Guest Speaker from Vietnam

I felt very priveleged to have Mr. Doan Van Dieu speak to our class about the Vietnamese culture in relation to student's and parents views of important values and traditions. I was amazed with the sense of community the Vietnamese people have and how important it is for young people to show respect for their elders. The Vietnamese culture has many strong core values that help them to become better people and the idea of having these similar communal interests seems like a very positive aspect of their culture, allowing them to have a sense of purpose and belonging within their society. The fact that education is so important to them was especially interesting to me. In the US, the importance of education is undermined and money and power seem to take over. In several of my education classes, as well as in the Santrock text, we have stressed the importance of family involvement in students' lives. In the Vietnamese culture, parents expect their children to do well in school and place strong emphasis on recieving a good education. If students' have this strong family support, they will be more likely to work hard at school and have a better chance at becoming successful adults. If we could adopt this attitude of education being a crucial part of everyones life, I believe we would be more successful at providing more opportunities for students, teaching lessons applicable to real world situations, training teachers effectively, and promoting and challenging student learning in and out of the classroom. Teachers need the support of the entire community in order to prepare students to take on the new challenges of the world today.