Do you plan on moving to Thailand and already have kids?
Do you ponder how your kids will do in a completely different environment, language and school setting?
International Schools, (The best in Thailand), can run US $30,000+ per year, per student.
It is not cheap, however, that education may be on the level of a western education.
If you cannot afford that rate, there are Thai schools with a secondary English curriculum.
Be advised your kids would still be exposed to Thai language everyday.
Here is a fact!
Thai language is USELESS outside of Thailand.
If your foreign children are learning Thai and do not plan to live in Thailand, it is a complete waste of time.
Try to remember Thai language has no use anywhere in the world except Thailand.
How your kids will react to being exposed to Thai language in school here everyday is anyone’s guess?
It is best to have a bonafide plan concerning your children’s education.
The majority of Thai kids will never have an opportunity in life. The general college graduate starting salary is only around 15,000 thb per month.
Think carefully before making a move to Thailand with western children and research the whole picture until they are 18 years old.
My son, went to one of those expensive international schools in Chiang Mai.
He went to the US when he was in the eighth grade and was told he was 1 year behind his age group.
The US school did a good job getting his education level up to where it should have been.
Skip ahead years later and he is finishing a MS degree at the University of Miami.
He will have a choice to stay in US and work or move back to Thailand to work.
We could not have hoped for anything more and we are lucky we had a plan in place.
No one can advise you how your kids will do in Thailand.
Some thrive, some withdraw.
It is up to the parents working closely with their kids and the teachers to ensure no problems such as depression and withdrawal arise.
Don’t wait until the children are 18 years old to research what kind of future they will have with their education in Thailand.
You should understand up front what kind of education is required in Thailand to get them in a University or College in the US, UK or Australia and make sure they are tested against international standards at least once a year.
You may have to supplement their Thai school learning with additionally tutoring and home schooling.
It is a parent’s responsibility to understand 100% how a move such as this will affect their children.