Why Thai Education Fails

The latest issue of The Economist attempts to explain why Thailand has failed to progress on education, and why Yingluck's tablets are not going to solve the problem.


Given my first-hand experience volunteering in Thailand's elementary school this spring, I have to agree with The Economist. Let's make it clear: I personally have no doubt in the revolutionary power of tablets in classrooms. It is handy, eye-catching, interactive and extremely educational if you use it right. But the inconvenient truth is, the country's education is failing because of poor management. Teachers and school administrators are not paid on results, and each individual school runs itself like a family business. Of course the blame can climb all the way to the very top of its system: education policy-makers and, ultimately, the government.




Had I decided to go there a year later, we might be playing with Ms. Yingluck's tablets instead of my own. But how much difference does it make?



Here I want to raise a deeper and perhaps less correct explanation why Thailand has difficulties turning extra resource into better academic performance: the Thai culture and social formation. To say the least, Thai society is more relaxed than ambitious. Remember, the country's economy has been tourism-driven for decades. Smiles and hospitality earn you money; textbooks and literacy don't. This being part of the people's DNA, you can hardly believe the students themselves are motivated to excel at school, if their parents don't even consider academic excellence as a gateway to well-being.


When I was there as a volunteer English teacher, I saw as many smart kids as anywhere else. But hardly could I call them hard-working and dream-bearing ones. The Thai people are naturally not fans of competition. This is especially true if you compare them to their Southeast-Asian neighbors.

So, if power and wealth are given by one's last name, the King, and the Buddha, what's it have to do with my studying hard?

On Weibo: Interview with Taiwan's English Radio

Radio Taiwan International's Eye On China recently produced a series of programs on China's Weibo phenomenon. I had the pleasure to be interviewed and featured on two episodes.





The June 7 episode is a birdview of what Weibo is, how Taiwan's celebrities have extended their influence through Weibo, and how the social media service is viewed by "grassroot" users including me. My voice clip can be heard at the 7th minute.

The June 14 episode is an edited version of my full interview. I was telling Natalie Tso what I do on Weibo, and how Weibo has become an addiction. To hear the program, click here, then hit the icon on the page.

Rony's First Open Mic @ Hot Cat Club Beijing

I dropped by Beijing in April 2012 when I did this at Hot Cat Club near Yonghegong, where Comedy Club China's weekly Open-mic Night was hosted (http://www.comedyclubchina.com/ ).


Had an amazing time performing on the stage and getting to know the funny foreign troops in Beijing. This being my FIRST open-mic attempt, the crowd was really supportive and, seemingly, entertained. :)


Special thanks to Toby Jarman for being so nice to a newbie, Tianjiao for shooting the video, and to my brother for being a great inspiration.


Beijing, I'll be back!..

Weibo is the place to be

Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, has been such a blast. I randomly realized a great many of the people I follow happen to reside in Beijing.
"That makes me feel Beijing is the place to be!..." I said.
My brother's reply: "That means Weibo is the place to be."

Project Implicit - your unconscious will tell the truth (?)

I just finished reading the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Tons of refreshing ideas, stories and experiments are introduced in the book. Among which is this Harvard project named IAT (Implicit Association Test): https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/selectatest.html

Take the Race IAT for instance: You may never explicitly admit you are a racist. But this test is designed to show (and measure the degree to which) your brain finds it harder to categorize stuffs when what represents good is on the same side with black people, than doing so when good is paired with white. In other words, your unconscious does not accept black as naturally as white. Give it a try, and the result may surprise you.

I think the design of this test is scientifically sound. Everything else being equal, the only factor that would affect our responding speed is how closely two elements are connected in your subconsciousness. When it comes to explaining the results, I agree with Gladwell. Even though as rational, thoughtful and educated human beings we know and believe racism is incorrect, part of our unconscious is shaped by the mass media and social stereotypes, which are still racist, discriminating and biased in one way or another. I do accept the fact that, as the IAT revealed, my brain has moderate racist and anti-homosexual tendencies. But I think it is generally constructive to admit the existence of such unconsciousness. This is why I recommend more people do this test.

P.S.

My own favorite is the Gender-Science IAT. Results showed that I almost completely associate science/engineering with guys, and consider subjects like history, philosophy and arts a great deal more feminine.. This one is true on both conscious and unconscious level, though. I do not consider it a politically incorrect position, and I'm not ashamed to admit. :S

why learn Esperanto when we have so many living languages

I remember when I was in about Grade 8, I read in a passage from my English class about the language called Esperanto, a man-made language that some linguists invented in hope of a better communication tool for the world. Back in the days it used to be a debatable idea. But shortly after, such debates were completely gone. They were cleared out by the fact that English as a global language is doing convincingly well. There is, at least in my opinion, no need and no place for this language to be used. The reason is pretty simple: popular languages such as English and French are commonly learned because there are real people in some (in fact, lots of) corners of the world that live in these languages. Learning such languages would open yourself a window into their thinking, cultures, lifestyles, and much more. If you learn a language that no community actually speaks, you lose the opportunity of stretching and educating your mindset while learning a language.

Today I got an email fron Lingq, the language-learning community that I'm subscribed to, announcing they've launched Esperanto as the newest language available in their resource pool. Below is a message I posted on the "wall" of Lingq on Facebook:

Hi Steve and fellow Lingq users, I was surprised about the launch of Esperanto. I've always believed it's way more meaningful to learn languages that are "alive" - the ones spoken by real people and used to communicate news, ideas, knowledge and cultures. In fact I am curious how many people today have interest in learning Esperanto when we have tons of real languages to choose from. And quite honestly, I doubt if it's a good idea to do so. I personally would never invest my time learning this artificial language, nor do I recommend anyone I know to do so. No offence to anyone, just wanted to share my two cents. Thanks. -- Rony

reading in a foreign language deepens understanding and provokes thinking

I read books in two languages: Chinese and English. My overall reading experience in English has been very different from that in Chinese. A lot of the times I feel that I simply understand things better when reading the same idea in English, instead of my mother tongue. It seems to be quite a paradox because, assuming the content express the same idea, I'm supposed to comprehend everything much better in the language that I'm way more fluent, sensible and comfort in.

Of course, there can be a number of obvious explanations for this, such as...

(1). English is a "better" language, in the sense that it is simple and straightforward language. Or as linguists put it, it's a low-context language. This means it is easier to express ideas with clarity.

(2). There are also more great writers who contributes to the enormous pool of English contents. Admittedly, the world's most influential writers and thinkers express themselves (or at least get their work translated timely) in English more than any other language in the world.

But recently I have come to a third and curious explanation that this "English is better" perception is simply because English is my second language. Can one expect to benefit more from reading in his/her second language when the same content is available in his/her first language? Well, here I'm saying, the answer is probably yes...

First, because English embodies patterns of thinking that are so different from Chinese, I am constantly adventuring on new lands when reading in English. In other words, it stretches my brain by making it do new things. This is similar to how you would feel genuinely refreshed and delighted when occasionally writing with your less-used hand. Because your brain is functioning on a different mode, it becomes more active, creative, and joyful.

Second, reading speed is a factor. Truth is, I'm so much more fluent and comfortable with my mother tongue that I can browse over a line without really stopping to ponder what's really behind the words. In English, on the other hand, I am force to make stops all the way, trying to make sense to the phrases and sentences, and naturally giving more thoughts on the points that the author is trying to make. That leads to a more solid and lasting understanding.