Contribute to the revival of Vietnamese culture

In that flow, the Politburo 's issuance of Resolution 71 on educational and training breakthroughs not only aims to innovate teaching and learning methods, but also continues the cultural ideology of the Party and Uncle Ho, placing personality education in a central position, as the core to foster Vietnamese human culture in the new era.

The foundation of human culture

In the 1943 Cultural Outline, our Party clearly pointed out that building new people is one of the three pillars of the cultural cause. It is not only a political slogan, but also a strategic orientation for the future of the nation: There must be a generation of people with a new system of values, both inheriting tradition and meeting the requirements of the times. More than 80 years later, that spirit was re-illuminated in Resolution 71, when the Politburo affirmed that education must comprehensively foster morality, intelligence, physical strength, and aesthetics, with human development as the center.

Here, personality education becomes the core element. Because education cannot stop at imparting knowledge from books. A society with many people who are good at their profession but lack personality will find it difficult to develop sustainably. The culture of modern Vietnamese people must be the crystallization of intelligence and morality, of the desire to rise up and the sense of responsibility to the community.

Therefore, Resolution 71 emphasizes: Education must contribute to forming a system of values, lifestyle, civic awareness, and nurturing in the young generation love for the homeland, national pride, a spirit of humanity, honesty, and social responsibility.

In fact, this is a direct link between culture and education. Culture does not exist outside of humans, and humans only truly have culture when they are educated and trained in character from a young age. When children are taught to respect others, to live fairly and humanely, when young people are nurtured with a sense of responsibility, honesty and the courage to integrate, then that is also the time when the national culture is strengthened with the healthiest "cells".

In the current context, when the country is entering a period of comprehensive innovation, reorganizing the country, streamlining the apparatus, this requirement becomes even more urgent. Because a society can only be firmly united if its citizens know how to put the common interest above their own interests, and know how to build a civilized living environment together. And that, nothing else, is the result of personality education, the deep foundation of modern Vietnamese culture.

When "teaching letters" must go hand in hand with "teaching people"

It is an undeniable fact that, over the years, we have achieved many successes in expanding the scale of education and improving people's knowledge, but education on personality, ethics and lifestyle has not received due attention. Resolution 71 has frankly pointed out this limitation: "Ethical, physical and aesthetic education has not been given enough attention and is not really effective".

Because of that imbalance, many worrying phenomena have arisen: school violence, cheating in exams, chasing after achievements, and the decline in cultural behavior in schools. This is not only a story within the scope of education, but also reflects the cultural gap in social life. When “teaching words” does not go hand in hand with “teaching people”, when scores are still more important than personality, we can hardly expect a generation of well-rounded citizens.

This reality makes the old adage of our ancestors even more relevant: “First learn manners, then learn knowledge”. In Vietnamese culture, manners and ethics are always placed first. President Ho Chi Minh once said: “Having talent without virtue is useless”. The root of human culture is personality. If the root is not strong, any knowledge or skills will hardly bring long-term benefits to society.

To overcome this situation, Resolution 71 emphasizes the need to respect the honor of teachers, while promoting close coordination between family, school, and society in educating the personality of the young generation. Family is the first environment to form personality; school is the place to train and perfect personality; society is the place where personality is tested and affirmed. When all three environments work together, we can create a healthy and sustainable educational culture.

In the context of Vietnamese society being strongly reformed, entering the era of rearranging the country and streamlining the apparatus, the need to build personality becomes more urgent. Because the success of a policy, an apparatus, or a country ultimately depends on the quality of people. If people have personality, society will be stable and develop. If people lack personality, any reform, any mechanism, no matter how modern, will hardly bring sustainable results.

Educational integration and cultural diffusion

In today's world, integration is no longer a choice but has become a vital condition for a nation to rise up. Education is the shortest and most solid path to integration, because through education, a country can both absorb the quintessence of human knowledge and introduce its cultural identity to international friends. Resolution 71 has clearly affirmed this orientation: Education development must be based on traditional values, at the same time absorbing the quintessence of humankind, linked to international standards, towards forming a generation of global Vietnamese citizens.

That means, the future generation of Vietnamese youth not only has patriotism and national character, but also has the ability to communicate, cooperate and be creative in a globalized environment. Successful overseas students, international students who choose Vietnam to learn Vietnamese and experience culture, or increasingly expanding international training cooperation programs, all show that educational integration has become a bridge for Vietnamese culture to step out into the world. And it is also in that process that Vietnamese cultural identity is affirmed and spread by the feet of knowledge.

But integration does not mean dissolution. Resolution 71 emphasizes the need to ensure cultural security during the integration process. This is a particularly important point, because an education system that wants to be strong must know how to preserve its roots. That root is the Vietnamese language, the national history, and the cultural identity that has been forged over thousands of years. Successful integration can only happen when we have the courage to absorb new things without losing what has made us who we are.

As the country is entering a period of national reorganization, educational integration is doubly significant. It is both an opportunity for newly formed localities to access global knowledge and attract international resources for educational and cultural development, and a way to affirm that, despite changes in the administrative map, Vietnamese culture and education are still a unified entity, ready to connect and spread.

It can be said that if we consider the five recent pillar resolutions: Resolution 57 on science and technology, 59 on international integration, 66 on the rule of law, 68 on the private economy and 71 on educational breakthroughs, as the pillars supporting the common roof of the nation, then Resolution 71 is the main pillar. Because, no matter how important science, economics or the rule of law are, in the end they still have to rely on people.

Personality education is a way to build a solid foundation for people, so that they have enough knowledge, personality, and courage to master the era. Resolution 71 is therefore not only an educational document, but also a new cultural declaration for the Vietnamese people in the era of rising up. It affirms that to have a strong country, first of all, there must be well-rounded Vietnamese people, with knowledge to integrate, personality to unite, and courage to assert themselves.

When education truly becomes the top national policy in its true sense, when personality is placed on par with knowledge in all policies and actions, then Vietnamese culture will be revived.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/gop-phan-chan-hung-van-hoa-con-nguoi-viet-nam-167669.html