Anatole France said: “ Family is a very good school” Explain and comment upon that sentence.

                               This essay was written by Tran, van Dien in 1960.

Introduction

           

School is the place where students attend every day to learn academic subjects and where parents leave their children to the professors’ care for education. School is still a place from where will come out good citizens of a country. But a French writer wrote: “ Family is a very good school”. According to him, family has given us useful lessons to become good citizens for society. Let us find out the meaning of it and appreciate its value.

Body of the essay

           

         1.---Explanation

            1.---Family is a school: The role of the mother in family is very important. She is both a mother and an educator. It is on his mother’s knees that a child stammers his first lesson of language. At the age of about three, the baby’s young mind begins to develop very quickly. He inquires about everything happening around him, just to satisfy his curiosity and thirst for knowledge. So, a general knowledge is required for a mother to answer her children’s question. Family is a kind of kindergarten where children acquire a general knowledge which is the base of the school-education.

            2.---Family is a very good school: Family does not teach academic subjects as school does, but the influence family plays upon a child’s heart and mind is stronger and more efficient. It is in family, not in school that he learns the right and wrong, good manners, sympathy and love. All those qualities are more necessary for him than the abstract and bookish lessons of school.

            2.---Comment

           

            The above sentence offers a valuable lesson about the importance of family from educational point of view. It still means that the education a child gets from his family is no less, if not more important than the education he gets at school. The above sentence is perfectly right if it is applied to the nation which considers family as a basic unit of society. In such a country, a good child in the family will be a good citizen in society. But in the society where family does not prevail, the sentence has only a relative value.

Conclusion

           To sum up, we can say that school only trains specialists but family forms good citizens who know how to behave towards themselves and others.

A good book is a good friend

This essay was written by Tran, van Dien in 1960.

Introduction

            We all have friends, and friends are of different kinds: people around us, birds and animals, mountains and hills… But there still is another kind of friend. It is book and literature, therefore it is said that “a good book is a good friend”. Let us examine what books have done for our good and what duties we should have towards them.

Body of the essay

            Like a good friend, a good book brings much help to our daily life.

            1.- From intellectual point of view: A book is a very good friend always ready to teach us all branches of knowledge and tell us good things to do and bad things to avoid. Moreover, it is the easiest friend of all; we can come to him any time we like and talk to him as long as we want. When we are tired, we can leave him without any excuse, because he was born just to please you.

            2.- From sentimental point of view:  In books are hidden the feelings and emotions of the author. A book is a good friend, on whom we can rely and with whom we can interchange ideas and feelings. Better than any other friend, he can comfort us, support us and help us through the most tedious moment of life. Montesquieu confessed sincerely: “Learning has been for me the most efficient medicine against the disgust of life. No sorrows of mine cannot be chased away by an hour of reading”.

Conclusion

            A good book is indeed a good friend. As we love our friends, esteem, respect and believe them, so we should love and trust books. We can make fortune by our friends’ help, we can also get rich thanks to books. If we become famous through our friends, why cannot we remain immortal thanks to books? So, let us have a good book for friend; it will be of great help to us throughout our life.

Using Your “Chance In Life”

Author is unknown

            A “chance in life” means a chance to become a statesman, an artist, a physician, an inventor, or to do some other useful work. Many boys and girls are unable to use their opportunities and to a great extent, their lives are a failure. Others take advantage of every opportunity, work during all their waking hours, and if a very difficult position is presented to them, they rejoice in trying to conquer it. One of the most expert mining engineers was asked one day to explain his success. A far-away look came into his eyes as he answered the question simply: “My father was a brilliant engineer. A great career was ahead of him, but when I was five years old he was struck down by fever. The day before he died, he put his hand in mine and said “I’ll have to leave my chance to you, son; don’t waste it!”. As I grew up I firmly believed that I must do my own work and his too. I never wasted a moment; I never lost an opportunity to get ahead. I felt all the time that I was being pushed forward by some invisible power. The greatest pleasure that I had as a young man was when my employer said to me that I was worth two ordinary assistants”.

            To use another person’s chance as well as yours means to do your work a little better than you would otherwise do it. You cannot stop halfway to success. Even if you have no special ability and become, as most of us do, a maker or seller of food or of clothing or of some other articles of use, you must try a little harder to have your work as perfect as possible. A “chance in life” means a chance to do your best to serve your people in some way or other.

