Personal Narrative: An Interview With A Child In Thailand

Our son was initially classified as an English Language Learner since he was born in Thailand and the first words he learned were in Thai. I was overseas in the Army when my son attended preschool. My son primarily spoke Thai with his mother at home at that time. In kindergarten in Maryland my son had an ESL teacher who tutored him and a few of his classmates several times a week. When we moved back to Delaware, my son tested out of ESL when he enrolled in first grade. For this post, I interviewed my wife who grew up in Thailand about her experience enrolling our son in public school and how this experience compares to her experience in elementary school in Thailand both as a child and later as a Math teacher. My wife says felt comfortable when she visited the public school where our son attended his first public school. This school was an Anne Arundel County Public School, but it was located on a US Army base in Fort Meade, Maryland. The teachers and administration were very sensitive to the needs of children of service members. My wife says she did not participate at our son’s first public school since she do not have a car at that …show more content…
My wife has made donations to the PTO but is not directly involved. My wife says she wants to support the PTO. She says does not want to go to the PTO meetings to give her opinion since public school in Delaware is so different than school in Thailand. In Thailand, elementary school are not democratic. Parents are involved with their own children’s education but have no say in how local schools are run. Thai parents really only voice their opinions to file a formal complaint, which is reserved for only serious issues. While most schools in Thailand have a parents’ day, this is only to provide parents information about the children’s education. Parents’ opinions or input is not sought in Thailand. The Thai Ministry of Education makes these kinds of decisions on how schools are to be