Good Schools For The Rich, The Rest For The Rest

Pretty much everyone that I met in Thailand that has money (the kind of money that can provide you with a very comfortable lifestyle any place in the world) is sending their kids either
    a) to ultra-expensive international schools in Thailand or
    b) (more likely) to study overseas (usually in England or the USA).

And to me, it's pretty obvious why. I can't tell you how many people I met that have a master's degree in English, whose command of the English language can be summarized like that:

"Hello, how are you?"
"I'm fine, thank you, and you?"
"Sorry."
"What is your name?"
"Excuse me please."
"Yes."
"No."
"Handsome."
"Beautiful."
"Happy."
"Smile!"
"Do you like Thai food?"
"Very good."
"Speak Thai."
"Sing a song."
"Drink whisky."
"Enjoy!"
"Welcome."
"Bye, bye."

Considering the fact, that they achieved this amazing amount of fluency in just six years of high-school and four years of university education, I think that is pretty impressive. It's a pretty impressive evidence of incapacity - what do these universities do to slow down the learning process so much? No wonder that "hi-so" (high society) children are sent to either overseas or to international private schools with five-star amenities behind high walls.

I mean, keep the high-school aside - who remembers anything they learned in high-school, right? But four years where you do nothing but study English, and this is the result? What do they do with these students? Freeze them for four years, wake them up, play them a 15 minute English introduction CD and hand them their diploma?

Well, one thing I know is that they are taught to avoid mistakes like hell. If that means not trying to get it right, so you risk not making a mistake, then so be it.

You think we can do better than that? You bet we can! The kids growing up are all tech-savvy, the internet is their new playground. Once Supercool School reaches it's tipping point, I hope that nobody will have to waste four years and many years of savings to learning something that can be learned in one Supercool Class for free.

Dibidabadoo,
Ramin

PS: An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field. - Niels Bohr

Comments

[Thomas Schulze]

good Post! Will distribute it to our students on http://www.spirofrog.de they are always looking for hints on jobs and studies!