Regarding <a href="http://www.ajarn.com/blogs/mark-newman/the-social-graduate" title="this blog on ajarn.com">this blog on ajarn.com</a> about a Thai school being almost like one long party with lessons thrown in, this is certainly not the case in my school, or many others across the country that take education seriously and try to implement some standards and quality teaching methodologies into the Thai system.

Teachers here take pride in designing curricula, schemes of work, lesson plans and engaging teaching materials that engage and progress a broad spectrum of learning styles and levels represented in the classroom. On top of this we have a continuous cycle of incremental assessment and report writing to measure each student's progress and identify individual areas of development.

While there is always time for fun and games, teaching anywhere, including Thailand, should certainly not be a "non-stop party" and by suggesting otherwise it trivialises the whole role of education. I, like most other professional teachers, take my job seriously and realise that the lessons we give today will impact our students' and in turn society's opportunities tomorrow.

Yes, there are serious flaws in the Thai education system but that does not mean we should give up on the concept of developing our students intellectually, mentally, morally and emotionally. We do our best to nurture young minds and strive to find innovative ways to overcome the obstacles and frustrations the Thai education system gives us.

I find this article rather demeaning to those of us who do improve our students' language and knowledge. The author seems to take pride in reporting that a Prathom 6 student has not made any progress since Kindergarten and even boasts that they might have "RE gressed". This is abhorrent to any real teacher and would not be tolerated in any decent school in Thailand. Perhaps the author should think about the disservice he and his school is giving their students and reflect upon the future ramifications of this!

James