Life at School

Kids in class at a school in the Kwai River area. It
would look similar in Mae Sariang where we were
located.

The schools in Mae Sariang were like the schools all over Thailand. Go by any school in the country and it’s obvious that students are required to wear uniforms. Parents in the villages where the Pwo Hostel students came from had little to no cash and no place to purchase uniforms. So, the purchase of two uniforms per student per year fell to the hostel program to supply. There was a store in Mae Sariang that had a limited supply of uniforms that Marcia and Ladda would sometimes use. But more often than not, they would go to the main market in Chiang Mai where the uniforms could be bought in bulk along with all the other school supplies at the beginning of each school year.

Ladda in the center with 4 students in their
uniforms. All in this photo had just been
baptized. Dtee Khwa on the far right grew into
and remains a church leader. 

In addition to the regular, everyday uniforms, there were various clubs and groups that might also
require a different uniform. One group that everyone was required to join was the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts so scouting uniforms was another expense for the hostel. Scouting, as practiced in Thailand, had a very nationalistic to the point of almost militaristic look and feel. In more recent years, I believe the Thai government no longer requires the full scout uniform, but allows students to just wear scarves in order to ease the financial burden on parents (and hostel programs).

Go by any Thai school and a second very noticeable characteristic is that like many school systems throughout Asia, teaching is accomplished by rote memorization. In every classroom, the teacher will say something and the students all repeat in unison. All day long in every room in the school students are heard repeating en-masse whatever they just heard.  With enough repetition, it becomes imbedded in the student’s memory. Tests are standardized where students repeat once again what they have learned without being prompted by the teacher.

Two girls in their Girl Scout
Uniforms

It is a good system in order to learn facts, but the weakness is that students are not trained for critical thinking and often not adept at applying what they have learned in the real world. Coming from the west where education is all about critical thinking and application, we’d need to adapt our teaching styles sometimes to overcome the differences. For example, hands on, actively doing something would often communicate much better than printing out a paper and expecting people to apply the instructions once they got home. Connecting something on paper with the real world was often problematic.

Thailand has freedom of religion but at the same time, there is a saying “that to be Thai is to be Buddhist”. So, Buddhism is deeply imbedded in the Thai culture and permeates the government and therefore, the school system.  This likely felt awkward at times for the Pwo Hostel students and other Christians at the school. But, my impression is that the ceremonies and such that required student participation were done more with the attitude of being “Thai” as opposed to being a real Buddhist.

 

Students lined up for an assembly all with
hands in the "wai" position.

Respect for teachers is deeply instilled in students with some of this respect carrying over to the church
and really all aspects of Thai life. Teachers, instructors, trainers, pastors, missionaries, etc. are all shown respect. As missionaries, we wanted to relate to all the people at all levels. At the same time, coming in a teaching and leading role, we were put on something of a “pedestal” that could make our efforts to relate problematic.

One way respect for teachers was shown at the schools was at the annual “Wai Khru Day”. To “wai” is to put one’s hands together, elbows to the side. Hands still together, the higher they are raised, the more respect is shown. Hands in the wai position while kneeling and even bowing down with head to the floor is the ultimate wai. “Khru” is the word for teacher. So, “Wai Khru Day” is a special day to honor and respect teachers. But students would always wai their teachers any day and any time they might meet. A good “wai” is an art form that most expatriates never really do as well as a real Thai.

Wai Khru day with students honoring their teachers.

Finally, in the US students are generally encouraged to ask questions. After all, as a student, if we’re thinking critically, maybe there is some “gray area” that needs clarification in our mind. Questions then, are a compliment to the teacher and a sign the student is thinking. However, questioning a teacher in Thailand was a definite taboo. If a student asked a question, it meant the teacher wasn’t teaching well enough. So, many teachers saw questions as a threat and/or an accusation that they weren’t doing their job.

While there are definite differences between public school education in Thailand vs the US, a Thai education was a huge benefit for the students in the Pwo Hostel. It was the avenue to fully participate as a Thai citizen in the country. In the more remote villages, many families were hesitant at first, to send their kids to the hostel. But as some of the students came home on breaks and demonstrated some of the benefits of knowing the Thai language, increasing numbers of families wanted to send their children to the hostel.