The Great Escape

Q1. Where did you move to and when?

Back to the USA in May 2011

Q2. How long did you work in Thailand?

One year

Q3. What was your main reason for moving?

As a certified, qualified, experienced teacher from US, I felt one year was long enough to teach in Thailand. The pay and lack of benefits is simply much too low to be able to save for the future. The Thai students are not interested in learning, and the teaching environment itself is highly problematic due mostly to Thai-style (read: corrupt) politics. There is plenty of blame-gaming going around, and the farang teacher is always the one who gets blamed first and the most for the problems at the school. I learned plenty enough about living and teaching in Thailand within one year to know it is not a good long-term plan for a qualified teacher.

Q4. What are the advantages of working where you are now compared to Thailand?

Security, comfort, benefits. Reasonable expectations, a more secure social environment. Lack of government corruption. Far more stability.

Q5. What do you miss about life in Thailand?

The great natural beauty of the physical and cultural geography. There is much to love about Thailand. Despite its problems, Thailand is an amazing country full of lovely, if uneducated people (this applies to expats as well as the Thais.)

Q6. Would you advise a new teacher to seek work in Thailand or where you are now?

A new teacher would do best to teach in a location where the people take education more seriously. Thais are lovely, fun-loving people, but they are not committed to improving themselves through education. I suppose they feel they do not have to, as they are quite blessed with a lovely and abundant country. They would rather eat, drink, and be merry than become better educated. I suppose this works for them in its own ignorance-is-bliss way. While teaching there, I often felt I had been hired to simply look the part of the amusing white farang, there for their own amusement. Keeping gradebooks and records straight was an absolute joke, but it gave the administration a reason to try to make me feel inferior.

Q7. Any plans to return to Thailand one day?

For a holiday, yes. To fulfill a teaching contract, no.

Q8. Anything else you'd like to add?

Anyone considering teaching in Thailand should not be fooled by its appeal which can be experienced on a vacation there. The obvious beauty of the country makes a vacationing teacher imagine living there. Once one begins actually working there and seeing how screwed up its government and politics really are, however, it can become a sour grapes experience. I'd like to conclude with leaving open the possibility that there may be some schools in Thailand that are not
infested with corrupt politics and back-stabbing colleagues and school administrations, and if these schools can be found, perhaps a teacher may have a more positive overall work experience than I did. Good luck!