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FRANCO-VIETNAMESE HIGH SCHOOLS DURING THE PERIOD
1920 - 1945 AND THE FORMATION OF INTELLECTUAL WOMEN
Cases of the Dong Khanh and Ao Tim Female Secondary Schools
By Thai Thi Ngoc Du, Dominique Rolland, Nguyen Thi Nhan, Bui Tran Phuong
Gender and Society Research Centre (GAS) - Hoa Sen University
& INALCO Paris
Abstract
This paper focuses on a collection of testimonies from some generations of former students
who attended two female high schools, Ao Tim in Saigon and Dong Khanh in Hue during the
period between 1920 and 1945. Its purpose was to study the memories and thinking of these
students about the process of female students becoming mature in the Franco-Vietnamese
education. Although Franco-Vietnamese schools in colonial times had their imperfections, the
former female students acquired good human values under a system of selecting only those
that were suitable to the Vietnamese culture. These newly-learned human values enriched the
spirit of the nation. Female students became mature in the interactions of the French and
Vietnamese cultures. Through the establishment of the Franco-Vietnamese school system,
Vietnamese females officially obtained their schooling for the first time and consequently
succeeded and participated in various intellectual activities of their society. The self-
confidence from this first generation of intellectual females was improved as a result of the
initial awareness of the important position of women in society.
Key words: high schooleducation, female students,period 1920 – 1945, French language, educational heritage,
train the thinking, cultural interference.
Acknowledgements
The research team would like to express their gratitude to the VALOFRASE Project
(Valorisation du français en Asie du Sud-Est/ Enhancement of French in South East Asia) to
the francophone organizations and to Hoa Sen University for their facilitation in terms of
technique and financing the team to complete this research.
Special thanks are also conveyed to the former female students, from the Ao Tim and the
Dong Khanh schools, who are residing in Ho Chi Minh City, for enthusiastically providing
information and sharing their opinions relative to their studies in the old days at the Franco-
Vietnamese schools.
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1. Background and research question
Education during the French colonial era in the first half of the 20th century contributed to the
training of generations of Vietnamese intellectuals who later served their country during the era
of independence. Combining traditional patriotism with the new values of Western education,
such as independent thinking, creativity and critical thinking these intellectuals of the new
generation were thirsty for seeking independence for their country and of building Vietnam as
a modern country, thereby overcoming the backward model of a feudal society.
Colonial schools received female students and became an important factor in promoting the
development of women and the strengthening of women’s positions and roles in Vietnamese
society. In such an education system new thinking had been disseminated and acquired to
contribute to the formation of new identities for intellectuals. They were capable of
understanding the complexities of socio-political challenges at that time.
From this educational model, one can draw the lessons learned and experienced to strengthen
the current education system and gender equality while aiming at sustainable development.
Through the French language, the culture of a French-speaking community had enriched the
multicultural and multilingual education system of Vietnam.
Two localities selected for this study were Hue and Saigon with the female schools of Dong
Khanh1 and Ao Tim2 (meaning: purple long dress). The research focused on the primary college
years3, or about four years after primary school. The research did not mention the primary
school level because the studies did not have enough conditions for contributing to the training
of future intellectuals.
The study focused on understanding how education was seen through the eyes of students and
what they learned while studying in French schools. The acquisition and transformation of the
students’ knowledge had gone through a process of personalization and changes over the years.
In addition, this personalization process was also influenced by the family environment and
socio-political context in which the students lived and learned. This study also determined
whether the expansion of knowledge did or did not assist female students who were more
interested in the plight of the country than in their future or careers. On the other hand, this
study also determined whether the patriotic and socio-cultural movements of that time had or
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had not created a favorable environment for the development of the female students’
personalities.
The research was mainly based on the interviews of former female students, former teachers
and the collection of documents, memoirs and biographies of the families. The research team
performed 12 in-depth interviews of former students at Dong Khanh, a former Marie Curie
student and seven former Ao Tim students. The Ao Tim students were in groups from 1932 to
1940, while the Dong Khanh students were from later groups between 1940 and 1945. Thanks
to these groups, the research team had favorable conditions to compare and follow the progress
during a period of 15 years.
