Topic: New Background Checks?

[obviouslyabackpacker]

Thourough checks!!!!!....my arse!

There will be soon though.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5266716.stm......read this link.

Time to start running for those hills guys!



 

[Mods-Rockers]

Now why would we need to run? unless of course we NEED TO RUN!

[Uncle Che]

I am afraid that too many good teachers will fall inadvertently into the cracks. What kind of criteria will they check for? Speeding ticket? DUI? You know, DUI can be a felony in the states. It is a crime of stupidity, just ask Mel Gibson. Does a DUI 5 years ago preclude someone from being a great teacher today? What kind of checking of qualifications will they require? Who pays for the background check? How secure will the background check documents be? How long till they can be purcahse on Khao San Rd?

[blackmail]

DUI used to be a disqualification from teaching in my state.  Not anymore; they were losing to many.  Recently a state legislator was quoted as saying:  "we are so desperate for special ed. teachers that if a person is certified and can fog a beer glass; we need to hire him."

[Mods-Rockers]

Who pays for the background check? How secure will the background check documents be? How long till they can be purcahse on Khao San Rd?

Che, the statements above are ample reasons to not worry about it all, In their hearts the Thais know they cannot get the degree issues sorted correctly and they are not going to confuse the issues further, it costs too much and is too easy to fudge with.
Its all fillibuster (sp) right now, in two weeks there will be another headline and this will all be forgotten.

[hero]

^ I agree, it's a bit of a shame though I think.  I would really like to see something like this implemented properly with a view to protecting good eggs and eliminating bad eggs.  It's unfortunate that, here anyway, such regulation would be almost impossible to implement fairly and effectively.  Regulation and vetting procedures are not all that reliable or fair in the West after all!

[Thai Me Up]

Typical knee jerk reaction...let's do background checks immediately on every foreign teacher so schools don't end up hiring murdering (possibly) perverted scum like Karr.

And when was Karr convicted of JBR's murder?  It hasn't happened yet, has it?  Maybe he's a crackpot or maybe he did the crime; he's still innocent until proven guilty.

Does anyone here remember the McMartin pre-school scandal?  An entire family was convicted in the media, false memories were presented by an over-ambitious DA as evidence, and the entire California pre-school industry was wiped out in a matter of months.  In case anyone's forgotten, the McMartins were cleared of EVERY SINGLE CHARGE against them.

As far as brutality and child molestation are concerned, Thai teachers have cornered this market already.  It's an entire adult teaching community that thinks nothing of publicly whipping and physically brutalizing school children.  Who are these disgusting teachers (AND MONKS) who beat students?  Are they an aberration or the norm here in Thailand?  I think we all know the answer.

Why should the Thais turn their microscopes on us foreigners?  "Set thine own house in order."

[luk ling]

Why should the Thais turn their microscopes on us foreigners?  "Set thine own house in order."

Why on earth would they do that, when they can blame everything on the mad, bad farang?

[yippee]

When I joined my latest job in April 2006 (education related but not teaching) I was asked to get a police record. "I didn't know I needed one" I retorted, "What crime would you recommend I commit?" but of course I was joking. It took me 8 weeks and 10 GBP to get a police record from the UK police that basically said "We don't know you" for which I then had to get notorised by the embassy and copied to my employer and that is it. Now that I am officially declared a crime free and 'safe' individual I am now free to roam the lands and work happily anywhere in Thailand. Fortunately I am a sane individual but what if you was one of those who is a naughty boy and who may not have been caught yet by the police back home... silly if you ask me.

The other aspect of these so called 'background checks' that of black list of suspects that the Thai government are offering to compile will no doubt have some very good teachers being pencilled in for a fee or otherwise because they just so happened to annoy the admin staff at their old school and who is going to do the sanity check that what appears on these lists is actually bonifide and true.

If there is one thing I have learnt here in bonking bangers is that they would rather believe the crap spouted by some uneducated goat herder over a foreigner and that is the scariest part of all these so called back ground checks.

[Ronaldo]

I once went to an interview at a school in BKK that just didn't go right, or more exactly didn't feel right (and feeling is very much the operative word). I felt very uncomfortable with the way the questions were going (example: our children stay at teachers houses: it was a day school), to the degree that I felt that I should ask a few questions of my own.