The Magic Of Books

Thomas Carlyle

            Certainly the art of writing is the most miraculous of all things man has devised… In books lies the soul of the whole past time; the articulate audible voice of the past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream. Mighty fleets and armies, harbours and arsenals, vast cities, high-domed, many-engined, they are precious, great: but what do they become? Agamennon¹, the many Agamennons Pericleses², and their Greece; all is gone now to some ruined fragments, dumb mournful wrecks and blocks: but the books of Greece! There Greece, to every thinker, still very literally lives, can be called up again into life. No magic Rune³ is stranger than a book. All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books. They are the chosen possession of men.

Thomas Carlyle

(1)   Agamennon: a brave Greece King who led the armies in the war against Troy.

(2)   Pericles: a great Athenian Statmen (5^th century B.C.).

(3)   Rune: the name given to the letters in the old Teutonic alphabet, which were often used as magic signs

On Reading

L. A. HILL

                The first thing necessary to the pleasure of reading is that when people are young they should acquire the habit of reading. This is becoming more and more difficult. Before I was aware of things in the world; the Penny Post had already begun to make a change adverse to reading, by consuming a vast amount of time in correspondence that was unnecessary, trivial, or boring. Railways have altered people’s habits by making them move about much more. But railways have this compensating advantage that although they take people much away from home, a long railway journey affords a first-rate opportunity for reading. They were not, therefore, an unmixed disadvantage. But now things are changing. The motor-car is altogether unfavourable to reading. People consume more time in moving about than they did; and they consume it under conditions which, even for people with good eyes, must make reading difficult, if not impossible. The telephone is a deadly disadvantage; it cuts time up into fragments and irritates the spirit. Wireless, with all its delights, is now being added as a distraction to divert people from time that might be given to the pleasure of reading. The cinema is another change in the same direction, and flying is becoming more and more common. All these things must make it more difficult for successive generations to acquire the habit of reading, and, if that habit be acquired, to maintain it. Even before all these changes, it was not easy to maintain the habit, but it could be done.

Economist, Scientist and Humanists.(Man versus Nature)

Aldous Huxley* (1894-1963)

“There are certain values which we feel to be absolute. Truth is one of them. We have an immediate conviction of its high, its supreme importance. Science is the organized search for truth and, as such, must be looked upon as an end in itself, requiring no further justification than its own existence. But truth about the nature of things gives us, when discovered, a certain control over those things. Science is power as well as truth. Besides being an end in itself, it is a means to other ends. Science as an end in itself directly concerns only scientific workers and philosophers. As a means, it concerns every member of a civilized community. I propose to discuss here science as a means to ulterior ends – ends which may be summed up in the single vague and comprehensive word, “Civilization”.

Our civilization, as each of us is uncomfortably aware, is passing through a time of crisis. Why should this be? What are the causes of our present troubles? Most of them are due, in the last resort, to the fact that science has been applied to human affairs, but not applied adequately or consistently.

In the past, man’s worst enemy was nature. He lived under the continual threat of  famine and pestilence; a wet Summer could bring death to whole nations, and every winter a menace. Mountains stood like a barrier between people and people; a sea was less a highway than an impassable division.

Today, nature, though still an enemy, is an enemy almost completely conquered. Modern transportation has made the resources of the entire planet accessible to all its inhabitants. Modern medicine and sanitation allow dense populations to cover the ground without risk pestilence. True, we are still at the mercy of the more violent natural convulsions. Against earthquake, flood and hurricane, man has, as yet devised no adequate protection. But these major cataclysms are rare. At most times, nature is no longer formidable; she has been subdued…”

*Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The best age to be*

L.A. Hill & R.D.S Fieden

How often one hears children wishing they were grown up, and old people wishing they were young again. Each age has its pleasures and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless regrets．

Childhood is a time when there are few responsibilities to make life difficult. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after and loved, whatever he may do. It is impossible that he will ever again in his life be given so much without having to do anything in return. In addition, life is always presenting new things to the child-things that have lost their interest for older people because they are too well-known. But a child has his parents, he is not so free to do what he wishes to do; he is continually being told not to do things or being punished for what he has done wrong.

When the young man starts to earn his own living, he can no longer expect others to pay for his food, his clothes, and his room, but has to work if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go hungry. And if he breaks the laws of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may go to prison. If  however, he works hard, keeps out of trouble and has good health, he can have the great happiness of building up for himself his own position in society and enjoy success and good reputation.

Old age has always been thought of as the worst age to be, but it is not necessary for the old to be unhappy. Old age has it own happiness. They can have the joy of seeing their children making progress in life; they can watch their grandchildren growing up around them and, perhaps, best of all, they can, if their life has been a useful one, feel the happiness of having come through the battle of life safely and of having reached a time when they can lie back and rest, leaving others to continue the fight.