2. Education for female students in the colonial era
Education in the colonial era adapted the French education model. According to Pascale
Bezancon4, an Act dated 28 March 1882, under the time of the Education Minister Jules Ferry,
was an education revolution for the second time when the legislation enacted compulsion for
both boys and girls from 6 to 13 years of age. Jules Ferry favored female education and opened
many schools for girls. This policy avoided opposition from men because they believed that
they had greater intellectual ability than women.
Education in France during the second half of the 19th century profoundly changed from the
characteristics of sole reservation for a small number of elite male students and religious
education to expanding into mass education. This change affected the concept of organizing
education in Indochina in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.
The Franco-Vietnamese education system5 in the three regions of Vietnam inherited the
principles of the Jules Ferry laws established during the years 1881-1882; they were free, non-
clerical and mandatory. Along with the complete French education system, the Franco-
Vietnamese education systems were developed in the South of Vietnam in 1879, in the North
in 1904 and in Central Vietnam in 1906. Therefore, the schools’ systems were established after
the trial period of 1878-1907, and were produced under the motto of the Ferry policy (1908-
1918)6.
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Because schools in Indochina followed the model of schools in France, girls also attended and
there were high schools as well for them. For females this was the first time they officially
attended school because in the old education system, girls were not allowed to attend school
and take examinations.
According to Trinh Van Thao, the number of girls attending school was increasing, although
female students represented only 8% of the total number of students during the years 1918-
1922. This was to dispel doubts from several French officials in the late 19th century about the
ability of female students to learn in a school environment7.
From the three female public high schools in Ha Noi, Hue and Saigon, the number of students
in primary level colleges (also known as the general level) tripled from 105 females in 1921 to
343 females in 1931. However, there were 4,496 male students and female students accounted
for only 7.6 % of the total number of students, with 70 % of them concentrated in South Viet
Nam.
3. Origin of the respondents
Dong Khanh was the unique public high school for female students in Central Vietnam at that
time, consequently, students came from all over the Central provinces, from Thanh Hoa to Phan
Thiet. The majority of students came from the middle and upper classes: civil servants of the
French government, teachers, Southern Dynasty officials and merchants. There were very few
poor students with the exception that for several who lived in Hue, their schooling was less
costly because they did not have to pay for boarding.
Many girls came from families of teachers, one of their parents or a relative. The family
tradition of learning created favorable conditions for those girls to attend school because their
parents had more or less acquired the progressive ideas of human beings, especially about the
benefits of learning for both boys and girls. Mothers with less education were also very earnest
about their children's learning; they had “a fear of ignorance for their children” including the
girls8.
Families of mandarins cum intellectuals often had a tradition of learning continuously from the
Han script to the Quoc ngu script (today Vietnamese script) and French text for generations of
children. The Nguyen Khoa’s family was famous because of having many excellent students as
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their children. Madam Dam Phuong was also very concerned about the education of her
daughters and granddaughters. She said that girls must learn “to obtain a profession first and to
rear their children later on”9.
Not only the mothers but also the fathers were very earnest about their daughters’ schooling
and future careers as they saw learning as a launching platform for them to obtain a career later
on.
Students from the Ao Tim School also belonged to the middle class. Except for a very small
number of students who were from poor families and often had to drop out after one or two
years of high school, the majority of students were naïve and did not face the anxiety and
difficulty of a material life. Perhaps thanks to that, most female students always recalled their
time in high school as unworried, pure and joyful memories.
4. School in memory of former female students
4.1 School brought pride to female students
At that time quite a large number of female students dropped out of primary school after grade
3 because they had received their elementary school diploma which made it easier for them to
find jobs. Additionally, the number of female students attending high school significantly
decreased due to the following reasons:
- Students from the provinces were faced with difficulties when they wanted to continue
schooling up to Grade 9 because there were only high schools for female students in Saigon
and Hue.
- Due to thinking that girls did not have the need to learn much, parents often gave priority to
their boys to attend school, especially when it was schooling at a faraway location and quite
expensive. Even those female students who resided in Hue or Saigon were also affected by the
gender-prejudice thoughts of their parents, and a number of them had to discontinue their
schooling after completing primary school. They then stayed at home to help with their parents
business and to marry later on.
