Showing 1 - 10 of 75
Show cop who's boss
News, Postbag, Published on 18/07/2015
» Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha claims under him, we have rule of law. Here’s his chance to back up his welcome words with decisive action.
Interrogate The ‘Facts’
News, Postbag, Published on 27/09/2015
» Re: “Confessions are key” (PostBag, Sept 26).
No room for nepotism
News, Postbag, Published on 20/10/2015
» Re: "NRSA sets 20-month reform goal", (BP, Oct 19).
Stop classroom corruption
News, Postbag, Published on 08/11/2015
» We are constantly being told two things here in Thailand. That education needs to be reformed so young people can learn to think for themselves, and that corruption must be defeated to allow for greater equality in society and permit Thailand to become more competitive in the international area. To expedite these goals I would like to make the following suggestion. Eradicate corruption where it is doing the greatest harm — in schools.
The TEFL challenge
News, Postbag, Published on 14/11/2015
» The initiative to train Thai teachers in TEFL teaching to reduce the reliance on foreign teachers sounds promising, but the Ministry of Education is missing the point. English language tuition here is driven by the commercial sector, with parents paying enormous levies for their children to learn from native speakers, preferably Westerners. In other words, they expect a "white face" for their hard-earned baht. It’s superficial, and explains why there’s widespread discrimination against qualified Philippine teachers who work for lower wages, en masse, and solve the problem. But the TCT now expects them to have a Master's in Education before licensing them. In May, there was a crisis-like TEFL teacher shortage, which caused the industry to become flooded with gap-year students qualified with cheap "online" TEFL certificates. Those trained properly with a 120-hour practicum-driven course generally do a better job than locals, and teach using modern and effective methods. Thai teachers clearly have their work cut out for them if they are to compete.
GMOs a taboo topic
News, Postbag, Published on 12/12/2015
» The anti-GMO protest gathering at Government House has shown an exchange of arguments with dignity (BP, Dec 10).
Fighting losing battle
News, Postbag, Published on 24/12/2015
» How wonderful if, as reported, authorities will enforce strict measures to prevent traffic accidents during the holiday season and implement stringent measures against drunk drivers (BP, Dec 23).
Red Bull reminder
News, Postbag, Published on 12/01/2016
» I fully agree with the storm raised against DJ Keng, aka Pattarasak Thiemprasert, who forcefully backed his pickup truck twice into a stationary car, then lied that the car had hit him. His lies were caught on a video taken by a bystander. This man richly deserves jail.
Publicity never bad
News, Postbag, Published on 16/02/2016
» Thanks for your brave attempt at clarifying what bridge is and is not (Life, Feb 15). One of the unintended consequences of the saga is that the Pattaya bridge club, small by international standards, is now the most famous in the entire world, with several hundred newspaper and TV reports and tens of thousands of comments on blogsites talking about it. The tale has also made Jeremy Watson (the organiser) and myself (the founder, in 1994) the best-known bridge players throughout the five continents even though our standards sadly fall short of the brilliance usually required for notoriety.
Actions speak louder
News, Postbag, Published on 12/04/2016
» Re: "Democrats deal double blow to CDC draft", (BP, April 11).