To: Ajarn.com

Permitted, should teachers be permitted to throw objects at their students? Should teachers be allowed to cane their students? Well, I hope you’re like me and say 100% NO WAY! It does look like some Thai teachers may disagree with me on this because two Thai teachers (both teaching in Nakhon Ratchasima) were both caught within a week doing exactly this. The female teacher was caught throwing a whiteboard eraser at a student, hitting him in the eye. The second, which is more serious was an unqualified male Thai teacher caught on video caning about 40 students. I can only hope that these teachers and any other teachers will always receive the maximum penalty allowed by law if found guility. This is my sincere honest opinion for every teacher on this Earth. No exceptions. Please look at the video on Youtube.

Donald Patnaude

Tags: student discipline student problems student behavior student complaints corporal punishment caning students punishing students catholic schools

More and more, English teachers in Thailand are seeing ads saying “Teachers Under 45 Wanted”
No English teacher that has spent any time teaching in Thailand is surprised to see job ads in local newspapers saying “Thai national only. Must be 25 years of age or younger, female and attractive”. In Thailand, Discriminatory ads like this are completely acceptable and legal. In the last few years though, more and more job ads for western English teachers are stating “must be under 45 years of age”. Age discrimination? Sure it is. But why is this acceptable in Thailand and, if you are an older English teacher over 45 years of age, can you still get a teaching job in Thailand?

Why do Thais discriminate against teachers over 45? - Primarily, teaching English in Thailand is all about ‘edutainment’, meaning if you teach English in Thailand you must be an entertainer as well as an educator. Thais hate to be bored at any time so English class too has to be ‘fun’. If it’s not fun, they don’t pay attention and consequently don’t learn anything. But the prevailing thought in Thailand is, for a teacher to be entertaining and fun, they must be young. Not true, but that’s the way Thais think.

Secondly, the retirement age in Thailand is 60 years of age and many middle-class Thais retire well before this, in their late 40s and 50s. When I asked 30-something Thai students when they planned on retiring, most of them said by age 45. Asking why so early, the replies I got were most of them figured they wouldn’t live much past 60, so they wanted to enjoy retirement age while they could. I was shocked when I heard most didn’t expect or want to live past 60 years of age, but this is often because, in Thailand unlike in the west, many elderly people are in very poor health and younger Thais nowadays don’t want to be like that. Thus the discrimination against western teachers older than 45 too. Thais are presuming westerners will be frailer in their 50s and 60s like so many Thais are. (In actual fact, this isn’t true about modern middle-class Thais either - it’s only that many Thais are still living with the mindset their parents had about age in the 1950s and 60s, and it’s difficult to change that).

Donald Patnaude

Tags: older teachers edutainment age discrimination

Hello my dear confused friend Tency Tupper. So I get it now. You are saying forget about all the corrupt governments, politicans and those financial institutions around the world that brought us into this worldwide meltdown recession. It is all my fault by placing an article about useless older people who probably had intention to retire in peace and ________ (well you fill in the blank) is all my fault. These so called offical retirees came here to relax and took some viagra and now probably have a Thai girlfriend, who can be like a grand daughter because of age difference, needs to work to support her habits. Please share with me the name and contact information about a school looking for a teacher who is 65 years old and a former bus driver for 23 years after he was paroled from prison because he needs a job quickly while the supply and demand is so great and that he has so much experience with children. Please note that I never said people shouldn’t teach after their 60th birthday. I am saying if someone hasn’t stepped into a classroom since their university or high school completion should not at the age of 60 years old come here to Thailand and put their resume online and pretend to be a teacher because this is the last thing this wonderful country needs!

Phil says - this topic of when is a teacher too old for the clssroom is always going to be up for heated debate. But if we are going to continue with the topic, I would like to see some impartial input and opinion rather than contributors taking swipes at each other. That’s OK on a discussion forum but the ajarn Postbox is not a discussion forum. 

Donald Patnaude

Tags:

In response to Chris Williams. Well, it does seem like at least one farang may disagree with me on my posting of: How old is too old?. Yes I strongly agree with you on some part of your comment like (the best wine comes in old bottles) and just to mention that my Thai father-in-law is now 72 and he still wakes up at 4:30 just so he can walk and jog about 5km. every morning (he has entered many races and other type of competitions in all 76 provinces) and continues to do so.

Now take a good look at your comment and see if you can figure out what is wrong with it Chris. (It should be a case of pure supply and demand. Look at all the vacancies on Ajarn.com and elsewhere. I know of schools who just want ‘a foreigner’ never mind even qualifications, nationality, TEFL certificates, let alone age, fair hair and blue eyes and you’re in). What demand? I will bet that you have been here for less than 3 years. Because I have been here for almost 9 years and the job market or supply and demand, as you call it, has shrunk about 50% in the last 3 years. Therefore the demand can’t even justify your comment.

Also, who wins - the 72-year old experienced athlete teaching English in a Thai school or the students who can be rude and cruel to say it politely? Who wins Chris? Surely all the qualified applicants will not benefit and this will just cause more Thai adults as well as students to look down on foreigners much more than they do now. I do want to say that there are a lot of students who are not cruel and rude and are really trying to achieve the best possible education that they can under a broken system.

Donald Patnaude

Tags: finding a job teacher shortages demand for english teachers

Dear Donald I really don’t like people generalizing, especially when it comes to age.
Many of the baby boomers were stuck, economically speaking, taking care of parents and being squeezed by their children, to be left with no retirement funds to speak of.  Not to worry, one day you will be there, trust me.  So when you offer advise to give any service for free, all I can tell you is that is probably what got us to the state we are in now, giving our time and energy to others for years for free, besides working a day job. I truly am a firm believer in performance evaluations.  If a teacher is able to give a class that is creative and effective, then that should be proof enough that they have what it takes.

Many people over the age of 60 are brilliant teachers.  Many physicians still practice into their late 70s.  After all, wouldn’t it be a waste to let all that knowledge go down the bin? I have seen young teachers come in late with glazed eyes and no consideration of the quality of attention their students get the “day after” they partied till the wee hours the “night before”.  Even worse, I have seen some actually flirt with their students all class long, trying to pass it off as testing conversation skills just because they didn’t put in the time to plan their class in advance.

So don’t be so quick to judge, and if you can teach do so.  If you are any good, you don’t need to be intimidated by others with more experience.  We are all in this together.

Tency Tupper

Tags: teacher problems finding a job teaching experience older teachers retirement age retirement age for teachers