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The value scale in the Vietnamese culture.

© lana lebozec

With pride, I read many reports that the Vietnamese refugees have done very well at school. Very quickly, some Vietnamese students overcame the language barrier and became quite successful in the classrooms; they were accepted in selective universities such as Ivy Leagues schools or in newer but equally prestigious universities such as Duke, Cal Tech, MIT etc ...Of course, many factors contribute to this phenomenal educational success. I believe the traditional emphasis on the intellectual class in the Vietnamese society has played a significant role in those academic pursuits.

The Vietnamese tradition rates the intellectual class, the intelligentsia, as the highest, then the farmers, the industrialists and last the merchants. (Si, Nong, Cong, Thuong)

In the US, we often read that Bill Gate is judged succesful when this computer whiz made his first billion dollars. In the US, a person is successful when he makes a lot of money. Not so in Vietnam, literature abounds in mockeries aimed at the rich but uneducated. The term troc-phu brought a pejorative meaning to it. In the old Vietnam, the role model is to get a high education. A Ph D degree is often the goal of many Vietnamese youngsters.

This value scale with a strong emphasis on education has provided a fertile soil for the young generation to cultivate the ambition of getting a high education. I am not surprised to hear that many Vietnamese families accepted great sacrifices for their offsprings to attend costly choice graduate schools.

Apparently the desire to get wealthy almost always takes the second seat to the determination to be highly educated.

Is it however a good rating scale? Is it practical in this land of economic competition ?

What do you think ? Would you prefer to be a millionaire with a high school diploma or a Ph.D degree with a comfortable yet modest salary ?

Don't cop out by telling me you want both....Billions of dollars and several Ph.D's. You have to choose between wealth and high education, ...your turn now.

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