Level II
Chapter 4
Listening Speaking
IC3
IC3 | IT | TOEFL | Best Answer
English | Vietnamese
Assessment
School Systems
CHƯƠNG 4: GIÁO DỤC
How do you acquire and use knowledge in your culture?Câu hỏi hướng dẫn:
Kiến thức được tiếp thu và sử dụng như thế nào trong nền văn hóa của bạn?
Skills:
In this chapter you will do these things:
English Language Skills:
Academic and School Vocabulry
Listening and Speaking Tasks: Describing School Systems
English Stress and Intonation: Question Patterns--Yes/No Questions; Wh-Questions
Lectures: Using Outlines for Understanding
Politely Asking for Information
Vietnamese Language Skills:
IC3 Skills: School Systems: Roots and Influence
Intercultural Communicative Competence
School Systems: Roots and Influences
School systems vary around the world. In this section we will look at the roots and influences that have shaped the school systems in Vietnam and the U.S.
Vietnamese Education
(from http://www.saigoninfo.com/vanhoa/education_main.htm)
Introduction
Through all the changes, the Vietnamese have been in the last 200 years--from the rules of their own emperors, through that of French governors to the present--one major constant has been a deep reverence for learning.
Under the Confucian system, the brilliant scholar stood at the head of the occupational hierarchy; his position brought agricultural, professional and commercial reward. Before the French came, Vietnam was run at all levels of administration by officials called mandarins, who were chosen on the basis of education alone. The aristocracy of learning was the only aristocracy of importance in old Vietnam; learning especially of Chinese Philosophy and history was not only prized for its own sake, but was the main road to wealth, power and social standing.
Confucian System
Primary Education
Primary education was taught by the village school master, whose home generally served as the village school. Here almost all boys learned at least a few hundred Chinese characters, and many went on the the works of philosophy and history which formed the core of Confucian scholarship.
Higher Education
The civil service examination was the crucial part of the traditional Vietnamese educational system. Tens of thousands of students each year would attempt the first examination, but only a few thousand of these would go to the second examination given every three years. In ever decreasing numbers, as they climbed the ladder, scholars could progress through the third examination which could result in one of the coveted degrees of Tu Tai (budding genius) or Cu Nhan (promoted man). Even to gain the lowest of these degrees was a high honor and marked its recipient for life while bringing honor to his family as well.
Examination in the Imperial Court
The last and highest examination was conducted by the emperor himself. Those who survived this final test received the highest degree, the Tien Si (Doctorate). However poor and humble were their origins, they were now members of the top range of the elite. Before the Tran dynasty (1225-1400), in 1075 Ly Nhan Ton (1072-1127) ordered the organization of a literary competition consisting of subjects on 3 religions (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism) for the recruitment of mandarins.
A new competition was organized in 1086 to select the members for the newly founded Academy. Except the 1st laureate of this contest, Le Van Thinh was appointed King’s Counselor, and the others were appointed teachers at the Imperial College which was opened in 1076.
The 1st examination for the selection of Thai Hoc Sinh (Doctorate degree) was held in 1232 under King Tran Thai Ton (1225-1258). Three categories were defined in a classification system called Tam Giap.
The classification became more elaborate in 1247 with the Tam Khoi which divided the 1st category into 3 separate classes:
Trang Nguyen: - 1st prize winner in the examination
Bang Nhan : - 2nd prize winner
Than Hoa: - 3rd prize winner
Examinations in the field of three Religions: Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism were established at the same time and were held throughout the Kingdom.
Reformed Education System in Colonial Time
With the coming of the French in the 19th century, the formal educational system changed considerably. The French encouraged teh Vietnamese to write their own language in the Latin alphabet. As a result, Confucian studies lost the prestige which had formerly led young men to give them the years of arduous study they demanded, and, in the early years of the 20th century, they reformed the civil service examination.
This system stressed teacher authority, class discipline, and general learning.
Americans and Their Schools(from The Imperfect Panacea: American Faith in Education, 1865-1976
by Henry J. Perkinson, Random House, New York, 1977, pp. 3-12)
From the beginning Americans depended on their schools. Alone in the savage wilderness of their new settlements, the earliest colonists had to rely upon schools and schoolteachers far more than they did in Europe. Forced to spend their days securing the basic necessities of life, these pioneer parents had little time to care for their children. Moreover, since their New World lacked the agencies of civilization commonplace in the mother country, parents in the New World feared that their children, if untended, might degenerate into savagery--not an unlikely fate in this strange, wild, and dangerous land.