My first simple question was  "what are your qualifications and experience(s) in education, I was curious and wanted to dispel any misunderstanding in either understanding what exactly was going on or language misinterpretation ( however, the interviewer spoke reasonable English).

Cutting to the chase... The interviewer exploded (odd for a Thai) into a rant about foreigners, us poor Thai's, exploitation, on and on, and so on. He ended up foaming at the mouth (not a pretty sight), but he had nice new beamer in the car park (he made a big thing about it in the initial stage of the interview (and yes, it could well have been on credit)

To be honest I started to laugh at these antics and told him, thank you very much for the interview and I'll be touch, once I had checked him out with the Thai police and educational authorities (pure bluster on my part). His retort was to say 'not to do that and that he was under a lot of strain'.

So, although background checks maybe become par for the course, who will pay for them, who will do them and what exactly do they mean (we haven't caught you yet! Or what?). And who does what with the collected information...

In all honesty background checks in general just like references are no guarantee of future actions and IMO remain of little value.

[monkey woods]

And when was Karr convicted of JBR's murder?  It hasn't happened yet, has it?  Maybe he's a crackpot or maybe he did the crime; he's still innocent until proven guilty.

Eerie.


Thai Me Up, what are the next winning lottery numbers, please?

[Thai Me Up]

monkey woods,
Though Karr turned out to be deluded publicity seeker, the backlash in Thailand is very real.  I was in a bank recently and the manager came over to me to and said, "You look like Karr, teacher who kill American baby."  Despite the LOS moniker, I think the way Thais drive their cars and motorbikes is a more honest picture of the type of people we're working and living with.

You want to win the lottery?  I'm reconsidering Thailand as a place to work...that's the best lottery ticket I can give myself.  I seriously believe Thailand is becoming an unacceptably risky place for me to teach.

[monkey woods]

I was in a bank recently and the manager came over to me to and said, "You look like Karr, teacher who kill American baby."

Bank Manager: "You look like Karr, teacher who kill American baby"
Thai Me Up:    "You look like Pol Pot. Can I see your credentials, please?"




Background checks? What are they going to turn up? There may be a few problems, a few unlucky ones, and then everything will return to normal (or whatever passes for 'normal') until the next time.

[NamTok]

The other aspect of these so called 'background checks' that of black list of suspects that the Thai government are offering to compile will no doubt have some very good teachers being pencilled in for a fee or otherwise because they just so happened to annoy the admin staff at their old school and who is going to do the sanity check that what appears on these lists is actually bonifide and true.

[/quote]

  Yippiee, I do believe you make a central point in the post-JMK hysteria in the Thai govenrment--the Joe McCarthy and George Bush-Dick Cheney--approach of blacklisting. I can think of the recently important case in the US, nevermind Thailand, of Vallery Palme who was "outed" as a CIA operative because her diplomat husband was sent on a public foreign mission only to report back to Bush-Cheney that there wasn't any "yellowcake" for nuclear weapons in Niger.

   We know that in in Thailand, the "blacklist" is much preferred culturally, politically and historically to passing laws in Parliament and having the bureauracy promulgate rules and regs pursuant to the laws, and to turn over to the law enforcement authorities responsibility to ferret and cull out the violators.

   The late Pres Nixon had his "Enemies List" during the Watergate Scandal. The blacklist in 3rd World countries is a common practice in government. The schools of Thailand, especially the proprietary schools, could indeed place on a blacklist in one way or another the names of teachers they don't like, without any legitimate basis whatsoever, period.

   The blacklist may pose the most destructive means yet by which mean and vengeful owners can "even the score" with teachers who have pointed out publicly the serious deficiencies at the school(s) vis-a-vis farang teachers. 

[Thai Me Up]

Let's see,  , I'm supposed to be concerned about a non-existent blacklist that may someday prevent me from getting a Mc-Teaching Job at a school where I will never have any opportunity for professional advancement in the first place.  Since the work permit and visa processes are Byzantine, I think the message is becoming loud and clear:  "Get out, we don't really want you here."