The most beautiful profession in the world
I have the best profession in the world. Nice puh… Do you know, oh reader, why? Because I work with the Future. That's why…
Last Friday was the last day of class before the exam battle that broke out yesterday that fills every classroom with the bittersweet smell of fear and nerves. The last day of class, the last hour with 13-year-old children, is a day every year that fills me with mixed feelings of sadness and relief. Sadness because of the merciless scissors that cut the bond that has formed with the class during the school year, because of the farewell to the now so familiar faces of children who were complete strangers a year earlier. The bond dissolved. Relief too, because there is always a class in between, where the magic is not only missing, but where a number of mini-terrorists regularly carry out sabotage actions. Or a class filled with the best good guys (nerds, geeks), a class so quiet I can hear my own cells dividing while I teach.
1/1, the class I was the class teacher of this year, fell into the latter category. A class where everyone only gets A's on grammar, but when you ask "what do you think of...." a stare into nothingness is the only answer.
In itself it is not so strange that the children find nothing in 1/1 and have no opinion about anything. At the age of thirteen they have seen nothing but the house where they were born, the backseat of dad's car and the school where they collect as many A's as possible at their parents' encouragement. There are children in 1/1 who have never been on a bus or seen a beggar. They don't have an opinion about anything because they can't have an opinion about anything because they've never experienced anything. They are the victims of an “overprotective upbringing” The offspring of the wealthy Thais. The problem here is that these children often end up in parliament later on.
How different is 1/3. A class with a face. During the lessons there is a lot of talking, gesturing, some roll their eyes when I ask a stupid question, there is solidarity, the class is a living organism that is bursting at the seams, during class discussions (girls are smarter than boys -controversial statements) pointed, hands go up in the air, a student stands up, hands on hips, to reinforce her argumentation, a boy points to his forehead towards a girl who then makes a dismissive gesture, it lives, it jumps, it sparks….. it is 1/3…
Another class is the "poor" class, 1/6. The parents of these students live on the margins of the Thai society. Many children live with an aunt or their grandparents because, for whatever reason, mom and dad don't want to or can't take care of their children. These teens love nothing more than going to school where they wallow in a warm bath of attention.
The English of these treasures is usually nothing to write home about, but the learning pleasure splashes off. Again that solidarity, that feeling among the students of “we are 1/6 and we are not stupid, we are just poor”.
No, the nerds of 1/1 still have a lot to learn. Despite that forest of tens…
Farewell letter dated 1/6. I just kept it dry.
Nice story Cor. It reminded me of a story I told a few years ago on what you call a 1/6 class. Met some Thai teachers at a prom where I was watching the students football match. A few days later, at the request of the teaching staff there, I told a story about Europe and the Netherlands in particular. I can imagine those wet eyes very well. Have never practiced your beautiful profession, but think that the satisfaction here is much greater than in Western countries.
@Joseph,
Well, I don't know if the satisfaction is greater here. I think there is satisfaction in everything. I think when you sit down with Dutch teachers, the biggest frustration among them is the Ministry of Education and not the students. I know that for sure and it is no different in Thailand.
What I can say is that when I leave the teacher's room and the complaining there about the Thai education system - complaining in which I fully participate - and I walk into a class, I immediately forget all the nagging In the end it's all about what you achieve in those 50 minutes of lessons and whether those students have learned anything in that time. The MoU is secondary. Happy…
Great story, Cor! I would find it very instructive if you could provide a more detailed explanation of the school system in a follow-up article. How are those classes divided? What exactly does 1/1 to 1/6 mean? What is that classification based on?
My girlfriend's 14-year-old daughter has been getting a lot of "zeros" lately. What does that mean? Isn't her school performance just inadequate, or is it worse?
My girlfriend lives with me in Pattaya. Her daughter unfortunately still in Chiang Rai. We would like her to come and live with us at the start of the new school year. But it seems that the school can prohibit a move if the school performance is below par. Is that correct? Does a school have that much power? Does the mother have anything to say?
In short, I would really appreciate it if you could and would like to (and are allowed to) go into my questions in a follow-up article. Thank you in advance. Greeting,
I am happy to comply with this request for a follow-up article. One thing I can already tell you; a zero is not much, not even in Thailand (?).
No, a zero means: failed the subject in question. The Thai valuation system works as follows:
Zero: failed. On to the administration for a re-test, then it is the parent's job to beg the relevant Thai Head of Department to give it a 1, because
1 = passed, but no career in the subject concerned.
Thanks to the glorious no-fail system, begging usually succeeds.
1.5. Passed the course, but unfortunately, again no career in the offing in the relevant course.
2.0 Passed. See above
2.5 Passed, but still…
3.0 Passed. We're getting close to the
3.5 Now we're talking
4.0 The top has been reached You can't get any higher. Student has a score of 80 percent or higher
Cor, nice story. I immediately recognize the children you describe. Our circle of acquaintances is very mixed; from elitist to needy (poor is such a stigma). It is striking that the first group rarely if ever has its own opinion, let alone expresses it. In fact, when we ask something, it is often mom or dad who answers. How different is that with the second group, you almost always get reactions there. I think they are also much more inquisitive or at least more curious. When we talk about the countries we have visited with our photo books on our laps, the last group hangs on our every word and asks merrily, while the first quickly get bored.
