May 31, 2000

May 2001

Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Summer has ended and a new school year is starting. First semester begins in the middle of May with the start of the monsoons and runs through the end of September. Second semester begins in November and runs through mid-March, when summer begins. All of this is to say we are beginning a new school year.

We are also continuing the reforms in the Thai educational system. These reforms have had a profound influence on my work with the schools as I have had to help teachers make the shift to student-centered teaching. Now we are going to look deeply at curriculum. I thought you might be interested in how Thais feel about all that is going on and how it is effecting them.

Last week, during a break from staff meetings, I sat down with three English teachers from Prince Royal’s College (PRC) in Chiang Mai. PRC was established by Presbyterian missionaries in the late 1800s. In 1905, the Prince Royal of Siam took the school under his royal patronage and gave it its current name. Since 1905, the school has had a relationship with the Thai royal family and has been a leader in educational excellence and creating future leaders. The current minister of education in the Royal Thai Government is a graduate of PRC.

The teachers I interviewed are Mrs. Saiphon Leeratanawalee, a Buddhist and head of the English department; Ms Winyuwadee Gujral, a Muslim; and Mr. Philip Inthanaphan, a Christian of Thai-Chinese descent who was raised by an American missionary family.

Scott: Thank you for taking the time to sit down with me and share with churches in the United States some of what is going on in the Thai educational system.

Saiphon: Our system is not so different from the U.S. Students now have to study for 12 years, when in the past they were only required to study for 6 years. So our system has changed from one that sought to create basic literacy and knowledge in people to one hoping to make people more well-rounded and able to think for themselves.

Winyu: That’s not easy to do. In our culture, we see knowledge as being important—more than how you use it. Also, we have so many students in our classrooms it’s hard to teacher in a child-centered way.

Philip: Students in high school are more interested in preparing for university entrance exams. They want to study and memorize for the test.

Saiphon: We also feel pressured to teach for the entrance examination.

Scott: You don’t have that kind of pressure in the elementary level?

Winyu: No, the problem there is the number of students. When we do child-centered activities the students enjoy the class more. My students always comment that they think the class is more fun and they feel less pressure to study and memorize.

Scott: What about the child-centered approach in the secondary levels?

Saiphon: I think they like it. I see that they want to express themselves more, but they’re so shy it’s hard to make them talk. They are afraid to make mistakes in front of their friends. But they like to do projects and group work, and they like to give presentations in class. These kinds of activities give them more of chance to be creative and solve problems.

Philip: Also, they don’t have to study and memorize things all the time, which was boring for them. They don’t want to express their own ideas individually, but they can as a group and feel happy doing that.

Scott: Well that’s more in line with Thai culture, isn’t it? Thai people feel safer and warmer in a community, so they’ll feel supported to express themselves.

Philip: Maybe we should call it "group-centered teaching." (Everyone laughs).

Scott: What subjects do they study?

Winyu: In the elementary level they study Thai, English, math, PE, and science. We also have a topic called "life experiences." It’s a mix of history, social studies, geography, and health. They study agricultural science. Boy Scouts is also a required subject. Once a week we have Tiger Scouts.

Saiphon: In junior high, we study Thai language and literature, English skills, art, science, math, history, geography, health, PE, Boy Scouts, and electives in science, arts and foreign languages. At PRC we also teach German and French.

Philip: We also teach Christianity, and we teach ethics in all levels. Senior high boys also have to study ROTC once a week, so they don’t have to be in the draft.

Saiphon: Most students also spend their free time in private tutoring. Their parents want them to be able to get into university, or even test into schools like PRC, so they have them study all the time. Also, there are few after school sports or other activities. Students have to go to private lessons for music or art. But we have to change and organize things for them to do since we have
problems with yaa baa (amphetamines). It’s easy for students to get lost and into trouble now.

In the next newsletter we’ll talk more about how the reforms are going and their effect on teachers, students, and Thai society.

Grace and peace.

Scott, Khanita, and Christopher Satterfield

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 171