Thai students well below global average in reading, science and maths: study

[AhFarangJa]

19 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

 

Is anyone else trying to see the logic in that ?? If you find any, please enlighten me ????

Yes, I think the Military Elite, sorry,  Government want Thai students to be at rock bottom, so who better to teach them than someone who scores worse....

[WeekendRaider]

but Thailand still has one of the highest literacy rates in the world!  look it up on Wikipedia.

 

and even more amazingly, Thai students study the upper diglossia extensively.... as well as English as a third language.  but English is actually, from a Thai perspective.... two languages not just a third one to learn.

 

unlike the Thai dialects, English is written and read different from how it is spoken.... intentionally... so even more to their credit, Thai students not only succeed at having to also learn English as a third language.... but they are taught in spoken English, and spoken Thai, but are only assessed on written English as any assessment of a spoken language is difficult in classrooms with 40 or 50 students each, as well as that quite contrastively, ‘multiple guess’ exams are quite easy to score up.

 

but one of the world’s highest “literacy rates”.  

[phantomfiddler]

I have met university students here who know absolutely NOTHING ! What on earth are they doing in the classrooms, or what on earth is their teacher (not) teaching them ? Sad, yet they are taught from a very young age that they are a superior race, not so !

[Solinvictus]

17 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

Thais, Filipino, Vietnamese don't like them.

 

In all the years I've been travelling I met one very nice Chinese guy. We had nice talk, he was very interested in knowing how it is in Europe etc. I helped him to book hotel - seems like China blocked Agoda?? On the other hand I've met hundreds of rude Chinese making hell out of my life. Smashing doors at 5am, screaming in the hallway is just common.

 

People say Aussies are drunks, British too, Americans are loud.... well I'm neither from these countries but when I travel I often meet people from these countries and they are fun and nice, many good memories. Sure they can get drunk and do silly stuff (as I surely do sometimes too) - but hey, it's supposed to be fun, not Sunday morning church, so why be so uptight?

Well put. I myself, have a bit of a negative view on Chinese folks. Before coming to Thailand, I always thought it was Americans being the usual loud mouthed and obnoxious foreigner overseas. Which is still true sometimes but I feel like the Chinese are worse.

Also, yeah having a good time with a drink and a good exchange is fun. Never really got such a genuine exchange from a Chinese or even Thai.

[Cereal]

50 minutes ago, howbri said:

I taught English in China. The students have an unrivaled thirst for English unlike here in Thailand. Better English means more $$$$.

I, too, taught English in China. This is the polar opposite of my experience. 

[ParkerN]

I'm wondering why this piece of "news" would surprise anyone at all

 

Carry on...*yawn*. I expect they know what they're doing, Thais know best.

[kevden]

20 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

 

Is anyone else trying to see the logic in that ?? If you find any, please enlighten me ????

Especially as Thailand managed to outrank the Phillpines in all areas of the quoted results. Maybe we just cannot understand. ????

[DavidAlexander]

I teach High School math to Thai and Myanmar students. I've long since stopped being amazed, stunned, incredulous when they have to use a calculator to compute 10% of 100. Anything beyond single digit addition is beyond them without a calculator. But...maybe it's a worldwide trend.

[Chongalulu]

20 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

China cheated their way to 1st place as they always do

 

I certainly don't see the intelligence when I happen to accidentally book a 4* or 5* hotel frequented by Chinese

Indeed,having booked into a Singapore hotel driven there by a Singaporean taxi driver who was knowledgeable,intelligent and helpful and then got some tech help with my phone by the check in guy I understand why Singapore has consistently topped all the tables for years.

[DavidAlexander]

2 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

Gunpowder was invented in China .

Discovered, not invented...big difference.

China will make up for lost ground in the inventing arena. Many very bright Chinese studying overseas who will learn western research methods and put it to good use back in the home land.

[hotchilli]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

In science, Thai students scored 426 points, well below the global average of 489.

 

In mathematics, Thai students scored 419, which was also below the average of 489.

 

In reading, Thailand’s worst performing category, Thai students managed just 393 points, while the global average was 487 points.

 

A downward spiral just like the economy... but as long as Prayut keeps the rich richer and the poor poorer he will be able to control the masses.

Education is not on his priority list.

[Nanglon]

2 hours ago, stigar said:

I ask myself many times.Why are they dubbing foreign movies to thai?Crazy in my mind,they never get used to listen and learn english.This is a big problem.Look to phils.Even small kids can speak english.

