Education in Thailand is a joke...

[hillbilly]

I will be the first to admit, mostinternational schools here in Thailand suck.

Therefore, next year the hillbilly will be going back to the states.

The first 8 years of my daughters life was under the British curriculum. What a load of shit. Talk about anal.

Most if not all of the international schools are after one thing and one thing only.

MONEY!

But let’s look at the facts. ‘Falang’ or Thai?
Either you can read Thai or not. Are Thai schools then the way to go?

Stop and think. Let’s look at the top dogs. Chula, Mahidol or ABAC. Are any of these unis recognize globally? Well, sorta, but damn low on the scale of things.

So, where does my daughter fit into this? My opinion? She is a hell of lot better with an overseas (American) degree in order to pursue a life in Thailand.

My thoughts...

[Little Chuchok]

Hilly at what age do kids still retain language,even when they stop speaking it?

[kingwilly]

you can lose it at any age if u dont continue to practise

[NickA]

^I'm not quite sure why she would learn for 8 years under a British curriculum if you didn't want her too. Surely there are plenty of international schools that run an American curriculum?????

[watterinja]

Stop and think. Let’s look at the top dogs. Chula, Mahidol or ABAC. Are any of these unis recognize globally? Well, sorta, but damn low on the scale of things.

I'll comment on Chula, since I know it fairly well.

Their so-called International program - undergraduate level - is actually an Engrish-medium education to enable a solid old-boy money network to form. The kids will all pass, irrespective of their academic ability - as long as daddy is rich-enough.

The coursework is force-fed America-styled curricula, from local Ajarns who try to speak Engrish - well, most of the time. The Ajarns have no academic depth below a very superficial thin veneer, & fall apart if the student is too bright, or challenging. There are a few reasonable Ajarns, but they are definitely more of an exception, certainly not the rule. They all rely on the typical Thai god-ajarn status, copious waiing, corruption, groupwork, cheating, paybacks - to pass.

For the sake of your kids, don't waste their lives by educating them here - take them back home & find a good school. They will thank you for the rest of your life.

[pugforever]

i can't read. the words are in same color as background.

[hillbilly]

^I'm not quite sure why she would learn for 8 years under a British curriculum if you didn't want her too. Surely there are plenty of international schools that run an American curriculum?????

Good point. I have lived to long in Thailand. The big schools recruit from overseas. Something most be wrong with me. Don't get me started...

[hillbilly]

Hilly at what age do kids still retain language,even when they stop speaking it?

Most language experts agree on the age of 12 or so. Believe me, I have thought about this...

[obsidian]

thai education is a misnomer in my view. it is really thai socialization. deference, fained humility, manners, appeasement of the permanent underclass, male entitlement, and eyes clamped shut acceptance of the current method of governence are the real goals of education in this odd, backward country.

[kingwilly]

but surely the big 4 or big 6 schools are ok?

well i certainly thought so....

[obsidian]

depends on the program. cheating, bribery and an entitlement to the piece of paper if you pay the tuition are the realities of thai education.

imo, this culture simply doesnt value learning in any recognizable western sense. any sembalence of academic rigour or any independant program evaluation are lost in the waiing and bullshit.

it reminds me of something i saw spray painted on a wall in india, "stop the commercialization of education".

i apologize if i am off point. simply stuck in moment of cynical clarity. i will be all right tomorrow.

[blackgang]

My wife is a Thai and a school teacher for the last 25 years, I have went to her school and tried to help the children speak english,, mostly a lost cause and I have never heard of teaching the way it is done here.
But of coarse I never went to school very many years and was a long time ago, but I do know that I would not want a kid of mine to be educated here.And I think that taking your kid back home for her education is a very smart move.

[kingwilly]

depends on the program. cheating, bribery and an entitlement to the piece of paper if you pay the tuition are the realities of thai education.

imo, this culture simply doesnt value learning in any recognizable western sense. any sembalence of academic rigour, any independant evaluation are lost in the waiing a nd bullshit.

it reminds me of something i saw spray painted on a wall in india, "stop the commercialization of education".

i'm talking about the international schools.

they do have standards.

and BTW hillbilly have u seen the standards of education statewise these days?

in many cases also bad.

[obsidian]

but if the child is going to live here after his/her education i sometimes wonder what is best. leave well enough alone, or effectively force feed western values only to have them return to live with the academic pod-people? not easy.

[Little Chuchok]

^I'm not quite sure why she would learn for 8 years under a British curriculum if you didn't want her too. Surely there are plenty of international schools that run an American curriculum?????

If I guessed,it would not be the curriculum,but the school???

A friend of mines kids were expelled from an international school,because he made a fuss that the food was shite.(About 20K a year per kid...flavoured rice and all that etc))

He now has them at a bi-lingual school.The bi-lingual school is streets ahead in English than the International jobbie...ffs!

