Who is to blame?
Making changes for the better in Thai education is a noble pursuit and I hear time and again, do it for the kids. Heaven forbid you try to bring up what’s in it for me, never mind, it’s for the children. George Carlin once said, “f*ck the kids” when talking about doing it for the “kids.” I will not go quite that far. Education where foreign teachers are involved is business. Parents are the consumers, they pay the tuition fees and have their expectation about the quality of the product(education). Administrators are in the business of providing the product.
Parent like to clamor loud for quality. As a parent, I also want a good quality education for my children. Administrators must provide quality that meets or exceeds parental expectations. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, administrators are falling down on this and 3 years into many EPs(English Programs) this lack of quality is beginning to show. Where does the blame lie? Well, in Thailand, the blame lies with the foreign teachers hired to provide the product. But this is hilarious.
The administrators attempt to provide a “quality” education by hiring untrained teachers. Why do they hire untrained teachers? Because they refuse to pay a wage that attracts a professional to the job. The untrained teachers try to do the best they can providing an educational experience, but they are hamstrung by a lack of resources. Administrators refuse to spend adequately on resources that can’t be seen, unlike a computer room, fancy meeting room, etc. These hamstrung, untrained teachers are then put into a classroom with students who may be mom’s pride and joy, but let’s face it, would be hard pressed to make it in a student centered environment.
In producing the products, the raw material(the students) is substandard. The factory(the school) uses untrained workers with antiquated and substandard machinery(resources). The end product is less than golden. So now for the million dollar question, is it really the fault of the teachers? No it isn’t. Parents need more realistic expectations and administrators need to up their capital spending.
So what do other teachers think about this?
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