Over the past years, military schools have always paid much attention to building cultural lifestyle for cadets that have made an important contribution to perfecting the personality of the military officers and improving the quality of education and training of each school. In the coming time, it is essential to study and find solutions to build such important factor in military schools.

Building cultural lifestyle for cadets in the military school is the process that has comprehensive impact on the subjects and efforts of cadets to build personalities that characterize each school. Cultural lifestyle also makes this process strongly spread into education, training, and fostering for cadets with revolutionary ideals and a sense of willingness to receive and fulfill all assigned tasks and always put benefits of the Party, the Fatherland, the People, and the Army on top priority. At the same time, it fosters the professional sense, positivity, proactiveness, and self-awareness in studying and training to constantly take efforts to master knowledge and working skills and creatively apply in practice. Thereby, cadets will have a serious and proper sense of cultural behavioral relations with society and living environment and actively fight against and prevent negative and backward manifestations. In many schools, cultural lifestyle has been penetrated into the process of studying and scientific research, that has created dual cultural values of "beautiful teaching and beautiful studying" then help the "people-planting" career in the Army comprehensively develop to meet the requirements of national construction and defense in the new situation.

Among the lifestyles of cadets of Military schools, however, there are still limitations manifested in pragmatic and enjoyment-based thoughts, hesitation in studying, laziness in training, and improper behaviors in social relations. These problems are even more complicated under the adverse impact of the market economy. A number of cadets have expressed negative manifestations such as indifference, lack of ambition, idealism, and responsibility for the collective, personal selfishness, and ignorance of the good traditional cultural values. Many of them only focus on improving their professional and working skills without paying attention to the cultivation, training, and building of military lifestyle. In particular, there are cadets who violate the State law and the Army disciplines or fall into social evils, etc. This fact poses a high demand for education and training in military schools. In addition to fostering knowledge and training military personnel style, it is necessary to do well the work of building cultural lifestyle for cadets to have sufficient qualities, abilities, and morals and create a military pedagogical environment that is rich in aesthetics and humanities. To meet such requirements, it is necessary to pay attention to the following issues:

Firstly, raising awareness, responsibility, quality, and capacity of the subjects in building cultural lifestyles for cadets. This is an important measure to create unity and consensus in the awareness of organizations, forces, and all members of Military schools about the role of building cultural lifestyle for cadets. Accordingly, Military schools need to promote the role of Party and mass organizations and effectively advise and guide the functional agencies in building cultural lifestyle for cadets. At the same time, the content of building cultural lifestyle should be standardized into specific criteria in studying, training, Party development, emulation, commendation, Party inspection, and annual evaluation and classification of Party members to serve as a basis for cadets to cultivate, train, and strive. Along with that, Military schools should attach the building of cultural lifestyle to cadets with the implementation of Directive No.05 of the Politburo (the 12 Tenure), Directive No.87 of the Central Military Commission's Standing Committee on studying and following Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality, and style, and the Campaign on "Promoting tradition and dedicating talent to be worthy of Uncle Ho's soldiers". In order to achieve high efficiency, leading officials at all levels should regularly inspect, urge, review, draw experiences, and promptly praise good people, good deeds, and typical examples of building cultural lifestyle. They should also resolutely fight against "inappropriate" perceptions and behaviors, build regulations for using social network so that cadets are less affected by its reverse, and boost "reading culture" among cadets. For officials and lecturers, it is necessary to create a change in awareness, responsibility, and exemplary role in building cultural lifestyle for cadets according to the teaching of President Ho Chi Minh: "A living mirror is worth more than a hundred propaganda speeches". They, then, should clearly define their motivation and responsibility, always love people and their career, and actively study, research, and improve their qualifications and abilities in all aspects. Additionally, they should also strive to practice and cultivate moral qualities and build a clean and healthy lifestyle. During lessons and management of cadets, they not only equip cadets with knowledge and working skills, but also educate and empower them with the exemplary characters and personalities.

