Before I came to Thailand, I had no idea that there could be so much formal competition in one school year. In America, of course, we have spelling bees, geography bees, and numerous sports and games during various seasons. For the most part, however, these take place outside school hours – especially the practices – and teaching continues as usual.
Not so here. The school year runs from May to March, and includes a bewildering assortment of contests. December is when things really get going, though. At each school, students representing the different grade levels (pre-school, grades 1-3, and grades 4-6) are selected to represent their school in a multitude of subjects and activities. English, Thai, math, and science, of course. Art (clay sculpture, drawing, painting, fruit sculpture, etc), garden design, and poetry. Thai pop singing, English pop singing, Thai traditional dance, and pop dancing. And of course, sports (soccer, volleyball, betong, dakrow, and track), which require their own competition days.
Student spend day after day practicing at school. Classes are cancelled, of course, and at many schools this means that those students who aren’t competing in any subject spend their time running around the playground. Teachers don’t teach, because they are coaching the competitors or attending meetings to get information about contest details.
Finally, the local level academic and sports competitions take place. Last week, our town schools competed from Wednesday through Friday. This week, the village schools are competing today and tomorrow. It’s a fairly large operation. (These days did not include the sports.) Winners will go on next week to compete at the school district level. Winners from there will compete at the provincial level, and up on until reaching the national level.
On the one hand, perhaps there’s nothing wrong with encouraging some competition in education. Kids who are skilled can get some recognition and experience. Parents can cheer for their kids and their community. On the other hand, it seems ridiculous to me to essentially stop teaching as early as January. Also, some of the contest categories are, in my opinion, completely inappropriate for elementary school students. Namely, the "dancer" competition.
I think it’s great that a large number of students learn traditional Thai dancing. However, in recent years, kids are learning and competing in a new style of dance. A style that, if I had a small daughter, I wouldn’t want her to do in her own house, much less on a stage in a skimpy costume in front of half the neighborhood. Thai people call this style of dancing "dancer," which I guess is some adapted language from America, except that in America, no school child could dance like this at anything remotely resembling a school event.
So, last Friday, I suffered through a good six hours of watching young girls (ages 5-12) shake their hips seductively. Most of them don’t have hips yet, of course, but you wouldn’t have known that from the costumes. I’m not sure why I didn’t just walk out, but my school was participating, after all. At one point, during a particularly disturbing dance by a group of 6th graders, I asked my co-teacher, "When your daughter gets to be that age, will you want her to dance like this?" "Of course," she responded. "Thai people aren’t good at showing their emotions. This helps girls learn confidence." Since the music was blaring, I really had no good response.
[The photos here are actually from the 2006 town school sports competitions. Lest anyone think I’m overreacting, let me make it clear that these costumes are nothing compared to the "dancers."]
Not so here. The school year runs from May to March, and includes a bewildering assortment of contests. December is when things really get going, though. At each school, students representing the different grade levels (pre-school, grades 1-3, and grades 4-6) are selected to represent their school in a multitude of subjects and activities. English, Thai, math, and science, of course. Art (clay sculpture, drawing, painting, fruit sculpture, etc), garden design, and poetry. Thai pop singing, English pop singing, Thai traditional dance, and pop dancing. And of course, sports (soccer, volleyball, betong, dakrow, and track), which require their own competition days.
Student spend day after day practicing at school. Classes are cancelled, of course, and at many schools this means that those students who aren’t competing in any subject spend their time running around the playground. Teachers don’t teach, because they are coaching the competitors or attending meetings to get information about contest details.
Finally, the local level academic and sports competitions take place. Last week, our town schools competed from Wednesday through Friday. This week, the village schools are competing today and tomorrow. It’s a fairly large operation. (These days did not include the sports.) Winners will go on next week to compete at the school district level. Winners from there will compete at the provincial level, and up on until reaching the national level.
On the one hand, perhaps there’s nothing wrong with encouraging some competition in education. Kids who are skilled can get some recognition and experience. Parents can cheer for their kids and their community. On the other hand, it seems ridiculous to me to essentially stop teaching as early as January. Also, some of the contest categories are, in my opinion, completely inappropriate for elementary school students. Namely, the "dancer" competition.
I think it’s great that a large number of students learn traditional Thai dancing. However, in recent years, kids are learning and competing in a new style of dance. A style that, if I had a small daughter, I wouldn’t want her to do in her own house, much less on a stage in a skimpy costume in front of half the neighborhood. Thai people call this style of dancing "dancer," which I guess is some adapted language from America, except that in America, no school child could dance like this at anything remotely resembling a school event.
So, last Friday, I suffered through a good six hours of watching young girls (ages 5-12) shake their hips seductively. Most of them don’t have hips yet, of course, but you wouldn’t have known that from the costumes. I’m not sure why I didn’t just walk out, but my school was participating, after all. At one point, during a particularly disturbing dance by a group of 6th graders, I asked my co-teacher, "When your daughter gets to be that age, will you want her to dance like this?" "Of course," she responded. "Thai people aren’t good at showing their emotions. This helps girls learn confidence." Since the music was blaring, I really had no good response.
[The photos here are actually from the 2006 town school sports competitions. Lest anyone think I’m overreacting, let me make it clear that these costumes are nothing compared to the "dancers."]
3 comments:
I totally agree with you about the ridiculous amount of non-teaching. I've given up. Also, I refuse to attend these dance competitions. I will watch the Thai dancing, but not the go-go dancing. The irony is really that they don't even understand the moves. Yes, they know they are supposed to be sexy, but because Thai figures don't have the curves that make them actually sexy, I think they just look foolish. I guess foolish is better than sexy when you're 8, though. My first exposure to this was at PST. I was horrified and wanted to contact 20/20 to do a special on the exploitation of Thai girls! I guess I'm a little desensitized now...or maybe it's just because I refuse to go!
TWO MONTHS!! :)
Interesting! Of course, the sexualization of children before their time is wrong, no matter where it happens. However, Thailand certainly doesn't have a cornerstone on that. It happens in America, too. I bring to mind JonBenet Ramsey.
Peace,
~Chani
Yeah, I would say, not restricted to Thailand. Unfortunately, this is old so the Times is charging for it, but it was a column on this topic from the New York Times: http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html
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