Mix One Part Hot Glue, One Part Plastic Sheeting and You Have a Beautiful, Bizarre Art Installation [Video]

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Education System in Thailand | Service Learning in Thailand

By: YiQi Xin

Education plays an important role in the development of a country. The understanding of education system will give us a glimpse of the overall picture of Thailand. In my following paper, I am going to introduce the history of Thai education system and the basic structure of school level in Thailand. The status quo of Thai education system will also be discussed with focuses of English education in Thailand, standard tests in Thailand, school uniforms, and government school holidays.

Education in Thailand began in 13^th century, when Ramkamhaeng the Great created Thai alphabet. In the early period of Thai education, members of the royal family and nobilities received education from Royal Institution of Instruction (Rajabundit), while commoners received education from Buddhist monks in the temples. In Thai?s traditional education system, village temples were places where most young boys received basic education. Such village temples received boys from the age of eight to serve in the temple as dek wat (which means ?the children of temple?). The dek wat helped to do some housekeeping works in exchange for instructions in reading and writing. Scriptural texts were used as textbooks for educating commoners in traditional Thai education system. The traditional education system prevailed until the 18^th century (Ministry of Education [MOE], 1998).

A Thai 100-baht banknote with a background theme of education system

Thailand has been through a long journey to try to improve its education system. The first Thai language textbook, Chindamani, was published during the reign of King Narai the Great (1656 ? 1688). As the printing press entered Thailand in the mid 1800?s, printed books were available in Thai language. Girls in Thailand were not admitted into the educational system until the end of 19^th century. The first government school for girls was set up in 1901, and the first teacher training school for women was set up in 1913. The first university in Thailand, Chulalongkorn University, was established in 1917. Chulalongkorn University is named after King Chulalongkorn (Rama V, 1868 ? 1910) and it is regarded as one of the best universities in East Asia (MOE, 1998).

Education is divided into four levels in Thailand. Pre-school education is for kids under age 6. Primary education starts when the kids are 6. Primary education is called Prathom in Thai, and it usually lasts for six years. After Prathom 6, the students will receive Secondary Education. Secondary Education is called Matthayom in Thai, and it is divided into two parts: lower secondary education, and upper secondary education. Matthayom 1 ? 3 is considered to be lower secondary education. After Matthayon 3, students take a national entrance exam for upper secondary school and choose academic or vocational stream for their upper secondary education. Academic schools prepare students for college education, while vocational schools prepare students for employment. Thai government provides 12-year free basic education, which includes 6 years of Prathom, and 6 years of Matthayom. The 6 years of Prathom and the first 3 years of Matthayom are compulsory education guaranteed by the Constitution (?Educational System,? n.d.).

Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

The admission of higher education sector after Matthayom is largely based on the High School Entrance Exam taken at the end of Matthayom 6. Universities and colleges are the main institutions that provide higher education in Thailand. According to the Ministry of Education in Thailand, there are over 2.2 million students currently enroll in the higher education sector, and the participation rate of university age students has significantly increased in the past few years. There are a total of 780 public and private higher education institutions in Thailand. Thai universities and colleges offer excellent programs in studies of art, medicine, humanities, and information technology. However, many young Thai citizens still prefer studying subjects such as law and business abroad (MOE, 2008, p.4).

The increasing amount of trades and interactions with foreign countries urges people in Thailand to learn English. As the founder of the first modern school in Thailand, King Rama V (1868 ? 1910) realized the importance of English, and he set up an English School in Palace to prepare princes and court children to study abroad. There are around 27% of Thai populations are English speakers. In large cities such as Bangkok and Chiang Mai, most schools include English as part of their curriculum. However, in most of the rural areas, English is hardly found in schools. Hotel stuff in Thailand might speak passable basic English, while street vendors and shop keepers might only be able to show the prices on a calculator without speaking a word in English. The Thai government sees the demand of English in business, and the government is working on English programs in order to improve the overall English skills of Thai (?Is English Spoken,? n.d.).

