until I could devote a reasonable anount of time to them and now I am in the position to spend as much time as they need to round off their education.

[jandajoy]

So, you know the syllabus for Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, English etc etc.

It's all in book and on the web mate. \

If you've got good teaching skills it's simple a matter of being one or two pages ahead.

Honest.

[Attilla the Hen]

^
Sounds like a full time job. Jeez, like going to school all over again.
Soooooo glad I don't have any sprogs.

[jandajoy]

Why do teachers specialize in one subject? Too hard to specialize in more than one?

Years 10, 11 and up?

Yup you're right. It start s getting a bit serious. But can still be done.

The thing to remember is that a "teacher" in high school / upper high school is more of a facilitator.

You're there to help the individual ( nb - not child ) work it it out for itself.

Seriously, the "facilitator" role is what it's all about.

Not rote induction, or crass Koranic repetition.

[jubby]

I've got 3 girls, 7, 9 & 12. They've been here 3 years. The School seems fine. Its a private school but the fees are low. Its a place the shop keepers & small business people send their Kids to in the hope of a good education. The Headteacher is very strict and I think this reflects on the teachers who are all young and keen. My Kids are happy there. They teach English & Chinese as well as Thai but the English Sucks, but now they have a new english Teacher who speaks very good english according to my eldest. I'm not convinced Thai education is as bad as they say. My Children certainly aren't brainwashed or indoctrinated. They certainly can and do think for themselves.

I can't say my education in the UK was anything special, and I doub't the situation has improved.

Kids need a Degree to work in Mcdonalds these days , wether its UK or Thailand.


I'll start worrying when they are 18 or so.

[HollyGoodhead]

Kids need a Degree to work in Mcdonalds these days , wether its UK

Not entirely true... a lot of people can't get basic jobs in UK with a degree because they're seen as overqualified.

[jubby]

You know what I mean. Education for the sake of education. I've known graduates who couldn't do the Job because they had no commonsense, not because they were overqualified.

[astasinim]

a lot of people can't get basic jobs in UK with a degree because they're seen as overqualified.

Its a polite way of saying, youve no experience in the work place. There are a sizeable number of graduates who think, that just because they have a degree in needlework, then they are entitled to start in a position higher than their experience permits.

[withnallstoke]

that just because they have a degree in needlework, then they are entitled to start in a position higher than their experience permits.

Those types generally reap what they sew.

[bangkokpi]

A good thread.

I am still waiting for the result of my interview for an expat position in BKK.

I can only speak for Australia as that's where I live. The government schools here are bad, really bad. So if I get an offer that the employer will pay for an international school it is bound to be better than what I can afford in Australia.

As for the children growing up Thai vs Farang. If you are sending them to an international school will they grow up as Thai? Perhaps not...

B

[Davis Knowlton]

Just a final thought from me. Remember that the teacher is dealing (in case of my twins, at least) with a classroom of 30 eleven year old kids, who learn at a variety of speeds. If you (or a good tutor) spend an hour a night with each kid, you can more than review/correct/enhance any learning that took place that day. In elementary school, at least, I am more than qualified to do this. Probably the same for secondary, although I would have to brush up on hard sciences. Point is that individual attention, which kids rarely get in schools anywhere, can make a huge difference.

[brian3673]

good thread
my son was born thailand he is only 18 months so we have a while to make up our minds what to do with his school's..
what we have done is come to uk and see what my wife thinks..
i will leave it up to her if we settle thailand or my country,as long as the are happy i will be happy.
for me the only thing the uk has is free school's..

[nidhogg]

for me the only thing the uk has is free school's..

Just remember the old saying "you get what you pay for..."

[jandajoy]

a lot of people can't get basic jobs in UK with a degree because they're seen as overqualified.

Or inanely incompetent with degrees in useless subjects.