This past Wednesday was one of the most unexpectedly
hilarious (horrifying) days of my time in Thailand. First, my host teacher was
half an hour late picking me up in the morning. All I had been told the night
before was to “wear a pretty dress the next day.” When she finally showed up she
was driving a huge hilarious old
school van. The two of us drove to a nearby hotel to pick up 6 government
officials who were to come to school with us to evaluate our school director,
Mr. Ken, to see if he qualified for a promotion that would grant him a
substantial pay raise.
For the past week, students had come to school, but there
was no teaching. Instead, every teacher gathered in the only air-conditioned
meeting room- each with his or her own laptop and printer, working very hard.
I, on the other hand, am never informed of anything that happens at school and had
no idea why my students weren’t showing up to class. I spent last week wandering
around school haha. On Wednesday it all made sense: There had been no teaching
for the past week because Mr. Ken was up for a promotion that, if awarded,
would give him an extra 20,000 Baht/ month (This is more than my monthly
salary, to give you a reference point). Every teacher was required to stop
teaching in order to help Mr. Ken have all of the necessary booklets and
pamphlets of information for Evaluation Day. (Unfortunately for the students
and teachers whose first priority is teaching, this is a normal practice in
Thailand).
Just wait…
As soon as our van showed up at school, Mr. Ken greeted them
at our school gate (he never greets students there on a daily basis) along with
every other teacher. All of the
teachers, both men and women, were in very formal matching purple suits. The teachers
hurried up to our van to wai the officials and to greet them. They had made beautiful flower arrangements called “pan” to offer the officials, and every
official received a gorgeous rose boutonniere!!! No offense to my high school prom date, but these were way nice, and
way unnecessary in order to conduct an evaluation.
Then, as one large group, all of the government officials
and the teachers walked to our school’s library. It was absolutely silent and
everyone’s footsteps were aligned. Students were taking pictures on their
phones. I honestly felt like I was walking with the president.
Once inside, the library had been completely (beautifully)
transformed. Crafts that students create every morning were on display, beautiful
student work from every subject was on display, every school trophy had been
brought over and big ribbons were carefully tied to each one, photos of Mr. Ken
shaking hands with important people were on display, as well as absolutely ridiculous stacks upon stacks of
booklets and pamphlets “showing” all of the work that Mr. Ken and his school
had accomplished (which I know other teachers created and printed out
over the past week). However, the funniest thing to me in the whole room was
that there was a table, and then a wall,
of probably 150 “certificates.” For anyone who’s ever lived in Thailand, you
and I both know that certificates in Thailand can often mean absolutely
nothing. I have about 15 just from helping at English Camps, etc. Thais love to
hand out official looking certificates for just about everything. The number of
certificates on display was laughable.
A speech or two was made, the standard coffee and extra fine
cake were served, and everyone watched a video of Mr. Ken. When the video was over, about 10
student musicians, dressed in traditional Thai/ Isaan attire took to the stage
and performed music. Then 4 of my
beautifully dressed 9th grade student girls came in and started
dancing a traditional Thai-style dance!!! The girls looked absolutely stunning
and they danced so well to the music created by the boy students behind them. I
could not believe that a government evaluation called for an actual show. I kept thinking to myself, What does this have to do with making a
fair, effective evaluation again?!
As if it wasn’t bad enough that students had missed a week
of school and teachers had missed a week of teaching for this, when the actual
“evaluation” started all of the teachers stayed for the day! The teachers
helped scurry around handing the officials certain booklets, certificates, even
photographs of Mr. Ken (hilarious). What
can a photograph of him shaking someone’s hand really matter in terms of how
deserving he is of a promotion?! To my amusement and horror, the officials
actually looked at many of these items (very briefly) and then quickly jotted
down some notes. The whole process seemed absurdly superficial to me. I
couldn’t understand how no one seemed to feel that way but me!!! If a school
director really led the “best” school, then I think that the teachers should be
spending their time teaching and not giving up yet another day to help one man
earn an extra 20,000 Baht/ month. I asked some of the teachers why they cared
so much (I wanted to know if they received anything too). They said that they
“love Mr. Ken, so they wanted to help him.” That’s sweet and all and I really
like Mr. Ken too, but aren’t students supposed to come first?
