"The Mother in Legend" and the story of a hundred essays describing mothers as one

This very special portrait has the caption "average beauty when describing my mother and teacher in Vietnam".

The woman's face in the painting is drawn exactly as described in "classic" essays by a generation of students influenced by model essays, especially in the 90s.

From the copied sentences "a hundred lessons as one", the mothers and teachers of all the students are identical with very typical physical features: oval face, straight nose, heart-shaped lips, white teeth like corn kernels, dove eyes, willow-leaf eyebrows, peach cheeks, dimples, hair as soft as a flowing stream, and a neck as tall as a bamboo tree with a hundred joints.

Mr. Nguyen Van Minh (43 years old, Thanh Tri, Hanoi ) burst out laughing when he remembered the essay describing his mother and aunt written more than 30 years ago.

"At first, my essay describing my mother was very honest. I described exactly what I saw about my mother: "My mother is fat, her skin is dark, her eyes are black, her nose is flat." As a result, the teacher gave me 2 points and asked me to rewrite it.

After rewriting according to her instructions, my mother appeared exactly like this picture with a medium height, leisurely walk, white skin, oval face, straight nose, heart-shaped lips, every time she smiled, she revealed white teeth as even as corn kernels...

I remember until my cousin was in 5th grade, about 15 years later, my cousin's mother was also described exactly the same way, no different," Minh shared with Dan Tri reporter.

To Manh Linh (22 years old, Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi) said that even though he belongs to Gen Z, he was also taught to write about his mother like the above caricature.

"I remember that the first generation of Gen Z's essay describing their mother was not much better. There were only a few insignificant differences, for example, I did not describe my mother's neck as a bamboo tree with a hundred joints and her eyes as the eyes of a dove landing and flying.

But my mother also has an oval face, long, shiny hair like a stream, a high, straight nose, and corn-like teeth. Especially, everyone's mother speaks softly," Linh happily recounted.

A portrait of a Vietnamese student's mother shared on social media (Photo source: Facebook Tuan Nguyen).

The online community left many interesting comments below the portrait describing the mother in "model writing" style.

"That's how I described it when I was in school, but at that time I didn't even know what a willow leaf was, what an oval looked like, or if dove eyes were really sparkling," one account wrote.

"The picture turns into words", "Looking at the picture, words run through my mind", "national mother"... are many comments that received approval.

Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Mai - literature teacher at Newton Inter-level School - said that the above mentioned sample essays have been significantly reduced since the implementation of the 2018 generaleducation program.

With the demands of the program, the quality of teachers is increasingly improved. It is no longer common for teachers to confine students to descriptive sentences that lack emotion and authenticity.

"In addition, from junior high school onwards, the teaching of literature is completely renewed. Students approach texts according to genre characteristics. Each literary genre has its own characteristics and basic elements that need to be exploited. Based on these elements, students can completely decode the content of the text without needing to have reference texts.

The requirement of not including textbook materials in the exam also helps students to increasingly rely less on sample essays or teachers' analysis, avoiding rote learning," Ms. Mai shared.

Ms. Mai added that writing is also different now. Students do not need to write 4-5 page essays, but only need to write about 200-600 words, knowing how to filter ideas, be concise and concise but still fully express the necessary content.

The social argumentative essay format also allows students to write what they think, feel, express their personal opinions and perspectives instead of just repeating the teacher's analysis in literary argumentative essay formats like the previous way of learning.

The 2018 general education program will officially be implemented from the 2020-2021 school year for grade 1, the 2021-2022 school year for grade 6 and the 2022-2023 school year for grade 10.

After 5 years, 2024-2025 is the first school year that the program is implemented consistently, throughout from grade 1 to grade 12.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nguoi-me-trong-truyen-thuyet-va-cau-chuyen-tram-bai-van-ta-me-nhu-mot-20250522160331011.htm