Thread: University Teaching in Thailand?

Originally Posted by BobR

Employees in Government run schools (and most all government employees) are forced into retirement at age 60 irregardless of whether they want to leave or not.
You may need to limit your search to privately owned universities.

You're a Psychology Professor, I'd bet you could write some interesting stuff about the lot on this forum.

PS You do know about ajarn.com? There's some real twats on there but also some good information.

Yeah, I figured I would be too old to get a permanent position in a department. But I wouldn't want one anyway; I was just wondering if I can get in to some place to teach a class or two. I guess I'll look around when I get there.

I have looked around on ajarn.com, but couldn't get much info on what it's like in the universities over there.

Teaching Western standard psychology to Asians?

Why?

Originally Posted by thaimeme

Teaching Western standard psychology to Asians?

Why?

People all across the world have basically the same mechanisms for perception, cognition, and other processes with strong grounding in neural function. There are a few interesting cultural influences on some higher-level cognitive processes like decision-making and problem-solving, but it's still worthwhile to understand the different contributions of basic level cognitive processes and culture. This kind of work is being done in the US, Europe, and even India and China. They use cell phones in Thailand, so people there might want to understand how humans process visual information.

And you can earn a living teaching students that.

Originally Posted by wasabi

And you can earn a living teaching students that.

In the US - yeah.

Why not forget your specialist area and seek a job teaching English ? I suggest this so that you can begin to appreciate the nature of the education system in Thailand. You will find the mentality of Thai teachers to be radically different to anything that you will have experienced in the US. The Thai approach to education is enough to break the spirit of the most determined teacher.

I taught English in Thailand at a wide variety of institutions but became so pissed off with my efforts to teach being undermined that I will not do it again.

Thailand is "different".

Originally Posted by can123

Why not forget your specialist area and seek a job teaching English ? I suggest this so that you can begin to appreciate the nature of the education system in Thailand. You will find the mentality of Thai teachers to be radically different to anything that you will have experienced in the US. The Thai approach to education is enough to break the spirit of the most determined teacher.

I taught English in Thailand at a wide variety of institutions but became so pissed off with my efforts to teach being undermined that I will not do it again.

Thailand is "different".

Yeah, I could and might do that. But it would also be cool to teach something in my specialty area that might be in demand in certain places. I just wanted to find out, that's all. I wouldn't be doing it for the money.

They use cell phones in Thailand, so people there might want to understand how humans process visual information.

foreigners coming to thailand would do well to remember the thai maxim that more or less defines their everyday existence and goes a long way to explaining the thai nature that is mostly free of self analysis, inquisitiveness and the brow furrowing attempts to understand the world around them that afflicts us westerners to a debilitating degree.

that maxim is "don tink too mutt" (trans. dont think too much.)

Originally Posted by LarryGee

Originally Posted by can123

Why not forget your specialist area and seek a job teaching English ? I suggest this so that you can begin to appreciate the nature of the education system in Thailand. You will find the mentality of Thai teachers to be radically different to anything that you will have experienced in the US. The Thai approach to education is enough to break the spirit of the most determined teacher.

I taught English in Thailand at a wide variety of institutions but became so pissed off with my efforts to teach being undermined that I will not do it again.

Thailand is "different".

Yeah, I could and might do that. But it would also be cool to teach something in my specialty area that might be in demand in certain places. I just wanted to find out, that's all. I wouldn't be doing it for the money.

And I've already figured out that Thailand is "different"; my first clue was all the erect penises hanging from everyone's necks.

The Thais I associate with tend to have heavy gold chains around their necks holding a golden icon.
I haven't seen what you have seen.

Originally Posted by taxexile

foreigners coming to thailand would do well to remember the thai maxim that more or less defines their everyday existence and goes a long way to explaining the thai nature that is mostly free of self analysis, inquisitiveness and the brow furrowing attempts to understand the world around them that afflicts us westerners to a debilitating degree. that maxim is "don tink too mutt" (trans. dont think too much.)

I don't always agree with Tax (and vice-versa) but he's spot on here.

Originally Posted by NZdick1983

Originally Posted by taxexile

foreigners coming to thailand would do well to remember the thai maxim that more or less defines their everyday existence and goes a long way to explaining the thai nature that is mostly free of self analysis, inquisitiveness and the brow furrowing attempts to understand the world around them that afflicts us westerners to a debilitating degree. that maxim is "don tink too mutt" (trans. dont think too much.)

I don't always agree with Tax (and vice-versa) but he's spot on here.

Amerikuns in general don't like to think too hard either. You following our presidential election? Ever look at the crowd at a Trump speech?

OTOH, I've met a few damned smart Thai PhDs.

^ So have I... not necessarily PhDs... Thai people are just as intelligent as other humans on the planet... while arguably less aware of the world outside their bubble of Thailand.

(much like many Americans I would wager)

hell, surely a fair few Kiwis too, to be fair. *my worldly self excluded, of course...

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

There's some terrible advice in this thread, imho.

LarryGee is not a TEFLer (not that there's anything wrong with that job when done professionally). My Thai friend's/ex-colleagues have PhDs from strong unis in America (University of Pennsylvania, University of California are two examples), UK, Australia and Thailand; staff meetings, course design, teaching standards, etc are good - we're not talking teaching 10-year-olds in a government school in Udon Bumfuk... Top Thai students are on a par with top students anywhere. That's the nature of top-end educational; Thais, Chinese, British, even Americans..., the top students are very good. There's perhaps half a dozen Thai unis which are pretty good, and another dozen or so that are decent with motivated students and staff.