The English education in Thailand needs improvement; at the same time, the standard tests are in the process of reform in Thailand. Thai students are required to pass the O-NET (Ordinary National Educational Test) for the completion of each level?s education. O-NET consists 8 subjects, which are Thai language, social science, English, Mathematics, science, health and physical education, arts, and vocational education and technology. The most recent version of Higher Education School Entrance Exam comprises the compulsory General Aptitude Test, which covers reading, writing, analytical thinking, problem solving, and English Communication. O-NET has suffered from criticizes since it came out. Students? extremely low scores in O-NET make the credibility of the test doubtful. Education reform is a hot topic in Thailand these few years (Kaewmala, 2012).

Chulalongkorn University uniform

While standard tests in Thailand craves for reform, the requirement of wearing school uniforms seems to be a tradition that no one will want to change. Uniform is required at all levels of schooling in Thailand. Uniforms show the social states of a person, and the different ways to carry the uniform also shows the different social states of institutions. A traditional dress code for boys comprises knee-length shorts with white open collar shirts. Girls are required to wear a knee-length skirt, and a pale white blouses with white ankle socks and black school shoes. Boys might start wear long pants instead of shorts from middle school. The color of pants for boys is usually khaki, and the color of skirts for girls is usually blue. Theoritically, uniforms help to create a more equal social status for students at school, because students will not be able to tell the social status of other?s family from other?s outfit. Uniform is an important tradition in Thai education system (?School uniform,? n.d.).

Thai kids in uniform

Besides the different requirement of dress code at school, the official holidays in Thai schools are different from the western school holidays. In government schools, the two major holidays are in March and October. The March holiday is usually two months long, while the October holiday is usually a month long. There are a few short holidays during the school year. Students get 3-5 days off school to celebrate the New Year in January. On Mahka Bucha Day (a Buddhist holiday) in February and on Asanha Bucha Day (another Buddhist holiday) in July, schools are closed and students go to local temples to give offerings to monks. Students also get a day off on Royal Ploghing Day, which is connected to the planting season for Thai farmers, in May, a day off on August 12^th, which is the Queen of Thailand?s birthday and Mother?s day, and a day off on December 5^th, which is the King of Thailand?s birthday and Father?s Day (James, 2009).

The school holidays show the significance of Buddhism and the high social status of King and Queen in Thailand. The tradition of uniforms reveals the importance of group belonging and social class in Thai society. The standard test system and English education program are the areas that the government is trying to work on in order to improve Thai education system, and the two issues draw a lot of attention from media and politicians. The glimpse of school level in Thailand enables us to gain a basic understanding of Thai students? life, while the history of Thai education system enables us to further our understanding of nowadays Thai education system and Thai culture.

References

Educational system in Thailand. (n.d.). Thai-farang.com. Retrieved from http://www.thai-farang.com/education/esystem.htm

History of Thai education. (1998). Retrieved from the Ministry of Education of Thailand website http://www.moe.go.th/English/e-hist01.htm

Is English spoken in Thailand? (n.d.). Orient Expat Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.orientexpat.com/thailand/faq/english

James, C. (2009, October 22). What are the school holidays for government schools in Bangkok, Thailand [Web log post]? Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/what-school-holidays-government-schools-4686017.html?cat=16

Kaewmala. (2012, February 23). Thai education failures ? part 1: Ridiculous O-NET questions [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://asiancorrespondent.com/76664/thai-education-part-1-ridiculous-o-net-questions/

Ministry of Education, Bureau of International Cooperation. (2008, November). Towards a learning society in Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.bic.moe.go.th/fileadmin/BIC_Document/book/intro-ed08.pdf

School uniform. (n.d.). Wikipedia.com. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_uniform#Thailand

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HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE for Verizon hands-on at CTIA 2012

This handset didn't surprise anyone when it was officially announced at CTIA Wireless 2012, but we're still happy to spend time with the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE for Verizon Wireless regardless. After catching enough glimpses of the smartphone over the past few months, we already had a good idea of what to expect: Big Red's latest LTE device will have Ice Cream Sandwich dressed in Sense 4, a 4-inch Super LCD qHD panel, a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 (Krait), 1,700mAh user-removable battery, microSD support and an 8MP BSI f/2.2 camera with a 28mm lens.