*Source:
Tran, van Đien, Complete English Essay Course, Saigon: Song Moi, 1961, p.285-286

The secret of life is not to do what we like, but to like what we do.

This essay was written by Tran, van Dien in 1960.

 Interest is an efficient motive of human actions. We generally do what we like; because when doing what we like, we can carry on our longer and therefore, get more happy results. But somebody holds that: "The secret of life is not to do what we like but to like what we do". Is this sentence right or not?

Body of the essay:

I.   To do what we like:

- What we like, is generally bad things, because they are aroused by low desires and passions. Our whimsical nature often leads us to desire what is forbidden and obnoxious. Especially those who do not have a strong will and a well-trained mind, may often like wrong things.

- Furthermore, our desires do not last. Today we may desire what yesterday we hated; yesterday we hated what we like today. So, if we only do what we like, our work may be left unfinished easily.

Therefore, it is much better to like what we do.

II.   To like what we do:

-       What we do here means what we ought to do, i.e. our duties, our daily work. They are really heavy and require a continual effort but effort can be made only through the warmth of desires and passions. By liking what we do, we shall find joy in our work and be able to get over difficulties.

Conclusion:

Most of us generally act under the impulse of passions and temporary desires. It is the reason why we often experience failures and our effort never comes to a happy end. Living in society, we have many duties and responsibilities towards society and our happiness does not consist in ephemeral pleasures but in fulfillment of our daily duties. So, let us bear in mind this golden rule: "the secret of life is not to do what we like but to like what we do".

Does money make man happy ?

This essay was written  by Tran, van Dien in 1960.

Introduction:

People often says that with money they can get everything. In this modern society where matter prevails upon spirit, money is so highly esteemed that is considered as the only factor of happiness. Does money really make man happy?

Body of the essay:

To give a definite answer, we should distinguish two different conceptions of happiness.

1. Money can create happiness: To some people, happiness consists mainly in material things. Happiness here means the satisfaction of mean desires and low passions. Happiness is nothing but the satisfaction of physical needs, the abundance of earthly pleasures and distractions. To such kind of people, money is the only means of getting happiness.

2.-Money cannot create happiness: But to others, happiness has a nobler significance because it consists mainly in spiritual things: the peace of mind, the sincere love between two hearts and the sincere understanding between souls. Money is only a material thing, so it cannot create real happiness.

3.- The middle way: Money cannot create happiness but it contributes to the acquirement of happiness. In other words, not all those who have money, are happy because unhappy people can be found living in abundance and luxury. On the contrary, some poor people may live very happy. Instead of bringing happiness, money may cause misunderstandings, discords, quarrels, adultery which ruin happiness. The same is to be said of poverty which is the cause of all evils.

Conclusion:

To sum up, happiness does not depend on the quantity of money but depends on the way how we spend it. Like science, money is edged tool, which only does good to those who know how to use it.

A man is known by the company he keeps.

This essay is written by Tran, van Dien in 1960

Introduction:

We often judge a man's value by his acquaintance and friends. The instinct of imitation of men, their self-love and the force of examples contribute to making a man similar to those he frequents. There a proverb runs:"A man is known by the company he keeps".

Body of the essay:

I.- Explanation:

1.-People naturally seek the company of those who have the same temperament, tastes and interests. Examples are abundant in life for the proof of these facts. A bad student looks for a lazy friend. Good students, on the contrary, play together. Farmers like to converse with farmers; poets prefer the companionship of poets. Fools do not like the society of wise men, and wise men avoid the company of fools. Another proverb has also stated:"Birds of feather flock together".

2.-Friendship, therefore, plays a great influence upon our behaviour. Our self-love leads us to compete with our friends. The instinct of imitation also invites us to do as others around us do.

3.-It is why the choice of good company is very importance. If the person we frequent is good and honest, we have a chance to get better. If, on the contrary, our friends are vicious persons, we soon get rotten by imitating their speeches, gestures and actions.

II.-Comment:

The above proverb, however cannot be accepted without any reserves. There are people of character whose personality is so steadily built that their conduct do not change as easily as ordinary men's. They are similar to a lotus flower which grows in dirty mud but still keeps its own fragrance. Abraham Lincoln is a typical example. When he was young, he used to frequent bad people, wrestle boy, however finally he became not only a good man, but also an outstanding figure in the history of America.

Conclusion:

The above proverb is still a general rule by which we can judge others. Let us be careful about the choice of friends. Let us frequent good people and avoid bad friends. There is a Vietnamese proverb expressing the same truth:"Close to the ink, you will be blackened; near the lamp, you will be lit up!"