I've met/worked with teachers at Chula, Mahidol, Thammasat and Silpakorn who could teach at any uni in the world (one of the ladies in my department at Silpakorn left to teach at UCLA; that's one of the best unis out there). These teachers are far better and more professional than the Americans and Brits and Aussies and Canadians that I currently work with who graduated from mid and low end unis in their home countries (a bit like meself...).

There is scope for LarryGee to work part-time, imho. For example, at Silpakorn, we had an Intercultural Communications MA program that had quite a variety of modules. Also, Chula is interested in Cognitive Science in various faculties/departments, and I'm sure somebody with good research and teaching experience in Cognitive Psychology could have a productive conversation with people there - they want to improve their global ranking, develop research skills, etc, just like every other uni (it ultimately means more money and status for them).

Thanks Bettyboo. What you're saying here, I kinda figured at the outset. I've just been trying to get a feel for how to approach these institutions when I finally do get out there. It looks like I'll just have to approach these departments individually; however, I still don't know whether a 62 year-old guy would be rejected out of hand, or whether people in their 60s can work part time in a university. I've got a fair amount of experience that should interest a Thai university - teaching, research, and running a funding program at a federal agency in the US.

Oh wait - Bettyboo - I don't know how I missed it. I just saw your post #18. Thanks for that info. That gives me a lot to go on.

Originally Posted by can123

Why not forget your specialist area and seek a job teaching English ? I suggest this so that you can begin to appreciate the nature of the education system in Thailand. You will find the mentality of Thai teachers to be radically different to anything that you will have experienced in the US. The Thai approach to education is enough to break the spirit of the most determined teacher.

I taught English in Thailand at a wide variety of institutions but became so pissed off with my efforts to teach being undermined that I will not do it again.

Thailand is "different".

At first I thought you were serious....then I realised your post is just a pisstake and a moan.

Carry on.

Originally Posted by LarryGee

same maladies as the US system - mainly that half of the students shouldn't be in college in the first place.

Indeed.
So what do you do?

Larry, you might consider PSU (Prince of Sonkhka) down south. When my wife got her MA there, it was in English, and her degree is recognised all over the world.
Admittedly PSU has gone down in the rankings since then, but is hovering, and may (perhaps with your research input) creep back up.

You might also get excellent advice from a friend of mine who is known as Phuketsub on Thaivisa. He lectures here (not at PSU) and is a very nice guy.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

Originally Posted by LarryGee

same maladies as the US system - mainly that half of the students shouldn't be in college in the first place.

Indeed.
So what do you do?

Just aim for the upper 50%, but try not to lose the lower half. Universities are moving away from lecturing anyway and emphasizing in-class exercises and other kinds of interactive experiences. Listening to a lecture is passive and a student can watch a Youtube video on the same topic for homework.

There's always a tension between what the instructor wants and what the students want; you just have to get used to it.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

Larry, you might consider PSU (Prince of Sonkhka) down south. When my wife got her MA there, it was in English, and her degree is recognised all over the world.
Admittedly PSU has gone down in the rankings since then, but is hovering, and may (perhaps with your research input) creep back up.

You might also get excellent advice from a friend of mine who is known as Phuketsub on Thaivisa. He lectures here (not at PSU) and is a very nice guy.

Thanks Maanam.

Mahidol, 90th in Asia?
https://www.timeshighereducation.com...cols/rank_only

Thammasat 101
QS University Rankings: Asia 2016 | Top Universities

What is your actual objective? If it's to have a sustainable side-income, surely sticking the word "business" in front of the word "psychology" would result in more "business" for your own "business" where you could actually turn a trick or two and make a living on it?

All this shit about Thai uni degrees and UCLA being as good as anywhere in the world, is shit, and won't help you.
Thai unis are shit, they know they are shit, and that's why they go abroad when they can to get a foreign degree which is regarded *by them* as superior. Foreign lecturers in places like Thailand, are doing it for fun and are not taken seriously by the academic community. Much of the far east isn't trusted because of IP issues, with some obvious culprits.
I had a Japanese supervisor from RIKEN, and he was sound, but the Chinese Prof in our dept was clearly on the make, and not a serious academic, just leveraging the whole China thing to milk cash from both sides. We had Thai postgrads, and they muddle through, but they are not really up to the level, they get helped a lot, and like most asian students they are cash cow for unis.

My understanding on this notion of Larry's is that you can get kind of hired, and get a nominal salary somewhere, but you make your main money outside on the side, leveraging your position at the uni. Your status is at the whim of Thai academics, who like many orientals can by very fickle for all sorts of chippy inscrutable reasons. It's better to be in control of your own income stream and your own destiny, that's just a rule for life, and as a psychologist, you should know that really.

Originally Posted by CaptainNemo

What is your actual objective? If it's to have a sustainable side-income, surely sticking the word "business" in front of the word "psychology" would result in more "business" for your own "business" where you could actually turn a trick or two and make a living on it?

No, as I stated a few times in this thread, I just want to teach a class or two part-time. I'll be retired; I won't need the money. My thought is that there might be some department that would want to scrape together 5-10 students who want to learn about recent theories of perception, attention, and memory.

My shit has nothing to do with self-improvement, business, or improving your emotional IQ.