VietNamNet Bridge – The changes in the high school finals were seen as a “revolution”, but many educators see more harm than good.

“It was a serious mistake to allow students to choose two exam subjects for finals,” said Associate Professor Van Nhu Cuong, a well-known educator, who is now headmaster of the Luong The Vinh High School.

In previous years, students had six exam subjects for finals, and all of the subjects were compulsory. These included math, literature and foreign languages, and three others determined every year by MOET.

Students now have only four exam subjects, including two compulsory ones, math and literature, and two optional ones.

This regulation is believed to help ease the burden on students.

However, Cuong disagrees. “If the regulation continues to be applied in the next years, this will lead to serious consequences. Students will only cram for four subjects for final exams, while they will ignore others,” he said.

“Our education aims to prepare comprehensive multi-sided knowledge for students,” Cuong warned.

Tran Trung Hieu, a history teacher of the Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted in Nghe An Province, also thinks that with the new regulation, students will only spend time on four subjects.

If so, the students, who prepare to attend entrance exams to natural science schools will not have necessary knowledge about social sciences, while those who want to follow social studies, will only focus on literature, history and geography, as they don’t care about physics or chemistry.

“It’d be better if MOET tells students to choose the subject exams in the two groups – either the group of natural science subjects (physics, chemistry and biology) or social sciences (history, geography and foreign languages),” Hieu suggested.

MOET said they hoped the reforms would help ease the pressure on students and teachers, and cut down expenses.

However, Cuong pointed out that the goals were unattainable. In the past, with six compulsory exam subjects, the finals lasted three days. And now, the finals last two and a half days.

In the past, MOET had to arrange invigilators for six exam subjects, while it now has to arrange invigilators for eight exam subjects.

Instead of compiling exam questions for six subjects, it now has to raise questions for eight subjects. In some cases, dozens of invigilators, secretaries and security guards have to work just to serve one examinee because only one student in the locality chose the exam subject.

Hieu commented that students were “wise” when they did not choose history as their optional exam subject because this is a difficult subject that requires students to have a good memory. However, this fact should be seen as an alarm bell to the educational system.

“What will happen if Vietnamese students are only good at math, physics, chemistry, biology and foreign languages, the subjects which can bring them better job opportunities, but bad at history and social sciences?” Hieu said.

“What will happen if Vietnamese don’t have knowledge about the nation’s history? Where will they drive the nation to in the future?” he questioned.

Thanh Mai