No, this isn’t an example of student writing. This is an example of what one teacher wrote on the board for the students to copy. Do you believe me now? Can you imagine how hard it is for someone to learn here?
Government teachers get paid around $40 US a month. Many teachers in the countryside aren’t sure if they’ll get paid at all. In Luang Prabang, teachers make a better living working in private schools, but to make an even better living, some teachers take on classes at two different schools at the same time. It’s so common for a teacher to be absent that few people think this double-timing is strange.
Or how about this scenario for generating commerce? You teach at the university and teach so terribly that students are forced to spend money to study in the evening at a private school. That’s where you get your second job, sort of teaching the students who didn’t get anything from you where you were originally supposed to teach. If nobody complains, you’ve created your own cycle of supply and demand.
It’s not fair to talk like this. Not all teachers are like this. Let’s just I haven’t met the exceptional ones yet.
