VietNamNet Bridge – The textbooks compiled by the HCM City Education and Training Department are more favored by HCM City students than ones by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), because the former is considered more practical and the latter too academic.

After compiling a physics textbook for sixth grader in 2011, the HCM City Education and Training Department this year compiled a textbook for teaching math.

Tran Duc Huyen, a teacher at the Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted, noted that the local education department’s textbooks are more realistic and practical.

Huyen noted that math textbooks in Japan and Australia, for example, give lessons in themes with knowledge that can be applied in real life. Students, for example, are taught how to calculate profits and losses in doing business.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese students can only learn “pure mathematics”, because math textbooks only provide theoretical mathematics. The knowledge provided in the textbooks, in the eyes of Huyen, is too academic, which would be useful only to train math teachers or mathematicians.

“This explains why Vietnamese students are very good at solving math questions, but they are uncreative,” Huyen said. “And this explains why Vietnamese students are very good in learning, but Vietnam’s economy lags behind other economies.”

In principle, the textbooks compiled by MOET and published by the Education Publishing House must be used as the official documents for teaching and learning at general schools nationwide.

The textbooks compiled by the HCM City Education and Training Department are just “for reference”. However, they have been applauded by all teachers, students and parents.

A physics teacher at the Bach Dang Secondary School noted that the HCM City education department’s textbooks have similar content with MOET’s books, but they have more updated information and practical exercises.

He went on to say that while MOET’s books only provided general academic knowledge, HCM City education department’s books give more detailed lessons.

Huyen from Le Hong Phong High School commented that the applicability and integrity should be seen as prerequisites.

“When giving lessons about measurement, we will also give students the geographical knowledge about measuring sea water levels, or knowledge about Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagoes and territorial waters,” he said.

An educator noted that the HCM City’s initiative of compiling textbooks for its students should be lauded.

“As far as I know, the textbooks are written by the most experienced teachers of the city’s schools. This is really a good idea, because the teachers can best understand their students,” he said.

The only problem are high prices. A book from HCM City education department is priced at VND40,000 (180 pages), while a book from the Ministry of Education and Training sells for VND5,500 (88 pages).

Thanh Lich