[Vnbiz] Weak students' Dropping Out is a Happy Thing

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear anh Shane & CACC,

Anh Shane, if 24 hrs is too long, we can cut it down to 2 hours.

Of course, in real life, there will always be some students dropping out of
school, just like there will always be someone killed by traffic accidents.
Imagine a police chief saying "Some unfortunate drivers get killed, that is
a good thing."  Bad thing is always bad. Even when you have less of bad
things, like the number of drivers get killed goes down this year.  The fact
that it number is down is a good thing, the but fact that someone gets
killed is always a bad thing.  In the article, this man does say that the
number of drop-outs is small, that is something to be happy about. OK, I may
reluctantly buy that.  But he went on to say that the fact that weak
students dropping out is a happy thing.

Anyway, the point is that even education officials do not understand the
concept of "universal education."  When Ho Cho Minh was leading the Viet
MInh to fight against the French, the first thing the Viet Minh did in any
liberated area WAs to make sure every citizen can read and write. In later
years, primary education became the goal of "universal education."  In this
information era, universal education means high school education.  Every
child who drops out of high school must be a great pain to the nation and to
the education establishment.  These guys in the government obviously don't
feel the pain.

But this has its roots more deeply than just diffculties at home.  In the
Confucian tradition, education was for the few elites. The mass was largely
uneducated, at least formally.  When the French came in, the French was not
so hot about producing too many brains either, so French-supported education
was also for the few French-sponsored elites.  Even when I was in college,
the great policy goals and debates were always to keep the flunking rate (in
all schools at all levels) as high as possible, because "if too many
students passed, the degree would lose its value." (During my college time,
the graduation rate in most college classes were less than 10%)

That mentality is till very prominent today, if you read newspaper debates
and discussions on education issue.  If you have too many students pass, it
could be "benh thanh tich."  If you have lots of student flunk, it means the
education system is doing a good job to screen out the bad students.

No one stands for the position that:

1.  Every child has the RIGHT to finish high school.
2.  The goal of the system has to be to make sure that every child finishes
high school, with an acceptable level of competency.
3.  When the child drops out, that is a failure of the education system.
When a child doesn't meet the acceptable level of competency, that is a
failure of the system.

There always will be dropouts.  No one can stop it completely.  But if we
look at dropouts as the failure of the system rather than shifting the blame
to poverty or parents, etc.,  then the education goal and mission will be
clearer.

Universal education.  Can anyone remember this term?

Have a great day!

Hoanh
2008/4/25 Shane Wall <shane.wall at translingualexpress.com>:

> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
> Why would you even give him 24 hours to pack up and leave???
>
> I think you mean "VOCATION", not "vacation"! Maybe a 'Freudian slip'? If
> the kids don't finish school, then they will certainly have a "vacation"
> ... FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES!
>
> Poverty reduction and a more equitable distribution of wealth across all
> sectors of society in Vietnam will certainly help overcome this problem
> of children having to leave school too early. The MOST common cause is
> poor parents having to choose between education and a possibly better
> life for their child in the future ... or food on the table RIGHT NOW!
> Sadly, for many people it is a "no brainer" ... it is really difficult
> to learn anything with a hungry belly day, after day, after day, after
> ....
>
> Shane
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Mr. Shane Wall
> Managing Director
>
> Trans Lingual Express
> 188/16 Nguyen Thuong Hien St,
> P.1, Q. Go Vap, HCMC,
> Vietnam
>
> Mail: shane.wall at translingualexpress.com
> Web: www.translingualexpress.com
>
> Ph: +84 (8) 588 1701
>
> Mbl: +84 (090) 9484 753 (English)
> Mbl: +84 (090) 7885 375 (Vietnamese)
>
>
>
> Tran Dinh Hoanh wrote:
> > [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Dear CACC,
> >
> > The following VNexpress is about the number of studetns dropping out
> > of highschool for a number of reasons, and the head of Department of
> > education and training of Ninh Binh Province is quoted as saying that
> > "weak studetns' dropping out is a happy thing,because if they can't do
> > well in school, they should drop out to learn some kind of vacation."
> >
> > If this man works for me, I will tell him:  "You have 24 hours to pack
> > up and leave.  I don't want to hear any explanation."
> >
> > Have a great day!
> >
> > Hoanh
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
> Washington DC
>
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