Page 28 - ELITE PLUS MAGAZINE VOL4

HUMAN AGENDAFor educators, the problem lies not in the intelligence of Thai students. Mr Russo, founder of Top Scholars, an education consulting firm based in Thailand, claims that Thais are as good as any students in the worldmaster’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago, admitted that the ministry has been plagued with problems.“Officials at the Ministry of Education see the face of a new minister almost every year, and thus we adapt to new changes as the new minister usually comes with a new education policy. Under such conditions, we can’t work on long-term policies. We adapt to change and implement policies politicians want and I don’t need to tell you that is not beneficial for the country.”Over the past 15 years there have been 16 education ministers. The average term was one and a half years, then eight months in the Thaksin Shinawatra government and fourto five months under Yingluck Shinawatra.“We would be better off if we worked with a permanent or longer term policy, or with an education minister who stayed for a longer period,” he said.For educators, the problem lies not in the intelligence of Thai students. Mr Russo, founder of Top Scholars, an education consulting firm based in Thailand, claims that Thais are as good as any students in the world. Yet he found that many students, even those from international schools, lack what is called “procedural knowledge”, or implicit knowledge needed for applied tasks and solving problems in various contexts. Thai students perform better in “declarativeknowledge” tasks derived from memorizing. According to Mr Russo, educators and policymakers must help students apply knowledge to various contexts.“I met many students who wanted to apply to university in the US and I asked them a basic question about their feelings,” Mr Russo said. “One student who was quite brilliant and got the best grades could not express his feelings. Thai students seem to get lost when there are no multiple choice questions for them to answer.”It does not take foreign pedagogues to explain why Thai education is in bad shape. Students themselves are aware of some major problems.Mueanmas Boonngork blames textbooks, curricula, teaching methods and the Thai culture of uniformity that26 Elite+