Jason & April Ruggles

School Days

Posted on 27. Feb, 2010 by April in Thailand

Teaching seems to be the degree that I should have gotten. Ever since I graduated college I’ve been teaching ESL or substitute teaching. And I enjoy it. I also enjoy learning about different teaching practices.  Let me give you a small idea of what education looks like in Thailand.  Most of this information comes from what others have told me, so I apologize in advance if I am incorrect on some aspect.

Some Stats

• 92.6% literacy rate (as of 2005)
• Thai school year runs from May until March (April holds the biggest holiday of the year and is also the hottest)
• Education is compulsory through 9th grade, and free government education is available through 12th.
• Elementary classrooms can have as many as 40 students per teacher (even kindergarten. Yikes!)
• Middle school and high school classrooms have as many as 60 students per teacher

Uniforms

Typical High School Uniform

All students wear them- elementary school, high school, and even college students.  The uniforms vary depending on what school and what level of school you go to.  But they all share in common a pastel colored, short-sleeved button up shirt (different colors at different schools), shorts or pants for the boys (again, in the specific color of their school), and skirts or jumpers for the girls.  Sometimes the uniform includes a tie or bow of some sort.  High School girls wear knee-length pleated skirts, and blouses with puff sleeves.  Once they hit college, there are all kinds of options for skirt length- from ankle-length to mini-skirt.  Students also have a separate uniform for P.E. with a brightly colored shirt and athletic pants.

Public vs. Private

As you would expect, private schools offer an opportunity for smaller class sizes and (sometimes) higher quality education.  International schools are also an option for students who can study in English.  And, of course, these schools are also more expensive than public. One benefit to public school that surprised me was a greater chance of making it into certain universities.  I expected that a private school would make it easier.  However, my students informed me that government universities accept a higher percent of students that come from government high schools.  So your chances are better to make it into those specific universities if you study in a public high school.

University Students

They also told me that while they are cheaper, it’s not always as cheap as you would think.  Since class sizes are so large, after school tutoring courses are offered, often by the same teachers, but you have to pay extra.  Although these are technically optional, if you don’t want your child to fall behind his/her peers, you have to pay the money for them to attend.

Rote Memory

Traditionally, Thai education has focused primarily on rote memory.  Lack of teachers and large class sizes has continued this tradition.  In recent years the ministry of education has recognized this as a problem and is taking steps to improve this.  A quote from Wikipedia sums up the problem nicely:

Students are not encouraged to develop analytical and critical thinking skills, which is clearly demonstrated by their inability to complete a cloze test, or to grasp a notion through context. The teachers will avoid introducing dialogue into the classroom or eliciting response from the students - to give a wrong answer would be to lose face in the presence of one’s peers, a situation that in Thai culture must always be avoided.

It’s definitely a challenge to figure out how to change the attitudes of teachers and students when it is part of the culture they have grown up with.

Learning English

Giant Lecture Hall at Ram. U.

As with most of the world, particularly Asia, Thailand has put more and more emphasis on the importance of learning English.  All students study it to some degree in school.  The biggest challenge has to be pronunciation.  Thai teachers who have learned from Thai teachers before them continue the chain of mispronounced English.  I’m sure the same is true of foreign language classes anywhere… if you don’t have a native speaker teaching you, you’re probably learning some of it incorrectly.  This is why I spend plenty of time working on pronunciation with my students- especially the children.

Doing What They Can

What truly amazes me are the country schools that make do with whatever they can, yet manage to keep teaching the kids.  Particularly schools like Elipis, that make no money, but find a way to teach hundreds of kids that wouldn’t have access to a school otherwise.  I’ve been in plenty of teachers’ lounges in the US to know how much complaining goes around about class sizes or building constraints (don’t get me wrong, I had plenty of my own!).  But imagine teaching double the number of kids in an open-air structure with plastic chairs and makeshift desks.  I wonder how many American teachers would keep at it in those conditions…

Elpis School Kindergarten & 1st Grade

What kind of student were you?  Any fun school days memories you’d like to share?

Tags: education