Whilst the military junta have been reasonably diligent in their goals of working to restore peace in the south of Thailand and chasing the ousted PM on corruption allegations, there can be little doubt that the army have continued a long standing tradition of taking care of their own.
My point? Well the recent tit for tat diplomatic squabble between Thailand and Singapore - initially caused by Thailand's objections to Singapore welcoming ex - PM Thaksin to a conference on their land - reached a pinnacle this week when the minister for IT began disseminating bizarre warnings that "Telephone conversations are being tapped" and "Private telephone conversations are being relayed to telecommunications companies in Singapore".
This ambiguous and innocuous set of claims seemed to heap paranoia on the already strained relations between the countries and served to increase annoyance and distrust amongst the working class, easily influenced and partisan working class group of Thais.
Less than a week later, the junta have declared their intention to fund a billion bhat satellite project to "increase national security".
What a coincidence , eh?
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This weekend I welcomed two friends over to Bangkok. Neither of them were first timers, in fact they had both been over three times each before. You see, there's something about Thailand that people struggle to let go from. No doubt the female inhabitants have a great temptation, but there is more, The beaches, the food, the shopping . Thailand fever is contagious, beware!
Showing posts with label bank of thailand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bank of thailand. Show all posts
Monday, January 22, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
The big bad tests
The last two days have been the closest to work I've been since I moved here about four years ago. I've just completed the first set of tests since I started at my new school.
Thailand is big on testing. Really big. Three year olds get tested on English, nine year olds get tested on Geography and "Social".and teenagers get tested in some form almost every week. I'll never forget the day my favourite class turned up forty minutes late for a fifty minute lesson announcing "We had a ping pong test!".
There are many theories on why the system seems so keen to test eight year olds for up to five times a year but no definite answer can be given.
It doesn't seem to aid progress. On the contrary, it's a hindrance since it drains the teachers' time to prepare and teach. It's no marker for a student's development either. If little Praew could speak fluent English a month ago, and little Somchai couldn't say a word, its unlikely their roles have reversed in the last four weeks and if they had, you'd be damn sure their parents or teachers had noticed.
It seems likely the testing is just an outmoded umbrage of the (literally) old school education system. A system that required constant imposition of authority and lack of genuine teaching.
Anyway, back to my story. Testing at my old school was largely left to me, I'd test and log the scores and hand them in. In my new school - a private bilingual affair - things are done differently, as I just fond out. Although my new school is a huge improvement over most government schools, it still conducts business in the Thai way. This means that very little information is given to the teachers in advance. Myself and the other new teachers had no advance warning of tests or test procedures. We simply turned up to work to be told to vigilate the exams. That we did.
As I was leaving the exam room - thinking to myself what a doddle the day had been - I was greeted with a pile of paperwork. Inquiries revealed that this was the first part of the marking process. after several hours I had finished, and presented the work to one my bosses.
" Oh no, you aren't meant to make the student profiles yet, some scores are missing".
OK , back to my desk to fill out forty student profiles for the second time. Back to the boss.
"Oh no, you've done them in the wrong order"
"I wasn't aware there was an order"
"Yes I'll show you what it is"
It did have a positive side effect though. It reminded me how much more pleasant it is to work out here in Thailand. Usually, teaching is a fun job, I'm proud to teach and I love what I do (except for the last two days).
Some of the other new teachers were becoming stressed over the lack of communication. Readers of my old blog will know that I used to be just the same. But things are nowhere near as bad in my new school, indeed itl is very good at working with foreign teachers and I've wised up a little too. The Thais have their own way of doing things, it can seem strange to us but it doesn't hep to get angry and shout about it. For now at least, I'm happy to keep my head down and enjoy being welcome at work.
They better not ask me to wear any fluffy bunny shirts, though.
Thailand is big on testing. Really big. Three year olds get tested on English, nine year olds get tested on Geography and "Social".and teenagers get tested in some form almost every week. I'll never forget the day my favourite class turned up forty minutes late for a fifty minute lesson announcing "We had a ping pong test!".
There are many theories on why the system seems so keen to test eight year olds for up to five times a year but no definite answer can be given.
