Freshers have to learn|to plan their own time

On the first day of classes many professors warn us to prepare for this change. Everything here is new and exciting for us; however, some students cannot adapt to this new environment, and they fail to survive.

As first-year students, there are so many activities in which we must participate. Every day we have a lot of things to do. It's not a problem for those who can manage their time effectively. For those students who long for the days when everything was done for them, it's going to be difficult to adjust. These big changes in how things are done do not come so easily.

Most students leave their homes for the first time and live their life alone here at college. This is not a place where parents take care of everything. We have to plan, organise and carry out multiple tasks and duties which before our parents may have handled. It is not as easy as some think. Without responsibility, students won't make it. We must take care of our own lives, and there is no class in high school to ready us for this change.

CAUTION UNIVERSITY STUDENTS!! A midterm examination is only two months away from the first day of school!!! People who review their lessons every day won't have any problem, but you'll still hear students crying: "I'm NOT READY yet." There is no one there to lend a helping hand. It's up to me and my fellow students to prepare. It's called self-study, or independent learning, which is rarely taught at the high-school level. We must suddenly become time-management specialists.

Fortunately, I had some experience with independent learning and self-study in an English programme taught mostly by foreigners. I wonder how regular-programme students will fare who are not given a chance to develop their independent thinking skills.

Students must realise that getting into a university is just the beginning of a new journey. There is a long, steep road waiting for us. Whatever is at the end of that road, we must continue walking, putting one foot in front of the other until we have reached the top.

SARINYA BOONPOAPICHART

KHON KAEN

Local tourist specialities must be centrally planned

I fully agree with world-renowned marketing guru Philip Kotler that we should promote Thailand as a destination, to bring tourists back and help pull us out of recession. The Tourism Authority of Thailand and private sector should work together to create uified attractions in main provinces. In the US, for example, when you think of Hollywood, you think of movies; Las Vegas, of clean gambling and shows; Washington, DC, of government and related monuments. Here, Chiang Mai could focus on family-oriented activities (pandas, hill tribes, elephants and wats); Pattaya on being a clean Sin City, complete with unique entertainment, eg the Tiffany Show, bars, and karaoke; or Phuket for sun and sand.

Have contests to select the best tourist attractions of that region, and promote them - like OTOP, but adapted to tourism and tied to the area's main theme.

The state should lead the way with single-tier pricing, or two-tier pricing that gives tourists, regardless of nationality, something more for their extra money, eg priority entry and seating.

Open our skies to low-cost carriers, to bring in the tourists at low cost, rather than let the current two-airline cartel rake in oligopoly profits.

Upgrade our railway to be clean and luxurious, with punctuality backed by bank guarantees, so that tours will rent sleeping bogies instead of putting their clients in uncomfortable coaches.

We can outshine any other tourist destination in Asia, if we get our act together.

BURIN KANTABUTRA

BANGKOK

If abortion is wrong, so is killing doctors

I don't hold with the abortion of babies.

This comes from being a practitioner of Buddhist meditation. I believe in and try to follow the doctrine of ahimsa, "non-harming" or the non-violence, non-injury and killing of any creatures, especially humans, on this Earth. Therefore I find this is a positive aspect of life here in Thailand and that under Thai law abortion is not allowed. But I also don't hold with inferring with other people's lives who maybe want this procedure to be performed elsewhere. This up to their own personal cause and effect. I also firmly don't hold with people who want to kill abortion doctors, as in the recent murder of a US abortion doctor. These people are so deluded to want to play being "God". These fanatics are similar to Islamic fanatics or even former right-wing US politicians who are/were also bent on playing "God" while committing horrific terrorist acts or invading Middle Eastern and Central Asian counties killing and wounding hundred of thousands of people.

GEORGE W FARROW

BANGKOK