Poor, long suffering Mae Ramphueng Beach, here in Rayong.
Normally I write to PostBag to complain about the garbage that is allowed to pile up on the beach. But this time the problem is different.
For the past few weeks a greenish slimy foam has been washing ashore, accumulating in pools and staining the golden sand dark brown when it dries. I do not know the cause of this pollution, but suspect it may be ships sluicing their bilges as they ply up and down the Gulf of Thailand.
You would normally expect environmentalists to be up in arms and authorities to be hunting down the perpetrators and imposing huge sanctions on them. But no, the Khao Laem Ya-Mu Koh Samet National Park Authority, of which Mae Ramphueng is part, sits back and does nothing.
What is most alarming is that this Queen's Birthday weekend I saw Thai holidaymakers, including toddlers, swimming and paddling in this filth.
David Brown
Rayong
Smart teaching
Re: "University challenge", (BP, Aug 12).
The drop in demand in Thailand for education at all levels and the growing number of educational institutions has unsurprisingly put our schools, known internationally for the poor quality of their output, in further crisis.
To thrive, I suggest that we heed Bertrand Russell: "Education should have two objects: first, to give definite knowledge, reading and writing, language and mathematics, and so on; secondly, to create those mental habits which will enable people to acquire knowledge and form sound judgments for themselves." Or, as Deputy Education Minister Udom Kachinthorn put it, "We must teach students to learn to think and be critical."
I suggest that Thailand let educational institutions charge what the market will bear -- so long as each school offers enough financial aid to admit half of each entering class on a financial need-blind basis (half of the class can be admitted even if poverty-stricken).
A high-quality education is very costly. The above proposal will enable schools to compete for students who can afford to go overseas, yet wish to retain their home networks of friends and family. Simultaneously, those less privileged will get an education far above what they can get now.
To enable parents and students to see what they'll be getting for their funds, school-wide averages showing quality of applicants and graduates from each institution will be posted on the internet, eg, Pisa scores, university rankings, average GPAs of applicants, selectivity of schools, or income of new graduates.
Burin Kantabutra
In touch with Trump
Re: "Trade war baloney", (PostBag, Aug 12).
Yingwai Suchaovanich wants the readers to believe that Trump and the American voters who put him the seat of US president, are totally out of touch with reality. There is no way that the American people would naively believe that they could compete with China's low-wage economy and bring production back to the US.
The point of Trump's so-called trade war is to level the playing field.
Like Thailand, China's tariffs on imported goods from the US are way beyond what the Americans put on goods imported from those two countries. I recently purchased clothes from a company in California only to be charged 30% of the purchase price on their arrival in Thailand. It maybe soon Thailand's turn to feel the effects of Trump's trade war.
Brian Corrigan
Heads on crucifixes
I have been reading PostBag and I am amazed nobody has mentioned the execution of a Myanmar man, Elias Abulkalaam Jamaleddeen, in Saudi Arabia last week.
This guy was convicted of murder, rape and theft. Not the kind of guy you would want living next door, but I ask, in the 21st (or 26th) century, isn't this a little barbaric?
Crucifixion in Saudi entails public beheading and the body plus the head being put on display tied to a crucifix.
It would seem either nobody cares or the fact it happened in Saudi under shariah law make it something we shouldn't criticise.
Peter Fairless
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