A serious lack of education

[Flashermac]

Bangkok Post

8 Feb 2010

 

 

The best thing that could possibly come out of last week's abhorrent case of mass drug overdoses at a Bangkok school would be for an entire rethink by educators of why it happened. An honest appraisal would show huge defects from top to bottom in the system. Senior officials, city educators, teachers and parents all failed the fourth- and fifth-year students in this horrifying case. It was only by chance that all of the 80-plus children involved got by this incident in what seems like good physical health. One can only hope that there are no lasting effects on either the bodies or minds of these youngsters.

 

For far too long, authorities and politicians have been selling various plans for educational reform. It is hugely admirable that the government finally succeeded in bringing in a programme of 12 years of free education. Apart from that achievement, however, pupils still are the butt of an education that is, to put it mildly, out of date, largely useless, and mostly out of touch. Children and teenagers in the current system of government schools continue to emerge into a world where they are poorly informed and ill-suited to perform.

 

At the Wat Tha Phra school last week, the breakdown was almost total. Teachers failed to realise that actual and dangerous drug trafficking was going on under their noses. One or more older students had got hold of a strong cough medicine, dextromethorphan, and were selling the small pills like adult peddlers. Young students were told that the little yellow pills would make them feel good, remove stress, whiten their skin and more. At the cost of one baht a pill, dozens of the children gulped down the high-strength medicine, and it became an hallucinogen to the youngsters.

 

The educators failed the teachers by not stressing the effects of peer pressure and the dangers of drug sellers in schools. The teachers failed the children by their ignorance of what was occurring under their noses. It seems that school staff and classroom teachers did not know anything about the drug sales that were the talk of the government-run school for several days before the mass overdose. And the children - although arguably not their fault - failed themselves by not applying simple but critical skills that education is supposed to stress.

 

No one seemed to question the absurd claims by the older drug sellers about the medicine. One student did indeed tell his parents - which was how the school was finally alerted, but it was too late, the children had already overdosed on the pills.

 

The fact is that this lack of critical skills at the Bangkok Yai "high" school is not unique. Adults clearly have absorbed the lesson. No government official or military officer - and only a few academics - have questioned the irrational claim that a black box with a wand can unerringly find explosives or drugs. The billion-baht GT200 fiasco is the logical end result of a rote system of education.

 

The 1950s notion that industry and factories are good, without exception, has truly been absorbed without question. Thailand was well on its way to becoming an important factory for the world, with faithful, unthinking workers trooping faithfully to the job site.

 

Then a court case at Map Ta Phut questioned that massively out-of-date perception. It is clear to any thinking person that Thailand would be massively better off tapping into ideas and inventiveness. An innovation-oriented education would serve the pupils and the country much more effectively, and make the Map Ta Phut controversy as anachronistic and unnecessary as today's education system is.

 

 

[cavanami]

Sad situation, hope they can improve it!

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"The billion-baht GT200 fiasco is the logical end result of a rote system of education."

 

Ouch! And totally 100% accurate!

The entire educational system here is a fucking joke. Or would be if it didn't fuck up generation after generation of young minds.

 

Sanuk!

 

[Old Hippie]

Precisely why I can't figure any responsible farang parent staying there and raising/educating their kids there if they didn't have to.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"Precisely why I can't figure any responsible farang parent staying there and raising/educating their kids there if they didn't have to."

 

Agree. If I were ever to have a kid of my own (highly unlikely!) I would very seriously consider moving back to the West.

 

Sanuk!

 

[Flashermac]

Families with money (which usually means Chinese-Thai) send their children to private Catholic schools or the very expensive international schools (Ruamrudee, IB, Harrow etc). One year at Ruamrudee costs about the same as four years at a government university.

 

I've often asked students at name universities how they passed the nationwide admission exam. They invariably reply they had a private tutor who taught them what they had failed to get in the previous 12 years.

 

But the proles don't really seem to give a damn. I'd see the groundskeepers and the like pulling their kids out of school as soon as they had completed the minimum required. You'd figure they might think about letting their brat get a decent education so he'd have an easier life such as the archans lead. But no ... no thinking of the future. Just pull the kid out to save money and let him became a labourer. Even the Red Shirts seemed to be more interested in getting a handout from Mr T than in having better opportunities for their kids.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mentors]

usual in the North/North-East.

In the lower South many kids get a better and longer time of education.

Has to do with the sense of responsibility of the parents, even they don't have much money.

 

 

 

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

I can kinda understand it though with regards to money. My wife's son is finishing M6 in a month or so and we are exploring options. He really wanted to learn interior decoration, but term fees start at 30,000 Baht. Add in other expenses and you're looking at paying 15-20K/month, which unfortunately is beyond our budget.

 

Private unis seem to be pretty much not an option unless you have a decent amount of cash.

 

Sanuk!

 

[dean]

Thats precisely why I moved back to the States. I could have waited a few years until my 1 (now 2) year old son was old enough to go to school, but I didn't think it was fair that my son would have a western education and my wife's 3 kids would not. Its worked out pretty good so far. The eldest that is in community college (to improve her english before going to a 4 year university) is doing well in school and has enough federal aid that it isn't costing me anything out of pocket. The youngest, a 7th grader, is straight A's. Even the 10th grader, who has no interests, has shown some improvement in school, with his study habits and meeting his homework deadlines. I fully expect the youngest to get a full scholarship and hope that the middle one finds a course of study that he likes.

[Flashermac]

Anything like that offered at Ramkhamhaeng? Ram may be open admission, but it is cheap and by no means easy. It's tough to graduate from Ramkhamhaeng, and only a small percent of those who start actually do. Sukhothaitammatiraj is another open admission govmt unie.

 

Maybe a rachapat university? They are easier to get into than the "public universities" (formerly called govmt unies - Chula, TU, Mahidol etc) and cost much less than the private universities. I know that Bangkok University costs about three times as much as Chula does! UTCC raised its fees a year or two ago. The private unies are expensive.