Thailand is now facing a crisis in education.
Thai students are not taught to think for themselves so have no critical thinking skills. At government schools, more than 50 students in a class is the norm.
Half the kids just sleep through class, as the teacher doesn't notice if they're listening or not. Books are limited, science equipment doesn't exist in a lot of schools, and Western teachers in government schools are often the dregs of society.
But as the schools can't afford to pay more than $750 a month, they get what they pay for. (Many of these 'teachers' are old men without college degrees who simply came to Thailand because of the Thai women, then ended up teaching as it's one of the few jobs Westerners are allowed to do).
In order to try to solve the problem of unqualified Western teachers, Thailand is now clamping down on tourist visas. These unqualified teachers cannot get work permits so they live here on tourist visas, leaving the country and renewing them every 3 months.
Now it's going to be more difficult to do this. However, the only thing this new tourist visa restriction will do is to penalize the true tourist to Thailand. The guys who are getting them illegally, will just choose to stay in Thailand illegally, so nothing will change.
Meanwhile, education in countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Korea and China is improving in leaps and bounds. Thailand is set to fall to the bottom of the pile of southeastern Asian countries both educationally and economically, yet the government and the Education Ministry wastes their time on ridiculous new rules, instead of a more common sense way of dealing with things.
Firstly, if the government simply mandated that a college degree and a TEFL certificate were the basic qualifications to teach in Thailand, this would rid them of most of the Western men here who aren't qualified to teach. Secondly, if they increased teacher salaries for both Thais and Westerners, they would get better qualified teachers.
As it stands right now, Thai schools pay the exact same low wages they did when I came here five years ago.
Yet prices in the last five years have gone up more than 20%. Thirdly, if the government made getting a work permit easy for qualified individuals, instead of the mess it is now, teachers would come here and would stay.
But at the moment, you can get a visa, work permit and a better paying job in Korea, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Japan. So why come to Thailand?
Thailand is now facing a crisis in education.
Thai students are not taught to think for themselves so have no critical thinking skills. At government schools, more than 50 students in a class is the norm.
Half the kids just sleep through class, as the teacher doesn't notice if they're listening or not. Books are limited, science equipment doesn't exist in a lot of schools, and Western teachers in government schools are often the dregs of society.
But as the schools can't afford to pay more than $750 a month, they get what they pay for. (Many of these 'teachers' are old men without college degrees who simply came to Thailand because of the Thai women, then ended up teaching as it's one of the few jobs Westerners are allowed to do).
In order to try to solve the problem of unqualified Western teachers, Thailand is now clamping down on tourist visas. These unqualified teachers cannot get work permits so they live here on tourist visas, leaving the country and renewing them every 3 months.
Now it's going to be more difficult to do this. However, the only thing this new tourist visa restriction will do is to penalize the true tourist to Thailand. The guys who are getting them illegally, will just choose to stay in Thailand illegally, so nothing will change.
Meanwhile, education in countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Korea and China is improving in leaps and bounds. Thailand is set to fall to the bottom of the pile of southeastern Asian countries both educationally and economically, yet the government and the Education Ministry wastes their time on ridiculous new rules, instead of a more common sense way of dealing with things.
Firstly, if the government simply mandated that a college degree and a TEFL certificate were the basic qualifications to teach in Thailand, this would rid them of most of the Western men here who aren't qualified to teach. Secondly, if they increased teacher salaries for both Thais and Westerners, they would get better qualified teachers.
As it stands right now, Thai schools pay the exact same low wages they did when I came here five years ago.
Yet prices in the last five years have gone up more than 20%. Thirdly, if the government made getting a work permit easy for qualified individuals, instead of the mess it is now, teachers would come here and would stay.
But at the moment, you can get a visa, work permit and a better paying job in Korea, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Japan. So why come to Thailand?
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