- The entrance exam to these schools was very difficult so that the number of admitted students
was very limited and depended on the receiving capacity of the school.
Therefore, being one of few females enrolled in a very reputable school which was not only of
the city but also of a large area, they were all happy about their learning conditions and very
proud of their school. Through our interviews or through their written memoirs, former students
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in the late 19th century all considered that their years at school was a period in which they gained
much knowledge and at the same time they were able to live and study under the best of
conditions despite the discipline which they felt sometimes was harsh.
4.2 Franco-Vietnamese acculturation became the pride of female students at the two schools
Students acquired academic content through a learning curriculum disseminated to them by
teachers. In addition, other activities of the school, together with rules and discipline were also
an important component involved in the educational process. The aggregate results of the
training process were not only knowledge of each subject teachers taught, yet also the formation
of students’ personalities, a system of values, and a method of learning and thinking for the
learners.
Deeply ingrained in the perceptions of several students was “a school which trained them on
how to be a human being”10.
So what factors did that training include? According to Bui Thi Me “French education formed
the human being to obtain both morale and skills and not to become robots. The education
received from kindergarten and primary school was to educate the students by learning from
textbooks in which there was ethical and national literature”.
These female students had mastered an important characteristic by their method of learning and
later on it became one element of their personality, honesty in learning and in work
performance. It meant avoiding plagiarism, which was not to copy their classmates’ tasks or
other documents when doing their assignments. Thus, in their thinking, were the values they
learned in school that formed their human personality: responsibility, honesty, patriotism, love
for their family, solidarity, mutual assistance, discipline and politeness in dealing with others.
Teaching human behaviors also had specific aspects toward female students, such as knowledge
of hygiene for women, the process of conception, pregnancy, child-rearing, discrete and proper
dressing, how to walk lightly and how to manage a family. There was also the knowledge of
child care in the pediatric nursing course, the understanding of disease and how to prevent it,
embroidering and sewing skills, and cooking and nutrition in the course on homemaking arts.
All former students of the Ao Tim and Dong Khanh schools agreed that the knowledge they
had acquired followed them after they left school and on to their adulthood, thereby assisting
them in how to take care of their children.
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A former student from Dong Khanh School said that during her entire period of participating in
the National War of Resistance and while moving through several places she always kept beside
her the memory book autographed by her friends and teachers, as well as the book entitled
“Ecole du Bonheur”, which was a detailed manual teaching family management and child-
rearing.
4.3 Francophone contributed awareness of human values and patriotism among the
students
Most former students interviewed by the research team had participated in the resistance against
the French in 1945 or previous years. Following that they moved to Northern Vietnam to
perform their professional work and then continued to work in Southern Vietnam after 1975.
Very few former students who had not participated in the resistance war and had always been
living in the South were in the interview sample of this research.
The question is whether education in the Franco-Vietnamese schools assisted or hindered
involvement of female students in Vietnam’s warfare. Was there any contradiction between
absorbing French culture and awareness of resistance against the French in order to gain
independence for their country? Why is it that the patriotic females tudents who had joined the
resistance against the French still appreciate their Franco-Vietnamese education?
It should be noted as part of the social and political context of the period 1930-1945. The
French had perfected their ruling apparatus in all three parts of Vietnam (North, Central and
South) and at various levels of society (high and low), and people were already aware of the
French dominance. The activities of the two patriots Phan Boi Chau and Phan Chau Trinh
resonated in many social classes. The generations of female intellectuals during the years 1920-
1930 in Hue had an opportunity to meet with Phan Boi Chau and Ms. Dam Phuong and had
taken part in some patriotic acts.
The secret operations of the Viet Minh movement that developed in urban areas contributed a
number of seed organizations among the students. In addition, the Franco-Vietnamese
education program also taught the Vietnamese language and history of Vietnam during the first
and second year of the primary level, although it was for only a few hours. Thanks to that,
however, those students had knowledge of the history of their country, knew about the period
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of independence and understood the situation of the country as a French colony. In addition
they inherited patriotism and commitment from generations of predecessors good examples in
their family.