I know I’m not in America and things are done differently so
I shouldn’t judge, but how many Thais does it take to complete a superficial promotional
evaluation for one man? The answer is 47.
Lunchtime: Our air conditioned meeting room was turned into
a hi-so dining area. There were white table cloths, soft
music playing, a slideshow of the school and teachers on the projector, and
many different fancy food dishes. It felt like the times I’ve been to a Thai
wedding. Wine and dine much? Did the cost of this lunch come out of the school budget? I know
this isn’t rush week at a sorority, but if it was it would definitely be
considered “dirty rushing.”
At the end of the day, each official evaluator received a
gift wrapped gift served (literally) off of a golden platter (I have a picture of this
below).
Wednesday's Evaluation Day felt like, and was at times, an actual
performance. I could be missing something, and I probably am, but to me the day seemed so incredibly on-the-surface superficial. Thais are all about their pomp. The irony of the whole thing to me, is that the promotion was for having an excellent,
productive school, yet students
weren’t taught for a full week. Check out my pics from the day below!
School teachers greet the government official "evaluators"
with flower arrangements and boutonnieres.
The van that P'Nuan drove
(Such a big van for such a small girl)
What it looked like the morning she picked me up hahaha
The entrance to the library- where Evaluation Day took place.
Trophies with ribbons tied on them.
Stacks upon stacks upon stacks of booklets.
(There's absolutely no way the evaluators could read
all of this...quite a display though! The more booklets
there are the more work the school principal has done, right?)
"Oh you know, just a few certificates I have in my office."
In case you didn't believe me on the first table.
Photographs where I look legit!
I don't even know how you turn worksheets into cool
3D paper sculptures like that...so cool though!
A straight-on shot of more booklets.
(So ridiculous to me)
One of the teachers, P'Annie, bows down in traditional Thai
fashion when she serves the evaluators their coffee and snacks.
Beautifully displayed student work. I don't know why the
hats are hanging on the walls, but they do look very nice.
Student musicians perform for the evaluators.
...Followed by student dancers
The two groups performed together.
Teachers enjoying the show.
The boy playing the guitar on the left is great.
I wish that I could Thai dance like this!
P'Nuan introduces her brother, our wonderful
school director, Mr. Ken.
Me with Mahh Sandra! (Love this woman)
P'Noon and me!!!
Watching a clip of Mr. Ken on Thai Teacher TV
with my friend Pai!
So Thai: The comfy leather couches for important
people, and the plastic school trays that every school
owns and serves coffee, water, and small snacks to guests.
This person made the mistake of leaving their tray outside.
The Disney movie "Antz" ensued.
This man was very nice and wanted to "practice his English"
with me. The teachers at my school forced me to give him
my email address. (It's not done like that in America.)
Teachers stand by to assist while evaluators flip through booklets.
Me with some of the best teachers :)
Taking a hard look at this certificate.
Teachers scramble to find certain booklets in their
impressive, yet in my opinion overly showy, piles of papers.
A lot of trees died last week.
The evaluators (not in purple) take notes.
Meanwhile, students had a camp-like assembly
where they sang songs and watched performances.
Fun times
This boy singing had such a nice voice! And the
little boys peering up at him...adorable.
Two hours later I returned back to the library with the
evaluators. Same thing was happening, but now there
was orange juice, crackers, and grapes.
P'Noon is so cute!!!
Official business.
The photograph didn't really capture this, but the evaluators
had just put down a glass certificate (you can see it!) after
looking at it, feeling it, and tapping it for about 3 minutes.
Well that's a nice photograph
Lunch time!
I have never seen our meeting room like this...
A lovely Thai fruit bowl :)
Like a wedding!
At the end of the day, each evaluator received a
wrapped gift, served from a golden platter.
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