Schooling in Udon Thani

It's been awhile since I read that website I posted. It seems now they have an accredited National "private school" curricula!

Yeeeehaa! I may stick her into some school close to home to make some friends, then pull her out and enroll her in the accredited online school. I may even be able to spend more time working from home in 2011 so I can be there for her and assist with her studies. We shall see...!

Thanks for the feedback, all! Yiiiiiiipppeeeee!

Donnie B's tuition for a seven to eight year old is going to be around 6-7,000 bht per term (not per year). Expect to have to cough up some tea money (maybe in the 30-40,000 bht range) to get her enrolled. And your wife will have to be persistent (at least once a week nagging) at the admissions office, well in advance of the begining of the start of term. Don't know anything about the drill for St. Mary's. Good luck and look forward to meeting you when you get here.

st mary's, 6 yrs ago, walk in, sign up, not tea money. all as it should be.

Thanks for all the feedback. It is very helpful.

I may try enrolling her in the American accredited online school, Connections Academy, in 2011 for $4,490/year. If I can get a USA address in a state where they serve the public school system, I may not have to pay anything. Most states only require a utility bill or something similarly easy to get as proof of state residency:

http://www.connectionsacademy.com/priva ... /home.aspx

An online tutor from India to help with the lessons (which gets around the US/Thailand timezone problem) for $99/month for unlimited assistance and we're in business! :

http://www.tutorvista.com/

I called Connections Academy about the Private School program. They have no qualms at all other than me having to provide a US forwarding address to send learning materials.

The only base that isn't covered is the social interaction. I will have to give that more thought, but I am thinking having friends around the neighborhood may be enough.

Just posting the info FYI if anyone else may be interested in looking into it.

As a teacher I thought I would post some of my thoughts about choosing schools. Here in Thailand the main concern seems to be a "good reputation". I have taught in a school with a good reputation and it was the most miserable experience of my life. It was not in Udon but I seldom saw anything in good quality teaching there. Some things to consider are class size. I have seen in most schools I have worked (public and private) class sizes of 40-55 or more students. As I have had 50-60 minute classes--I have about 1 minute for each student. Certainly far from ideal. If you have a challenging class which is not interested in learning--the hard job gets near impossible. I would urge parents to walk around the school during class time and watch some classes. Many (but certainly not all) Thai teachers simply talk to the students from a chair at the front---no checking whether the students are understanding the material or worksheets etc. A typical Thai class has the front 2 rows paying attention--next two rows students chatting or ignoring the teacher and back rows doing whatever. I often hear complaints about thai students not being able to read, comprehend or deal with solving problems but if you look at the classrooms the answer is obvious. If the school has an English component with foreigners teaching--I would advise parents to drop in and ask the foreigners what their qualifications are and how long they have taught in Thailand and at that school. The turnover of foreign staff is often very high in some schools (many times with good reasons) but it is not great for the students.

Update:
I just came from taking a look at both St. Mary's and Don Boscoewith wife and daughter. I cannot find the words to convey properly how under-impressed we all are with the environment, curricula, and admin staff at both schools.

St. Mary's staff seemed to think their tuition of 6k per term is expensive to us. It took all the restraint my wife could muster to keep herself from reaching into her bag and slap her a few times with the 8 baht of jewelry she decided to take off out of modesty before inquiring. The fact that they are highly touted, but yet lack any English program whatsoever and that the facilities look like they have been in service since the 1960's didn't strike me as rejecting them is in any way a missed opportunity.

Ditto for Don Bosco except the only visible admin staffer seemed to be a lone tweenager who could barely stand to tear herself away from her cell phone long enough to tell us that they don't have any openings next semester or for the next two years. Go figure on that one. This time, the wife went back to put her and the school in their proper place, respectively. How dare they presume and put on aires so unnecessarily?

Anyway, it was worth the visit to confirm my previous conclusions. Our daughter is at the top of her classes and has a lot of friends in Pattaya where we think we are getting good value at THB 52k per term. We may either keep her there and keep a residence in both cities, or move forward with letting her learn online as I posted previously. The big drawback is that the place where we are buying land for a new home is gorgeous but not many neighbors nevermind kids.

We shall see...

Cheers!

Yep, Pattaya is your best bet.

The daft bat had a look around St Mary's and was not totally impressed, so its off to look for another school.

I have told her we don't want dancing in the curriculum as that doesn't pay the bills in the long term, she got upset!! No pleasing em. I would rather they learnt subjects that would benefit them in later life, dancing they can do after school!

KhonDahm, have you investigated Udon Pittiya (sp)? It seems to have a better reputation than Don Bosco. On the other hand, it is 'the school' to have your child enrolled for 'prestige' and 'status' reasons, which could mean that it is wanting academically. Anyway, you should check it out before embracing TexPat's suggestion of Pattaya.

fussychunk wrote:The daft bat had a look around St Mary's and was not totally impressed, so its off to look for another school.

I have told her we don't want dancing in the curriculum as that doesn't pay the bills in the long term, she got upset!! No pleasing em. I would rather they learnt subjects that would benefit them in later life, dancing they can do after school!

It won't matter which Thai school they are in,the curriculum will include plenty of dancing,dog and pony shows for Phu Yais,mythilogical history and budhism,sweeping the floor,understanding of the class system and everyone passes whether study or not(mai pen rai)!