I think many of the latter group fall short of the study boat. Despite their abilities, studies are soon cut short and exchanged for work; probably because mom and dad did too, but mostly out of necessity anyway. Sometimes our encouragement helps, but most of the time it falls on deaf ears. I think a lot of knowledge is lost with this.
I also think your profession is wonderful. If reincarnation exists, I will also become a teacher in a next life.
@Bachus,
Dad and mom answering a question put to their children. That gives me a shiver. What the hell are you, as a parent, doing?
As for that reincarnation, I hope that in a next life we may shake hands in the teachers' lounge saying; “I am your colleague, Cor Verhoef. what's your name?? Bachus? I think I know you from somewhere... ;-)
Bacchus, You hit the nail on the head, my girlfriend is really very intelligent, or I'm so stupid, of course it's also possible, often stand with a mouth full of teeth on her rebuttal.
She also did not have the opportunity to continue her education after she was 14, for the simple reason that there was and is no money for that. Indeed a lot of talent is lost, death and mortal sin.
Even worse is that the non-gifted do have that option and later get the nice jobs, because of the system we know.
Well if you were born for a dime........
Hans, Especially within the government, and that is seriously large here, it happens that the nice jobs are distributed among the offspring of the ruling elite. Knowledge doesn't matter, but the authority of mom or dad within the civil service or the money they have does. Within my family there are quite a few civil servants with a high position. I have regularly experienced that a nice job was arranged for one of the cousins. Another job has recently been bought. A cousin of ours was appointed as a legal officer in some government agency for 400.000 baht (by Dad). The boy has a technical education, but that doesn't matter in this case. Due to the amount paid by his father, he immediately enjoys respect among his colleagues. It's not about what you know, but who you know or are.
Bacchus, indeed the correct proverb, I wanted to use it myself first.
It's not about who you are, it's about who you know.
We must of course also keep in mind that it was or is the same 30 years ago in the Netherlands.
That jobs were even created in government and business to help mutual family members find work. The Old boys network system still functions to your heart's content today. Well like I said, if you go for a duppie..
Old boys network is running in the Netherlands like never before. You should read Jeroen Smit's book about the demise of ABN AMRO. In the Netherlands we also know about mittens in this regard. What about all kinds of nice jobs at NGO through development work. I will therefore never speak to my family here, because then I, as a Dutchman, have butter on my head.
I totally recognize it! Cool nice story!
I was involved in a week's escape from southern Thailand; the 3 plagued southernmost provinces.
we organized with Thai Orient , Hotels , Cinemas , Bus companies , movie stars ,etc.
a week away from attacks and stress.
So this group of Muslim children, orphans, no parents due to the Islam / Buddhist violence, flew from Yala to BKK and after a visit to the cinema and a luxury hotel, the flight to Chiang Mai
my job was the painting class at the Chiang Mai Zoo, where a Panda bear had just been born.
I did the tour with the kids and yes then the question comes; what was the most special thing you saw today?
of course the tiny Panda!
well then we're going to make a nice painting for home...
that happened , and it was a moving experience , big Pandas without eyes , small Pandas with way too much environment , Pandas without legs and ears .. disabled Pandas ... in short you can see what these kids are doing .
and why was a Farang approached? the children hardly trusted a Thai anymore!
the farewell was therefore something I had never experienced after the 3 days of working and being together.
saying goodbye at the airport was quite emotional; children aged 10 /13 without parents ….
It made me give a new perspective on Muslims, which I have / had adjusted very downwards since I saw the murder of Theo van Gogh on TV in Djibouti…
this is how you learn every day…
thailand always a surprise positive or negative, just like my life in NL, Italy, France, Usa and now … .. Chiang Mai
Wonderful (and moving) to read Guyido. Working with children is very often cathartic. If only we could get them to start imitating adults at a slightly later age 😉
yes Cor , but descending to a children 's experience was not easy for me .
it took some getting used to, and my girlfriend helped a lot, to smooth the unspeakable space between me and these orphans.
For the record ; I was accused of pedophilia by my American ex-wife in 1996, so even though this is nonsense, it puts a heavy burden on your dealings with children.
hence my reservations….
it was a fantastic experience for them , /still in touch/ and for me .
what was sad was that the money we had collected to give the children a nice trip to their shelter, was taken by 2 teachers, they bought candy and put the kids on the bus home .. sad end yet...
@Guyido,
That is also something, being called a pedophile because you enjoy working with children or young people. That's like calling a gynecologist a pervert fixated on pussy. I would like a few more…
I once had a blog on the Volkskrantblog, in which someone who didn't like me because I regularly revealed my aversion to Dutch gut feelings, and therefore conveniently assumed that I was a pedophile who had found his candy store in Thailand. That's what he suggested in his comments.
I never commented on the substance of those comments. I only wrote once; “Research has shown that 70 percent of the paw rammers themselves are latently gay”
I didn't hear from the man after that.
Cor, the first thing my sister said, that bitch, when I said I was going on holiday to Thailand again.
I have seen it on TV and heard it from my daughter-in-law, those dirty old men even walk hand in hand with children on the street, of course with a raised finger.
If you still try to explain that it is probably the case that the male is taking his daughter or son to school or going somewhere together, she starts blinking.
You should have it from your family ha ha, deeply sad ..
Cor: It's a beautiful story and in everything I feel how much you care about teaching children.
My late wife was a teacher at what was once called a Huishoudschool and I can tell you many stories about how she experienced that positively.
We are going to discuss that in great detail, because it was also the best profession in the world for her.