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Thuy Truong and Ayako Sugita |
Education System In Vietnam
By Thuy Truong
Please contact me by email
AES 150 -Computer Applications
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Thuy Truong and Ayako Sugita |
Education System In Vietnam
By Thuy Truong
Please contact me by email
Every country has a different education system. Differences include teaching styles, credit system, and even student life.Vietnam is a developing country, so we need many talented people to build the country. That’s why we need to have a good education system because it is an important factor for future economic development. Vietnam’s education system is improving to get a higher education system like the developed countries.
First, I want to mention the structure of
education (1) system in Vietnam. As for the basics, the education system
includes the following:
Primary: type of school providing this education is primary school, length of
program is 5 years, age level is from 6 to 11 and diploma awarded is certificate
of primary education.
Lower secondary: type of school providing this education is secondary school,
length of program is 4 years, age level is from 11 to 15 and diploma awarded
is certificate of secondary education.
Upper secondary: type of school providing this education is high school, length
of program is 3 years, age level is from 16 to 18 and diploma awarded is certificate
of high school.
Higher education: Higher education is provided by universities, colleges. After
graduating, the students get Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree
or Doctorate.
In Vietnam, the language of instruction is Vietnamese. All the schools and the
colleges and the universities are managed by an organization which is called
the Ministry of
Education and Training. All decisions about printing books, taking the exams
and making student rules are done by this organization.
There are very many universities, which include private and public schools in Vietnam. In contrast to some other countries, in Vietnam, the public schools are better than the private schools. And if you want to study in the public schools, you have to pass an exam. Normally, the exam is very difficult, so many students can’t pass and they have to apply to the private schools. But there is another problem, which is that the private schools are more expensive than the public schools. Even though the tuition and fees are expensive for private schools in Vietnam, the students who study at the cheaper public schools are considered better educated than others, and after graduating, they can get a job more easily.
The numbers of public schools are fewer than the private schools in Vietnam.
For example, one of the public universities in Vietnam is the
National University- Ho Chi Minh city (VNU-HCM) This is the biggest university
in Ho Chi Minh City. VNU-HCM was established in 1995 and approved by the government
for the purpose of integrating into the worldwide university system. Since 2001,
VNU-HCM has consisted of three member universities and one faculty which are
the University of Technology, University of Natural Sciences, University of
Social Sciences and Humanities, and Faculty of Economics. Moreover, this school
has many majors for all fields such as computer science, biology, physics, environmental
management, electronics, literature and linguistics, journalism, history, philosophy
and economics. This is an example of the offerings of a public university in
Vietnam.
Student life is an important problem in the education system in Vietnam. Almost
all the famous universities are located in the big cities, such as Ho Chi Minh
City and Hanoi. So, the students who live outside of these cities have to move
there for studying. They will live alone in a dorm or rent a private flat or
house. The price varies from 100,000 to 1,000,000 VND monthly ( it is about
$10 U.S to $80 U.S). This may be seem cheap for some Americans, but it is very
expensive for some Vietnamese). There are students who have difficulties with
money because their families are poor. They can’t pay for everything like
tuition and fees, housing, transportation and books. They are very miserable.
Furthermore, Vietnam doesn’t have part time jobs for students, so if they
go to work, they can’t go to school and vice versa. In some countries,
like America, the students can get financial aid from the government, but not
in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government doesn’t have financial aid or loan
programs. Those are some of the difficulties of Vietnamese students. However,
Vietnamese students also enjoy some benefits in their university. For example,
they join in the sports activities
(2) such as basketball, tennis, volleyball, Chinese chess club and more. Besides,
they also can become involved in public service activities such as anti-drug
programs or social programs such as cultural exchange between Vietnamese students
and international students.
In summary, the education system in Vietnam is different from other countries,
but there is a purpose, which is to train the students to become good citizens
and useful in society. The system is too expensive for many Vietnamese, but
for those who can go, they get a good education and also have a chance to develop
their social skills.
(1) http://www.seameo.org/images/educsystems/vietnam1.jpg
(2) http://www.vnuhcm.edu.vn/en/students/index.htm
Education System In Japan
By Ayako Sugita
Please contact me by email.
In 2002, a Japanese history text book was approved by the Ministry of Education. This text book, unlike other common textbooks, has been very controversial due to its positive statements about Japanese action during WWII. The organization (Japanese web page) which wrote the textbook criticizes Japanese education after WWII for not teaching Japanese culture and traditions to students and making students feel ashamed for being Japanese. Many people, including some Asian countries have criticized Japan’s use of this textbook. They say that the textbook justifies many Japanese actions in WWII. Some of them say this is a sign of Japanese militarism. Many Japanese have begun to reconsider their national identity and to examine Japanese education as a result of this argument. I would like to introduce Japanese educational history, discussing its role in influencing national identity. I will also explain basic Japanese educational system and describe Japanese student life, focusing on university students.
The Japanese education system was first formalized during the
Meiji Restoration (1867-). After the long term isolation policy by the
Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868, reformers,
who used to be Samurai, made great effort to catch up with Western countries
in every regard. They needed to establish a national loyalty /identity of
their people to achieve their aim: making Japan develop. Education was the
best means to gain this loyalty. Therefore, establishing a national identity,
which was considered as a moral imperative at that time, became one of the
main purposes of Japanese education. The
great reformers were extremely successful in this endeavor. That is, by
the 1930s, Japanese had such a strong loyalty that Japanese soldiers were
ready to die for their emperor during WWII.