And with the same four voices, same exclamations, same same .........

[Chongalulu]

29 minutes ago, WeekendRaider said:

but Thailand still has one of the highest literacy rates in the world!  look it up on Wikipedia.

 

and even more amazingly, Thai students study the upper diglossia extensively.... as well as English as a third language.  but English is actually, from a Thai perspective.... two languages not just a third one to learn.

 

unlike the Thai dialects, English is written and read different from how it is spoken.... intentionally... so even more to their credit, Thai students not only succeed at having to also learn English as a third language.... but they are taught in spoken English, and spoken Thai, but are only assessed on written English as any assessment of a spoken language is difficult in classrooms with 40 or 50 students each, as well as that quite contrastively, ‘multiple guess’ exams are quite easy to score up.

 

but one of the world’s highest “literacy rates”.  

The PISA tables don’t lie and more worryingly they represent the future  of the country,measuring 15 year olds.The literacy tests are in their native language and Thailand also features badly in knowledge of English. You can also google average IQ by country to see where Thailand features for even more concerning disquiet. Is the stupidity shown by so many Thai officials any wonder?

[justin case]

anybody surprised?

 

the ELITE does not need smart educated people

 

rich people here act like they own the world and get away with anything

 

the poor buggers try to get some of that cash to spend on useless <deleted> for face

 

 

education is on nobody's priority list, so there is a nice status quo

 

where the poor don't get education (add lazy) and add brainwashing thainess from birth

 

 

this country is closer to INDIA with an "cast" society

 

what do you do with a population that looks down on everybody else in the world, but also to their own, because of skin color...

 

 

[brian2f2f]

19 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

I always read these threads with regard to the Thai education system (or lack of it) I have no input as I have no kids involved in the Thai education system, but it always surprises me that Rooster never gives any feedback, after all he has two lots of kids go through the system and has been a teacher as well.

 

It's always interesting to get the perspective of you lot out there using the system and from those doing their best to deliver a quality product but hampered by the system. Just my thoughts.

My wife when i first got here was still in her last yr of high school so i got to see first hand the education system here. It is a complete joke. They dont do anything to prepare you for college entry exam and if you want to take that that is extra study after school in a special program just for it. Aa for the english over half of the information was wrong and the teacher teaching the incorrect ways to say and pronounce english words. Whats eveb worst is that she went back 1 time to class the next day and said the correct way to a say a word and the thai teacher said that me as an american including people like adam bradshaw are saying it wrong. These teachers clearly have no clue at all about what they are teaching and force students to learn bad and incorrect information. In china where the goal is to be the most inteligent in the world amd always better then your neighbor is it any wander why they are number 1. Not to mention the countless of fights ive had with my wife simply because if the horrible education system here and her thinking she knows what she is talking about especially when her good friend and teacher said it. Like its facts. Despite her university telling her that is wrong and not true about themselves as well as other things ive pulled up online and prpces factual truths behind what i was saying. Honestly im surprised thailand isnt the lowest in the world like in the 100s or below for evert catagory. Not to mention if watched my wife have difficulties even reading thai articles. And then yesterday at the mall when i was trying to look up something the thai writing was saying scam or something like that despite nothing else was even closely related to anything about a scam. Thus even those higher up and responsible for writing articles or other information in thai can not even use correct thai to say what they need to say. 

[sandmonster]

20 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

China cheated their way to 1st place as they always do

 

I certainly don't see the intelligence when I happen to accidentally book a 4* or 5* hotel frequented by Chinese

 

I went to school in England and the chinese kids always cheated their way to 1st place too ???? !

Here's some evidence, rather than TV xenophobia. ???? 

 

https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/think-leicester/education/2016/against-the-odds-ethnic-minority-students-are-excelling-at-school

 

[terryofcrete]

19 hours ago, DavisH said:

Everyone including the low level workers - ie gardener, house-keeper, or security guard speaks good English.

What has that got to do with the rankings ? Sick to the teeth of hearing some people... usually British or American saying things like ... they couldn’t speak English as if that were some measure of their intelligence . I love the way the French refuse to speak English to you unless you show respect and attempt their language . English is NOT, contrary to popular belief among British folk , the most spoken language in the world .. we speak English in Ireland simply because it was imposed on us and our own language was suppressed and wasn't allowed By British Law during the centuries  of colonization. I think that may also be the case in most Commonwealth countries . 

[Krataiboy]

 

 

Who cares, so long as Thai schoolchildren learn to behave like obedient little soldiers, waving the Thai flag, singing nationalists songs and dutifully conforming to General Prayuth's "Twelve Values"?

