VietNamNet Bridge – Students insulting teachers, speaking ill of teachers on Facebook, fighting with teachers in the classroom – does this signify the moral decline of the modern Vietnamese student?

A video clip was posted on the Internet some days ago, displaying a “battle of words” between a male student and a teacher.

“I was sitting still. If I said something, you would say I’m talking back to you. If I don’t, you would say I am stubborn,” says the student at the start of the clip.

Seeing the student throwing out his chest and answering her back with an arrogant attitude, the teacher loses her temper and shouts “Don’t talk back to me. Shut up. You are asking for a slap”. And while student and teacher argue, other students look on, smiling and sneering. The last scene shows the teacher returning to the lecture hall dais, while the student continues arguing.

The event was believed to have happened at a high school in the north.

The clip has raised a heated debate on education forums about modern students’ morality. While older parents say this is unacceptable, some argue that students today have a right to express their viewpoints and answer teachers back if they are unreasonably criticized.

In mid-February, a 11th grader of Nguyen Hue High School in Binh Dinh province not only talked back to his teacher, but fought with the teacher after receiving a slap on the face. The teacher, who reportedly is highly experienced and knowledgeable, was fired for the incident.

Educators nationwide have expressed their opposition to the sacking of this teacher, calling it an “unfair decision”. But others have argued that the teacher needed to be punished for behavior which is completely unacceptable in a school environment.

In early 2013, an 8th grader of Ly Tu Trong Secondary School in Tam Ky City of Quang Nam province, was ordered to stay out of school for one year after she was found to have been causing offense to her teacher on Facebook.

Professor Van Nhu Cuong, a well known educator, noted that it is a pity that the phenomenon of students talking back to teachers has become so pervasive.

In the past, talking back to a teacher was absolutely taboo. Teachers were highly respected in society, with general acceptance of the principle that educators had the right to impose their viewpoints on students.

Things are quite different now, when students are considered to have the right to defend their viewpoints. However, Cuong emphasized that students must not answer back their teachers with such arrogant behaviors.

Cuong noted that these troublesome incidents mostly occur with young teachers, who lack experience. “It seems that pedagogical schools only focus on providing professional knowledge, while not spending time on training future teachers how to behave towards students,” Cuong noted.

VNE