The Teacher in old Vietnam
By Do Thi Nga
On April 16, 1985, Therese K. Dozier, in a solemn ceremony at the White
House, received her Teacher of the Year award from the President of the United
States. It happened that this outstanding teacher was a half-blooded Vietnamese.
The Vietnamese community took pride of the distinctive honor and most Vietnamese
magazines in the area have run the news on their front page.
It was no surprise to those people who were aware of the long tradition in
Vietnam where the Teacher was only second to the King in the social hierarchy,
and thus, placed above the Father. This hierarchy, like many other aspects of
the social organization, has been inherited from the Chinese, as a result of a
lengthy domination. In our old society, that is before French colonization,
Vietnamese culture was deeply influenced by the Chinese culture, to the point
that we did not have our own writing characters. Students learned from books
written by Chinese philosophers. Their mind and behavior were shaped after the
teachings of these masters.
The Teacher in old Vietnam exerted a large authority upon his students, who
usually lived in his house. Because of this way of life, the student was good at
everything to the teacher's family; he was a housekeeper, a messenger, a
servant, ... a baby sitter before became a true and trustful disciple. this
system of education, somewhat similar to the tutorial method of our present
time, was widely used, due to lack of public schools.
The Teacher demanded that the students put blind faith in his teachings. He
did not bear that they refute his words, if someone tried to think for himself,
he would be severely punished, having to wear light clothes in the winter or to
eat coarse vegetable soup or meals. It was not unusual that corporal sanctions
were inflicted on recalcitrant students.
But, not all teachers reined such strict discipline. The wise ones won
respect by mystification. They did not want to make them into phonograph
records. Instead, they recognized their errors and frankly praised their
students when they were right.
However, formal or informal, authoritative or not, our teachers of the old
time, known as "Thay Co", did not aim at forming a generation of
researchers, scientists. Their objective was to make their students into
government officials, mandarins, or even rulers. To this end, the student should
become a morally complete man, possessing wisdom, bravery, well versed in
courtesy and poise, able to govern himself, his family, before getting to govern
others (tu tha^n, te^` gia, tri. quo^'c, bi`nh thie^n ha.). He had to behave
like a "qua^n tu+?", a gentleman, if we can say so, with all qualities
such as: humanity, good relationship, ritual, knowledge and loyalty (nha^n,
nghia~, le^~, tri', ti'n).
With the coming of the French colonialists, the Teacher in Vietnam had lost
much of his authority and prestige. Still, he was well respected by his
students. The impact of Western civilization opened large horizons to his
knowledge. He was no more a passive slave of the archaic Chinese concepts about
education. Trained in foreign countries, mainly in France, he became the new
guide on the "learning journey", assuming new responsibilities in
setting the goal, establishing the limits of the trip and determining the way to
be taken.
To perform his duties, the Teacher was allowed to practice corporal sanctions,
to the extent that they would not cause serious injuries to the students. Unruly
students could be subject to a variety of bodily punishments ranging from
battling with rattan stick to kneeling on the floor, through more lenient
penalties like pinching the ear-lobes until they nearly bleed or hitting the
joined finger-tips with a ruler.
Such treatment is completely banned in western countries, especially in the
United States where students are well protected in every point of view. At his
first contact with the American students, the oriental teacher might have been
shocked and offended by their apparently impolite attitude: no salute at all
when they come across their teacher, or if there is a salutation, it is with a
single, shot "Hey", instead of the traditional hand-clasping with a
bow and respectful greeting words, and with hat off.
We must admit that although corporal punishments may seem cruel in some
cases, they brought good results in bringing the disturbers into discipline. And
few were the teachers who were to resort to these extreme measures.
On the contrary, students who were successful in life, were deeply grateful
to their teachers who have devoted their time and efforts to contributing to
their success.
Teaching is a hard and extremely complex mission, so complex that one cannot
see it in complete fullness. Whatever its true nature, teaching remains a noble
career, and the teacher, a respectable instructor, at the same time, a
counselor, a model, a confidant and a friend.
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