Sadly, the Toronto District School Board has adopted this Thai policy of 'everyone passes, no-one fails' in the high school system. If a teacher has the audacity to actually fail a student, they are called before the principal to explain their failure as a teacher to not be able to communicate with, and interest, the student effectively enough for the student to be able to get a passing grade. Subsequently, the principal uses her/his power to give that failing student a pass.

For the past five years or so, the Toronto District School Board promotes student achievement. Thus, a student who raises their grade from a 51 to a 55 will be honoured at an assembly and provided with a certificate to show parents, family relatives and friends at the remarkable progress made by said student in the past semester.

The students get their myths from the studying of Indian/Eskimo traditions, along with numerous dances. We do not have dog shows but there are drives to save an African child from starvation, the United Way, and so on that are a pleasant divergence on the way to academic success. Political correctness replaces religion in the curriculum.

Tilokarat wrote:Sadly, the Toronto District School Board has adopted this Thai policy of 'everyone passes, no-one fails' in the high school system. If a teacher has the audacity to actually fail a student, they are called before the principal to explain their failure as a teacher to not be able to communicate with, and interest, the student effectively enough for the student to be able to get a passing grade. Subsequently, the principal uses her/his power to give that failing student a pass.

For the past five years or so, the Toronto District School Board promotes student achievement. Thus, a student who raises their grade from a 51 to a 55 will be honoured at an assembly and provided with a certificate to show parents, family relatives and friends at the remarkable progress made by said student in the past semester.

The students get their myths from the studying of Indian/Eskimo traditions, along with numerous dances. We do not have dog shows but there are drives to save an African child from starvation, the United Way, and so on that are a pleasant divergence on the way to academic success. Political correctness replaces religion in the curriculum.

I'm surprised you have not sent them some videos to watch of Thai women singing and dancing.Do they get to analyse their topics and ask questions or do they just sit through the teachers yacking while listening to MP3,Thai style?

Tilokarat wrote:Sadly, the Toronto District School Board has adopted this Thai policy of 'everyone passes, no-one fails' in the high school system. If a teacher has the audacity to actually fail a student, they are called before the principal to explain their failure as a teacher to not be able to communicate with, and interest, the student effectively enough for the student to be able to get a passing grade. Subsequently, the principal uses her/his power to give that failing student a pass.

For the past five years or so, the Toronto District School Board promotes student achievement. Thus, a student who raises their grade from a 51 to a 55 will be honoured at an assembly and provided with a certificate to show parents, family relatives and friends at the remarkable progress made by said student in the past semester.

The students get their myths from the studying of Indian/Eskimo traditions, along with numerous dances. We do not have dog shows but there are drives to save an African child from starvation, the United Way, and so on that are a pleasant divergence on the way to academic success. Political correctness replaces religion in the curriculum.

Hold it right there! Myths? Seems like a crass racist statement and not a befitting one for an educator to make. The real myths are the treaties that were signed but failed to be honored.

NKSTAN, the students mostly use i-pods, but some do use MP3 players. Some teachers confiscate them for the duration of the lesson.

Teachers must provide their class lecture notes if requested to do so by a student. If a student does fail a test, that student gets two more opportunities to write the test. If the student is still failing, the teacher must see if there is some area in which the student did pass, and that can be used in place of the 'whole' test to give a passing grade. Some parents do not like tests, and homework, and there is a movement afoot, with a great deal of momentum to do away with homework and report cards within the next five years or so.

For students who still have a failing grade, they can take credit recovery. It means they must attend a class...sit there...and maybe do some homework, and then they will get credit for the failed subject.

Polehawk, yes the creation stories of many Indian groups (Huron, Squamish, Cree, Blood, Ojibway, Mohawk, et al sound like myths, not fact. Do you accept them as fact, not myth?

The politically correct term for Indians nowadays is First Nations, but there is little amongst these groups that you would recognise as a nation. They look, for the most part, like tribes, not nations. It seems that they crossed a land bridge at one time, way back when, from Russia into North America. Where there people here before the First Nations? I don't know, but I do not see why not.

As for the treaties, as far as I know, the British kept the ones they made with the Indians in what is now Canada. Initially, the Government of Canada was not always as diligent as the British; however, over time the Canadian government has lived up to its obligations, and negotiated new treaties with various Indian groups in which there had been no treaties previously. I think some provincial governments have also negotiated treaties with the Indians in some areas, but Indian affairs is a federal responsibility.

Tilokarat,

You were referring to myths of creation? Then I will apologize for calling your statement racist which was a bit harsh. I don't blindly accept these types of myths any more than you might possibly accept all of the biblical myths. The land bridge from Russian Mongolia to the North American continent idea has always been interesting but it's not known with certainty that it existed or even if maybe it were the North American Indians who emigrated to Mongolia.

The subject of treaties is debatable and falls outside of the scope of this thread but England and Canada both did, as you stated, live up to their sides of the agreements for the most part. The United States has broken the treaties continuously whenever it suited their own aims and has an abysmal record in their treatment of Indians. It is said that "the United States has never not broken one of its treaties with the Indians".

My interest in this side issue is predicated upon the fact that I am Mohawk since my father was born on a reservation just outside of Deseronto, Ontario. My ancestors fought on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War period and later moved from upper New York across Lake Ontario. My paternal grandmother was a Brant and we claim to be descendants of Chief Joseph Brant but, then again, so does every Mohawk have that very same claim.

Mods, thank you for your indulgence so now may we get back on the topic of Schooling in Udon Thani?