Playing devil's advocate

Sometimes sticking your nose in too soon can be detrimental to your own peace of mind.

I have my feelers out in all sorts of places (and a big thankyou to Catherine at WLT for her advice) trying to find out more unsolicited information about my course. Waiting to hear back.

Thai Visa has some pretty disturbing forum comments pertaining to the One Year Thai course and visas, so I've contacted a fresh new member (had to join to do that) who seems to be concerned also. Waiting to hear back.

There are ten or more members with CMU in their username. So I searched their contents, especially that of a member that seemed to be linked to CMULI...but nothing of value (to me) surfaced.

The most disconcerting topic was that of CMU fails to provide Visa. This member claims that CMU will not provide the necessary documents required to renew his/her visa and was advised "by the director "not to do anything dangerous", then it should be "OK". 1st Sep 2010

This response from a Super Member:

"If this is indeed true (which I have no reason to doubt, as I just spoke to a currently enrolled foreign student in that program who mirrored your post) it is really sad. CMU has great textbooks and was previously known as a totally above board quality language school.

They also USED to provide you with documentation where you could get a full years extension of stay INSIDE the country once you paid your tuition as they're a 'real uni' not a private thai language school and their documentation from the Ministry of Education was different from the stuff most private thai language schools get."

So I put my two cents worth into the forum. Am watching this topic.

There seems to be quite a few 'backup' comments, stating the same visa issues.

Also on Thai Visa was this forum topic, CMU Language Institute's Thai Course, where there seemed to be pros and cons of various teachers and their methods,  for the One Year Thai Course.

SO, I have written to CMULI to see what they have to say about the Visa situation. Waiting to hear back.

It can't hurt to have IT in writing, can it?

I am, of course, farang, with an 'R', and wonder whether some comments are made by those completely oblivious to the 'Thai' way or who have no patience. Or, perhaps their grievances are completely legitimate.

Things are done differently in different countries. What might frustrate a farang in Thailand, could similarly bewilder a Thai doing the same in a different country.

My posts are not to join a witch hunt, they are to air my thoughts, share what I find and receive feedback...so please do!