After WWII, the U.S exercised great influence on Japanese education policy,
stressing less Japanese identity because pre-war intense loyalty had become
the strongest weapon during WWII. In 1947, The Fundamental Law of Education
and The School Educational Law were enacted. These are still the
foundation of our current education system 5.In Japan, there are twelve
compulsory school years; the elementary school requires 6 years, and the junior
and senior high school require three years each. The attendance rate of compulsory
school is almost 100 percent. Many children go to preschool before elementary
school. More than 70 percent of Japanese students go on to colleges, universities
or technical colleges. Historically, 15 percent have gotten jobs and not continued
in higher education. However, in these days, more and more people are going
on to higher education.
One can divide Japanese schools into two kinds: public schools and private schools. All schools, except most of the public elementary and junior high schools have different entrance examinations, including even private kindergartens. Generally, private schools have earned higher reputations than public ones. As for universities, private ones and public ones are competitive.
To provide a fuller picture of Japanese education, I would like to describe
student life, beginning briefly with junior and senior high school. One of
the features of junior and senior high school student life is the club activities.
Many students devote their time and effort to these. Some students play basketball,
and others play tennis every day after school as club activities. There are
many sports competitions for these students. Most schools promote club activities
as social life and support them financially. Some schools go so far as to
allow good athletes to enter the school without taking the entrance examination.
Another feature is cram schools. A lot of students go to cram school after
school to study more. Because Japanese believe that better education gives
better jobs, they study extremely hard to pass the entrance examination of
better schools. People think cram schools are efficient in accomplishing their
purpose because they think study in regular school is not focused on the entrance
examinations.
On the other hand, generally university students do not have to study as hard
as lower schools students. This is what people say about Japanese universities:
“Difficult to enter, easy to exit.” There are several reasons
why students do not study hard. Firstly, because they think that getting a
good job will not be difficult if they only graduate from the university.
In fact, universities have had close relationships with companies and students
could get jobs regardless of their school performance, even though the situation
is now changing because of severe recession. Another reason is that people
regard campus life as a moratorium from constant studying and as a chance
to develop social skills. Because students study so hard before they pass
the entrance examination, they need a break before they go to work and some
people think the time at university is for social
life.
So, what do the university students do? We can roughly categorize what they
do during their university time. First one is
club activites. Clubs in university are different from those in junior
and senior high school in that they are far less controlled by schools and
have much variety. Clubs in university are much more popular and active. Some
people say that there are more than two thousand clubs in a big university.
Joining a club in university is a way of making good friends in a huge university.
There is no “class” unit in which students take every class together,
unlike junior and senior high school. Few students live in a dormitory either.
Therefore, Japanese university students do not have enough chance to make
friends, so, clubs are a very good place to do that. Secondly, part
time jobs are very common. According to statistics by the Ministry of
education, about eighty percent of the university students have worked part
time at some time during their university attendance and about half of the
students have a part time job at any given time. Some students make as much
money as a full time worker, up to fifteen hundred dollars a month. Students
work at restaurants, cafeterias, clothing shops, and for companies. Actually,
the Japanese economy would not work without these university student workers.
Another popular thing for university students to do is
studying out side of the school. Even if students are not engaged in studying
for their university, some students study to get some special certification.
Many of these students go to cram school again. Others study to pursue what
they are interested in. For example, students go to take part in academic
symposiums. Studying abroad is also popular.
Education is very important from the perspective of Japanese culture because
education can determine the people’s way of thinking, just as the Meiji
government succeeded to gain the loyalty of the Japanese people as described
above. In Japan, there are many problems in education which should be considered
in addition to the issue of national identity. For example, the Ministry of
Education introduced a “five day a week policy,” which made Saturday
a day off to make leisure time for students to socialize to limit the intensity
of education. However, this became the cause of a decline in student academic
achievement. It also deepened the gap of academic achievement among students.
Another issue is the authority of the Ministry of Education. Because it has
exclusive authority, if its policies are not proper, all of Japan can face
a crisis. Therefore, some people insist on lessening its authority. Like these,
there are many controversial problems and many reforms being suggested. I
think education problems should be discussed and people should be careful
because it is absolutely important and it will determine our future.
Differences in Education System between Vietnam and Japan.
By Thuy Truong & Ayako Sugita
Please contact us by email
 |
Japan and Vietnam are countries in East Asia. These two countries have the same culture in some aspects because they are both in Asia, but in education, Japan has a system which is different from Vietnam completely.
First, you can find a difference in the basic structure of the education systems.
That is, Vietnam and Japan divide the compulsory school time differently. In
fact, Vietnamese elementary school requires 5 years and lower secondary requires
4 years. In contrast, Japanese elementary school has 6 years and junior high
school has 3 years.
There is another contrast here. In Vietnam, the pubic schools are better than
the private schools. However, in Japan, the private schools are generally better
than public schools, except for universities. Japanese who want better education
go to private high, junior high and elementary schools.
The biggest and most interesting educational difference between Japan and Vietnam is the student life. Japanese university students have an easier life than Vietnamese students. In Vietnam, the students can’t get a part-time job. If they go to work, they can’t go to school, because there are just full time jobs. In contrast, in Japan, part-time jobs are very common. Japanese students can work and go to school during their university attendance; they can do some jobs such as waitress, dishwasher in restaurants and cafeterias,or sales clerk in the clothes shops. Japanese students can even earn money, equal to a full time job. In both Vietnam and Japan, there are students whose families are very poor, so they can’t pay for school. However, in Japan, these students can go to work or they can get financial aid from the government to continue their study, but in Vietnam, there is not any financial aid from the government. That’s why if Vietnamese students don’t have money to pay for school, they have to stop their study.
In conclusion, although there are a couple of similarities in education between
Japan and Vietnam, like the total number of years of compulsory education, but
you can see there are some very important differences. For instance, the way
to divide the school year, reputation of private and public schools and student
life. It is very natural that there are such differences in each country’s
education because education systems are related closely to each country’s
culture. Therefore, we can also learn about cultural differences by looking
at the difference of education systems.
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