Thai students don't need 'creativity lessons'

I have been listening to foreigners criticise the Thai education system for years now and it is getting old. I was educated in the American school system, as was my American daughter. Now I have a 14-year-old and an 11-year-old in the Thai school system and I can say without reserve that their education is more advanced than what my American daughter and I got. David, you said yourself that they are in school to learn math, science, languages, art, history, etc. They are not there to learn individuality or creativity. They can begin to exercise those talents when they enter advanced education, if they have them. Where you got the idea that those talents can be taught is a mystery to me, because I could make a fairly accurate guess that less than 20 per cent of the people in the work force worldwide have such talents. Individuality, creativity and curiosity are inbred, not learned. One of the reasons the Thais are able to teach subjects sooner in their schools is because they stifle “individuality”. That is the way the Western education system used to be until psychologists convinced everyone that individuality was more important than learning basic education.

The only area where Thai schools are lacking, is in the teaching of English. And why? Because very few of the countless number of foreigners that teach it in Thai schools can speak Thai. I learned Spanish in school in America from Mexican teachers, all of whom spoke fluent English. And the transition from English to Thai or Thai to English is much more difficult than English to Spanish or vice versa. Foreign teachers have been criticising Thai teachers for their inability to teach English properly and yet those same teachers can’t speak the Thai language. I'll leave you to speculate as to why they can’t speak Thai. But everyone wonders why Thais lag behind in learning English.

Speakers of any language that has tones that change the meaning of words will find it difficult to make a transition to another language, let alone one like English where tones are used to emphasise words.

As for this individuality thing that Westerners like to push so much, put it in the closet where it belongs until children have the basics down. If they have talents, they will emerge at some point in their education.

John Arnone