trubrit wrote:It can't be all that brilliant in the UK right now, unless its the kids at fault . The government has just announced with immediate effect that only those with upwards of "C' grade in maths and English will be allowed to leave school. Lower than that you must continue in education until you achieve a "C' or higher .Don't know how that's going to work though, can see some old looking students sitting at the desks. :-"

Not to demean Britain because things in the States are just as absurd. That being said, shouldn't it be just the opposite? Keep the kids that are performing well and get the other kids in a work program that suits their abilities.
It's foolish to let the learners stop learning while keeping the poor performers in the system while pumping more and more of the tax-payers money into their education without good results.

Actually the list on my next post show you guys aren't do so bad

No, we're not doing as well as we once did, and of course I would like to see an improvement, but we are doing better than the majority of countries. Many of the citizens from countries that continuously criticize us have little room to talk because their students are doing much worse.

Here are the facts:

http://timss.bc.edu/timss2011/downloads ... apter2.pdf

US education system struggling:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/opini ... ef=opinion

The link: More young American men have less education than their parents ... in 1870 only 2% of British 14 year olds were in school ... in effect, the United States has become 19th-century Britain: We provide superb education for elites, but we falter at mass education.

GT93: Older Americans please keep posting. We're going to get more sense out of you than succeeding generations of Americans ...

Perhaps we're going to get more sense out of younger Thais than older Thais?

Doubtful. I'm a big critic of public education in the states. I'm a big Ron Paul supporter in that regard. Dept of education needs to be scrapped and left to the states. Busing inner city kids into more affluent neighborhoods to force diversity is a complete disaster.

I've had kids in private schools here for years though and I'm not having any more of it. These people are thick and have no business passing off babysitting as education. Even at an exclusive school on Samui my kids were badgered into using a particular bus driver and their teacher started asking the kids to bring in 300thb each at least once each week for a pizza day that didn't exist according to admin staff.

There's a reason Thai school papers are considered worthless in the west. I'm putting my kids in private school in the states as soon as this upcoming term is over, I only hope my oldest who is top ten in his class won't be held back too far, he's supposed to start high school next fall. Probably going to need tutors all summer, what a drag.

The problem with the USA (and UK soon) is that many cannot afford education. The so called benefits of having a degree are over hyped. In the USA, there are 700,000 households where a person OVER 65 is still paying off student loans! Half of those over 75 are in default. Unlike other debt, you cannot go bankrupt over student loans - you owe the money (and interest) until you pay up or die. Student loan debt had quadrupled in 10 years. You really have to consider carefully if further education is a worthwhile investment.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29505582

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-26893131

The UK is heading down this route, with some estimates that 75% of current students will never repay all their loan. I was lucky to go to University at a time when it was mainly paid for by the state. But did i earn more because of that? Dubious. 10 yeas after leaving school, I ended up in a job i could have got straight from school. A teacher graduating from university now on average teacher income will still be repaying when they are 50 years old. And because of this debt, getting a mortgage will be hard. You would need to earn at least a £100,000 more during your life time (at today's prices, my calculation) to be better off financially with a degree.

http://www.bbc.com/news/education-26954901

School is free through high school and plenty of scholarships available for those who are academically minded.

The world doesn't need any more art majors or liberal arts etc, kids are ending up over 100,000usd in debt in order to get an art degree lol wtf?

Plenty of evidence to show that affirmative action is lowering the bar for everyone. At least half the kids in u.s. University don't belong there, and many of those same people would have benefitted tremendously from learning a skilled trade instead, and saved a bundle in the process.

statistics, ridiculous statistics and damn lies.. Take your choice.. How many over 65 "still" paying off a student loan.. could they be parents or grandparents who co-signed a student loan for some n'eer do well family member? Frankly, I'm astounded at some of the debt incurred by younger folks (and their co-signing parents) to obtain degrees that don't have much career potential.

Statistically speaking, we change our spouses, houses and careers every 7 years. A lifetime of debt to support an 18 year old might not always be the best choice. I've got an aviation degree and have been a licensed pilot for 28 years now. I actually wish I would have done a skilled trade vs college, and done the private pilot as a hobby rather than a potential career.

Under the uk system the loan is automatically cancelled after 25 years. That means that for the average student graduating at 21 or 22 years of age they will not make any repayments beyond about age 46/47. The upshot of this is that the government will only recover about 48% of loan money. There is therefore a still a huge subsidy to UK higher education.
As to the relative 'quality' of Thai and Western education systems you only have to look at what the affluent Thais do for their kids. Number one priority is an overseas education. US, UK or Australia are the favourites.

Good thread.

I reckon the value of a university degree for many recent graduates in a farang countries ain't that flash. Far less than what it was in the past. The number of middle class jobs is rapidly declining. And tax systems are now fiercely rigged against the young middle class. Western people seem to be more and more less educated. I think there's quite a few Americans now who can't name their capital city?

Rich Thais educate their children abroad for reasons other than just income potential. There's snob value in being able to speak English and in having lived abroad.

I reckon a Thai graduate in Thailand can still pick up a job that earns by Thai standards a good income and good prospects that are closing in on declining western prospects. I'm upbeat on Thailand. Talent still goes a long way in Thailand.

The reason why the education system is in a mess here, is the wonderful no fail policy which includes as far as I can gather University graduates apart from the medical and science professions including law.
In the western world you cannot bribe a degree you earn it by learning and/ or doing the work required by the Professor. Hence the Western degree is thought to be better than a Thai degree Western degrees include Australia/China and Japan as well as the accepted Western Countries
I agree the Arts degrees are becoming the easiest ones to acquire while languages ( classics ) /Law and Medicine ( all branches ) are harder by far. In between we have the Science degrees which are also hard depends on which branch you decide to follow.

I personally know at least three Thai students who after completing a 3 year course on computing know a lot less than me and I am a complete numpty about Computers. yet they have a degree ....go figure.
So you pay your money and make your choice, most people I know who own businesses do employ Thai university graduates but generally if they are seeking senior managerial staff they require an external educational qualification, for some having sat in on one or two interviews only those who have received any sort of education overseas can hold a reasonable conversation in English which as we all know is the language of preference for ASEAN

I'm very optimistic about the quality and future of the students we are producing in my little part of the West GT. We are asking more of 5 and 6 year old students that we ever have before and these kids leave for dead the generations that have gone before them. What these kids can do towers over what students did 10 years ago and does not even resemble the goals we had 20 years ago when I started as an educator. Possibly our expectations have risen because of results achieved in Singapore and South Korea but the students have continually shown through assessment that they are capable of achieving outstanding results.
My top grade 6 (11 year old) students are between two and five years ahead of benchmark when assessed against world best practice in both literacy and numeracy. And my own teaching has improved by light years because of the expectation that I can make further progress with these bloody smart kids and their peers.
It's been a long time since I worked at the Satit (demonstration) School at Khon Kaen University but unless the culture (senior teaching staff sleeping all afternoon), attitude (nobody fails) and methods (rote, rote, rote and more rote) adopted by the teachers and students has changed and modernised drastically then I can't imagine the education provided at this elite government school in Thailand can be compared to even a run of the mill Aussie government school.
I know where I'd be educating my child IF I had a choice.