Opinion: Hua Hin education standards rather dismal

[buksida]

The problems with the educational system in Thailand are not just limited to government schools.
Renowned international schools, second-tier private schools, commercial colleges and even private universities often do not deliver what is expected. Examples can be found throughout Thailand, but the focus here will be Hua Hin.

My stepdaughter was enrolled in a private school until recently. She often came to me with questions concerning her homework. I found her English and math books containing wrong "examples". Even more disconcerting were the homework questions asked that even I as a native English speaker couldn't decipher. Many times her correct answers were marked wrong because they were different from the teacher's answer book. My wife met the teacher and learned that nothing could be done. Only the answer book is correct.

Moreover, at the end of last term the teacher was so overwhelmed with grading homework for her 40 or so students that she marked weeks of homework correct in one day. I'm sure that looked good on her resume.

The daughter of a good friend was enrolled in a prestigious, international school. This youngster was good at maths, but like all students, she made mistakes. Miraculously she overcame that hurdle and scored perfect grades, one after another. Her father became suspicious and contacted her teacher. The headmaster had told the teachers that good reviews depended on good grades, and that is what the board wanted. This resulted in perfect papers not just for her, but for a number of other students also. My friend pulled his daughter out of that school the same day.

My niece attended a "commercial college". Besides the usual mistakes in her textbooks there was a glaring problem. I looked over her shoulder one evening as she was doing her homework and found she was copying answers directly from the book. When I told her that this was plagiarism and that her answers should be thought out, her reply was, "If I do it that way the teacher will mark it wrong".

There is a university in Hua Hin, Cha-am that offers an American degree in Thailand. Yes, it most certainly does. However, the reality is that money has taken over as the primary motivation instead of intellectual integrity. To increase student numbers, admission standards have been lowered to the point where some students cannot even write a coherent paragraph. And these are not students enrolled in the English as a Second Language programme, but are in the main stream. Academic Probation exists in name only. In reality, some students have been on probation for more than two years without being able to raise their GPA, but they are still in school. Plagiarism is rampant as there is no school policy to deal with it.

This institution touts itself as an American University. Yet not one person in the administration is American. The top officials are East Asians. Twenty-three professors have either resigned or been relieved of their jobs over the last three and a half years because of questioning the aforementioned policies or lack thereof.

Thailand will face a serious challenge over the next few years, as Asean grows stronger and more integrated. Education will be key, when it comes to deciding who takes the lead. It is no secret that in Thailand change can be slow. Education officials are moved around, rote-learning methods are still being used, critical thinking is discouraged and private institutions look more toward profit than educational excellence. One has to ask: can Thailand possibly rise to the forefront of the new social, economic, and political realities that are only a few short years away?

Source: The Nation

[dtaai-maai]

A little unfair to specify Hua Hin, as apart from the specific reference to the (unnamed ) American University, this could be anywhere in Thailand.

An interesting read, but anecdotal, and it really doesn't tell us anything we don't already know or ask any questions that haven't already been asked many times.

[buksida]

A little unfair to specify Hua Hin, as apart from the specific reference to the (unnamed ) American University, this could be anywhere in Thailand.

I specified Hua Hin in the topic title because he specified it in the content, this is a Hua Hin forum after-all, and it will probably grab more readers this way (maybe a dash of over-sensationalism on my part). But yes, it could apply to anywhere in Thailand, but also no doubt more than just the afore 'unmentioned' university in Hua Hin!

[da]

I get the impression St Louis doesn't care if Webster Thailand is substandard and beset by poor management.

A good analogy is--the school is beset by cronyism similar to a rat colony--South Asian style.

[terry+carmen]

My daughter attends Somtawin English School and has just started a two year IGCSE courses.

I'm really interested in the prestigious, international school which the author claims is located in Hua Hin. Can someone help me out? "The daughter of a good friend was enrolled in a prestigious, international school"

I agree with the sentiments of the author the education system in Thailand is appalling, but then so is the journalism. Poorly researched and contains misleading information.

[dtaai-maai]

I'm really interested in the prestigious, international school which the author claims is located in Hua Hin. Can someone help me out? "The daughter of a good friend was enrolled in a prestigious, international school".

The author doesn't say it's in Hua Hin. The article isn't actually about educational standards in Hua Hin at all, but in Thailand as a whole.

Somtawin English School? Is that its official name?

[terry+carmen]

The opening Paragraph says,

"Examples can be found throughout Thailand, but the focus here will be Hua Hin"

As the article keeps referring to Hua Hin I quite naturally assumed that as the author states "but the focus here will be Hua Hin" that he was focusing to Hua Hin. If he wanted to talk about Bangkok he would have written "but the focus here will be Bangkok" it isn't its Hua Hin.

Somtawin Witead Suksa Huaymongkhon School (formerly Somtawin Hua-Hin School, English Program) is the correct name.

[dtaai-maai]

You're right T&C, I'd forgotten about that. However, we agree that it's not a particularly worthy piece of journalism anyway.

[margaretcarnes]

It still makes a valid point though - can Thailand rise to the forefront in SE Asia with it's education system still in the last century?
I would take it a step further and ask 'does Thailand really care'? And I think we all know the answer to that. The wealthy will continue to send their children abroad to be educated, thus ensuring the success of the ruling class. Others will pick rice.

[charlesh]

Very astute Margaret. The myriad of graduates with no jobs will have as a memento a picture of themselves with a personage from the royal family!

