Parents’ Voice: The wind beneath the leaders’ wings
Before becoming Teach For Thailand’s fellows, many applicants need to communicate their vision with their families. The vision itself: to engage with Thai education’s problems for 2 years in the underserved area, is not easy to accomplish. Therefore, the feedbacks from parents are not always supportive.
Making their families understand them is one factor that determines how smooth their 2 years of fellowship would be. In this article, we will explore the parents’ opinion of 3 Alumni, Ter, Tao, and Koi, (cohort 5, 6 and 1 accordingly) who had varied opinions on the Fellowship Program. Also, they were ‘the wind beneath their wings’ during their intensive time of learning about Thai education’s problems from the inside out.
The parents that were interviewed were Dr. Prasit Watanapa, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, whose two children, Ter and Tao, were TFT alumni, and Koi’s Mom, Ms. Somjai Sawangchom, currently an agriculturalist, who is proud of her daughter’s teaching career.
Q: “What was your first impression of Teach For Thailand’s Fellowship Program?”
Dr. Prasit: “I firstly heard of this Program from Ter, who wanted to join. She told me it was a program to develop the youngsters by facing the real problem of Thai education. The served area would be in rural areas, which may be an uncomfortable choice of living. I thought it was interesting as to really understand the education’s problems, ones need to see them in the real situation, not only in books.”
While some parents were supportive of joining the Program, some might have questions about whether it was the right choice, like Koi’s mom, Ms. Somjai , who did not have a good impression of the Program at first.
Ms. Somjai: “Frankly, when Koi came up with this idea to join the Program, I did not support her, because I wanted her to work in banking and I did not know much about the Program.”
“But Koi convinced me to let her try and gain some experience and knowledge. At first we argued, but at last, I said she could try if it is what she loves. She let me make a decision, so I let her try and see whether it worked.”
When asked further about her unfancy opinion about teacher’s career, Ms. Somjai said it had been changed “Today I am proud of my daughter’s teaching career and I would like to thank the Program for making her discover what she loves and gain a lot of valuable and practical experience.”
The problem with teachers is one of the joint problems that we can see in both interviews and is also one of the major problems in our country.
Ms. Somjai firstly had a bad impression about the teacher’s career, while Dr. Prasit gave a heartbreaking remark:
“Ter told me that, do you know, dad? My students told me it was the first time they felt alive.”
He then developed this opinion further:
“Thai education’s problems are not rooted in students but in teachers and ecosystem. The problems accumulate in many layers until they exploded into this sentence. Some problems might be rooted in the environment, such as financial status, but the major problems stem from teachers. There are some people with teaching career who do not really understand the meanings of this career, which are to carry the burden, and to enlighten the students.”
From another perspective, both parents gave an interesting opinion about praising the teaching occupation:
Dr. Prasit said “To solve the problems about teachers, the first thing is to make this occupation honorable, then talented people will want to join this career.”
In part of Ms. Somjai, she told a moving story about why Koi always wants to continue being a teacher, despite many problems in the education system:
“Koi once told me she couldn’t believe that being a teacher will be such a good career and an honor.” She said, “She told me there was a senior taxi motorcycle rider who pays respect to her every day and calls her ‘Teacher Koi’. He said his child studies in her school and told him she was a very nice teacher.”
When ask about what the three Teach For Thailand alumni got from the program, the parents said:
Ms. Somjai: “This Program develops my child’s responsibility and leadership, and teaches her to help other people.”
Dr. Prasit: “In those 2 years, my children developed some of the leadership skills, which are:
- Insight: having clear vision
- Initiative: daring to start new things
- Impact: seeing the major problems
- Integrity: having their own virtues
In the end, both parents left some messages for the parents of the soon-to-be fellows and those who want to become the fellows:
Dr. Prasit: “TFT will envision the youngsters with real problems, let them invent, and find themselves. There are systematic working and problem-solving processes, and also effective knowledge exchanges. Most importantly, it will let them contribute to society. 2 years in TFT are not easy, but will make the fellows more integrated. It is such a valuable experience for the new generation.”
Ms. Somjai: “This is a good Program that will enable learning and responsibility, and let you gain more experience. The knowledge from the Program can also be a valuable asset for future careers.”
One method of Teach For Thailand is to let the soon-to-be education leaders face real education problems through the 2-year Fellowship Program. In those 2 years, they will see what obstacles to Thai education’s progress. Many Teach For Thailand alumni continue working for education in their preferred field. This is to achieve the goal that, one day, all Thai children will have access to equitable and quality education and can determine their future by themselves.