 

Heaven forbid Thai children be encouraged to think for themselves. They might discover what words like democracy and human rights actually mean - and bite the hand that feeds the propaganda.

[Chongalulu]

14 hours ago, Selatan said:

No wonder the Chinese beat you farangs flat in the PISA test. Such a simple chart and yet you let your racial prejudice to cloud your judgement. If you claim that China cheated in the test, indirectly you are insinuating that Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau had cheated too. Or maybe you didn't know that the huge majority of the people living in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau were ethnic Chinese.

The Americans are good at maths too, or at least at maths competitions. The U.S. tied with China in first place at the 60th International Mathematical Olympiad. Take a look at the winning U.S. team:

Both your confusion on causation vs correlation along with a misunderstanding of ethnicity vs education would likely mean you’d feature quite badly on any reasoning test.

[sandmonster]

16 hours ago, DrTuner said:

They seem to be good in passing exams. Applying what they have memorized to real world situations seems to escape them though. 

That old chestnut lol. PISA is actually designed to test application of knowledge to real world problems ????.  Maybe they cheated again ????

 

From Wiki,

 

"The PISA mathematics literacy test asks students to apply their mathematical knowledge to solve problems set in real-world contexts. To solve the problems students must activate a number of mathematical competencies as well as a broad range of mathematical content knowledge. TIMSS, on the other hand, measures more traditional classroom content such as an understanding of fractions and decimals and the relationship between them (curriculum attainment). PISA claims to measure education's application to real-life problems and lifelong learning (workforce knowledge)."

 

[sandmonster]

2 minutes ago, nchuckle said:

Both your confusion on causation vs correlation along with a misunderstanding of ethnicity vs education would likely mean you’d feature quite badly on any reasoning test.

The ginger kid in the picture the translator ? ????

[Pedrogaz]

Keep 'em dumb and they'll keep being turkeys voting for Christmas. I wonder how being the internet hub has helped the students perform so well?

[sandmonster]

14 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

So where are the Chinese inventions?

 

We talk using the internet that originated in laboratories in the US, UK, and France

 

Electricity, cars, planes, antibiotics, and everything you can think off - nothing from China or Thailand.

 

Name one service or product that people use and originates from China. You can't, because it doesn't exist. They just close their market and copy what someone else invented.

 

Geez..the ignorance here on TV is more astounding than the xenophobia ????.

 

Here, if you can read English a bit better than Thai 15 year olds,

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_inventions

[Dogmatix]

58 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

Buy fewer submarines and spend the money on education. Not much interest in invading Thailand by surrounding countries.

Not buying submarines that are unusable in shallow Thai waters anyway makes absolute sense but spending more money on education doesn’t seem to produce any tangible results. The ministry already has the largest ministerial budget which suggests that the more money is pumped into it the more is stolen and wasted. It has been a super efficient mechanism for denying education to the poor and inflating the bank balances of the corrupt.

[DrTuner]

13 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

anyway even if all that is true, it's 4 basic items and it shows their skills to compete ended 1100 years ago

That's true, China is one of the "has beens" together with Rome and the British Empire. Communism destroyed pretty much everything as it always does. In the last 10 or so years they've gotten good at copying stuff and abusing their native population for producing cheap <deleted>, as well as digital warfare and fake news. I remember when Japan used to be the copy-copy place, they managed to proceed from there. If China managed to get rid of the commies, which I don't see happening any time soon, the future could be bright. But not as it is now.

[SuwadeeS]

16 minutes ago, sandmonster said:

 

I went to school in England and the chinese kids always cheated their way to 1st place too ???? !

Here's some evidence, rather than TV xenophobia. ???? 

 

https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/think-leicester/education/2016/against-the-odds-ethnic-minority-students-are-excelling-at-school

 

1. China the first place. What a joke. There are more analphabets in China than in any other           country in the world.

2.The whole world knows that China is cheating all the time.

  How do they get all the money??????

  By cheating and stealing products, intellectual properties, patents and industy spying.

3. This statistics reflects nothing, because, they do not use one equal standard for

    all the countries. 

 

 

[sandmonster]

2 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

That's true, China is one of the "has beens" together with Rome and the British Empire. Communism destroyed pretty much everything as it always does. In the last 10 or so years they've gotten good at copying stuff and abusing their native population for producing cheap <deleted>, as well as digital warfare and fake news. I remember when Japan used to be the copy-copy place, they managed to proceed from there. If China managed to get rid of the commies, which I don't see happening any time soon, the future could be bright. But not as it is now.

