Discussions of Viet Nam's educational system in imperial times often focus on Quoc Tu Giam, the National University in Thang Long (Ha Noi), or on the system of state-run provincial schools. But in fact, that formal educational system absorbed only a tiny fraction of learners, most of them from upper-class backgrounds. Spontaneous, informal village schools catered to the learning needs of the greater population. These schools had two types of teachers: those who held academic titles but liked a hermit's life and those with talent who had failed the public examinations.
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| The Temple of Literature |
Village schools took different forms. A teacher with a large house used it as both residence and school. However, a poorer teacher might stay at a wealthy man's house and teach his landlord's children and others as well. Peasants treated teachers with respect, as these Vietnamese sayings reflect: "One word is a teacher; half a word is a teacher" and "Without a teacher, you will be nobody."
Parents and the teacher handled the student's enrollment. Parents would ask a teacher to accept a son when the boy was six or seven years old. The teacher then asked his landlord's permission to accept children from outside the landlord's family. Usually the landlord agreed since this honoured his family. The parents contributed a chicken, a plate of sticky rice, and a jar of rice wine to the ceremony to initiate the boy into the class. During the meal, the teacher, landlord, and the parents discussed the boy's character and future prospects.
The first few months of classes contained lessons on morality. Boys learned to behave politely towards their elders and did odd jobs such as sweeping the yard and classroom or rubbing ink for the teacher. The teacher beat boys who made mistakes. After the lessons on morality, the teacher began teaching the boys how to read and write Han (Chinese) script.
The teacher sat on a flower-patterned mat with a stationery box, pen brushes, an ink-rubbing plate, and a tobacco pipe nearby. The pupils faced the teacher, sitting on smaller mats, with the youngest boys in the front. Local schools had age differences ranging from small children to married men preparing for the regional examination. Teachers worked with each age group in turn. If the class was large, the teacher appointed two school monitors to help him, one dealing with internal administration and one with external affairs.
Students arrived at six in the morning to submit their homework to the teacher, then returned home for breakfast. At nine, students came back to school and stayed until three in the afternoon. They followed this schedule every day without weekends off but did have three long holidays to help their parents farm: the fifth lunar month, the tenth lunar month, and two months around the Lunar New Year (Tet).
Parents paid teachers once or twice a year; in addition, each year the landlord bought the teacher two pairs of trousers, two gowns, and three short-sleeved shirts. Sometimes, parents offered the teacher money to buy gifts before he went home on holiday. An adult student might even accompany the teacher back to his home village. During the reign of King Minh Mang (1820-1840), the Royal Court instructed provinces to use part of the revenue from public fields to support village teachers whenever crops failed or the people were poor.
Students collected "fellow-follower money "for a teacher whose close family member had died. The internal school monitor prepared a list of assigned contributions based on the family circumstances of all current and former students; he gave the list to the external monitor for the collection. Public opinion tolerated tax evasion but condemned evasion of moral duty to contribute "fellow-follower money" for one's teacher.
Village schools followed the Government curriculum, using Confucian classics in Chinese script and books of verses prepared by Vietnamese authors to help students memorise Han script. Village schools also prepared students for public examinations at regional and central levels. The best schools attracted students from outside the village.
After the last national examinations in 1919, schools teaching in Han script gradually disappeared from village life. Traditional learning methods also faded. Even though fountain pens and latter ballpoints replaced brushes and ink slabs, a respect for learning remains part of Viet Nam's foundation.