Pibthong, sorry old bean but I cannot agree with much of your last paragraph, you clearly had a rotten experience but I would hazard a guess that it clouds your judgment on this issue - I should think that your experience was the exception rather than the rule, therefore I don’t think the Hall should remain based on your own experiences alone.
You state, and in no uncertain terms, that “The other farang administrators at Sarasas Ektra School (and many other Thai schools) are disreputable characters.”
Given that you have not worked at the school for what, nearly two years, are you qualified to make such a statement? I don’t think so, and this is the main problem with the Hall, how much weight can you give to the words of disgruntled ex-employees who have not worked at the school for a length of time? They may well speak the truth, but it is dated and may well no longer be relevant. You appear hell bent on condemning schools to the dark depths of the Hall for all eternity, quite simply what is the relevance of such action? Is it a way to reap revenge? All it does is help fester a ‘us –v- them’ mentality which does no one any good, teachers, students, administrators, directors – no one.
There are the forums, which can be used by any member to air their grievances, and threads about truly bad schools will attract other teachers with similar experiences, so is there a need for a HoS? Indeed, when the threads are current they are far more prominent than the HoS.
Further, I’m of the opinion that owners give little thought to the HoS, perhaps if more parents used the site they would, or indeed, perhaps with the impending lack of teachers that has been predicted they will change their ways. However, I think we farang would be faced with real hostility if Thai parents did start to read some of the threads of this site, which are involved in a heavy bout of Thai bashing............hardly the way to get the parents on board now is it.
IMHO there are a few other problems with the hall of shame
1. Time issue. Should a school be put into the Hall because of what happened one or two years ago? Six months ago? In my mind no, further, how long does a school remain in the Hall, are they forever damned?
2. As M-R has already stated the school could be a bit slack in one area but the rest of the school top notch, so should the schools performance be judged purely on the one slack area? Surely a fairer way would be to consider the whole picture, would it not?
3. Another problem is taking the word of the OP, as the Chinese say - lái shuō shì fēi zhě，bi n shì shì fēi rén (the one who comes to gossip is them self the doer of such dirty deeds). I have noticed a number of members who have gone onto the site, posted one posting slagging a school off and then disappear never to be heard of again, or post a few comments on the thread, each one getting less creditable than the last and then disappear. Ok most OP’s are indeed saying it straight but we all know this is not always the case, right?
4. Reasons for entering the HoS. Should a school be put in the hall if they have one bad day? Say for example they have a new payroll clerk, she makes a dogs dinner of the salaries during her first month and everybody ends up getting paid two weeks late, is that Hall material? It’s quite possible that one or more teachers would complain on the site about this, but I don’t think it means they should be punished for it, everyone makes mistakes, yes?
5. Another issue is that present teachers working at HoS schools could have difficulty finding employment at other schools if the HoS was to become a reference point for employers. “You’ve worked at two HoS schools, I don’t think you’d fit in here”. Unlikely yes, but you never know.
6. And finally, given the terrible use of English by some posters slagging schools on certain threads, it appears to me that they are doing more good than harm to the school. I can think of two threads in the last week in which the posters have tried to dis the school, but any neutral observer reading the post would think that the school did the right thing getting rid of them.
That is why I think the HoS should be binned.
To finish I have a question, Pibthong stated that;
“Hall of Shame schools are hurting (should this be hunting Pibthong?) for foreign staff. Only a Hall of Shame can provide this kind of accountability and consequence that so severely impacts Thai owners”.
Given that all schools are hunting for foreign staff, is there any other way that the HoS can severely impact the school owners, so as to make them change their wicked ways?
If yes, then I may have to reconsider my current stance.
Topic: Should we ditch the Hall of Shame or not? (Read 2321 times)