Community Colleges Exist!

Community Colleges Exist!
Today, Saturday, we visited the University Fair 2005 at the Queen Sirikrit Center. The exhibition was packed with colleges and universities from Thailand. There were many huge booths. The exciting part of the exhibitionk for me, is that I got to talk with people from two community colleges. I especially enjoyed talking with a person from Ranong, where we visited last year. Community colleges were started by the government three years ago. They are very similar in concept to community colleges in the United States. At Ranong there are currently 400 students. The cost for the courses is 25 Baht per credit. Some courses are offered in English. I think there are 14 community colleges nation wide. The source for many of the students in community colleges are the Non-Traditional Education centers. I believe that the credit earned in a Community College is transferable to a university. Sunday, when we were driving to Petchaburi I saw a road sign for Samut Songkhram Community Colleges. Today, Monday, we will visit a Non Traditional Education Center in Phra Pradaeng so I hope to have more information. I have many questions about Community Colleges in Thailand and am excitied to find a new path to explore.

After leaving the education center we went to MBK to look for a present for Bethie. We did not succeed, but MBK is a great place to explore. After MBK we went to a hospital in Pak Kret to visit Jit's aunt. She is very sick. We visited with the family and Jit's uncle. Jit's aunt was a pharmacist and her uncle is a retired school principal.

Juke and his family also drove up to visit and we rode back with them. We got caught in some traffic so it took a long time to get home. When we arrived it was dark and I heard a familiar chant as we walked into the community. People are working building a new path and the men were jumping on a board to provide leverage to drive a concrete pile into the mud, sort of like a human pile driver. It really works. The path is to straighten out a corner in the path that is difficult for bicyclists and motor bikes to navigate. The path will be much safer.

Photographs later!