Are Expat's Opinions of Thailand Influenced by how much money they have?

[richard_smith237]

On 12/12/2018 at 6:03 PM, BritManToo said:

Not required in most employment. Richard Branson didn't even finish high school.

Although middle-class people who never make much money all seem to have degrees of some sort.

 

Let's face it, the guys all shouting, education, education, education are without exception small-time losers.

Else we wouldn't be living in Thailand.

Not required in most employment [education]...  are you serious? What aspiration !!! I mean, what aspiration?

 

Your suggestion that all the guys on here stressing the importance of a high quality education [shouting education] are ‘without exception small time losers’ could only be a quote from someone themselves left severely wanting... the above post is flawed beyong measurable comparison! I feel sorry for anyone who’s upbringing you may have an impact on.

 

 

[richard_smith237]

On 12/13/2018 at 3:02 PM, BritManToo said:

So you claim you went to a private school followed by a degree that allowed you to earn a lot of money in the oil business?

 

Geologist, geophysicists, Petrophysicist, Petroleum Engineer... etc etc... what did you get educated in that brings in 250k++ a year and still get 6 month a year off ??? 

 

Without an education anyone’s earning potential and upward mobility is extremely limited...  ....and reliance solely on pure brilliance and a lot of luck does not work for the average person... an excellent education offers an unattainable potential for the average person, without which, get used to the factory or get very lucky!

 

It is this otherwise unattainable potential that people seek in education, especially for their children... the question begs, why wouldn’t you choose the best? 

 

Thus, if an excellent education could not be afforded or was not available here in Thailand, the only option would be to return home (UK) and hence a huge aspect of living in Thailand with children is the impact ones finance would have on their education.

 

But only if you are not so dumb that you don’t value the quality of your children’s education.  

 

 

[BritManToo]

15 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Geologist, geophysicists, Petrophysicist, Petroleum Engineer... etc etc... what did you get educated in that brings in 250k++ a year and still get 6 month a year off ???

I think it's more likely the guy was a drill rig operator.

But quality of life while you're onsite ain't that great, and your wife/gf is usually banging someone else when you're away.

I know a few in the oil business, 6 months in a compound in Kurdistan, not allowed out for fear of kidnap/murder by the natives. Same in the Philippines, PNG, Nigeria, not a life I would want for my children.

 

But hey, feel free to make comments on occupations you clearly know nothing about.

Edited December 18, 2018 by BritManToo

[BritManToo]

35 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

‘without exception small time losers’ could only be a quote from someone themselves left severely wanting..

Yet, I'm not trying to earn a living in a 3rd world country and you are.

[BritManToo]

41 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

double post, plus trapped in quote

Edited December 18, 2018 by BritManToo

[richard_smith237]

18 hours ago, mogandave said:

 

The issue is that the percentage of people with degree (at least in the US) has skyrocketed and continues to rise, and the average quality of the graduates has plummeted.
 

 

It’s a bit like the 100m sprint - becasuse more athletes are breaking 10seconds it doesn’t mean the distance is any shorter, just the training better....

 

Its the same with Education - Degrees are not easier, people are just getting better at being tested... 

 

A lot more people taking a degree just means there is a greater number of people either side of the median which (if theory holds) has not shifted. 

 

I’m not sure we can apply intelligent judgement that graduates are dumber when compared to percentages below the median, but the numbers will naturally be greater. If working in an unchallenging industry it’s likely more of these below average graduates would be sent our way, hence the confirmation bias. 

[richard_smith237]

59 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I think it's more likely the guy was a drill rig operator.

But quality of life while you're onsite ain't that great, and your wife/gf is usually banging someone else when you're away.

I know a few in the oil business, 6 months in a compound in Kurdistan, not allowed out for fear of kidnap/murder by the natives. Same in the Philippines, PNG, Nigeria, not a life I would want for my children.

 

But hey, feel free to make comments on occupations you clearly know nothing about.

There you go making assumptions someone who values education wouldn’t make... 

 

Take a wild guess which one of those positions I listed is mine! 

 

You picked the worst without balance, I’ve never had to work in those places (except Philippines, Palawan which is quite beautiful btw)...

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2018 by richard_smith237

[mogandave]

It’s a bit like the 100m sprint - becasuse more athletes are breaking 10seconds it doesn’t mean the distance is any shorter, just the training better....
 
Its the same with Education - Degrees are not easier, people are just getting better at being tested... 
 
A lot more people taking a degree just means there is a greater number of people either side of the median which (if theory holds) has not shifted. 
 
I’m not sure we can apply intelligent judgement that graduates are dumber when compared to percentages below the median, but the numbers will naturally be greater. If working in an unchallenging industry it’s likely more of these below average graduates would be sent our way, hence the confirmation bias. 

In my opinion, only a fool would attempt to make an argument that graduates (or the general population for that matter) are dumber. It is my position that the quality of their education has generally deteriorated.

In the sciences not so much, but in the arts?

[BritManToo]

24 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Take a wild guess which one of those positions I listed is mine! 