4.4 Learning about the culture and history of France in the spirit of “selecting the good
aspects for our adaptation”
Many testimonials from former students of the Ao Tim and Dong Khanh schools demonstrated
that they still remembered the good things and the universal humanitarian values during their
learning of French literature and history. They also compared it with the plight of Vietnam
dependence and realized that Vietnamese people and society did not enjoy these human values.
Many students spoke of faith while they were engrossed in learning the history of the French
Revolution in 1789. They recognized that the values of "freedom, equality and fraternity" were
what made France a civilized and democratic country. They understood that it was the
fundamental right of all peoples. At that time Vietnam was a French colony and was not entitled
to those rights and they realized it was an injustice to the people of Vietnam. When learning
about Joan of Arc, they recalled and compared it with the undaunted spirit of Ba Trung and Ba
Trieu of Vietnam.
After having several hours of French literature, a number of students were enthralled by it.
Through those hours of learning the French language they also absorbed the liberal ideology of
humanity in Victor Hugo’s works on courage, romance, and love of country. Ms. Nguyen Ngoc
Nghi’s statement generalized a tremendous influence on cultural values: “This showed that the
strength of a beautiful culture overcame colonial intentions to open schools in order to make
students dazzled by the greatness of the "mother country" in order to recruit obedient
minions.”11
The students already had the spirit of criticism and judgment from what they had learned which
mostly related to the history of Vietnam. A large number of former students, even during their
schooling, reacted when they learned the sentence “Our ancestors are the Gauls”. Others
questioned and did not accept the concept of the “mother country”.
In addition, former students also pointed out other weaknesses of the Franco-Vietnamese
schools, such as their failure to be linked to real life. At that time, the students knew nothing
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about the miserable life of the poor under the colonial regime where people who performed
manual labor were despised. The students were also not aware of the role of farmers and
workers. The teaching program was colonial and indoctrinated; students had to learn many
things about France’s history and literature, while they could only learn Vietnamese literature
for two hours per week and Vietnamese history and geography only at the primary schools.
There was also discrimination in terms of salary between Vietnamese and French teachers,
however, in appreciation to the Vietnamese female teachers, patriotism was integrated into their
lectures.
4.5 Studentsof DongKhanh School likedto learn homemaking arts, childrearing and music
French language and math courses were only recalled by a few gifted female students, however,
most of the former students from Dong Khanh School enjoyed the subjects of homemaking arts
and child-rearing; all of them also mentioned the subjects of music and drawing. They
remembered these “supplementary” subjects more clearly because they said those were the
subjects that assisted in perfecting the people. Therefore, those things they remembered from
what they had learned in school were not necessarily subjects of many hours. The subjects with
fewer hours that brought practical benefits were also taught and learned seriously; the
knowledge was well acquired and remained for a long time in students’ memories.
4.6 Studentsfrom Ao Tim School admired and learned much from theirVietnamese teachers
There were several French teachers in both schools and only a small number of Vietnamese
teachers who had been former students of the Ao Tim and Dong Khanh schools. They had then
received a higher education in pedagogy and returned to teach at the two schools. There was
especially Ms. Nguyen Thi Chau a teacher of history and geography at the Ao Tim School who
graduated with a bachelor’s degree from France. In addition to teaching the Vietnamese
language, Vietnamese teachers also gave lessons of science and history in the French language.
Ms. Phan Thi Cua who taught Vietnamese literature at the Ao Tim School was loved by her
students for her good-hearted characteristics as she cared for them and especially communicated
patriotism through her lectures. “After reading a piece of literature, my teacher deeply
commented about the French and the Vietnamese, as well as about the old and contemporary
times. She mentioned the dark side of the colonial regime which had made people miserable.
