LookAtVietnam – News that a college student flung five liters of acid at a teacher has raised a wave of indignation among educators, students and ordinary people.

A student of the HCM City Agriculture and Forestry University related the story

Architect Le Cong Sy:

What is happening with the teacher-student relation today? Why do more and more student nowadays dare call lecturers to beg for marks, something that no one was bold enough to do in the past? Pessimists are worried about the degrading of student morals.

People may still remember a case that was a hot topic several years ago, when a female student of a local junior college reportedly offered ‘love’ to her lecturer in exchange for good marks. Former or current students are no longer surprised at all if they see other students going to ‘visit’ lecturers at home, or female students becoming ‘closer’ to lecturers after they fail exams.

When I worked as a visiting lecturer in a provincial university, many times I received messages from unknown people who asked me to reveal exam questions beforehand.

While ‘purchasing marks’ and ‘begging for passing exams’ have become more common, and more students and lecturers are selling themselves cheap, we should respect teacher Dang Huu Dung [the victim of the acid attack – ed.] all the more for refusing to raise the marks of an incapable student.

Dang Van Anh, a university lecturer

As a lecturer at a HCM City City technical university, I well understand the danger that immoral students can pose to lecturers. A student once hired hooligans to mug me. However, I was luckier than Dung because the hooligans could not find me at the university. I had refused to give marks to a student because he did not take the exam. I have several thousand students every year. The ones who fail exams are mostly lazy students who play truant and do not spend time on learning.

The worrying thing now is that many students nowadays consider their lecturers as vendors, who sell marks. They think that once they as buyers have paid tuition fees, they have the right to get the goods they want (marks).

Nam Le, a high school teacher

I’m now a high school teacher. I was shocked when I heard about the student who splashed his teacher with acid. I think that we need to reconsider the moral education given students of all grades.

When students study at high schools, teachers only focus on teaching the subjects that students will have to take for the final exams. Students always think that they do not need to spend time on other subjects.

Many teachers always give out high marks which do not truly reflect the students’ capability. Many students ‘purchase’ marks from teachers with money, just like they purchase goods at markets. They are not enthusiastic about learning because they know that they can purchase marks from teachers.

Mai Khanh, Vietnamese student in Australia

The student may indeed have had difficult living conditions. However, he surely failed the exams because of his bad learning capability.

An obsessive pursuit of university degrees, the result of the prevailing way of life, has led to this crime. If the situation cannot be improved and students still can purchase marks from lecturers, true educators will feel apprehensive about assessing students’ capability honestly, while capable students will doubt the fairness of the exam marks.

VietNamNet, TT