Village education

What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Farang pay a lot of money to send their kids to 'good' schools in town. They are 'good' schools because they get a lot of sponsor money from the parents of the kids.

The village school doesn't get that kind of money, so they can't afford to hire enough teachers.

An other option would be this. If all the complaining farang would send their kids to a local village school and give that school the same kind of money they would spend on a 'good' town school, then maybe the situation in village schools would improve. Then perhaps village schools would be able to hire more and 'better' teachers and buy better teaching materials.

It's always easy to complain. If you want to change the world, I think it would be better to stop complaining about others and start doing something about it yourself.

I think that Farang can do a lot for Thai education, for instance by helping the schools that need support in stead of sponsoring the schools that don't need support. It's up to you.

Thai education will always be something that will be talked aboput for years or decades to come. basic educatin is supplied by them and like all junior schools good teaching is evident in some and bad in many. The curriculum is governed by Bkk and some are small while others are large. A lot of goodwill and money is given to those schools by parents,I have siad it before, it is a fallacy that money will buy better education here, some children who are sent to udon town for their education can have up to a 12 hour day ( travelling and school ) for youngsters ( 5-11 years ) that is NOT good. When you see the standard of the children at a Wittyaa school in M1 theire is NOT a lot of difference I can tell you and again up to M3 most teach the same, it is only a percieved that excellence in teaching is better at some than others. M4 and upwards it can make a difference. For example at my daughters school it took them 3 weeks to get all the books for teaching and still there is not enough chairs, so students sit on the floor. Difference between Town and Village school.....NOT A LOT IS IT !!!!!!

My stepdaughter has been in several different schools,private and gov't.There is very little difference in any of them.She is now in the 12th grade and without outside tutoring that specializes in passing entrance exams ,she has no chance of gaining acceptance to any reputable learning University.

Save your money for outside tutoring or home schooling,because the money given to schools does not improve the system which is not designed to prepare them to rise above their ''class'' in Thai society or develop any ideas that might change the status quo!

Don't think,don't analyse,don't question!

You may try to instill motivation to strive and excel,but will most likely fail,because your child is under the influence of her peers and the system and ,socially pressured to follow the Thai way!

If your child is gifted in a particular subject,he/she will be exploited to give credit to the schools,system and country which should have no claim for her abilities!

It is pretty hard to not complain and I wouldn't,if I would have known 10 years ago, what was the reality was,because I would have done something different,starting with not sending her to a Thai school!

I know a falang and his Thai wife, in Korat, that have 10 children,5 still at home and 5 working as English teachers.None have been to one day of Thai schools or Thai Universities,speak American English like native Americans and Thai like native Thais although only one has been out of the country for a short America visit.The ones that are on their own,are in great demand and earn upper middleclass incomes,responsible and producers!

All,homeschooled from the internet and trained within the families English teaching school and activity structure!I am so envious and wish I had met them years ago!

Bandung_Dero wrote:I'm not sure what you guys are referring too, I guess it's a variable between Tampons"..

perfect

My experience has been totally with private schools and I must say that our son is light years ahead of students in the local public schools....He is in the first grade and is reading and writing both Thai and English..Math skills are also very high...His neighborhood friends are way below this...Maybe this seems advanced for someone that has been in the first grade for only a couple of weeks, but he also attended this same school for the past two years in kindergarten and this is where he got his headstart...

We are also sponsoring a little neighbor girl in another private school...We took her out of the public school last year and put her into a private school...She was so far behind that the school actually put her into a class that the students were two years younger than her..After a year of intense learning, she should be able to rejoin her age group in the next 4 to 6 months...

Stoneman

stoneman wrote:We are also sponsoring a little neighbor girl in another private school...We took her out of the public school last year and put her into a private school...She was so far behind that the school actually put her into a class that the students were two years younger than her..After a year of intense learning, she should be able to rejoin her age group in the next 4 to 6 months...

Wouldn't it be better to sponsor that neighbourhood school in stead of just one girl? Then maybe all the kids in that school can benefit.

Are there people on this forum who do some volunteer work for their local village school? for instance, donate a computer for a computer room or help with teaching English now and then? Or look after the kids when the local teachers are gone for the day on training? Or go with them on a sports day to be a referee? You are also part of the community where you live.

"Are there people on this forum who do some volunteer work for their local village school? for instance, donate a computer for a computer room or help with teaching English now and then? Or look after the kids when the local teachers are gone for the day on training? Or go with them on a sports day to be a referee? You are also part of the community where you live."


I think you might have trouble with Immigration, working without a visa, even if it's voluntary.
There might be someone here who would dob you in to the authorities.

