Central Scrutinizer Posted September 7, 2003 Report Share Posted September 7, 2003 All, My daughter is half farang and half Thai. She now goes to a private school in Surin the past couple of years, and seems to be doing fine. It's a good school. Although she is not my biological child when we registered her in the school we put my name down as her father. She couldn't go to the school without the name of a father on the application. (Her biological father is dead. My wife and he were never married nor is his name on the birth certificate.) Being a bastard in Thailand is not an easy thing. There are many prejudices still alive and kicking in the LOS. She has had some problems, not many, but things were said to her about this when she was younger and I was not on the scene yet. She was teased and belittled, even had some calling her nasty names. Now that I am considered her father (most have no idea that I am not her father) this hasn't been a problem in the new private school. Have any of you farang fathers run into any problems your half farang children are having going to school in the LOS? Any blatant or not so blatant problems with their peers? I've seen lately that half farang half Thai people actually are now considered to be desired in a lot of TV shows and movies and tv commercials. There seem to be a lot of these mixed blood people acting on the Thai daily soap operas the ladies all love so much. A lot of ladies, relatives and friends of the wife, claim they desire to have a farang baby, even if the farang won't marry them, they say they don't care. They just want a farang baby. (I assume this is because of the fact they think a farang baby would have light/white skin, thus would be of a higher status they feel?) Have heard this from the village and Surin ladies quite a lot. (I'd be happy to oblige but the wife doesn't seem keen on my sharing my wonderful farang sperm with the other lasses!. Go figure.) Any of you members have any experiences with their Thai/Farang kids going to school in Thailand.? Any problems? Any perks? Private schools or public? In the provinces or in Bangkok? What's your take on the problems a Thai/Farang child may have living in Thailand, if any? Or living in the West for that matter. Anyone have any experiences to relate? I'm planning on having my daughter finish her schooling until about grade 9 or 10 in Thailand, then bringing her for a year or maybe to the states to go to school there and improve her English immersed in farangland in anticipation of her going to University here in the states to get her degree in whatever she finally ends up wanting to take. (Now at age 11 it is Nursing she believes she wants to do.) Cent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 7, 2003 Report Share Posted September 7, 2003 Any of you members have any experiences with their Thai/Farang kids going to school in Thailand.? Any problems? Any perks? Private schools or public? In the provinces or in Bangkok? What's your take on the problems a Thai/Farang child may have living in Thailand, if any? Or living in the West for that matter. Anyone have any experiences to relate? My kids attend a private school, middle class Thai not expensive or exclusive by any means upcountry in a relatively small town. So far I've been quite pleased with their progress. For the past 3-4 years they have also attended school in the US for part of the school year. When I ask my daughter if she fits in OK with the Thai kids (there is only one other luk krung besides my kids) her only complaint is that they laugh at her when she makes a mistake, trips on something etc. She has her group of friends she has known for years and looks to be very well accepted. My son seems to do well with the other kids and teachers as well. I know they prefer school in the US. The school they attend is in California and even though it is a rural part of the state there is a diverse mix of kids so they blend right in which we know is important to kids. But from my observations the studies are far too easy as it is not politically correct and may not be legal to separate kids by their abilities. The Thai school isn't limited by this. For each grade there is three levels for example ».1 (1st grade) will have three separate divisions »1/1, »1/2, »1/3 which I think is a great system. My main complaints about the Thai school is having to copy text word for word from a book to a separate piece of paper which maybe OK for language class but when doing word problems in math it's a huge waste of time. Also the hitting of students. I'm not opposed to a naughty kid getting a swat on the backside but the Thai schools my kids attend incorporate physical punishment as part of the education. If you take a quiz with ten questions and get eight correct the reward is a ruler swat on the fingers for each of the two questions missed. Apparently to the Thais this is an acceptable way to teach but I've requested that they make an exception for my kids. As far as the language issue I once heard of a study that determined people have the ability to learn fluency (speak, read, write exactly like a native) until the age of ten at which point the ability starts to decline. Though it is just one study and of course there will be contradictions to this it influenced me enough that I put the kids in school in the US before they reached ten so they would not fall too far behind. Currently my daughter reads English at a bit above average, my son a bit below which I find acceptable all things considered and have complete confidence that they will have minimal problems in the long run regarding English. Math they both excel at, I'd like to take credit for good genes but its probably Thai schools and Asian genes. Currently the biggest dilemma confronting me is my daughter is about to finish the grade school years and there is not a good alternative available for secondary school locally and I can't afford an international school even if one were available. I think about this daily as it means we either need to relocate to another area of Thailand or pick up and move to the US for the next 6-8 years. Finances are the biggest single factor in deciding which move to make, I like where I come from in California and am happy there as well as Thailand, my wife can take or leave Calif. but prefers her home in Issan. The kids of course prefer California but they don't pay the bills (yet anyways.) I posted before in the legal forum enquiring about other schools in Thailand but not much in the way of recommendations (thank you to the folks that did respond.) Does anyone have ideas about potential schools? Around the gulf, Chon Buri/Pattaya to Hua Hin would appeal to me but would love to hear any ideas. I'm looking at making a big move one way or another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted September 8, 2003 Report Share Posted September 8, 2003 Hi Cent, my daughter is just 7 months old, so a bit yourn to feel any kind of discrimination yet. The strangest thing to happen yet, is that people ask my wife how much she makes as baby sitter. My daughter is so pale with blond hair, they initially don't believe my wife is the mum. The baby is called a look farang!! However, living here on Koh Samui, there's so many Franags and Look Krungs around, that IMO the local population is very well used to Look Krungs being around. Re. schools in LOS, there was already a thread on this on the forum here, and it scared me a bit, looking at prices and quality available. Locally she'll be fine up til 10 or so and by that time I'm fairly confident that there will be a new school around with a higher level of education. Considering the growth Samui is having currently, that would be a logical development, now hopefully the fees will be affordable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 8, 2003 Report Share Posted September 8, 2003 Not particular in reply to the subject. If there is not father mentioned on the birth certificate and you're raising her as your own child, you may consider legitimizing her as your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted September 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2003 Oran, Yes. This is something that will be happening very soon. Then I'll register her as my legal daughter at the US Embassy too. Cent p.s. Thanks. You've given me an idea for another topical post! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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