I must add to Khon Kaen Paul’s always wise words by saying that Thai students can compete with, and soundly beat, their brattish, self-centred, foul-mannered Western counterparts in terms of social interaction. As one who married into an extended low-to-middle-income rural family that is spread out from Nong Khai to Krabi, I have had the pleasure of watching my nieces and nephews grow up over two decades. During the long Thai New Year breaks, I have the pleasure of an influx of my young family for a month and try to add to their education with activities and topics that they don’t get at school or at home. I have taught them all to swim, for example. I must exclude the arrogant, smartphone-touting, consumerist offspring of the hi-so Bangkok elite from the above analysis – they belong to a different planet.

Source: The Nation Bangkok January 02, 2018 18:11 UTC