Secondly, closely combining the building cultural lifestyle for cadets with educational, training, and disciplining activities. Implementing this content, there should be a close link between the provision of knowledge and working skills and the fostering and training of human and advanced cultural values through educational and training activities. This is because, only on the basis of a deep knowledge, can cadets be stable before the negative impacts of the social environment. Thereby, they will be able to analyze and choose their own living standards and values ​​and build their own cultural lifestyles. As a result, Military schools should concretize criteria for evaluating cultural lifestyle and building cultural lifestyle as well as the sense of discipline for each subject according to their responsibilities and tasks and implement in a synchronous and uniform way. Attention should be paid to orienting cadets in performing tasks in the spirit of "military orders first". The regular and scientific lifestyle should be built, and its progress should be considered as a measure in studying and scientific research. Each cadet should take it as a criterion to assess the level of accomplishment of his or her tasks. Concurrently, importance should be attached to building cadets' beautiful lifestyle that is compassionate, altruistic, and responsible for their peers, the people, and themselves and for the common good of the community and society.

Thirdly, promoting the active and positive role of cadets in the process of studying, training, and building cultural lifestyle to turn this process into a self-construction one. This is a decisive factor for the effectiveness of the education and training process in Military schools. Reality shows that the role of education and propaganda forces will be only effective when cadets are self-aware, active, and constantly striving in studying, training, accumulating knowledge, experience, and actions and build cultural lifestyle. It is the transformation from the passive process into an active one. Therefore, Military schools should thoroughly grasp for cadets to understand the views of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought, and policies and guidelines of the Party and Central Military Party Committee on training revolutionary moral qualities and cultural lifestyle and building new people in the armed forces. Their worldview and scientific methodology in considering, evaluating, and handling practical situations should be built. Meanwhile, cadets' cultural lifestyle building activities according to good cultural standards should be oriented. Thereby, cadets are able to regulate their own awareness and behaviors in order to eliminate backward, anti-humanity opinions and thoughts or moral behaviors and lifestyles that are not in line with social norms and educational and training requirements; and actively explore and acquire knowledge, experience, and cultural living skills. In the process of studying and training, each cadet should promote his or her strengths and overcome own shortcomings to constantly improve and perfect moral qualities, lifestyle, and aesthetic abilities. They should always appraise and compare the results of their own self-construction and training to the requirements of development and perfection of the personalities of cadets in Military schools.

Finally, regularly taking care of the material and spiritual life of officers, lecturers, and cadets and build a clean and healthy pedagogical cultural environment. President Ho Chi Minh once said that "It is necessary to take care of the material and spiritual life of the members, to know how they eat and drink, to understand their expectations and questions. Don’t claim for hunger while soldiers have not had their meals.  Don’t claim for being cold while soldiers have not had enough clothes. Don’t claim for being tired while soldiers have not had enough accommodation. That is the true democracy, unity, and determination-to-win". Thoroughly grasping such spirit, for each Military school to be "really a cultural center of education and training people about ideals, qualities, personality, and lifestyle and education of traditional culture for the young generation”, it is essential to actively invest in material and technical facilities and building lecture halls, classrooms, cultural houses, Ho Chi Minh rooms, reading rooms, accommodation, sport and entertainment zones, flower gardens, ornamental plants, panels, slogans, etc. to be beautiful and clean for cadets to live and study in a healthy and cultural environment that is saturated with a humanistic spirit. Thereby, the cultural beauty will penetrate into the depth of the cadets' personalities to form progressive cultural lifestyles in which the revolutionary ideals are considered as goals of striving. Besides, it also needs to build cultural relations between individual military person and the collective, solidarity, attachment, and mutual assistance and promptly detect and handle difficulties and obstacles to orient the proper awareness and lifestyles of officials, lecturers, and cadets in educational and training activities. At the same time, they should be lighted up with love of life, desire for studying, training, research, creativity, activity, dedication, and effort to overcome difficulties and hardships to gradually improve themselves and well performed assigned tasks.

Colonel Pham Van Xay, PhD., Head of  Branch 2, University of Military Culture and Arts