Airline's weighty rules

According to your report (BP, Mar 1), flight attendants who failed to meet weight and figure standards have accused Thai Airways International of discrimination and are threatening to lodge a complaint with the Labour Ministry and the National Human Rights Commission.

Well, I hope they win the fight because then I will surely find another valid reason for not flying THAI any more, and instead go to those airlines that have newer planes and with flight attendants that do not take the whole width of the aisle.

I'd like to note also that the formula for BMI calculation is not ''weight divided by the square of height in centimetres'' as stated, but should be ''weight in kilogrammes divided by the square of height in metres''.

VIC PHANUMPHAI

E. Timor and Asean

Re: ''E. Timor hopes to be 11th member'' (BP, Mar 1). I welcome the article by Thanida Tansubhapol which is very informative about the positions of various Asean members on the question of admitting East Timor as the 11th member of this prestigious regional bloc.

From the historic and legal perspective, East Timor's application for membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be the first one to be considered in accordance with the Asean Charter, which came into force on Dec 15, 2009.

In conformity with Article 6 of the charter, the procedure for application and admission to Asean shall be prescribed by the Asean Coordinating Council. There are four specific criteria for admission: location in the recognised geographical region of Southeast Asia; recognition by all Asean member states; agreement to be bound by and to abide by the charter; and ability and willingness to carry out the obligations of membership.

It can be anticipated that the application of Timor-Leste (this is the official name of the ''missing child'' of Asean) will be approved by consensus at the appropriate time by the Asean summit, upon the recommendation of the Asean Coordinating Council, as required by the Asean Charter.

IOAN VOICU

Education's foundation

A key election promise of the Democrats is to give education loans to 250,000 university students. While I'm all for aid to education, I suggest the PM is missing the mark (apologies for the pun, Khun Mark). Thai education is sorely hurting from the ground up, and he should focus on building a sound foundation first, rather than building on a bed of sand.

I quote from an English-language newspaper, circa 2006: ''When compared with 2004's results, (the Office of Basic Education Commission reported that) Prathom 6 and Mathayom 3 students, on average, scored lower marks in every tested subject except science for Prathom 6 students and Thai and science for those in Mathayom 3. A sample of 447,000 Prathom students and about 700,000 students at Mathayom 3 sat the test.''

Or, another article in the same paper, states: ''Of all the students who graduated with the technical Vocation Certificate, only 12.5% got jobs and 6.25% became entrepreneurs. The Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment considered the fact that these students didn't go into the vocational workforce a failure of vocational education administration.''

We're putting our money mainly at the higher levels, and not enough at the lower ones. In FY 2006, our government's budgeted 13,497 baht per capita for pre-primary and 15,753 baht for primary pupils _ but 30,152 baht for university students. Given the poor results at lower levels, we're building on a bed of sand.

PM Abhisit should heed Bertrand Russell: ''If the object (of education) was to make people think, rather than to make them accept certain conclusions, education would be conducted quite differently; there would be less instruction and more discussion.''

Also, a thinking, questioning people would be a solid foundation for a robust, democratic society, one not so easily swayed by rabble-rousers. Isn't that what we want?

BURIN KANTABUTRA

Well worth a hoot

I thought Kong Rithdee's commentary on ''Oscar's logic'' (Mar 1) was worth reading, if only for the controversy and the fact that you shouldn't always go with the masses.

It would be interesting, though, to read Trink's comments on the Oscar nominations. I remember him as a reliable source on movies to see or stay away from.

Even today, his book reviews at least tell me what not to read, which saves me a lot of time. A pity he's being fed so much trash by the book shop. He's worth more.

HARRY NA KLONG TOEY