Do patients in mental hospitals/ institutions have the right to refuse treatment ?

                                                 Tony Nguyen vinh Thuong

Psychology is the science that studies usual patterns of behavior, feeling and thought.

Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behaviour, feeling and thought. Psychopathology is a similar term to abnormal psychology, but it is a term more commonly used in the medical specialty known as psychiatry.

Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Social Workers . . . who study abnormal psychology usually work to treat people who have some type of mental illness.

A mental illness/ mental disorder/ psychiatric disorder is a behavioral pattern that causes either suffering or an impaired ability to function in ordinary life, and which is not developmental or social norm.

Treatment and support for mental illnesses/ mental disorders are provided in psychiatric hospital/ mental health institutions, clinics or any of a diverse range of community health services. Many professions specialize in the treatment of mental disorders/ illness such as: Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Counsellors, Public Health Professionals, and Peer Supporters.

This essay  was written in April,1986.The focus was on the discussion about the right of patients in Mental/Psychiatric Hospitals to refuse treatment in accordance with Human-Rights-Oriented Laws, Ontario Mental Hospitals Act-August,1979 and Ontario Mental Health Act-June, 1984

The content has 5 parts as follows:

I.      Introduction

II.  The right to refuse treatment of the patients in the Mental Health Institutions. 

III. The consequence of refusal for treatment in the Mental Health Institution.

IV. The legal problems surrounding the refusal treatment issue.

V.  Conclusion 

I. INTRODUCTION

Recently, there is a strong trend toward guaranteeing the patients certain basic rights, especially the right to consent to treatment and the right to refuse certain types of treatment. In fact, in most medical situations, a patient seeks treatment voluntarily and he/she is free to consent to or to refuse any treatment prescribed by his/her physician. But in regards to a mentally ill patient, two problems may arise such as: a patient has not sought treatment and does not intend to be treated in the case a patient is detained; and another problem is that a patient's legal capacity to consent to treatment or to refuse treatment is questionable. The right of psychiatric patient to refuse treatment, together with the right to consent to treatment is subject of enormous complexity, involving legal, psychological, ethical and socio-economic considerations. Especially, when a patient is in the mental health institution or in the psychiatric hospital, does he/she have the right to refuse treatment? In order to answer this question, we will refer to the existing Ontario mental health Act, Ontario mental hospital Act, Human-Rights-Oriented Law and Human-Rights-Oriented Laws.     

II. The right to refuse treatment of the patients in the mental health institutions.

As the matter of fact, the right to refuse treatment of the patients in mental health institutions is really the complexities and problems involving  the inter-actions of the legal and mental health systems.

 The patients in the mental health institutions have different legal status: a voluntary patient, an involuntary patient, a 5-day-assessment, a patient is sent to the psychiatric hospital by a court order.

1. Some definitions:

1.a.- A voluntary patient (also called informal): is a patient who is in the mental heath institution because he/she wishes to be there.

1.b- 5-day-assessment (also called a Form 1 ) means up to 120 hours, a patient who can be detained in the mental health institution can have the right to say yes or no to drugs or any other treatment during  this period (120 hours-assessment). When the assessment is done, the doctor will decide whether to:

 - discharge a patient, or

- admit a patient as a voluntary patient if a patient wishes to stay, or

- admit a patient as an involuntary patient.

1.c- An involuntary patient (also called Form 3 and Form 4 ) means a patient who is detained in a mental health institution under a certificate of involuntary admission or a certificate of renewal. It states that a patient has a mental disorder; a mental disorder means any disease or disability of the mind. An involuntary patient is held and treated under the authority of certificate that lasts for only a specified period. When that time is over, a patient has the right to be released or at least to remain in the hospital voluntarily.

1.d- A patient is sent to the psychiatric hospital by a court order: the Judge may issue an order which require the person to attend a psychiatric hospital for examination.

2. The right to refuse treatment:

The fact that a person is suffering from a mental illness is in the psychiatric hospital does not necessarily mean that he/she can not consent to his/her own treatment. If he/she is capable of understanding, he/she can consent to treatment or can refuse treatment. But the right to refuse treatment of a patient in the mental health institution is an extremely difficulty question.

A voluntary versus an involuntary patient does not overcome the significant questions of personal rights. Generally, the amount of control that a patient has over treatment depends to some degree on whether that a patient is a voluntary patient or an involuntary patient. It means that the patient’s consent-to-treatment and refusal-treatment depends on his/her legal capacity.

