A "one-way" culture

Reading books is a habit for Tan (*name has been altered). Tan observed that some writers and poets would submit their works to their instructors for revision and improvement. Tan desired to be similar to them, so he attempted it with his Literature teacher. Tan wrote and submitted an essay to his teacher requesting feedback. However, the teacher did not provide Tan with a positive response at that time. That was the only occasion Tan initiated action.

Tan's interactions with teachers during his high school years were typically tense. There was only one-way interaction between teachers and students, indicating that teachers taught and students learned. Tan recalls that he almost did not respond to the teacher, regardless of whether the teacher was correct or wrong. When Tan attended college, he gained a certain quantity of knowledge that enabled him to distinguish between right and wrong. It could be educational, social, or historical knowledge. Then, Tan had a younger sibling who frequently inquired whether her teachers were teaching correctly or incorrectly. She once asked Tan why her Civic Education teacher mentioned incorrect things about the LGBT topic. At that moment, Tan realized why some teachers could be assigned to teach Civic Education while continuing to hold such erroneous beliefs. Tan attended high school to acquire such knowledge without receiving any feedback.

Tan realized that the most significant distinction between high school teachers and university professors was their level of expertise. In high school, only a limited quantity of knowledge was utilized repeatedly by teachers. At that time, his teachers and parents expected him to obey, work diligently, and concentrate on studying rather than arguing or querying. University professors were more knowledgeable, receptive to new ideas, and willing to answer queries. In addition, Tan met students from various regions. Some of whom were exceptionally talented, and he gained knowledge from them. Tan also gained more confidence in college than in high school due to the abundance of social activities. Tan recognized the complexity and diversity of knowledge and perspectives. Consequently, in that setting, Tan began to experience his individuality. Tan can convey himself and acknowledge that he can become his desired individual.

Another point is Tan was educated in high school 10 years ago. The Internet had yet to be developed then, so it was difficult for Tan to access information or knowledge outside of what was taught in class. Later, when Tan had a younger sibling, he saw that his sibling's social awareness in school was superior to his own. In the past, Tan only knew how to refer to LGBT individuals as "be-de." He felt uncomfortable when he supported them but later realized it was simply their natural expression of gender. In contrast, his sibling already considered this entirely normal. So Tan believed that if students couldn't access this common knowledge, forming their own habits or personalities would be challenging. Tan supposed the secondary school curriculum to be more restrictive than helpful in allowing students to express their opinions.

Tan showed his expectation that students now have greater freedom of expression than they did during Tan's tenure. Currently, Tan observes that education in Vietnam is undergoing gradual change. This change is rated only 1.5/5 by Tan at this time. Even though there have been some programs in which students can debate with one another, these debates are nearly confined to a particular framework. They have not provided any additional openness, and if there are any introductory remarks, they are promptly closed, thereby restricting expression. Suppose there was a student program called X (*name has been altered) when Tan was in university. The students acted as members of parliament and ministers. When Tan played the role of the Minister of Education, he always felt that he had some responsibility to society and needed to prepare how to speak and what to say. Tan gave a friend a copy of his speech, and his friend thought it was good but still stuck to a framework. However, Tan believed that he had at least voiced his opinion on what education should do to be humane, liberating, and moral. Later, the program ended, so Tan thought there hadn’t been much overall change in education in Vietnam.

Regarding selecting textbooks for the next generation's education, Tan observed that individuals were still battling and prioritizing which curriculum was stable enough to examine learning across generations. Tan believed that there should be a greater variety of expressions for there to be a better transformation. And then, we can immediately feel that our society and culture are more open, not a closed and one-way culture anymore.