She highlighted the examples of patriotism, the profound politeness and reason in rural and
urban areas of the poor and of some patriotic intellectuals.”12
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In the Dong Khanh and Ao Tim schools several Vietnamese teachers, although they had
received a French education, expressed the patriotism of intellectuals in the context of a
colonized country. Ms. Ngo Thi Chinh and Ms. Vo Thi The in the Dong Khanh School also
displayed similar actions. However, not all teachers had such high political consciousness and
those teachers who had a more “non-political” attitude were also loved by the students because
of their knowledge, their pedagogical ability and their love. Most students of Ao Tim School
mentioned Ms. Chau, the teacher of history and geography, with love and admiration because
she fluently conducted her lecture in French and with effective teaching methods.
4.7 Memories of the French teachers with love
Former students of the two schools still distinctly remembered some French teachers, female
superintendents and supervisors, including of course the Vietnamese supervisors as well.
The feelings that resulted were all shared by the students during their schooling and today when
they recalled them. The French teachers taught very well because they were trained to meet the
requirements of the job. Every teacher had his/her own style and teaching methods. Some were
quite serious, kept themselves aloof from students, while others were cheerful and close;
however, all former students admitted that their teaching methods were appropriate and assisted
them in understanding and firmly acquiring the knowledge as needed. The teachers of sciences
such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and natural sciences were very good and students
could do their practice in a laboratory.
According to former students, although their French teachers worked in the system of the
French colonials, they were educators following the principles of French education, an
education for justice, progress and science that they had received. As intellectuals, they had
independent thinking and nurtured their own values, not to interject politics into education. The
students also did not let their political views affect the evaluation of teachers and their teacher-
student feelings, because the French teachers never talked about politics in class and were
completely devoted to their profession as well as to their students.
The preface of the book “Ao Tim on all the ways” also noted: "The students-teachers love was
warm and profound and not dyed with political colors of colonials." (p.8).
Students were treated like adults by their French teachers. This made them feel respected and
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they then imitated such civilized manners. For example, the teacher addressed students as
"Mademoiselle". Another case was Ms. Ravinetti in Ao Tim School, who returned a student’s
notebook and said: "Je vous remercie"13 any time she called upon them to recite her lesson and
they completed all questions. Many French teachers expressed love for their students such as
taking them to the funeral of an unfortunate student who passed away14 or providing
scholarships for poor students15.
However, not all French teachers were kind to students, a handful of them who were colonial-
minded scolded the students as "Sale Annamite, idiote!". Students such as Ms. Nguyet Tu, who
later on became a writer and Ms. Phuong Thao protested: "You are not allowed to offend us!"
Apart from a few incidents, most students had good memories of French teachers at that time.
4.8 The Franco-Vietnamese schools had trained the first batchof female intellectuals
of the modern era
The former students interviewed in this research were in schools in the period between 1932
and 1945. Previous female students had already graduated from Grade 9 (Diplôme d'études
primaires supérieures franco-indigène (DEPSFI), learned baccalaureate, then pedagogy and
returned to school to teach; however, the number was small.
From the generations of former students from around 1920 and onwards, the number who
attended junior high school/ Grade 9 increased. Although this number was still very small
compared to the female population in age, it was enough to form a class of well-educated
women and who appeared more and more in the professional activities of society from the South
to the North.
At that time, after receiving (DEPSFI), female students could study one year in pedagogy also
at Dong Khanh and Ao Tim schools, then after graduation they could teach at primary schools.
Another situation was that some students could go to Ha Noi to attend midwifery school. There
were also cases of DEPSFI graduates who were appointed as primary school teachers
immediately without going through pedagogy school. The Dong Khanh and Ao Tim schools
did not have a high school; if female students wanted to learn further at that level, they had to
attend Petrus Ky school (Saigon) or Quoc Hoc school (Hue) with male students. Thus only a
very small number of female students attended secondary education, and even fewer female
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students continued to a university. Quoc Hoc school began to have baccalaureate level from the
academic year of 1936 - 1937, which meant that three more grades were added equivalent to
Grades 10, 11 and 12 today.
Ms. Nguyen Khoa Dieu Hong, later on became chairperson of the Vietnam Women's Union,
was in the final year at the baccalaureate level of Quoc Hoc school, and then was appointed to
teach at Dong Khanh School. The availability of female secondary schools was only one factor.