It doesn't seem to aid progress. On the contrary, it's a hindrance since it drains the teachers' time to prepare and teach. It's no marker for a student's development either. If little Praew could speak fluent English a month ago, and little Somchai couldn't say a word, its unlikely their roles have reversed in the last four weeks and if they had, you'd be damn sure their parents or teachers had noticed.
It seems likely the testing is just an outmoded umbrage of the (literally) old school education system. A system that required constant imposition of authority and lack of genuine teaching.
Anyway, back to my story. Testing at my old school was largely left to me, I'd test and log the scores and hand them in. In my new school - a private bilingual affair - things are done differently, as I just fond out. Although my new school is a huge improvement over most government schools, it still conducts business in the Thai way. This means that very little information is given to the teachers in advance. Myself and the other new teachers had no advance warning of tests or test procedures. We simply turned up to work to be told to vigilate the exams. That we did.
As I was leaving the exam room - thinking to myself what a doddle the day had been - I was greeted with a pile of paperwork. Inquiries revealed that this was the first part of the marking process. after several hours I had finished, and presented the work to one my bosses.
" Oh no, you aren't meant to make the student profiles yet, some scores are missing".
OK , back to my desk to fill out forty student profiles for the second time. Back to the boss.
"Oh no, you've done them in the wrong order"
"I wasn't aware there was an order"
"Yes I'll show you what it is"
It did have a positive side effect though. It reminded me how much more pleasant it is to work out here in Thailand. Usually, teaching is a fun job, I'm proud to teach and I love what I do (except for the last two days).
Some of the other new teachers were becoming stressed over the lack of communication. Readers of my old blog will know that I used to be just the same. But things are nowhere near as bad in my new school, indeed itl is very good at working with foreign teachers and I've wised up a little too. The Thais have their own way of doing things, it can seem strange to us but it doesn't hep to get angry and shout about it. For now at least, I'm happy to keep my head down and enjoy being welcome at work.
They better not ask me to wear any fluffy bunny shirts, though.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Black Tuesday
Fears of the 1997 crises surely lingered in the minds of a few on Tuesday as Thailand was rocked by the biggest one day stock market drop in its history. Once again, foreign money played a major role, but this time was not to blame. In an attempt to do a sinicised pegging of currency value, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) under the supervision of M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, had the brainwave of introducing a thirty percent foreign capital rule. In simplified terms, it meant any foreign owned capital going out of Thailand was subject to 30% of that sum being withheld by the bank for three months, interest free.
No sooner did the ruling take effect the market plummeted. Needless to say, officials desperately tried to save face and absolve blame. Notably, the word "speculation" was used frequently, no doubt to subconsciously remind locals of the 1997 crises, where (justified) speculation of the BOT's reserves caused a huge crash and made Thai people far poorer overnight.
The interim government has made its first mistake, let's hope it's not the first of many.
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The Tesco battle
One ongoing sideshow that offers an intriguing insight into Thai culture and psyche is the protests against Tesco.
Villagers in some northern cities have staged numerous demonstrations against Tesco Lotus' plans to open branches in the area. The villagers claim the stores will destroy local small shops. One group actually protested outside the British embassy, "demanding" Tony Blair order the trade to stop.
There's one little problem. Local shops already have their stiffest competition: the "Seven Eleven" stores. You'll be had pressed to find an area of Thailand without them. Likewise, the "Big C" stores (38% Thai owned) and other supermarkets have taken over Thai land a long time ago but no protests occurred.
One wonders of the real underlying cause of the protests, and why they never happened before. Call me cynical, but perhaps there is a touch of xenophobia as the small business look for an outlet to blame for their problems, perhaps the Thai owned businesses - all of which are owned by rich businessmen and politicians - had ways of "dealing" with any prospective complaints.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for preservation of traditional values, I have no geat love of the big brands and I greatly admire the way Thais have kept their cultural integrity as their country develops, but I can't help thinking that that this not the root of the feigned indignation we see in this case. Besides, why stop at Tesco? Why not protest against Pepsi, McDonalds, Manchester United and Mr Bean too?
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