VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of people are now considering if they should continue to let their children to study at international schools.

However, a lot of parents have recently discovered the shortcomings in the international education model.

Phan Linh Hung was very surprised when his friends knew that his son was learning at an international school just after talking to him. Hung was told by the friends that the boy had the behaviour like a westerner. The boy used the personal pronoun “I-you” when talking to everyone, including adults, which made adult people fee that they are not respected. Meanwhile, old people think that Hung’s son is not an obedient boy.

The story of Hung’s son proves to be also the story of many other boys and girls of international schools. When communicating, the children’s behaviours show that they do not share the ‘Vietnamese cultural’ norms. The difference in culture has been challenging even their parents and grandparents, as there is an existing gap between the generations.

Tran Dieu Thuy, a teacher at a Vietnamese primary school in district 1, HCM City, related that she has received a 5^th new student who has just shifted from an international school. Thuy complained that the girl always made spelling and grammar mistakes when writing in Vietnamese, though her English is very good.

The mother of the student once brought her daughter to an international school, as she wanted her daughter to learn the independence and the way of thinking of foreigners, and to speak English fluently. As the result, the girl can speak English well, but cannot speak her mother language fluently.

A lot of students of international schools now can speak English better than Vietnamese. According to Dr. Nguyen Kim Dung, Deputy Head of the Education Research Institute, the children who learn English too soon and with unsuitable method, will have their Vietnamese and English languages in a jumble.

A lot of students, who have for many reasons, shifted from international schools into Vietnamese schools, have become shocked due to the big differences in the learning environment. They feel unfamiliar at Vietnamese schools and unable to fall in line with the friends of the new schools. A lot of students have become ‘emotionless’ as they do not have the sense of sharing difficulties with the friends from the families that have financial problems.

Le Ngoc Diep, Head of the Primary Education Division under the HCM City Education and Training Department, said that schools can be seen as a small society which gathers people from many classes.

If the students can join together in learning and playing, they will have a good vision about the society, while they have the sense of sharing and sympathizing with the friends who have difficulties. Meanwhile, the students of international schools who can live in the lap of luxury, may become selfish if the teachers do not have the proper way in helping them creating their personality.

At a holiday camp organized by the HCM City Education and Training recently, while students of Vietnamese schools joined together happily, the students of the only international school at the camp stayed apart, listening to music with their iPods.

The difference in the curriculum of international and Vietnamese schools proves to be also a problem.

After finishing the 10^th class at Bui Thi Xuan High School, Tran Le was sent by her parents to a bilingual school H in district 1, HCM City. Le got a very satisfactory result at the 11^th class of the new school with the marks of 9.3 in Math.

However, Le became nervous after discovering that the knowledge she got at the 11^th class was more cursory than the knowledge her old friends at the Bui Thi Xuan School got. Finally, Le decided to return to a Vietnamese school. She only received a 5.3 in math in the first semester of the 12^th class at the Vietnamese school.

Le’s parents had to invite tutors to give extra lessons to Le. “If I had not brought Le back to the Vietnamese school, Le would have failed the university entrance exams,” said Ngoc Thuy, Le’s mother.

Thuy concluded that if parents are sure that they should only bring their children to international schools when they can be sure that they will send them later to overseas universities. Meanwhile, if students learn at international schools, they will fail the entrance exams to domestic universities.

(Source: Saigon tiep thi)