Thailand: Where Teachers Aren’t Just Appreciated, They’re Revered

Ryan Farley | October 5, 2015

The Evangelical English Teacher

There is a weird dichotomy of seriousness and silliness that takes place during this part of the ceremony. Everyone sitting in the front five seats, or bowing in front of them, maintained a stoic and serious demeanor that ignored the giggling and selfie taking attitude by everyone around them.

Ryan Farley / Own Work

Eventually it was my turn to sit up front, and at first I felt more than a little uncomfortable blessing students. Someone translated what the teachers were saying as a simple, “be a good child and student.” The simplistic nature of what was more advice than a blessing made me feel more at ease and I quickly adopted the persona of a late-night televangelist, placing my hands on their heads and intoning my English wisdom in varying tones and body language. This went on for hours; I “blessed” those kids in bulk.

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