I am the colleague of Mr. Keith Evans, who wrote the letter (Ajarn Postbox 2nd July 2011) regarding ‘Thai teachers from Hell’

Can I first say, what Keith has written is a very mild version of our experience. The town itself is very beautiful and the local people very warm and welcoming. Keith and I both settled down quickly and were looking forward to a good and long stay in our new school. Now that we have both left the school because of some of the reasons Keith has mentioned, I have since discovered through my farang manager at the school that the school has never managed to keep English teachers for more than one semester. You have to ask yourself if that is the case, Why? As you can imagine Keith and I found out within 5 weeks.

Regarding the comment following Keith’s letter, all I can say is obviously your time in Thailand as a teacher has been a very nice one. And I am very happy for you and glad to hear that from someone has had a good 20 years experience here. But if you dig a little deeper, you will realize LOTS of teachers haven’t been so fortunate.

I came here to work, help, and try and make a difference for Thai children. Thailand is not in the G8, it is still a very young country when it comes to education. It is ranked 81st in the world regarding IQ levels, only African states are below them. So when you get people coming here to help, surely as a nation you should meet them half way. We know Thai culture is different than ours, which means our culture is different from theirs. So while we are trying to learn Thia culture, Thais should try and learn ours.

Keith and I did not do anything wrong at this school, as someone has tried to imply. We are not farangs off bar stools in Pattaya, Keith has taught here for 7 years and in my opinion is one of the best English teachers I’ve meet. There’s only one group of people going to suffer because of this outcome - the students themselves, who I might add are very upset at what as taken place. We both feel sick to our bones over this matter. I am even thinking of leaving Thailand and going back home. If you are an educated person you will realize these aren’t the feelings of two grown men that don’t care.

Mr. Russell Park