Tomorrow (2012-01-16) is Thailand National Teacher's Day...
This morning I caught a very good program on CNN (a rare occasion) on Education by Fareed Zakaria (one of my favorite journalists). It got me thinking about my own profession.
The program started with a stark contrast between the two top countries in education -- South Korea vs. Finland. The students from both countries scores the highest in Math and Science international standardized tests. But they have completely different ways of approaching education. In South Korea, like most Asian countries, high school students spend long hours cramming the subjects, and have to attend tutorial schools in the evenings and on the weekends, to make sure they can get into the best colleges. Where as in Finland, the students there possibly have the least school hours in the world. They are encouraged to be curious and creative. The Finnish government only provide some guideline of teaching, and they don't even have any national standardized tests.
So how can students in both countries score well on the tests? One thing they have in common is they both have GREAT teachers. The governments of both countries have long realized how important it is for kids to have good educators. Since kids are the future of the country (and the world), you need great people to shape the future. The teachers in both of these countries have been selected and trained. They are the top of their graduating classes. They have got the same respect as doctors or lawyers. Unlike in the US (or here in Thailand), where the teachers are normally in the bottom third of their classes.
The CNN program went on about other aspect of education, mainly in the US. But I do agree with Mr.Zakaria that it's a high time that we, the entire world, should rethink about education. How it's taught to our children.. and by whom.
I know I'm not a good teacher YET. Ph.D. does not prepare you to be a teacher. But I know how important it is, and how good it feels to have a great teacher/mentor. Having watched this program was a good reminder of my purpose in life.
Happy Teacher's Day! :)
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
2012 - sooner or later, I'll make it.
So after almost-four-year hiatus... I'm back to my old blog.
I have worked as a lecturer at Naresuan University since October of 2008. As many other periods of my life, there have been ups and downs. I still remember vividly the excitement of going to my first class to teach the students, and trying to put my words and sentences in Thai (after twelve years of living in the States, it was surprisingly hard to converse in my mother's tongue). I am grateful to the mentors and friends that I have met here over the years... even though we might have drifted apart and gone our separate ways, I still would like to thank everyone for all the loves and supports that have been given to me.
I hope to start this year with positive energy.
Happy New Year! :)
I have worked as a lecturer at Naresuan University since October of 2008. As many other periods of my life, there have been ups and downs. I still remember vividly the excitement of going to my first class to teach the students, and trying to put my words and sentences in Thai (after twelve years of living in the States, it was surprisingly hard to converse in my mother's tongue). I am grateful to the mentors and friends that I have met here over the years... even though we might have drifted apart and gone our separate ways, I still would like to thank everyone for all the loves and supports that have been given to me.
I hope to start this year with positive energy.
Happy New Year! :)
Monday, April 14, 2008
Speed Writing Part.. umm.. I can't count...
Oops... I did it again!
It seems like yesterday when I was trying to finish an EMBC paper in one weekend for last year conference. I just put together 3 pages in less than 7 hours, figures and all!!! Hahahah.. :D
It seems like yesterday when I was trying to finish an EMBC paper in one weekend for last year conference. I just put together 3 pages in less than 7 hours, figures and all!!! Hahahah.. :D
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 03, 2008
Call Sign: WH7LW
I've received a letter from FCC today with my Technician Class HAM Radio License.
My call sign is WH7LW.
It has been posted on the qrz site too!
I got 34/35 on my exam. I'll probably have time to deal with getting equipment and stuff next month and take the Extra Class in May or something.
yay! w00t!
My call sign is WH7LW.
It has been posted on the qrz site too!
I got 34/35 on my exam. I'll probably have time to deal with getting equipment and stuff next month and take the Extra Class in May or something.
yay! w00t!
Monday, November 05, 2007
Pitfalls and Alternatives
As I was writing the R03 proposal for NIH grant, I hit a mental breakdown (in USSR, mental breakdown hits me :P)...
Being a grad student, a conventional/structured life is practically non existing. You work at odd hours to get to the deadline. There is no one telling you to come in such and such hours, but the job has to be done. You have to motivate yourself to get off your bum and do stuff, however mediocre the output might be.
When your adviser wrote an email to you at 2AM in the morning, you have to deal with a guilt that if your adviser is still up, perhaps you should be up doing work too. As some point, after all these years spending in school, you ask yourself "why am I doing this?" Will it be that rewarding after you get a degree? Or will you just feel the same? Why are you putting yourself through so much pain? Are you missing out in life?
But then, you have come along this far. If you quit now, you would never know the sense of accomplishment.. the sense of closure. Somebody compares it with finishing the marathon, "I've done it!"
I am so close to finish and yet so far... I can almost hear "Pomp and Circumstance" playing in the background. I want to see the happy face of my parents, advisers, and all my love ones at my graduation.
I guess I would not want to have it any other way...
Being a grad student, a conventional/structured life is practically non existing. You work at odd hours to get to the deadline. There is no one telling you to come in such and such hours, but the job has to be done. You have to motivate yourself to get off your bum and do stuff, however mediocre the output might be.
When your adviser wrote an email to you at 2AM in the morning, you have to deal with a guilt that if your adviser is still up, perhaps you should be up doing work too. As some point, after all these years spending in school, you ask yourself "why am I doing this?" Will it be that rewarding after you get a degree? Or will you just feel the same? Why are you putting yourself through so much pain? Are you missing out in life?
But then, you have come along this far. If you quit now, you would never know the sense of accomplishment.. the sense of closure. Somebody compares it with finishing the marathon, "I've done it!"
I am so close to finish and yet so far... I can almost hear "Pomp and Circumstance" playing in the background. I want to see the happy face of my parents, advisers, and all my love ones at my graduation.
I guess I would not want to have it any other way...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Fair Game and the Heavy-Handed Editing...
I was flipping through the new book, Fair Game - My Life as a Spy. My Betrayal by the White House, by Valerie Plame Wilson. A lot of stuff in the book is blacked out. I wonder what it would sound like on her audio version? :P