IN THE NEWS - FOR THE WRONG REASONS

It seems that the only time Thailand makes it into the international news is when something bad happens. Take, for example, the case of John Mark Karr - the American who confessed late last week to involvement in the death of the six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey some ten years ago.
With the greatest respect to my Thai colleagues and friends, this just highlights how easy it can be to teach here. In the UK we have CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks for anyone remotely involve with children, and rightly so, but there is nothing that comes close to that here. You should also ask why anyone would want to teach here? The money is very poor in comparison (400 quid if you're lucky) and many schools stipulate 'Experience preferred by not essential'.
Of course there are some very, very good schools that only recruit experienced professionals, but it seems there are an awful lot that don't.
Unfortunately this story places Thailand in a bad light - again - but isn't it the case that bad news always sells? There are many, many good things happening here but they will never get reported outside Thailand.