They copied 5G. I know because Trump says so ????

[Chongalulu]

19 minutes ago, terryofcrete said:

What has that got to do with the rankings ? Sick to the teeth of hearing some people... usually British or American saying things like ... they couldn’t speak English as if that were some measure of their intelligence . I love the way the French refuse to speak English to you unless you show respect and attempt their language . English is NOT, contrary to popular belief among British folk , the most spoken language in the world .. we speak English in Ireland simply because it was imposed on us and our own language was suppressed and wasn't allowed By British Law during the centuries  of colonization. I think that may also be the case in most Commonwealth countries . 

"English most spoken language in the world, has 1.5 billion speakers across the world. Throughout history, languages have developed from various linguistic elements and spread through trade, conquests, colonization, immigration, and cultural interactions. However, English does not rank first in terms of the number of native speakers. It has mostly gained prominence due to its popularity as a subject of foreign language study. The following is an analysis of the world's most popular languages in terms of all speakers (both native speakers and those who have acquired a language). All numbers are estimates as it can be difficult to determine how many speakers exist of any given language.

1. English - 1.39 Billion Speakers

The history of the English language is rather storied. The earliest forms of English were introduced to Britain by a succession of invaders. From Germanic tribes, Celts, Vikings to Normans, English developed from several linguistic influences. From Britain, English spread through conquests, trade, and interactions. English today is the language of international business. English is the primary native language of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Nigeria, Australia, Namibia, and more. Mostly thanks to globalization and the popularity of American and British media, the popularity of English has been further increasing, particularly amongst younger people. Today, around 1.39 billion people possess some command of the English language, around 480 million of whom are native speakers.

2. Mandarin Chinese - 1.15 Billion Speakers

Chinese is the second most popular language in the world with a total of 1.15 billion speakers. Chinese is part of the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family which stretches across much of Asia. From its origin in China, Chinese is also widely spoken in Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. The Chinese language consists of several dialects, which can vary considerably from one another. Chinese can either be written with simplified characters or in traditional characters, the former of which was created by a government initiative in the 1950s that was designed to make Chinese easier to learn.

   English is indeed the most spoken and more relevantly, the most WIDELY spoken language .Chinese too,consists of many dialects,so all you’re confirming is the adage of the  Irish being thick. ???? 

[DrTuner]

1 hour ago, Tops said:

If you translate the average to 100 on each subject. 

The result of Thailand is 84.49. 

Almost similar to the IQ of the average Thai.

Yes, and it shows. 85 is the basic street vendor level. Able to make a living and survive but that's just about it.

[cheshiremusicman]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

A friend of mine teaches ESL to Chinese students online. He says the seriousness, that both the students, and the parents bring to the table is astonishing. They really care and they really make an effort. There is a pathetic apathy towards education here, that casts a grey pall over the entire nation. It starts at the top, where you have an administration, that despite the constant proclamations to the contrary, is doing little to nothing to improve a completely broken educational system. Then it continues with an incredibly mediocre teaching staff, that often does not even know the material in their own class studies, especially when it comes to english classes. Add in math, science and history, and you have the perfect storm. Then you have face. When you have an entire nation that is discouraged from asking questions, and going a step further and challenging the teachers on their false premises, and inaccurate materials, and you have system that not only fails to educate, but stifles curiosity within the youth. 

 

Thailand is headed down a very dark path, if they do not step up, man up, and make some big improvements. I do believe the youth are the only hope this nation has to progress. It is very obvious we are not going to see progress from their apathetic, conventional and very conservative parents. So, give the youth a chance. 

 

Of course, there could be one answer as to why all of this is happening. And that is the administration does not want the youth to succeed. Certainly not the masses, that attend public schools. And if that is the case, the extreme myopia that causes them to protect the elite at all costs, and prevent an emerging class with talent, brains, and knowledge of the world, would reveal a diabolical scheme that is so dark, and so hopeless, that it is difficult to ponder.

I think you have summarised the problems exquisitely. I have a golfing friend who has taught in many countries for years and when he took a teaching job in Thailand (at a very respected Thai school) he was requested to attend the heads office on his first day. The 'Head' told him to 'Just teach the bare minimum'. My friend thought that he was joking and laughed, but the head took one more look at him and said 'Just do what your told'. My friend handed in his notice immediately. If this doesn't say it all then I don't know what does!