Prenders88 wrote:"Are there people on this forum who do some volunteer work for their local village school? for instance, donate a computer for a computer room or help with teaching English now and then? Or look after the kids when the local teachers are gone for the day on training? Or go with them on a sports day to be a referee? You are also part of the community where you live."


I think you might have trouble with Immigration, working without a visa, even if it's voluntary.
There might be someone here who would dob you in to the authorities.

I think that's too easy. I'm not talking about a full time job but about helping out some time when it's needed, nobody will shoot you for that, it will be appreciated.

Of course if you are not interested it's easy to find an excuse to do nothing. I've been at school sports events and several other events, and I was the only farang there. Where are all those other farang? Just not involved or not interested?

Bandung_Dero wrote:You obviously did not read all the thread before posting this! AND Well done to stoneman, the way he spends his sponsorship Baht is up to him!

You are right. I've read your posts and appreciate the efforts of you and a couple of other people. But they are only a couple. The past years I've read lots of postings on this forum of people complaining about Thai schools. However, of all the farang who live in Udon, only a handful seem to be willing to do something positive about it. I think that's a shame.

stoneman wrote:My experience has been totally with private schools and I must say that our son is light years ahead of students in the local public schools....He is in the first grade and is reading and writing both Thai and English..Math skills are also very high...His neighborhood friends are way below this...Maybe this seems advanced for someone that has been in the first grade for only a couple of weeks, but he also attended this same school for the past two years in kindergarten and this is where he got his headstart...

We are also sponsoring a little neighbor girl in another private school...We took her out of the public school last year and put her into a private school...She was so far behind that the school actually put her into a class that the students were two years younger than her..After a year of intense learning, she should be able to rejoin her age group in the next 4 to 6 months...

Stoneman

The Quality, in private schools in the very early grades is there because the the kids are eager to learn,are given special attention,usually wirh more staff,and the teachers enjoy the interaction!
What are you going to do when the curriculum becomes redundant and boring,the classes expand in size as the staff decreases,the students realize that they don't have to worry about passing or failing etc. etc.????

I would seek out the ''end result'',not the ''early grade indications'' to make my decisions,if I could do it over!!It is great that you have found a school of quality for the beginning of your childrens education!The major problem ,for you,will begin at the next and following levels!Forget listening to people tell you this school is the ''best'',etc etc,check the results ,not the ''dog and pony'' show or the fact that all the ''rich kids'' go there!

Many of the ''good'' private schools are limited to the early grades only,the kids get a good exciting start! After that, the resources are limited,and the advancing acheivements are stunted as the teacher interest and quality folds up,the curriculum becomes burdened with extra classes,textbooks material becomes to far advanced for the student interest and ability,so they are skimmed selectively and the focus is shifted to teaching what will be tested for grades,lesson plans become non-existent,questioning and wonderment on the part of the students becomes non-existent!

I, for one, think that it would be fruitful for ALL falangs to support ONE or TWO schools (i.e. one east and one west) and send our kids there. There are a lot more families being established in Udon and it should be truly do-able within the next few years.

Our home and my 8 y/o remains in Pattaya solely so she can attend a pilot school that is semi-private. It is run by the government and collects tuition (a bit steep at THB 53k/term + books and uniforms) from the parents. They have an English program building and a Thai program building (1/2 price). The teaching quality in the English program is decent, not "great"; they do actually learn and the teachers do actually teach. I would compare it to a low-average performing suburban school in the States. It is improving year after year.

We need something like that in Udon.

I agree with the comments about home-schooling. This is her 2nd term in a school and she remains at the top of her grade in every subject (except Thai language - lol - but her reading/writing in Thai is improving now that it's the wife's turn with her). I stopped teaching her intro-algebra at the beginning of her first term (P2, now in P3) because I knew she needed to make the adjustment to a class environment. BUT we still read together every Sunday no matter where I am. We are currently on Chapter IX of "Alice in Wonderland" (original version with all those weird and dead words (unless you're British ). No video games or TV on Sunday. Only reading. That is the LAW in my house.

While normally unremarkable, I say it only to stress that WE, the parents, are our child's teacher. At the elementary level, the school system should be just where they go to prove what they learn and pick up additional tidbits not covered in the home. All to often, I see parents literally dump their kids off and let the school system teach and/or raise their children, then complain about the quality of education they receive. Get involved! Believe me, I (lol - certainly not my WoW addicted wife) could make every excuse about not having time and it would be true, but we find time when we MAKE time and it is always quality time better spent for the effort.

I can only hope that there may be enough like-minded parents around Udon interested in improving A (as in single) school over the next few years. My son, now 5 weeks, needs somewhere to go eventually. It would be nice if it could be in Udon.