[Vital Spark]

It's the start of the new term at university, and I've been chatting to a number of students who want to major or minor in English. They are seriously worried about what will happen in 2015 (when they graduate), and are desperate to improve their English skills before they graduate. I feel so sorry for these kids as they've been given a raw deal as far as their high-school education is concerned, and foresee what they're up against in the future. I'd love to wave a magic wand and get their English skills up to the level they should be, but I'm not Harry Potter.

I find it quite amazing that the students can look into the future and understand the failings of the Thai education system, but the so-called 'experts' in the Ministry of Education (and high-school teachers) have done nothing to improve the level of education for students.

VS

[Takiap]

I agree VS, but we need to remember that they average Thai teacher can't speak a word of English, so they can't very well teach their students English. My eldest daughters teacher can't communicate with me at all, and relies on my daughter to translate anything she wants to tell me. I also think parents can do a lot as well, as far as learning a second language is concerned. I think most Farang parents do make an effort, but as far as the average Thai is concerned, there's no need to learn English, because the rest of the world does actually exist in reality. I could speak Afrikaans at the same level I could speak English by the time I started school, and that only because I was mixing with Afrikaans kids.

Just encouraging young kids to watch English cartoons rather than Thai cartoon can already help in a small way, but instead, kids sit and watch pathetically stupid soaps. Schools on the other hand tend to be more interested in teach kids Thai etiquette, culture, and so on, than they are in teaching English.

Our girls get about an hour of English at school each day, but at least they get to use what they learn when the come home because my wife and I both speak English to them. The Thai kids on the other hand, are getting no exposure to English once the leave the school in the afternoon.


Maybe someone in the government will wake up when Asia becomes one, but like you say, a lot of damage has already been done.

[Takiap]

It still makes a valid point though - can Thailand rise to the forefront in SE Asia with it's education system still in the last century?
I would take it a step further and ask 'does Thailand really care'? And I think we all know the answer to that. The wealthy will continue to send their children abroad to be educated, thus ensuring the success of the ruling class. Others will pick rice.

Very true, but you can't blame a wealthy Thai for wanting to give their kid or kids a good enough education to ensure they can live a comfortable life. You also can't expect the wealthy to lift the poor out of poverty. If you're poor, your only hope is to claw your own way out of the situation. My parents where poor, yet all four of their kids managed to fight their way out of that kind of life, and each of us did it with no help at all.

All I'm trying to say is that individuals need to shoulder some responsibility. My wife is a good example.........

She was raised by grandparents in Isaan, and as a result, she didn't get a great education. Her parents and family are poor, so they couldn't afford to put her in a private school. Today, and with no help from me at all (her choice), she has her high school diploma, and will be starting her degree next year. She worked to achieve this, and she worked damn hard, and not once has she blamed others for the life she once had. Instead of holding out her hand, she set her mind on changing her life.

Yes, the state should provide a better education, but sitting around waiting for it to happen is just plain silly if you ask me.


Again, I don't think one can blame the wealthy for looking after their kids by giving them the best education they can. If we do blame them, then we also have to put a lot of Farang parents living here in the same boat. After all, how many parents in Hua Hin send their kids to the two "international schools" here? We can't send ours because we can't afford to, but we don't blame others for that. Instead, we'll fight on, and hopefully we'll overcome any hurdles along the way.


If you handed 5 million baht to every Thai family with kids, how many of them would use some of that money to put their kids in a better school. You'd see a lot more new cars on the road, more new bikes, and every family would have UBC and the biggest LED TV, but you wouldn't see many children changing schools.


Attitude counts for a lot in this life.

[dtaai-maai]

Attitude counts for a lot in this life.

And unfortunately it is shaped, as often as not, by education.

[sandman67]

Hiya VS....some thoughts from Chairman Sandman

I agree that Thai teaching is generally in a parlous state. I put it firmly down to their use of rote learning systems and accepting (at an older level) plagarism. I have a couple of mates who teach english and they just put their head in their hands about it. There is also the problem of so called private supplementary teaching which is terrible. Mrs S used to go to a place till I saw how bad the teachers grasp of english actually was. If you cant speak it properly how the hell do they expect to teach it?

Anyways....

When I was at Uni, during the cognative psychology course, we learned that learning language could be enhanced by reading written material in the target language out loud, even if it is to yourself. The link is made in the brain between the letters on the page and vocalised sound. This was sort of confirmed by my ex-wifes nephews in Holland, and an ex-girlfirend from Russia, both of whom said that watching TV in engliish with their langage subtitled below really did help them get a grasp of how the language was spoken.

Maybe get the kids to form up groups of three or four and commit to spending an evening together (or some time outside class where embarassment factors are not present) reading to each other and helpng each other out...sort of a language buddy buddy system. Encourage them to watch the TV sometmes with the language in English and the subtitles in Thai so they can hear how its spoken, or go to the cinema and watch the films in the original soundtrack with subs.

Another idea is one I saw in Vietnam. There the language students hang out in a park (usually with the teacher at lunchtime) and actively seek to get tourists to stop for 5 minutes and have a chat to them so they can practice and listen. Again the psych behnd that is that it moves the learning process outside the classroom formality, and it is a good trick.

The less formal and more fun and interactve you can make it sometimes serves to make the learning process easier and more effective.

Good luck angel.