If you're familiar with either the OG HTC Droid Incredible or its sequel, you'll instantly recognize the trusty hump on the back of the third iteration -- Verizon and HTC haven't strayed too far from the design formula here. Aside from the Sense 4 firmware hiding inside the phone, the Incredible 4G LTE has little in common with its cousins, the One X and One S. Frankly, we're still left pondering if the carrier will come out with a version of its own, since we've seen the other three national powers get a high-profile device from the Taiwanese manufacturer.

We had a very similar feeling when holding the new Incredible, one easily related to how we felt with its predecessors. It's quite light, and it actually feels thinner than it really is. All in all, the phone is very comfortable to hold, and from our few minutes of using it, it seemed to be rather smooth. Naturally, as we expected, Verizon reps warned us that it's running on preliminary firmware at the moment, so we don't take a lot of stock in its performance, good or bad. All in all, it's exactly how we thought it would be -- a refreshed version of the Incredible 2, with a much better processor and a few other notable bumps in specs.

Developing...

HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE for Verizon hands-on at CTIA 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 May 2012 20:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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5 charged in 9/11 attack resist Gitmo hearing

In this photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed reads a document during his military hearing at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, Saturday May 5, 2012. The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks repeatedly declined to respond to a judge's questions Saturday and his co-defendant was briefly restrained at a military hearing as five men charged with the worst terror attack in U.S. history appeared in public for the first time in more than three years. (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, Pool)

In this photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed reads a document during his military hearing at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, Saturday May 5, 2012. The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks repeatedly declined to respond to a judge's questions Saturday and his co-defendant was briefly restrained at a military hearing as five men charged with the worst terror attack in U.S. history appeared in public for the first time in more than three years. (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, Pool)

In this photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, right, consults with his civilian attorney David Nevin during a break of his military hearing at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, Saturday, May 5, 2012. The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks repeatedly declined to respond to a judge's questions Saturday and his co-defendant was briefly restrained at a military hearing as five men charged with the worst terror attack in U.S. history appeared in public for the first time in more than three years. (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, Pool)

At left a March 1, 2003 photo obtained by the Associated Press shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind, shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan. At right, a photo downloaded from the Arabic language Internet site www.muslm.net and purporting to show a man identified by the Internet site as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sep. 11 attacks, is seen in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The picture was allegedly taken in July 2009 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and released only to the detainee's family under a new policy allowing the ICRC to photograph Guantanamo inmates, ICRC spokesman Bernard Barrett said Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009. Five men accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks, including the self-proclaimed mastermind, are headed back to a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay more than three years after President Barack Obama put the case on hold in a failed effort to move the proceedings to a civilian court and close the prison at the U.S. base in Cuba. (AP Photo/www.muslm.net)

FILE - In this May 13, 2009 file photo reviewed by the U.S. military, the sun rises over the Guantanamo detention facility at dawn, at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba. In a speech Thursday, President Barack Obama defended his plans to close the Guantanamo prison camp. Five men accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks, including the self-proclaimed mastermind, are headed back to a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay more than three years after President Barack Obama put the case on hold in a failed effort to move the proceedings to a civilian court and close the prison at the U.S. base in Cuba. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, file)

At left a March 1, 2003 photo obtained by the Associated Press shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind, shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan. At right, a photo downloaded from the Arabic language Internet site www.muslm.net and purporting to show a man identified by the Internet site as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sep. 11 attacks, is seen in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The picture was allegedly taken in July 2009 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and released only to the detainee's family under a new policy allowing the ICRC to photograph Guantanamo inmates, ICRC spokesman Bernard Barrett said Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009. Five men accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks, including the self-proclaimed mastermind, are headed back to a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay more than three years after President Barack Obama put the case on hold in a failed effort to move the proceedings to a civilian court and close the prison at the U.S. base in Cuba. (AP Photo/www.muslm.net)

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) ? The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks repeatedly declined to answer a judge's questions Saturday and his co-defendants knelt in prayer in what appeared to be a concerted protest against the military proceedings.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men appeared for the first time in more than three years for arraignment at a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, charged with 2,976 counts of murder for the 2001 attacks.

