Vietnamese traditions teach people to be kind to others, respect their elders and be concerned for the poor.
But many young people are ignoring these traditions, though they benefit all of society.
Nguyen Thi Hai, 55, says that her family has to suffer loud music from her neighbours all day and night.
“We’ve asked them time and again to turn down the volume, but they seem to ignore us despite the fact that my 72-year-old family-member had to go to the emergency room because of the noise,” she says.
Instead, the neighbour’s children yell bad words at Hai.
Hoang Que, 75, from the central province of Nghe An, says he has been pushed out the queue at the supermarket by impatient youngsters.
“When I ask them to stay in the queue, they speak many bad words to me,” Que says, adding that, in the past, Vietnamese had to queue up to buy everything from rice and meat to sugar— a skill the younger generation has forgotten.
Everything was always in order; people lined up and took turns buying thing without any complaints or quarrels.
Que says it upsets him to see people speak harshly to each other while they go about their daily life, or to see young people being noisy on the roads and laughing during funeral ceremonies.
It’s not strange to see young people using coarse speech and swearing on the road or in public, says Que. It’s like they think it’s ‘cool’, he adds.
“Many have money, or knowledge, and are even highly-educated. But they all lack self-discipline,” says a teacher at National Economics University.
“According to research on housing and urban life conducted in 1983 by our institute, a person in Ha Noi would spend an average of one hour per day queuing,” says Professor Mai Quynh Nam, director of the Viet Nam Academy of Social Studies. “Service was limited to state-controlled shops. Queuing, thus, became a part of the lifestyle back then.”
In his opinion, things changed when the market opened up and private shops began to bloom.
“Life has become so much easier. People don’t have to queue up any more. Food is sold at their doors. And there went the queuing habit,” he says.
The disappearance of long lines in front of shops was once considered a positive development, he says.
To deal with such behaviour, the Ministry of Education and Training has added a section on “Education of Citizens” to school text books to help inculcate good behaviour among youngsters.
Ninth-grader Khanh Toan says lessons learned from the text book are very helpful. He says he was very selfish before, but now has become a kind-hearted person.
He often collects books to donate to orphans, says Toan’s mother.
Meanwhile, the Ha Noi Department of Education and Training will begin adding a programme on “education of traditions and ethical behaviour” to primary and high schools to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi in October of 2010.
Education experts say the programme will help kids treat the people around them with respect.
“It will help them learn to obey and respect their parents and elders as well as teachers at school and people in society,” says one expert.
Professor Le Thi, former director of the Research Centre for Family and Women under the National Centre for Social Science and Humanities, says parents should teach their children about traditions and social responsibility so they will become productive members of society.
Source – Vietnam News
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