I am currently teaching at a university in Thailand. I used to teach at Japanese universities, and when I was a student, I attended both Japanese and Thai universities. Here, I would like to talk about what I noticed about the relationship between students, the distance between students and faculty members, and the course after graduation.
Relationship of students
How to deepen friendship
Students seem to get along with each other in classes, clubs, and circles, just like in Japan. After all, if you have something in common, it’s easy to get along.
Also, the more difficult the university is, the higher the percentage of female students tends to be, especially in the humanities.
Undergrads are less matured
Undergraduate students are required to wear uniforms. Therefore, I have the impression that it is more childish than Japanese college students.
Overall, I have the image of being with you more than Japanese students. In particular, female students seem to be with me in holding hands and doing anything, and it’s a little creepy for me from Japan, who doesn’t have such a habit. Partly because I’m wearing a uniform, I feel like a high school student, especially in the first year of college.
Distance between professors and students
Professors are respected
Regarding the distance between students and faculty members, from the faculty point of view, I feel that Japan is closer. Here, the faculty members are very respected as Agen, and they say hello and “wai” to join hands everywhere.
I tend to listen to the teacher very honestly during class, and always show respect for the teacher. In other words, even if the faculty member says something wrong, the students are reluctant to point it out. I take classes very seriously, and in a bad way, I feel like I take everything that is said.
When I was teaching in Japan, I don’t remember being so respected. To put it in a good way, I felt that I was treated honestly, but I feel that Japanese students were honestly less enthusiastic about the lessons.
Which is better
However, it doesn’t mean which one is better, and it feels like both. I want Thai students to be more honest and friendly, and I want them to listen to more.
On the other hand, I want Japanese students to learn more honestly, to be more aware of the position of teachers, and in a nutshell, to be more respected. Recently, a friend of mine who teaches at a Japanese university said, “Recently, the number of teachers at Japanese universities tends to decrease, so we have to pay more attention to students than in the service industry, or go to high school for recruitment activities. It was a difficult time.”
Route after graduating universities
After graduating from college, go straight on the road to the elite
Thailand does not have as many universities as Japan, so the more you go to an elite university, the more you study abroad, including Japan, after graduating from an undergraduate school or when you were an undergraduate student, and later work for so-called large companies, government agencies, universities, etc. Is a typical pattern. In the case of graduate school, it feels even more explicit.
When I was a graduate student, 38 of the 42 students were women. Four of them, including myself, were men, but all the men other than me were extremely talented and humanly respectable. As expected, they are now active in the political and business world.
Thailand is basically a male-centered society, but the image is that a handful of men are at the center, and they are supported by smart women just by being in the center of government and government assets.
Perhaps the 38 women are working for large corporations and government agencies and living a reasonably good life. It is said that Thai people will never be in trouble if they can speak English or Japanese and have an educational background.
Salary is like that of monks
By the way, the reality is that the salaries of university faculty members are very low. That’s why I’m often teased by my Japanese friends as a monk.
In fact, most of my colleagues who are faculty members at Thai universities are from homes that are very rich. Therefore, I feel that I don’t care about the low salary.
How Japanese society works isn’t common in other places
When I go to university and live in Japan, I sometimes feel that Japanese society is universal. To be honest, there are many students in Japan who work part-time or in circles and manage to take credits while skipping classes. However, on the other hand, many students take classes hard to graduate from university when they go out of Japan.
I would like university students to experience various societies in order to become world-class human resources. As a person who teaches in both countries, I would like to share my experience with the students.
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