In the point of view of legislation, the right to refuse treatment in the mental health institutions involves one of the most fundamental and basic rights in a civilized and free society. It is the right to be free from having other individuals  or the state interfering with one's body. Because this right is intrinsic to a free society, an exception to it must be very clearly and specifically spelled out in law. We will describe the right to refuse treatment of the in-patient (the patient in the mental health institution) according to the current legislation.

2.a- The kinds of treatment in psychiatric hospital: The mental health institution may offer the mental patients many different kinds of treatment :

- Drugs

 - Group therapy

- Individual therapy

- Electro-shock therapy

 - Behaviour modification ...etc...

2.b- In the case, a patient is a person under 16 years old. He/she is not of legal age. So, his/her parent or guardian should have the right to refuse treatment on behalf of him/her in the mental health institution.

2.c- In the case, a person is detained in the mental health institution by a court order: The Judge has the reason to believe a person who appears before him charged with or convicted of an offence is suffering from mental disorder. The Judge may issue an order which will require the person to attend a psychiatric hospital for examination. Under the criminal code, a person may be detained in the mental health institution in accordance with the law. In this case, a patient can not have the right to refuse treatment because he is.

2d. In the case of a voluntary patient, or a patient under a 5-day-assessment:

- A voluntary patient has the right to consent to treatment or to refuse treatment after he/she get to know about the treatment. By law, a voluntary patient has the right to information about the treatment before he/she decides if he/she wants it.

For example 1: A voluntary patient (or a patient under a 5-day-assessment) has a right to get answers to questions such as:

 - What is this treatment called?

- What kind of problem is this treatment supposed to help?

- What help is this treatment supposed to give me?

- How much do you want to give me?

- Can this treatment ever hurt me?

- What other treatments can I choose instead?

 - What may happen if I don't take this treatment? 

For example 2: A voluntary patient is being offered one or more drugs as treatment, he/she has the right to know:

 - The name of the drugs.

- What problem it is supposed to treat.

- What help the drug is supposed to give.

 - What is the dosage?

- The harmful effects from taking the drug: do the harmful effects show up right away, or over a long time?

- If I feel harmful effects, will they go away when I stop taking the drug, or can they cause permanent problem?

- Any other drugs I can take, instead, or any treatments besides drugs.

- What may happen if I do not take this drug?

In other words, a voluntary patient or a patient under a 5-day-assessment in the mental health institution has the right to consent to or to refuse any treatment that is offered to him/her at any time. But, we have two exceptions: this patient has a right to make his/her decision without pressure or threat from anyone; this patient can change his/her mind later if he/she agrees to a treatment at one time.

2.e- In the case of an involuntary patient: He/she can be treated without his/her consent under carefully controlled. He/she can lose the right to liberty, so he/she can lose the right to refuse treatment. Again by rule, an involuntary patient can be treated without his/her consent if his/her doctor feels he/she is not competent to decide whether or not to undergo treatment. Doctor must get permission from patient's family or the Review Board in the mental health institution. But, there are two exceptions: 1. An involuntary patient is under a 5-day-assessment: he/she has the right to refuse treatment.  2. An involuntary patient can appeal the decision of the Review Board for permission to treat this patient without his/her consent in the court. During the appeal process, the mental health institution cannot treat the involuntary patient against his/her will.

III. The consequence of refusal for treatment in the mental health institution:

1.      In the case of a voluntary patient: Whenever a voluntary patient refuses any treatment, doctor in the psychiatric hospital should stop that kind of treatment.

2.       In the case of an involuntary patient: by rule, an involuntary patient does not have the right to refuse treatment. But he/she can appeal the decision of the Review Board for permission to treat him/her in the court. Subsequently, the treatment should be stopped during the appeal process until the decision of the Judge will be made.

IV.   The legal problems surrounding the refusal-treatment issue.

The right to refuse treatment poses legal problems such as the patient's competency to decide whether or not to undergo treatment, rights and constraints arising from the various legal statuses of confinement, religious objections and other exercises of constitutional rights, the difficulty of defining and acquiring the informed consent of a disturbed if legally competent patient, and possible malpractice implications of administering or with holding involuntary treatment of various kinds.

 The most important legal problem surrounding the refusal-treatment issue is the patient's competency to decide whether or not undergo treatment. We suggested the possible solution according to the current legislation in the above section II.

V.   Conclusion:

Generally, mental illness is one of Canada's most urgent health problems. It is also one of the most confusing  areas of Medicine, because symptoms and behaviour are often open to different interpretations.

