Anxiety about memorizing sample essays for writing assignments.

Many parents are fed up with their children memorizing model essays and are worried about the current state of Vietnamese language and essay writing among elementary school students.

The article "No need to memorize sample answers for the end-of-year test" published in Thanh Nien Newspaper on May 4th received many responses from readers.

The students rewrote their essays about their mothers over and over again, and the teacher corrected them so many times that they couldn't even recognize... their own mothers.

V.Nang sent her feedback to Thanh Nien Newspaper: "I noticed that throughout the second semester, the teacher made students rewrite essays describing their mothers over and over again. She corrected the essays so many times that after reading them, I couldn't even recognize my own mother anymore."

Parent An Nguyen shared: "My child is in 3rd grade. The homeroom teacher gave us 3 essay assignments that she had edited, and we had to memorize them for a test before the exam. I hope the Ministry of Education will reform the entire system to restore a pure and transparent education for our children."

• Do not require students to memorize sample answers for the end-of-year test.

Ms. Tra Giang recounted a memory from when her child was in 7th grade, preparing for a literature competition. Her child was very enthusiastic and proud. However, on the day of the preparation, the teacher made her memorize 12 outlines. "At that time, we had just returned to school after the Covid-19 pandemic, and every evening at exactly 7 PM we had to open Zoom to answer questions. My child begged me to ask the teacher to let her leave the group, but I told her to just try her best, the exam was coming up soon. On the morning of the exam, she said she hoped the questions wouldn't be among the ones the teacher had made her study, that she would get a low score and wouldn't choose to participate again next year. From then on, she lost interest in literature."

The tense atmosphere of exam season is present in many families, with parents working hard to help their children with revision.

PHOTO: TN USING AI

According to Thien Thanh's parent, her child, who is in 5th grade, has been asking her to recite her essays for the past few nights, "on the condition that not a single word is wrong, otherwise the teacher will scold her."

Reader My Duc Dang shared: "Honestly, nowadays, children going to school are like parrots. In writing, children should express themselves and write according to their own thoughts. Instead, they follow pre-written sample essays."

Reader Hung.nguyen shared: "I am 69 years old this year, and I see that elementary school students in my time had a very relaxed life. Nowadays, seeing my grandson studying makes me feel sorry for him; he studies continuously from morning until 7 or 8 in the evening."

Reader Hung Do frankly stated: "The most difficult issue is changing teachers' perceptions of how to assess students. Students and parents cannot decide on this matter."

Even elementary school teachers are fed up with 40 identical essay assignments.

Mr. Nguyen Hai Phong (name changed), a former elementary school teacher at a public school in Ho Chi Minh City, told a reporter from Thanh Nien Newspaper that there is a problem of elementary school students writing very similar essays. This is partly due to the impatience of homeroom teachers, many of whom worry that students will not perform well on periodic tests, which would affect the academic performance of the students and the class as a whole. Therefore, to be safer, some teachers will have students write in class, correct their work, and students will use the sample essay as a guide to learn from and follow.

"Back then, I was teaching 4th grade. At the beginning of the school year, having just taken over the class, I assigned students essay writing and when I collected them, I was incredibly disheartened. Nearly 40 essays were almost identical. As a teacher, reading nearly 40 essays that all looked alike was incredibly frustrating. I completely changed the way I taught and taught essay writing, teaching them how to create outlines. To give students more ideas to write about, I played a question-and-answer game with them. I would interview them, and they would answer. From those answers, they could develop their essays," the teacher said.

"The reason why elementary school students' writing is called 'writing practice' is that at this stage, children need to 'practice' writing, not memorize model essays or other people's ideas. That won't develop their thinking skills in the long run," the elementary school teacher stated frankly.

Elementary school students in Ho Chi Minh City participated in a book reading festival, writing reviews about their favorite books – a great way to improve their writing skills.

PHOTO: THUY HANG

The consequence of memorizing model essays when young, and using AI and GPT chat to write essays when older.

Ms. Nguyen Mong Tuyen, founder of the Language Academy, a creative writing teacher for elementary school students, and also a literature tutor for middle and high school students, has had the opportunity to observe many generations of students writing essays and using language in their writing. One reality Ms. Tuyen has noticed is that many elementary school students memorize sample essays to cope with periodic tests. Furthermore, many elementary school students are very proficient in using AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini to get sample essay suggestions to follow.

Using AI when faced with an essay prompt is becoming increasingly common among middle and high school students. At the same time, the first question many students often ask their teachers when receiving an essay prompt is, "Do you have any sample essays or reference materials, teacher?"

As a result, many essays are "produced" with striking similarities. Many essays have a writing style that clearly indicates they were "machine-written," appearing fluent but lacking emotion and personal experience. Many essays also include colloquialisms, sentences lacking subjects and predicates, and even vulgar language, without the students realizing that this is inappropriate.

"When teaching essay writing, teachers also teach students how to think, how to ask questions, and how to critically analyze the issues presented. However, if students become accustomed to having sample essays, to memorizing and being given hints and ideas beforehand, they become lazy in thinking, their language skills wither, their creativity diminishes, and they lose the ability to ask challenging questions. Gradually, memorizing sample essays and following model writing also makes students bored with studying literature," Ms. Tuyen said.

While it's very dangerous that, during their primary school years, students need to retain their imagination, dreams, and boundless creativity, seeing the world in a colorful light, if their thinking is already confined within the teacher's way of expressing and shaping ideas, then when they reach secondary and high school, changing the teaching and learning methods, and reshaping their writing style to develop scientific reasoning and argumentation, will be very difficult and time-consuming.

Students are passionate about reading, which in turn helps improve their essay writing skills.

PHOTO: THUY HANG

Ms. Nguyen Mong Tuyen believes that, along with the innovative efforts of teachers, parents also need to accompany their children on their reading and writing journey, starting from elementary school. Activities such as reading together, discussing essay topics, building outlines, and developing ideas through question-and-answer sessions are encouraged. This helps evoke personal memories and emotions in children before the essay topic is presented, and provides inspiration for eloquent expressions from teachers and friends, thereby generating ideas and emotions that can help them complete their writing independently.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training has instructed that students should not be required to memorize sample answers for end-of-year periodic tests.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training has just issued a document guiding the organization of periodic end-of-year examinations and assessments for primary schools in the 2025-2026 school year.

Based on the practical situation at each school, schools must develop appropriate review plans and organize them; plan, guide, and assist students who have not completed the class curriculum. "Reviews should be conducted in the classroom; for classes with two sessions per day, no homework should be assigned; teaching should not be based on prescriptive syllabi or sample lessons; and students should not be required to memorize sample lessons. Teachers should guide students on methods of self-study and self-review."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/au-lo-viec-hoc-thuoc-bai-mau-tap-lam-van-185260506155138634.htm