A perspective on the current state of education.
These past few days, public opinion has been abuzz about a rare university entrance exam preparation class in Literature in Cau Giay district (Hanoi), discovered and reported by a reporter from an online newspaper. I don't want to discuss the teacher and the 1,000 students who will be taking this year's university entrance exam, crammed into the classroom, chanting along with the teacher's introduction to a sample essay, or the parents who sent their children to study there. They are both blameworthy and pitiable! The issue that needs to be addressed here is the current state of education in Vietnam...
(Baonghean)These past few days, public opinion has been abuzz about a rare university entrance exam preparation class in Literature in Cau Giay district (Hanoi), discovered and reported by a reporter from an online newspaper. I don't want to discuss the teacher and the 1,000 students who will be taking this year's university entrance exam, crammed into the classroom, chanting along with the teacher's introduction to a sample essay, or the parents who sent their children to study there. They are both blameworthy and pitiable! The issue that needs to be addressed here is the current state of education in Vietnam...
Examinations are a measure, and moreover, a "colorful reagent" that reveals the nature and essence of a nation's education system. In our country, anyone concerned with education can easily recognize that examinations, from primary and secondary school to university, are designed to test memorization, while the amount of testing students' reasoning ability and intelligence is very small and insignificant.
Furthermore, due to consideration for the current academic level of students or fear of "overload," the exam questions for some subjects, such as Literature, don't even include supplementary reading material from the textbook, let alone external texts as they used to. Therefore, the exam questions are repetitive year after year. Consequently, the situation of rote learning, mechanical teaching and learning, copying from the teacher, memorizing, and following templates has become almost natural and widespread! Not long ago, in the university entrance exam, a student in Hue had a perfect score of 10 on their essay, only to later discover they had copied a sample essay from a study material (!?). Therefore, the "incident" in Cau Giay district in the capital city is less blameworthy and more pitiable!
We believe that by tracing the root causes of this problem further, we will find the reasons in our educational goals and philosophy. Perhaps our current education system has not yet prioritized the ultimate goal of training human beings as individuals – individuals who exist and develop their human capabilities, so that they can truly live and serve?!
And perhaps, therefore, our educational goals entrust too many missions to young people when they are not given enough attention and have not been nurtured to develop their own essence. Adjusting the goals and philosophy of education will, as a logical consequence, lead to changes in curriculum development, textbooks, teaching and learning, examinations and assessments, training and personnel utilization, etc. I think that for a long time, discussions in the media and society about the problems of the education and training sector have mainly addressed the superficial aspects without touching the root of the problem, which is the goals of education and the philosophy of training human beings.
Like many who follow the workings of teaching and learning, exams, assessments, textbooks, and many other activities of the current education and training sector, and having been in the field for nearly 40 years, I have reflected and pondered, and would like to offer some suggestions in this article!
Meritorious Teacher Le Thai Phong (57, Alley 18, De Tham Street, Vinh City)