The right to refuse treatment of patients in Mental Health Institutions consists of the complexities and problems involving the interactions of the legal and mental health systems. This subject requires a continually open dialogue between medical professional, legal council, patients and their families to help patients receive appropriate treatment.                                                                                                                

                                                                                     Toronto, April 21, 1986.

                                                                                     Tony Nguyen vinh Thuong

Bibliography

- Alan A. Stone, M.D, Mental Health and law: A system in transition, Washington: U.S Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1975.

 - A guide to psychiatric patients' rights, A publication of the psychiatric patient advocate office Queen Street Mental Health Centre, Toronto, March 1985.

 - Barry B. Swadron & Donald R. Sullivan, The law and mental disorder, Toronto: The Canadian Mental Health Association, 1973.

 - Blotzin and Acocella, Abnormal Psychology : Current Perspectives, USA: Random House, 1980.

 - Lorne Elkin Rozovsky, The Canadian patient's Book of Rights, Toronto: Doubleday Canada Limited, 1980.

 - Ontario Mental Health Act, June 1984.

 - Ontario Mental Hospitals Act, August 1979.

 - Rights and Responsibilities: A guide to the Mental Health Act, Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Health, 1984.

A Cross-cultural Glimpse of the Vietnamese People in Canada

Tony Nguyen Vinh Thuong

The article “A Cross-Culture Glimpse of the Vietnamese People in Canada” was originally written by TNVT in 1992. It was  published in Ban Viet (Friends of Viet Nam) in November 1994, issue No. 23, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Ban Viet was published monthly by “Vietnamese Association – Toronto”, Toronto, Canada.  This article was reviewed on October 19th, 2013.  

I. INTR0DUCTION

Under the terms, of the Geneva Accord, signed in 1954 in Switzerland, Vietnam was divided into two parts, after being a French colony for almost 100 years. The Northern half of the country, from the 17th Parallel, was placed under the control of the Communist regime that belonged to the Third International Communist Movement. The Southern half of country, from the I7th Parallel, was placed under the control of the Non-Communist Nationalists.

                 

However, the civil war was not yet over.  On April 30th, 1975 the Saigon Government of South Vietnam fell, and the Hanoi government of Northern Vietnam took over the South. Once again, Vietnam was one unit under the control of the Communist regime.

                

Since 1975 the South Vietnamese people have not been able to adapt politically to the new Communist regime.   As a result, many hundreds of thousands escaped from Vietnam to go to some of the neighboring third world countries.  There were also many North Vietnamese who escaped from the Country.

               

Many Vietnamese people who lived in the refugee camps in Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines were approved to immigrate to Canada in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

              

 The major reason for the Vietnamese wanting to emigrate to Canada was that they considered Canada to be a land of honey and freedom.

              

 One of the main problems that the original Vietnamese immigrants faced when in Canada, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, was their inability to understand the English language.  The “culture shock”, the difference between the Vietnamese culture and value system as compared to the Canadian cultural value system, was hard for the Vietnamese settling in Canada.   Fortunately, the Canadian government helped them in terms of settling in Canada.

II. A CROSS-CULTURAL GLIMPSE OF THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE IN CANADA

     1. Vietnamese Main Characters:

             

a) Industriousness, combined with thrift, patience, determination, and endurance:

This allows a Vietnamese farmer to plow his field all day under the hot sun, walking slowly behind his water-buffalo, ankles deep in the mud of the rice patties. It’s also, the Vietnamese insist, recalling the recent Vietnam War, the trail that allowed a whole army to be supplied bit by bit, like ants, by provisions carried on the backs of men and women who had to travel on foot for hundreds of miles over perilous jungle trails.  These characteristics mean the quiet willingness to do things the hard way when the hard way is the only way possible.(1)

b) Love of Learning:

Vietnam is a small country where the literacy rate is a hundred percent. Many great scholars and scientists devoted their entire lives to the pursuit of knowledge and the investigation of matters. The love of learning, which Vietnamese talk about, is actually a traditional, deep, and almost subconscious respect for wisdom and learning.  The meaning of the love of learning is to strive to seek and never yield in the pursuit of knowledge. This characteristic has influenced the Vietnamese way of life. (2)

              

 c) Respect for Teachers:

All Vietnamese students respect their teachers. They consider their teachers as faultless people; and they are taught to obey their teachers.  Parents are also to respect their children’s teachers.  Teachers in Vietnam are not rich, but they hold a high moral role in society.(3)

There is a Vietnamese saying: “If you learn one word from one person, he is your teacher. Even if you learn half of the word from one person, he is also your teacher.”  (Mot chu cung la thay, nua chu cung la thay.)

