LookAtVietnam – Twenty eight percent of students turn a blind eye to the problems of other people and do not help them cope.

“I read some stories on newspapers’ forums about student insensitivity and I agree with what they wrote. To be honest, however, I tell my children: ‘Don’t poke your nose into others’ business,’” a mother told Tuoi Tre newspaper.

She tells them that “The only thing you need to do is to learn well. Just go from home to school and then from school to home.”

“If my child jumped on the bandwagon and advised other children against fighting, then he may also be beaten and who will protect him?” the young mother questioned.

She also advised her child not to quarrel with friends and not to fight. “A bad compromise is better than a good lawsuit,” she told the child. However, her son did not agree, “No, I must fight if they pick a quarrel with me first. If you are too good-natured, you will be bullied,” the boy explained.

After some video clips showing students beating others were posted on the Internet, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Vinh Hien admitted to the media that MOET has learned lessons from these student battles. For a long time, MOET has only awarded teachers with excellent students who win prizes in national competitions, not teachers who convert delinquent students. He believes that it is necessary to glorify teachers for many activities, including those who are good at managing their classes.

Giao Duc Thoi Dai newspaper also added that, in educating morality and personality in students, head teachers play the most important role and have the highest responsibility.

Nguyen Hoai Long from the Tay Ho District Education Sub-department commented that, in the past, teachers always went to the homes of their students to learn about their living conditions and about their families. Today very few teachers do that.

“Only when students make big mistakes will teachers contact their parents, and always by phones,” Long observed.

Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, a teacher from Ngoc My Secondary School in Hanoi, has been head teacher for the last four years. She admitted that head teachers nowadays are not close to students as in earlier times.

“Previously, head teachers could be described as a second mother who shared everything with their students,” Yen offered. “Nowadays, students do not come to seek advice from teachers if they have problems.”

Long said that head teachers must always take on a huge volume of work with no extra pay. This explains why no one wants to become a head teacher and they consider class management as yet another task they must do, rather than a duty that they love.

Tien Ngoc