Is College Worth It Nowadays?

[dean]

I just find it hard to believe that an 18-19 year old thai can fly to the U.S. and start taking classes at a U.S. university with no help with the language. I've never know a thai to speak english outside of the classroom with other thais. Like I said, the thai-chinese that I've met in Bangkok speak decent english but would be at a big disadvantage to Americans in a U.S. classroom. I don't doubt that, by the time that they finish, they have mastered the english language but not at the start of their U.S. studies. I have no doubt that my kids will eventually pick it up but they are in programs in school that help all non english speaking foreign students in their studies. I suppose studying math would be easier for a thai but business and science wouldn't.

[Flashermac]

Thai students can't simply enroll in a US college or university. It usually takes a score of over 500 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). 500 equals 50% ... and is not easy. My Mrs was an English major in Thailand and has studied for periods of time in both the UK and NZ, plus has been to the US several times. She scored about 630 on the TOEFL - 63%, which is considered very good. Even so imagine trying to study a class when you could only understand 60-some percent of what was being said!

 

City colleges/junior colleges may be open admission and not require a TOEFL score. When I was a graduate student, some of my Thai friends told me that Thais often started at a junior college, then moved up when the English was better.

 

But international programmes at Thai universities also require passing a tough English proficiency exam. Otherwise how could the students study classes in English? (The biggest complaint I heard from international students was that some of their Thai archans had such bad pronunciation that they couldn't understand their English.)

 

[cavanami]

My Nam lady friend went to the US with her family in 1977 or so, didn't speak a word on English and some how got into a CA university...she copied everything the prof wrote on the black(white) board, went home and checked the dictionary to understand what they were talking about...studies all the books...graduated with a 3.5 average, MSc, chemical engineering!

 

It can be done...and she is drop dead stunning!!!

[shygye]

Dean, You are confusing two different things. One can be literate in a language, but have poor pronunciation skills. I have known Chinese students whose writings were superb but I had difficulty understanding their conversation.

 

Flash,

 

[color:green]She scored about 630 on the TOEFL - 63%, which is considered very good. Even so imagine trying to study a class when you could only understand 60-some percent of what was being said!

[/color]

 

That is a non sequitur.

[dean]

There are many times that I ask my wife to repeat 4-5 times before I understand her. My wife's kids went to a Thai-chinese school in Chiang Mai that emphasized reading and writing but not speaking, so I understand the difference. I studied spanish for 6 year in High school and college and can read and write it but speak it slowly and can only understand bits and pieces of it when spoken to. Thai students do have to go to classes in the U.S., where they are expected to understand and converse with the teacher and the other students in english. Unless one does a total emersion in the culture, it would be very hard to believe that they could come to the U.S. and immediately start taking classes in English. Of course, there are always those few that are gifted in languages and some that are exceptional students.

[Hugh_Hoy]

...graduated with a 3.5 average, MSc, chemical engineering!

 

It can be done...and she is drop dead stunning!!!

 

Maybe the last sentence explains the GPA?

 

HH

[Flashermac]

Flash,

 

[color:green]She scored about 630 on the TOEFL - 63%, which is considered very good. Even so imagine trying to study a class when you could only understand 60-some percent of what was being said!

[/color]

 

That is a non sequitur.

 

 

1) 630 is considered very high on the TOEFL.

 

2) I'd had a couple of G&Ts when I wrote it.

 

I usually understand from 50% to 80% of a Thai conversation. It's enough to get by, but certainly not to study at a university.

 

 

[Mekong]

I just find it hard to believe that an 18-19 year old thai can fly to the U.S. and start taking classes at a U.S. university with no help with the language. I've never know a thai to speak english outside of the classroom with other thais. Like I said, the thai-chinese that I've met in Bangkok speak decent english

 

Dean,

 

My father in law taught my wife and her siblings english, and the importance of knowing it, from a very early age. He made his money during Nam era Ubon Ratchathani, which at the time was home to a major USAF base, and realised the better his English got so did his income. The fact that the wifes Auntie married a Canadian who was attached to the base as a civillian also meant they had plenty of contact with a native English speaker from a young age.

 

As teenagers all of them spent school vacations in Canada and integrated with their Thai-Canadian Luk Krueng cousins and their respective friends, which as well as a vacation was also a good learning curve of the language. Once the wife had passed the English Exam at TU and had been accepted on English Language BBA, she spent a few weeks in Australia and even took the TEFL teachers course and passed. Ironic really, I am English yet my Thai wife is qualified to teach the language wheras I am not, I speak it but don't unerstand the rules of the language.

 

After graduation she worked for a Thai company for 2 years, even back then her employees recognised her fluency in English and she spent most of her time working in Europe. By the time she went to the States to take her MBA she was 25, not quiet your 18-19 year old fresh into an English speaking enviroment for the first time.

 

Bro & Sis in laws often reapeat to their kids in English what has been said in Thai, and of course the weekly visit to "Loong M" is a thinly veneered practical Rnglish lesson.

 

 

 

CAV

 

She has lost that "Valley Girl" accent now and speaks the Queens English

[Steve]

Okay, I'll solicit the forum for a bit of advice. A dangerous thing most of the time but I'll trawl through the jokes and bad advice for the occasional diamond of advice. :content:

 

I am seriously considering getting a Masters. Not sure the concentration but first choice is a MBA since has a certain aura about it and can be used in a variety of fields.

 

I have grown to be (or perhaps always have been) a lazy f*ck. I don't care if I learn anything frankly. I want the paper with my name on it. That's it. I don't want to hear anything about learning anything. A college degree is like a HS diploma nowadays and I just want to get up one wrung on the employable ladder. In fact, (and yes, I know this is cheating) I may even solict a friend of mine who is a house wife to take some or all of the courses for a fee.

 

Okay, now on to it. I want to do it online. I'm currently not in the country (U.S.) and won't be for a while so on campus is out of the question. I was thinking about getting an online MBA from Cal State LA or Cal State Dominguez Hills, both in the greater LA area, because as a state resident it will be fairly inexpensive (I think) and those schools aren't exactly Stanford so the curriculum shouldn't be too difficult for a person such as myself with average intelligence.

 

However, I am seriously considering one from an English school. I am interested in finding one that fits my three main criteria 1. Its cheap (what is cheap? 5k USD or less). Maybe that price is impossible. I don't know. 2. Its easy to get a degree from there. 3. It will be accepted by American employers. Or at least pass some sort of check.

There are a couple reasons I am seriously considerng going this route. The main one is that Americans are generally anglophiles (I'm not one :content: ). Anything with a British tag on it gets accepted. An American employer doesn't know the differences in quality of the vast majority of English universities. Most (and I wouldn't be surprised if its only some) have only heard of Oxford, Cambridge and the London School of Economics.

 

So, my thinking is I get a cheap, online British MBA that will in theory be just accepted as much the run of the mill American MBA from a no name school but my guess is it will have more of an aura.

 

I hope the papers don't have to be written in British english. Not too keen about having to write 'colour' and using an 's' instead of a 'z'.

 

What are your thoughts?

[Steve]

Same-same for Canada but obviously the cannuck schools won't have that Brit 'aura' about it.