The hearing quickly bogged down before they could be arraigned. The men took off the earphones that provide Arabic translations and refused to answer any questions from the judge, Army Col. James Pohl, dramatically slowing a hearing that is heavy on military legal procedure.

At one point, two defendants got up and prayed alongside their defense tables under the watchful eyes of troops arrayed along the sides of the high-security courtroom on the U.S. base in Cuba.

Prisoner Walid bin Attash was put in a restraint chair for unspecified reasons and then removed from it after he agreed to behave. Lawyers for all defendants complained that the prisoners were prevented from wearing the civilian clothes of their choice.

Mohammed wore a white turban in court; his flowing beard, which had appeared to be graying in earlier hearings and photos, was streaked with red henna.

Mohammed's civilian lawyer, David Nevin, said he believed Mohammed was not responding because he believes the tribunal is unfair.

Jim Harrington, a civilian attorney for Yemeni defendant Ramzi Binalshibh, said his client would not respond to questions "without addressing the issues of confinement." No further explanation was given.

Pohl warned he would not permit defendants to block the hearing and would continue without his participation.

"One cannot choose not to participate and frustrate the normal course of business," Pohl said.

He addressed the earpiece issue by bringing the translators into the courtroom to translate out loud and attempted to stick to the standard script for tribunals, asking the defendants if they understood their rights to counsel and would accept the attorneys appointed for them. The men did not respond, not even to acknowledge that they understood the questions.

Through much of the session, the defendants seemed to be trying to give the impression they were in a different world than the rest of the court.

Cheryl Bormann, a civilian attorney for bin Attash, appeared in a conservative Islamic outfit that left only her face uncovered and she asked the court to order other women present to wear "appropriate" clothing so that defendants do not have to avert their eyes "for fear of committing a sin under their faith."

And Binalshibh interrupted the session with an outburst from the defense table in a mix of Arabic and broken English, saying, "Maybe they will kill me and say I committed suicide."

Six 9/11 family members were in the courtroom with the defendants while more than 100 others watched the proceedings on closed-circuit video feeds in the U.S. Jim Riches, a retired city firefighter whose son was killed at the World Trade Center, said some people blurted out "C,mon, are you kidding me?" as the defendants became more disruptive.

In the past, during the failed first effort to prosecute them at the U.S. base in Cuba, Mohammed has mocked the tribunal and said he and his co-defendants would plead guilty and welcome execution. But there were signs that at least some of the defense teams were preparing for a lengthy fight, planning challenges of the military tribunals and the secrecy that shrouds the case.

The arraignment is "only the beginning of a trial that will take years to complete, followed by years of appellate review," attorney James Connell, who represents defendant Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, told reporters gathered at the base to observe the hearing.

"I can't imagine any scenario where this thing gets wrapped up in six months," Connell said.

Defendants in what is known as a military commission typically do not enter a plea during their arraignment. Instead, the judge reads the charges, makes sure the accused understand their rights and then moves on to procedural issues. Lawyers for the men said they were prohibited by secrecy rules from disclosing their clients' intentions.

Harrington, representing Binalshibh, who has said at one hearing that he was proud of the Sept. 11 attacks, said he did not think that any of the defendants would plead guilty, notwithstanding their earlier statements.

Army Capt. Jason Wright, one of Mohammed's Pentagon-appointed lawyers, declined to comment on the case.

Before the hearing, family members at Guantanamo said they were grateful for the chance to see a case they believe has been delayed too long.

Suzanne Sisolak of Brooklyn, whose husband Joseph was killed in his office in the trade center's north tower, said she is not concerned about the ultimate outcome as long as the five prisoners do not go free.

"They can put them in prison for life. They can execute them," Sisolak said. "What I do care about is that this does not happen again. They need to be stopped."

The arraignment for the five comes more than three years after President Barack Obama's failed effort to try the suspects in a federal civilian court and close the prison at the U.S. base in Cuba.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced in 2009 that Mohammed and his co-defendants would be tried blocks from the site of the destroyed trade center in downtown Manhattan, but the plan was shelved after New York officials cited huge costs to secure the neighborhood and family opposition to trying the suspects in the U.S.

