Socialist Vietnam

As I am sitting in the Vietnam air lounge waiting for my flight to Bangkok and wondering how I am going to spend the last of my Vietnam Dong I am also reflecting on my experiences in the socialist republic of Vietnam. I will let Josh and Sylvia solve the other challenge of spending the Dong. It is probably the more difficult of the tasks.

Let me tell you how socialism plays out in the reality of present day Vietnam. There was a school right beside our hotel and when I tried to visit yesterday I couldn’t even get past the guard at the gate. I saw a lot of teachers talking near the door ( in their traditional Vietnam dress) and I tried to make eye contact, thinking that if I could explain I was a teacher from Canada then they would graciously usher me in and we could talk about education and observe some classes.

As it turned out, nothing could be farther from the truth. As I made eye contact with one of the ladies, she gave me an imperious wave of the hand and told the guard to send me on my way. I wondered why the tour guide told me a few days ago it was impossible to see a school which was confirmed by this teacher and now realize how important education is to a society and culture. If education has to be hidden it must be pretty precious.

As one of the tour guides said, one of the reasons there is only one political party in Vietnam is that the people are so poorly educated that it would just lead to a lot of unrest I the Vietnamese people were given political choices because they have such rudimentary knowledge of the political system because of their lack of education. He also said that if Vietnam was going to progress, it had to be through education. One of the paradoxes of the modern world I guess. How much education do you want to give the people versus keeping them uneducated, poor and hard working to make ends meet.

Which leads me back to the question of why they would hide their educational system to the world? I suppose it has something to do with not wanting corrupting outside influences on impressionable children. When Joshua and I snuck into a university in Hue, we obviously could not hide because of our occidental appearance and all the kids were laughing and talking about us as we walked through the halls and observed the classes with the kids all sitting in rows listening to their instructors.

Clearly, communist countries do not want divergent opinion at this stage, or any stage of their development. Education is obviously the key to maintaining and developing the society’s ideology and promotion of culture.( i.e. socialism) This just confirmed to me that I am in a very serious business. I don’t know how successful I am, but what I think I am trying to do is encourage a critical attitude in children and hopefully transform them into good democratic citizens through their questioning attitudes and critical consumption of facts. Clearly, Vietnam education is still in the transmittal stage of promoting communist values and perhaps will always be there.

Education is still not free, health care is expensive and bribing is a way of life. Everyone has to do army service for two years, unless you come from a family that is wealthy enough to bribe your way out of this service.

Vietnam is clearly in a very delicate time and has to make some serious political decisions about wanting to be an open or closed society. The answers will determine their future.