As a top policy priority, education and training are the long-term cause of our Party, State, and people. Throughout this cause, selectively acquiring the quintessence of the world to improve the quality of education and training is necessary. However, it can’t be denied that “xenophilia” resulting in derailments in Vietnamese education is very hazardous; thus, it is vital to resolutely counter this phenomenon.

Xenophilia is not a widespread phenomenon; nevertheless, it has existed for a long time and been manifested in different forms. The most noticeable manifestations are worshipping and overestimating foreign methods, products, and values of education as well as devaluing domestic ones. More specifically, some people have always devoted themselves to advertising, aggrandising, and exaggerating foreign education, considering it as superiority, ideal, and the only way for Vietnamese young generations to “illuminate the country’s future”. More dangerously, they have demanded to remove Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought from curricula. They claim that teachers and learners should have freedom of thought and should not be under the control of any ideology. Taking advantage of several negative phenomena and defects in education and training, some people have caused distortions and exaggerations in order to destroy the people’s faith in the country’s education as well as in the Party’s leadership and the State’s management.

Without any preventive measures, “xenophilia” in education will become a malicious “virus” widely and negatively impacting our society and people with unpredictable consequences. “Xenophilia” will undermine national cultural identities and erode our country’s core ethics with pragmatism, individualism, life of instant gratification, and worship of material things, particularly amongst the youth. More seriously, “xenophilia” in education will make the youth confused about viewpoints, goals, and tasks of national construction and protection.

Education must have class nature

According to our Party’s viewpoint, Vietnamese education is socialist-oriented, has the people-ness, nation-ness, scientism, and modernity within itself, with Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought serving as its foundation. Education is aimed at comprehensively developing Vietnamese people with morality, knowledge, culture, good health, aesthetic, occupation, patriotism, national spirit, and loyalty to the ideal of national independence and socialism. It is also aimed at unlocking each individual’s potential and creativity, raising the people’s intellectual level, developing human resources and talents for national construction and protection and international integration. In other words, education in Vietnam must serve the Party’s noble political goal of wealthy people, strong nation, democracy, equality, and civilisation. Therefore, worshipping and rigidly imitating foreign education to replace that of Vietnam is completely unscientific. Excluding Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought from education programmes is not merely a demand for “innovation”; in fact, it is a reactionary idea and goes against the country’s benefits.

Undeniable facts

Over the years, apart from significant achievements, our country has witnessed weaknesses in education and training. That is a common thing in such a developing country like Vietnam. However, it will be a clear manifestation of “xenophilia”, a one-sided view, and a complete denial of Vietnam’s educational achievements when some insist that education in Vietnam is backward and needs to be replaced by foreign models of education to keep pace with the world. Historically, almost from scratch, under the Party’s leadership, with efforts made by all sectors, especially the education one and all people, Vietnamese education has obtained tremendous achievements which have laid a foundation of special importance for the country’s current fortune, position, and prestige.

Advocating that “education is a top policy priority, investment in education means investment for development”, Vietnam has maintained a high rate of investment in education in comparison with other countries in the world, and that rate tends to increase year by year. Notably, Vietnam is a powerhouse in Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific Region when it comes to international Olympiads for pupils. In 2022, all Vietnamese participants in international Olympiads won medals, which brought Vietnam to the top 10 countries and territories in those competitions for 2 consecutive years. In the 63^rd International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO 2022), Vietnam ranked 4^th out of 104 participants. Vietnam’s election to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s Executive Board (UNESCO) for 2021-2025 term for the 5^th time (November 2021) proves our country’s position, prestige, and proactive, active, effective contributions to UNESCO’s major programmes and orientations in different fields including education. Positive changes in Vietnamese education have been demonstrated via assessments made by top international organisations. According to the annual Best Countries Report of 2021 conducted by US News and World Report, Vietnam ranked 59^th which is 6 places higher than 2020 (the survey compiles scores from three equally-weighted attributes: a well-developed public education system, would consider attending university there, and provides top-quality education). According to the Impact Rankings released by the UK-based Times Higher Education magazine in April 2022, 7 Vietnamese educational institutions were amongst the top 1,000 most influential universities. Although those figures could not fully describe education in Vietnam and have not mentioned politico-spiritual elements given by education to Vietnamese people yet, it is clear enough to see that Vietnam’s educational achievements are undeniable, regardless of drawbacks in the process of educational reform.

Upholding our goals in the integration process, comprehensively improving the quality of education

Educational integration is an indispensable trend and a requirement for Vietnamese education in the process of national development. Learning from experiences of other countries all over the world is an effective way of building high-calibre human resources for the cause of Fatherland construction and protection. Our country’s educational integration has been vigorously conducted and obtained many significant results. However, “xenophilia” has been making impacts in this process, which could possibly lead to the derailment of Vietnamese education’s goals. Therefore, it is necessary to “remain proactive in international integration in education and training on the basis of maintaining independence, autonomy, and socialist orientation, preserving and bringing into play national cultural values, selectively acquiring cultural quintessence and scientific, technological advances of humankind”. In the process of inheritance and acquisition, it is important to select appropriate values and resolutely remove “miscellaneous” elements that will negatively impact on Vietnamese education; enhancing international integration must be associated with guaranteeing sustainable development, promoting internal strength, maintaining independence, autonomy, and socialist orientation. Expanding multilateral cooperation must be in line with intensifying state management and the people’s right to mastery in education and training. It is essential to develop policies on attracting foreign investments in Vietnamese education, with priority given to tertiary education and vocational training. There should be mechanisms and policies for recruiting and closely appraising foreign teachers and scientists in tertiary education institutions.

Furthermore, it is vital to focus on comprehensively raising the quality of Vietnamese education. This measure plays a core role in pushing back “xenophilia” and boycott of national values in education. To that end, significance should be attached to educating ideal, morality, lifestyle, history, and culture of our nation and Party, opportunely preventing and fighting against degradation in political ideology, derailment of socialist orientation, and negative manifestations in education. Due regard should be paid to personality education to make the youth capable of adapting themselves to rapid social changes. There should be a robust transformation in education from knowledge provision to comprehensive development of learners’ competence and qualities. Learning must go together with practice, theory must square with practice, and education at schools must be in parallel with education in families and society. There should be an open, substantive education system in Vietnam with proper management, structure, and educational methods. Due attention should be paid to building a learning society, standardising, modernising, and democratising Vietnamese education, encouraging international integration and maintaining socialist orientation and national identity in education. Last but not least, a contingent of capable teachers and education managers should be developed both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Ideology and culture constitute the most difficult, covert, fierce front of the class struggle; in this regard, education is an important battlefield. Hence, remaining vigilant and fighting against “xenophilia” will help uphold Vietnamese education’s orientation and goals and directly contribute to building high-quality human resources for Fatherland construction and protection in the new situation.

Col. VU THANH TUNG, PhD., Political Academy, Ministry of National Defence