d) Love of Country:

Most Vietnamese love their native country. They tend to sacrifice their individual interests and their different sects for the common good of their country.  They also tend to sacrifice their lives for the independence and freedom of their country when the boundaries of their country are threatened by invaders.(4)

Now, millions of Vietnamese live in other countries, but they cannot forget their own nationality.  They feel homesick “because there is no place like home.”  The more they live abroad, the more they love their country. The more they remember their country, the more they wish to return to visit or to be resident.  As an English poet, William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850), wrote:

“I travelled among unknown men, 

 In lands beyond the sea; 

 Nor, England!  did I know till then  

What  love  I bore to thee.”…

(W. Wordsworth, I travelled among unknown men.)

   

2. Child Rearing Practices:

The family is the only group that really matter for the Vietnamese.  In the family, the father is responsible for rearing the children. The father works to provide food, shelter and education for the whole family.  The father is a role model for the children.  Parents want their children to be educated, as well as to become a good person in society.  Parents expect their children to do something good for the family.  When the father dies, the mother becomes the head of the family by virtue of her age and authority.  Her greatest concerns and responsibilities are in helping family members to develop a closeness and sense of responsibility for one another.  She is expected to be strong and to be in finding resources to help others in need.(5)

3. Social Role in Vietnamese Culture:

a) Males versus Females:

In families and in society, males are respected more than females.  People prefer boys to girls.  The husband has the most power in the family.  However, when the husband dies the wife takes over as a head of the family.   Since the French and the Americans have influenced Vietnam in the 20th century, males and females are almost equal. (6)

b) Elders:

In the Vietnamese culture, society respects the Elderly people.  They feel the Elder has many life experiences, knows the tradition of the nation, and knows the custom and the culture.   At a social event people place Seniors at a respected place.  When they want to do something, they always ask Seniors for advice, especially when the country is threatened by a foreign enemy.(7)

c) Children: 

 In the family, the children are to absolutely respect their parents, especially their father.  The father has power over the children.  The parents often make the decision on the child’s marriage. When the parents are older the children are expected to take care of them.(8)

d) Marriage:

The goal of marriage is to maintain the tradition of the family.  So the parents make the decision for their child’s marriage.  A man should marry a woman so that she gives him children.  If in the marriage a couple doesn’t have a child, the man can get married to another woman in order to have child or children for the family.  This act is now unacceptable in modern times. (9)

4. Family roles:

The family is a fundamental unit of society.  The family has a lot of duties towards society.  The head of the family has a responsibility toward his children’s behavior.  The families are there to educate its members to be good in society.

The family has an important role in society, whereas individuals have lower roles in society.  The family is the group that really counts for the Vietnamese: the “face” should be protected by the members.( 10)

5. Religion:

The three philosophies of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism spread south from China to Vietnam early in Vietnamese cultural history.  These three philosophies play an important role in the Vietnamese system of values and religious beliefs and the pluralistic approach to lifemanship.(11)

In getting to understand the Vietnamese based on these systems of values, we can observe this story:

A Vietnamese refugee family, clearly identified as Buddhist, was visited at their home by a voluntary agency worker around Christmas time last year.  The worker reported that right in the middle of the sparsely furnished living room was a huge Christmas tree with all the trimmings.  She later asked a Vietnamese friend, obviously confused, “Are they really Buddhist?” She was even more confused when the friend saw nothing unusual about a Christmas tree in a Buddhist home.

That common element is an observable ability on the part of the Vietnamese to hold more than one religious belief.  A Vietnamese Catholic also worships his ancestors, exposes more than one ideal, accepts more than one solution to a problem, attempts more than one course of action (i.e. the legal course), and generally tolerates more than one absolute standard for anything.

“While North Americans use a “monistic” approach to life, adopting only one in every type, class and category, the Vietnamese use a pluralistic approach and are comfortable  with a combination and/or an assortment of ideologies.  North Americans seek out the one and only, and give it respect, loyalty and devotion. The Vietnamese search for the alternatives and the other possibilities that will prove workable or satisfactory for their needs” (12)

III. CONCLUSION:

                  
I would like to quote the English translations of excerpts from a Vietnamese book so that we can get to know the Vietnamese people through the eyes of a Vietnamese culture historian:

“(…..) Vietnamese are an intelligent people. They possess a keen sense of observation which gives them the ability to grasp things quickly; it also gives them a tendency to imitate others.  Short on a sense of innovation, they tend to hang on to the old and established ways. They are skillful with their hands and love to outsmart each other in petty matters, an inclination which often leads to craftiness. They have a mocking sense of humor which can sometimes degenerate into disparagement.