Congress then blocked the transfer of any prisoners from Guantanamo to the U.S., forcing the Obama administration to refile the charges under a reformed military commission system.

New rules adopted by Congress and Obama forbid the use of testimony obtained through cruel treatment or torture. Gen. Mark Martins, the chief prosecutor, said the commission provides many of the same protections that defendants would get in civilian court. "I'm confident that this court can achieve justice and fairness," he said.

But human rights groups and the defense lawyers say the reforms have not gone far enough and that restrictions on legal mail and the overall secret nature of Guantanamo and the commissions makes it impossible to provide an adequate defense.

They argue that the U.S. has sought to keep the case in the military commission to prevent disclosure of the harsh treatment of prisoners such as Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times and subjected to other measures that some have called torture.

Mohammed, a Pakistani citizen who grew up in Kuwait and attended college in Greensboro, North Carolina, has admitted to military authorities that he was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks "from A to Z," as well as about 30 other plots, and that he personally killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Mohammed was captured in 2003 in Pakistan.

Binalshibh was allegedly chosen to be a hijacker but couldn't get a U.S. visa and ended up providing assistance such as finding flight schools. Bin Attash, also from Yemen, allegedly ran an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan and researched flight simulators and timetables. Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi is a Saudi accused of helping the hijackers with money, Western clothing, traveler's checks and credit cards. Al-Aziz Ali, a Pakistani national and nephew of Mohammed, allegedly provided money to the hijackers.

___

Associated Press writer Verena Dobnik in New York contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Armenia Elections: Armenian Parliamentary Vote A Test For President Serge Sarkisian

rmenian President and Republican Party President Serge Sarkisian speaks to press after he voted during parliamentary elections in Yerevan, Armenia on Sunday, May 6, 2012 President's wife Rita Sarkisian smiles at left. (AP Photo/PanARMENIAN , Tigran Mehrabyan)

?

By Martin Wolk

Weeks after revealing that he has prostate cancer, billionaire investor Warren Buffett tried to reassure thousands of investors Saturday that his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate will be in good hands after he steps down.

Buffett, 81, addressed nearly 40,000 shareholders at the company?s colorful annual meeting in his hometown of Omaha, Neb., saying his condition is not life-threatening and should not have much effect on his work.

Dave Weaver / AP

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger are seen on big screens as they answer questions at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting.

"I feel terrific,? Buffett said.

?Maybe I'll get shot by a jealous husband,? he joked. ?This is a really minor event."

Buffett?s longtime partner and vice chairman, Charlie Munger, 88, joked that he resents the sympathy and attention Buffett is getting. ?I probably have more prostate cancer than he does,? he said.

But the diagnosis was one more reminder that the so-called Oracle of Omaha is mortal and will be hard to replace. Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire, has said he has identified a successor, although he has not identified him publicly.

"I don't think that every deal that I made would necessarily be makeable by a successor, but they'll bring other talents as well," said Buffett. He reassured the audience, which packed a downtown arena and overflow rooms, that his successor would have the skills required to handle the job.

"We're not going to have an arts major in charge of Berkshire,? he said.

As Buffett roamed the exhibit hall, shareholders mobbed him, trying to take pictures with their cellphones. He spent time singing"There is No Place Like Nebraska" with the University of Nebraska's cheerleaders at the Justin Boots stage before checking out the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad and BYD electric car displays.

Later Berkshire shareholders were treated to a video skit in which Buffett joked about the fame his secretary Debbie Bosanek gained after the billionaire complained that she pays a higher tax rate than he does.

Berkshire owns clothing, furniture, railroad, insurance, jewelry and utility businesses. It also has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co., IBM and Wells Fargo & Co. On Friday, Berkshire said its first-quarter profit more than doubled to $3.2 billion from last year's $1.5 billion because this year's results weren't hurt by major disaster losses in Berkshire's insurance units.

Berkshire?s main Class A shares, the costliest on the New York Stock Exchange, gained $150 Friday to close at $121,950.

Among the internal candidates seen as possible future Berkshire chief executives are Ajit Jain, Buffett's top insurance lieutenant; Matthew Rose, who runs the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad company; and Greg Abel, who oversees the utility company MidAmerican Energy.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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