School in a Temple

 

School in a Temple – Bangkok Thailand

The first school I saw was in Bangkok Thailand at the Reclining Buddha temple. I read that this was the first official public school in Thailand. Not that long ago in small villages the Wat (temple) was the village school as well. Before all villages had schools sons were sent to wats to be monks and/or get some education. They learned basic reading, writing and math, plus religion. I took some photos of this school because the location is pretty stunning. Imagine going to school next to the biggest reclining Buddha in the world. Students in Thailand learn about Buddhism in all public school. Monks come to school and students visit temples as part of their studies. They learn about other religions too but the focus is Buddhism.

This is the exterior of one wing of the school. the temple of the Reclining Buddha is just to the left. This temple is a huge tourist attraction.

As you can see the classrooms look much like ours.

Both the schools I saw in Thailand had a place for teeth brushing and hand washing.

These are high school boys in their summer uniforms waiting for the Sky train to go home. In other countries most students wear uniforms it seems.

SchoolsAtheW Starts

Writing about School 

So as I started on this trip I thought wouldn't it be cool to have some focus something you do in each place that you are interested in that everyone might not do. Hey, I'm an educator how about visiting schools. So I have been trying to do that. But I am finding I am not very motivated to write about what I have seen school wise so far. I find it makes me think about work and since I have no idea what work I will be doing when I get back that causes some anxiety. I am on leave but with no guarantees except a job. I don't know what school, what grade level, teacher or administrator position I will be offered on my return to my school district.) As one of my friends said you don't have to think about work until next August, until then don't think about it. Excellent advice. But since schools are my work if I visit them and think about education in any way it leads my thoughts back to do I want to still be a part of this, how would I want to be a part of this thing called education and what , if anything, do I still feel passionate about when it comes to education. If you don't feel passionate about it any job will just be a job and I don't think I can live like that.

The real problem is that I do feel passionate about what real learning and education could look like and what I think is best for kids. I have experienced it myself and seen glimpses in all kinds of places. I have another blog going about this trip ( go to ) but I thought only my education friends will be interested in this stuff so this one will focus just on the school things I observe and experience on this trip. Any questions, ideas or suggestion from people reading this are most welcome.

First stop schools in Thailand.