[obsidian]

my criticism is more systemic. of course you can purchase an education in thailand that has standards. but it is expensive as shit at a preuni level and the state uni's, with some individual progam exceptions, are an open joke.

[pugforever]

i agree the educational system here is shite. the standard is below average. there's not enough quality people in the field because it's not the well-paid career.who to blame? the poorly corrupted government. what can we do about it? nothing.

apart from knowing how to, the connection is vital to a successful business
in thailand. you know the right person, things seem to work more smoothly.

earning the seat in chula or other prestigious uni in thailand, it's a key to open to the door of success. why? not that they're gonna be well taught, not because they are the cream of the country, but it's also the chance to know the other kids from the successful people in thailand.

once they graduated, these kids would be sent to study abroad. the most popular destination are USA and UK for real education. they come back home, carry on whatever their parent's businesses or take the high seat in the big companies. they have the advantages in all senses- background, knowledge and connection.

if you don't really concern about the connection part, it's no point keeping your daughter here.

[kingwilly]

[

A friend of mines kids were expelled from an international school,because he made a fuss that the food was shite.(About 20K a year per kid...flavoured rice and all that etc))
s!

mate, theres more to that story .... no kid would get kicked out solely for making a fuss about the food!

[obsidian]

i taught for 15 months a thammsat. in fact i just turned down a new contract. without saying which program i was in -- i would describe the students as nice kids but inept learners. and they are the cream of the crop. a sad joke, really.

[NickA]

Can you imagine that most Thais fall asleep in their classes, talk, ignore the teacher? They almost never ask questions regarding the content - errors are propagated because no-one has the sense, or inclination to challenge.

I've been challenged by students about the expansion of gases and also the magnitude of the reaction force of a mass on a smooth inclined plane in the last couple of days, in one case the students has a good point because my previous explanation had been to simple and in the other case I had made a minor mistake in their notes over a month ago.

These are 12-13 year old kids in a government school.

They are certainly not perfect and a lot of them are lazy and inattentive, but it's not as bad as you make out. The biggest problem is the system that does not allow them to fail.

[watterinja]

^ NickA,

The students are interacting because you have created an environment for them to interact, as do mine. Sit in a typically Thai class - even at graduate level - & observe the dynamic. What do you see?

[sabang]

i can't read. the words are in same color as background.

Go to the drop down 'style chooser' menu at the bottom left of this page. Change to Default style from vbulletin original. Now you will have a dark blue background, and white type.
Or left click your mouse at the beginning of the invisible paragraph, and drag down. As if by magic... the words will appear in light blue.

[NickA]

The students are interacting because you have created an environment for them to interact, as do mine. Sit is a typically Thai class - even at graduate level - & observe the dynamic. What do you see?

True, but Hillbilly is talking about international schools.

On another point, I'm sure the UK and US are very good places for kids to get either a private education or a university degree, but I remember seeing a survey on secondary education that had them both way down the list, with countries like Sweden, Norway, Switzerland etc... at the top.

[hillbilly]

Let's look at the situation of graduating from an international school here in Thailand and then wanting to attend a university. Forget the Brit vs. the Yanks argument (I was guilty myself) let's look at the options.

Even ABAC (here in BKK) will not accept a student unless they have passed 5 GCSE classes. Forget about even going overseas. Sure some students do well with the A levels but they tend to be the bright ones.

What about the Yanks? Basically, the same thing applies. However, the student must pass the SAT.

Did you ever wonder why when you peruse the international school websites (Brit or Yank) and see the list of graduates going abroad? The stats look good. However, the schools aren't saying for this year, but merely combining all the previous years resuts. The majority of these students will attend the Chulas, Mahidols, BU, etc. Please look these schools up on the top 100.

Top 500 World Universities (1-100)

4icu.org - Top 200 Colleges and Universities worldwide by Web Popularity Ranking

The majority of the international students here in Thailand do not met the standards to be accepted abroad immediately. In other words, most (not all) have to attend an ESL refresher before being admitted into the mainstream uni. Two reasons. First their English is low and secondly, many unis do this to increase income. This happens both in the UK and in the US.

I am not wanting to be argumentive about this subject. However, reality has now set in with me and I am looking at what is best for my 8-year old daughter as the years do seem to get quicker as I get older.

[watterinja]

The funniest thing I had with Chula, was having to pass their English proficiency exam. Given that I am a native English speaker & that my base degree was 100% in English, I found it a quaint requirement.

Well, the test was indeed fun:
1. Test administrators couldn't speak english - not a word;
2. The students seemed to take pot-luck at selecting the answers. Quite amusing to watch them just wrtie in random guesses before the bell went;
3. Many of the answers were incorrect. I wrote the correct answers on the side, but, since the administrators could not speak english - it was of no use.

In all, it was a total joke.