The one that pays least money I suspect.

(as you don't appear to be that young and are still having to work)

[marcusarelus]

6 hours ago, mogandave said:

 

It depends on where in Thailand you live and what you do to occupy your time.

If you have a nice place in s good area of Bangkok eat out often and party a little, 80K is not that much.

If live in cheap apartment, eat cheap and don’t party much, it’s a lot.

Personally, I would rather live in rural Alabama than rural Thailand. I imagine it would cost about the same, probably less in the US if you’re “poor” and consider the benefits.

 

Consumer Prices in Mobile, AL are 51.57% higher than in Pattaya

Consumer Prices Including Rent in Mobile, AL are 48.35% higher than in Pattaya

Rent Prices in Mobile, AL are 39.47% higher than in Pattaya

Restaurant Prices in Mobile, AL are 104.80% higher than in Pattaya

Groceries Prices in Mobile, AL are 63.56% higher than in Pattaya

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Yet, I'm not trying to earn a living in a 3rd world country and you are.

??? what a dumb attempt at a negative spin...  I'm not sure what you are trying to say with this comment... 

 

You've also made another assumption... I don't work here !...  But you can call Dubai a 3rd World City if you like... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

double post deleted... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2018 by richard_smith237

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

The one that pays least money I suspect.

(as you don't appear to be that young and are still having to work)

 

Nice try young man...   

 

 

Question for you....  IF you could afford it, would you send your kids to the best school you could... or just the local one government school?

 

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Question for you....  IF you could afford it, would you send your kids to the best school you could... or just the local one government school?

 

2

Local one, I've always sent them to the local one (4 in UK and 2 in Thailand) as they have to mix with the locals.

Edited December 18, 2018 by BritManToo

[Nyezhov]

1 hour ago, marcusarelus said:

Consumer Prices in Mobile, AL are 51.57% higher than in Pattaya Consumer Prices Including Rent in Mobile, AL are 48.35% higher than in Pattaya Rent Prices in Mobile, AL are 39.47% higher than in Pattaya Restaurant Prices in Mobile, AL are 104.80% higher than in Pattaya Groceries Prices in Mobile, AL are 63.56% higher than in Pattaya

So you are paying twice the price in the US for worst place in Thailand! Case closed

[marcusarelus]

29 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

So you are paying twice the price in the US for worst place in Thailand! Case closed

Actually Pattaya is quite a bit nicer than Mobile.  I quit a great company because they wanted to transfer me to Mobile for a year. 

[mogandave]

I worked a little in Geneva AL and thought it was great.

[richard_smith237]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

5 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Question for you....  IF you could afford it, would you send your kids to the best school you could... or just the local one government school?

 

2

Local one, I've always sent them to the local one (4 in UK and 2 in Thailand) as they have to mix with the locals.

 

Thanks for the answer...... have you been able to notice a difference in the standards of education between 'local UK' and 'local Thai' schools?

 

 

[BritManToo]

9 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Thanks for the answer...... have you been able to notice a difference in the standards of education between 'local UK' and 'local Thai' schools?

 

Much less violence and bullying in Thai schools, longer hours, more dance, homework and tests.

The kids that went to the Thai schools are far more polite.

 

[Nyezhov]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Much less violence and bullying in Thai schools, longer hours, more dance, homework and tests.

The kids that went to the Thai schools are far more polite.

 

I feel that the asian system of education and style of child rearing is far more effective than the western system.

[BritManToo]

20 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

I feel that the asian system of education and style of child rearing is far more effective than the western system.

Too early to tell at the moment, but all indications so far are you may be right.

[mogandave]

 
Thanks for the answer...... have you been able to notice a difference in the standards of education between 'local UK' and 'local Thai' schools?
 
 

I sent my boy to what I thought was the best school in the area (Kabinburi) we lived. It was a private Catholic school and I think at least as far as math, science and atmosphere goes, far superior to a typical public school in California.

Since we relocated to Bangkok he is going to a great government high school and I would double-down on how I feel about the quality of his education.

I have nieces, nephews and friends in the US and with the exception of American History and civics, in my honest opinion, he is receiving a great education.

Personally, I think a quality education depends mostly on the student...

[Nyezhov]

31 minutes ago, mogandave said:

Personally, I think a quality education depends mostly on the student...

and the parent

[mogandave]

and the parent

It can’t be mostly the parent and the student.

I had great parents

[radiochaser]

On 12/18/2018 at 11:42 PM, mogandave said:

Personally, I think a quality education depends mostly on the student...

 

 

 

On 12/19/2018 at 12:13 AM, Nyezhov said:

and the parent

Off the topic of money to that topic of education and that of intelligence. 

Caution, long winded written discourse!

I agree with morgandave and Nyezhov on these two points.  My childhood days from the age of 6 or 7 through 14 or 15 were greatly influenced by my stepmother. 

I was frequently called stupid and my common sense was once compared to a sibling (her child with my father) that was less than one year old, as being less than that one year old child.  These two examples and her frequent criticism me for many of the things I did, affected me greatly and still has a residual affect on me, even at almost 70 years of age.