Vietnamese have a high regard for mortality and uphold the five Confucian virtues of humanity, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faithfulness as guides for their daily conduct. They love book study and have avid minds.

Ordinarily giving an appearance of being shy and afraid, they value peace and harmony in all relations.  However, when they are laced with danger, or are on the battlefield, they display great bravely and know how to maintain discipline, giving death itself as much weight as an airborne thistledown. Often motivated by compassion for others, they have a sense of gratitude.

Vietnamese also have several serious flaws in their character. They are shallow people who are also boastful. They lack patience and attach great importance to surface appearance.  They yearn for status, fame and fortune, love fun and the gay life, and like to game for money.  They believe in ghosts and spirits, and worship Gods and deities. They are arrogant and love to brag.

A most admirable trait in the Vietnamese, however, is the love they have for their country. It is this strong attachment to their native land that has helped them, several times in the course of history, to liberate their country from domination by their northern neighbor, China; in the last hundred years, it has enable them to keep up a relentless struggle against French colonists...” (13)

In the last 15 years, the Vietnamese ethnic group has contributed to Canada in many different fields such as business, society, and science. However, a few young Vietnamese are in gangs causing trouble in big cities like Toronto and Vancouver.  I think it will take more time in order to evaluate the contribution of Vietnamese ethnic groups to Canada.

The Vietnamese refugees now live in a Canadian society which is quite different from their own society. Therefore, cross-cultural misunderstanding and conflict may occur.  So, in order to understand the Vietnamese more, we can pay attention to the Vietnamese saying:

“Just as the length of a road is known only by actually traveling on it.  
 The qualities of a man are known only by living with him for a while.”./.

( Di lau moi biet duong dai, O lau moi biet con nguoi phai chang)

             * * * 
                                                          

FOOTNOTES:

(1) Le, Van Sieu, Van Minh Viet Nam (Vietnamese Civilization),  Saigon: Nam Chi Tung Thu, 1964, p.31

(2) Ibid., p.203

(3) Ibid. p.203

(4) Nguyen, Vinh Thuong, Y Chi Doc Lap Cua Dan Toc Viet Nam: Toronto: Pho Thong Magazine, 1985.     pp.83-96

 (5)Dao, Duy Anh,Viet Nam Van Hoa Su Cuong( A Short History of Vietnamese Culture), Ha Noi: Quan

Hai Tung Thu, 1937, p.107.

(6) Ibid., p.109

(7) Ibid., p. 107

(8) Ibid., p. 112

(9) Ibid., p. 114

(10) Ibid., p. 120

(11) Le, Van Sieu, Van Minh Viet Nam (Vietnamese Civilization), Saigon: Nam Chi Tung Thu, 1964, p. 73

(12) A Manual for Indochinese Refugee Education, pp. 17-18

(13) Cuu Long & Toan Anh, Vietnamese People, Vietnamese Land, New York: Centre for Applied Linguistics, 1976, p. 328

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

- Cuu Long & Toan anh, Nguoi Viet , Dat Viet ( Vietnamese People, Vietnamese Land), Saigon: Nam Chi Tung Thu, 1967.

- Dao, Duy Anh, Viet Nam Van Hoa Su Cuong ( A short History of Vietnamese culture), Ha noi: Quan Hai Tung Thu, 1937.

- Green, James W., Cultural Awareness In The Human Services, New York: Prentice Hall, 1982.

- Le, Van Sieu, Van Minh Viet Nam (Vietnamese Civilization), Saigon: Nam Chi Tung Thu, 1964.

- Nguyen, Vinh Thuong, Vai Net Dac Trung Cua Van Hoa Viet Nam (Some Special Characters of Vietnamese Culture), Toronto: Chanh Giac quarterly Magazine, Quy Dau Spring Issue, 1993

- Nguyen, Vinh Thuong, Y chi  Doc Lap Cua Dan Toc Viet Nam (The Will to Independence of

The Vietnamese), Toronto: Pho Thong Monthly Magazine , 1985

              -Phan, Ke Binh, Viet Nam Phong Tuc ( Vietnamese Custom ), Ha Noi : Dong Duong Magazine, 1914-1915.

- Toan Anh, Phong Tuc Viet Nam ( Vietnamese Custom), Saigon : Khai Tri, 1968.

              - Vuong, Gia Thuy, Getting to know the Vietnamese and their Culture, New York: Frederick Ungar, 1976.