In the colony of Massachusetts this fear resulted in the 1642 compulsory education law, which made parents legally responsible for the education of their children. The problem, of course, lay not with parents, who, for the most part, wnated to educate their children, but in finding the time and energy to care for them. The colony realized that it needed schools and schoolmasters, and in 1647 Massachusetts adopted a law that required each town to provide them. Thus it happened that the first compulsory education laws of modern times appeared in the least civilized part of the Western world and, in fact, were a product of that very lack of civilization (pp. 3-4).
Throughout its early history America suffered from a short supply of labor. In the South this led to the introduction of Negro slaves. In the rest of the country it led to a decline in the system of apprenticeship. While in Europe future physicians, lawyers, merchants, bankers, artisans and craftsmen of all kinds received their training through apprenticeship, in the New World the short supply of labor prevented the American from becoming a specialist. Rather than apprenticing himself to one master to learn one skill well, the colonial American had to learn to perform many different tasks. He frequently had to provide his own clothing and shelter, clear the land and plant the crops, tend his animals and care for his children, and nurse the sick and settle disputes. He had to be a jack-of-all-trades; he could not afford to be a specialist. To get along, the American had to be, in Daniel Boorstin’s words, “an undifferentiated man” (p. 5).
On the frontier farm, or in the forests, one learned from one’s own experience. There were no other guides. But in the settled cities on the Eastern seaboard the case was different, since one found trade and commerce carried on in more or less traditional ways. There, the young American preparing for the future never knew what business, calling, or profession he might enter. It was to help solve this problem of urban youth that Benjamin Franklin set forth, in his “Idea of the English School” . . . a proposal for a school in Philadelphia, from which youth “will come out . . . fitted for learning any Business, calling or Profession” (p. 6).
Although his own academy was a sore disappointment, others took up Franklin’s idea for a permanent school where youths could be prepared for the unexpected. By the end of the century academies had been set up in all parts of the country, offering both modern and traditional subjects. Yet even as the academy idea triumphed, other educational developments took center stage. Once they had gained their independence from Britain, the Americans looked to the schools and the schoolmasters to perform a new function: a political function (p. 7)
As soon as the War for Independence ended, Americans began to talk about the vital relationship between education and government. . . Most accepted the claim that in a republic the chief end of education is to promote intelligent citizenry. This followed logically from the American negative conception of government, a conception embodied succinctly in the statement, That government is best that governs least.” Fearful of governmental tyranny the Americans had set up a national government that could be restrained and held in check. To do this they had adopted a variety of institutional devices: a Bill of Rights; a written Constitution that enumerated specific powers; a separation of the three branches of government, with each one having the power to veto, to check, the others; and regular, frequent elections, so that the citizens could peacefully get rid of undesirables in public office. But the proper working of all these institutional devices depended upon an enlightened citizenry, an educated citizenry. No one saw this more clearly than Thomas Jefferson. In a letter to George Washington in 1786 he wrote: “It is an axiom of my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction” (p. 8).
For over 200 years the Americans had looked to their schools and schoolmasters to solve their social, economic and political problems. From the beginnings the schools had been viewed as the panacea--first to preserve civilization, then to prepare for the unexpected, and finally to guarantee good government (p. 12).
Discussion Questions
1. Do Vietnamese students agree with the account of early education in Vietnam or do you believe it is written with bias? Do American students agree with the account of early education in Vietnam or do you believe it is written with bias?
2. What purposes were these educational systems serving for each country?
3. What purposes do educational systems serve today?
4. Do we find aspects of these systems evident in the Vietnamese and American systems today? If so, do they serve the same purposes?
See this section in the Reading chapter 4 of the same level.
Taking It Further
Getting to know your campus, school or college
You are going to make a report about places at your university. Divide into groups of four or five. Each group should choose a different campus location from this list:
- School of education
- Registrar's office
- Student Union
- Gymnasium
- Central library
- Foreign language center
- Dormitory
- Computer labs
By asking appropriate campus personel, reading signs and brochures gather information about the following:
- the location of the facility
- its opening and closing hours
- its activities and services
- who does it serve?
- What are the requirements of using these services?
Make a report about that facility. Each person in each group should be ready to report to the class. In class, form new groups each consisting of one person from the original group. Each person in the new group will present the information that they have collected about each place.
This section will be the same in the Reading and Writing books chapter 4. This may be posting answers online and sharing answers cross-culturally.
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