The greatest benefit I received, in my poor education, was learning to read.  After repeating the second grade, I became a voracious reader that was coupled with comprehension of what it was I read.  In the time I lived in Louisiana, where I repeated the eighth grade and finished the eleventh grade, I literally read everything, in certain categories, that the school library and the local Parish (county for those not familiar with Louisiana) library had.  To fuel that reading habit, the Parish library requested the loan of books from other Parish libraries and even from some college libraries.  I was reading 10-20 books every two weeks during that time.  This, compared to some that, outside of classroom assigned reading, did not read one or two books a year!

Yet, due to that one parent, I felt like the most stupid student in high school.  That I was stupid was proven when I saw the graduation list of students of my twelfth grade graduation class at the high school in Texas.  The students with the highest graduation point averages (GPA) were at the top of the list and those with the lowest were at the bottom of the 468 students that graduated in 1969.  I was number 465, therefor, very stupid!  Right?

I still felt stupid, even after taking the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) for enlistees and scoring in the top ten percentile, which I did not know about at the time.  I served with people, most of whom had education levels going from some college to those having four year degrees, to some with masters degrees, and three at the base up outside of Udorn, having Phd's.  These were the enlisted among those that I worked with, not officers! 

It wasn't until after my discharge and the years following, that I began to understand what my stepmother had done to me.  Through reading and conversations with others I realized that I was not stupid and how much my stepmother had crippled me in the area of education.  I ended up retiring from a job, that I worked my way up to, as a person with the lowest level of formal education of anyone that I worked with.  A high school degree. 

Everyone that was hired from the outside to work that same job position had to have a minimum of a bachelor degree in electrical engineering and were required to obtain a masters degree within two years (I think two years) of being hired.  Aside from the field of mathematics, I had learned everything else they had been taught in college, on my own. 

It angers me when I see, hear, or read about parents that denigrate a child by treating them as having low intelligence, whether or not that child is of low intelligence. 

 

So, I agree with mogandave, "a quality education can depend on the student" and I agree with Nyezhov, a quality education can depend on "the parent".  

Like that old saying, "it takes three to tango", right?  ????

[mogandave]

Off the topic of money to that topic of education and that of intelligence. 

Caution, long winded written discourse!

I agree with morgandave and Nyezhov on these two points.  My childhood days from the age of 6 or 7 through 14 or 15 were greatly influenced by my stepmother. 

I was frequently called stupid and my common sense was once compared to a sibling (her child with my father) that was less than one year old, as being less than that one year old child.  These two examples and her frequent criticism me for many of the things I did, affected me greatly and still has a residual affect on me, even at almost 70 years of age.

The greatest benefit I received, in my poor education, was learning to read.  After repeating the second grade, I became a voracious reader that was coupled with comprehension of what it was I read.  In the time I lived in Louisiana, where I repeated the eighth grade and finished the eleventh grade, I literally read everything, in certain categories, that the school library and the local Parish (county for those not familiar with Louisiana) library had.  To fuel that reading habit, the Parish library requested the loan of books from other Parish libraries and even from some college libraries.  I was reading 10-20 books every two weeks during that time.  This, compared to some that, outside of classroom assigned reading, did not read one or two books a year!

Yet, due to that one parent, I felt like the most stupid student in high school.  That I was stupid was proven when I saw the graduation list of students of my twelfth grade graduation class at the high school in Texas.  The students with the highest graduation point averages (GPA) were at the top of the list and those with the lowest were at the bottom of the 468 students that graduated in 1969.  I was number 465, therefor, very stupid!  Right?

I still felt stupid, even after taking the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) for enlistees and scoring in the top ten percentile, which I did not know about at the time.  I served with people, most of whom had education levels going from some college to those having four year degrees, to some with masters degrees, and three at the base up outside of Udorn, having Phd's.  These were the enlisted among those that I worked with, not officers! 

It wasn't until after my discharge and the years following, that I began to understand what my stepmother had done to me.  Through reading and conversations with others I realized that I was not stupid and how much my stepmother had crippled me in the area of education.  I ended up retiring from a job, that I worked my way up to, as a person with the lowest level of formal education of anyone that I worked with.  A high school degree. 

Everyone that was hired from the outside to work that same job position had to have a minimum of a bachelor degree in electrical engineering and were required to obtain a masters degree within two years (I think two years) of being hired.  Aside from the field of mathematics, I had learned everything else they had been taught in college, on my own. 

It angers me when I see, hear, or read about parents that denigrate a child by treating them as having low intelligence, whether or not that child is of low intelligence. 
 
So, I agree with mogandave, "a quality education can depend on the student" and I agree with Nyezhov, a quality education can depend on "the parent".  

Like that old saying, "it takes three to tango", right?  [emoji14]

Wow, 70 years old and still blaming your stepmother.

[roo860]

Wow, 70 years old and still blaming your stepmother.

It's a bit like Cinderella.

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