Vietnam - First graders taught to tell lies

VietNamNet Bridge – “Once a liar always a liar” – Vietnamese teachers understand the saying well, but they still teach their students to tell lies.

A fourth grader of a primary school in Dong Da district in Hanoi said that she always burns incense to pray for luck every time when she attends examinations.

“My teacher always reminds us to be cautious when copying at the exams. We would be heavily punished if someone sees us cribbing,” she said.

Surprisingly, the girl does not pray for staying lucid during the examinations so that she can make right decisions, but she simply wants her behaviors of cheating at the exams to go smoothly.

The girl also said that the teacher always called her students for extra classes before the exam days. At the classes, the students can do the exercises which are exactly the same with the questions to be raised at the exams.

The teacher repeatedly says she wants to help students pass the exams. If someone does not know how to solve the questions, he can copy the answers given before by the teacher at the extra classes.

The small girl, who is just a fourth grader, commented that her teacher did very well to help her students. Almost the students in her class get the titles of “Excellent” or “good students” when the academic years finish.

The story about a third grader boy complaining about his rude teacher has become a hot topic on education forums.

The boy said his teacher is not as nice as other teachers, because she always scolds students. The teacher usually tears the students’ notebooks if she discovers mistakes. She asks students to keep books in good conditions, in anticipation of the inspection tours to be taken by education officials.

The boy also said he cannot understand why the teacher sometimes tells lies. “Yesterday, she scolded H, saying that H was a bad student. However, when meeting H’s mother, who came to school to see the child off, the teacher said H was very good at school,” the boy said.

“I think the teacher has to tell lies because H is from a rich family and H’s mother usually gives presents to the teacher,” he commented.

The boy seems to be an excellent student of the teacher – liar. The next day, when he was asked to write an essay and express his feelings about the teacher, he wrote the essay with flowery words to flatter the teacher.

When the father asked why he still praised the teacher, though he does not like her, the boy said he needed to be “friendly” with the teacher, or she would give bad marks to him.

The parent, when sharing the story with the colleagues, said she feels worried when an eight year old boy can master the “art of telling lies.”

A parent, whose child is a third grader of a primary school in Thanh Tri district in Hanoi, also said students nowadays are taught to tell lies right at school.

His child’s teacher runs a private tutoring class and asks all the members of the class to go to the class to “improve knowledge.” However, the students have been asked to deny the private tutoring if someone asks them about the teaching.

The problem is that the Ministry of Education and Training is tightening its control over the private tutoring of school teachers, threatening to heavily discipline the teachers violating the regulations. As a result, the extra classes have been running in quietness, while students have been asked to keep secret about their classes.

Compiled by Thu Uyen

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