The reason which made female students discontinue their studies after having graduated from
DEPSFI, was that at the time male students of even middle-class families with a DEPSFI
degree, could take exams for the position of government officials at various sectors for
employment right away. They could seek the teaching profession, become a court clerk,
administrative clerk, railway or post office staff. For many families, females with a DEPSFI
degree were already in the high level of education; they could work as teachers or do intellectual
work. In addition, they also needed to become married and have a family.
In Vietnam society until the 1940s, there were only few people with DEPSFI degrees, thus they
were considered as intellectuals, elites of their families and society. Through the interviews and
memoirs of 52 former female students from Ao Tim and some scattered articles from those of
the Dong Khanh School, one can see that most of them became teachers, university lecturers,
or had medical professions as midwives or doctors; some were doing diplomatic services,
became economic experts, writers, musical artists, and in other professions as assigned by the
State. The women who moved to the North to join the resistance war became middle or senior
government officials. In general, except for a few women who were housekeepers or traders,
most of those with a degree went into an intellectual profession.
Conclusion
As mentioned above, for the reason of convenience most of our interviews, memoirs and articles
accessible to us were derived from the former female students of the two schools Dong Khanh
and Ao Tim. After graduation, some joined the resistance war and moved to the North, then
successfully settled down in a regime which was antagonistic to colonialism. However, all of
these women, former students, highly appreciated the Franco-Vietnamese education they
received, although the French government considered that the Franco-Vietnamese education in
Indochina had poor quality. This is strong evidence that there were positive effects on Franco-
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Vietnamese education in Vietnam.
A high school education was more meaningful for women; they became women confident in
their capabilities both in their family management and in their professions. They belonged to
the first generations who had proven to the Vietnamese society that women are fully capable
of learning to obtain an intellectual profession and deserve a considerable place in society. With
a career structure which was still simple, the Vietnam society at that time very much respected
the teaching profession. Many former female students became teachers and therefore changed
the perception of society towards women, respecting their skills and virtue.
The DEPSFI education level was a launching platform for female students to join a life of
further education in order to become the elite of intellectuals. Their success also created
confidence and ambition for the younger generations of women , as well as became an example
for the youth to follow.
Compared with today, the quantity of knowledge that these female students received was much
less. However, perhaps because they learned less, they remembered more, had long-term
memory and recalled the main things. A general observation of the research team about them is
that the spirit, a blend of subjects, the way of organizing and the activities in their schools
contributed to building their personality and qualities such as discipline, care, creation,
diligence, scientific spirit and necessary knowledge for women of all ages.
According to the researcher, Dominique Rolland16, education in France since the 19th century
was a scientific, modern and progressive education, which created equal opportunities for all
classes of society to access knowledge. This education was struggling against economic and
social inequality. French colonial authorities wanted to convey these principles into the
education in the colony, though with a specific purpose to train officials to serve the
administration and economy of the colony. Therefore, education was organized in form of a
pyramid, broad at low level and elite training at the higher level.
However, teachers in colonies were intellectuals educated in the liberal education of France,
they were imbued with the ideology of progress and they were conscious about their own
freedom, so that they had humane behavior in schools. At that time, the Vietnamese youth, in
the spirit of selecting the good things for their adaptation, acquired the progressive ideas of
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humankind. Then they demonstrated their consciousness about freedom of thought and they
nurtured patriotism right inside the colonial schools.
Ho Chi Minh City, June 2014.
Translated into English by Le Thi Hanh
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on 23/6/2014.
Chương THÂU. Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục và phong trào cải cách văn hóa đầu thế kỷ XX [Dong
Kinh Nghia Thuc and the Cultural Reform Movement in Early Twentieth Century], Ha Noi
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Gioi Publishing House, 391 pages.
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School], Internal circulation.
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circulation, 328 pages.
In English, in French
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1945. L’Hamattan, 474 pages.
BEZANÇON, P. Différentes approches de l'enseignement colonial en Indochine par la
stratification des sources et leur comparaison (p.139-151) dans Les sources historiques dans le
Tiers Monde. Approches et enjeux, par P. Bezançon, R. Camara et autres. L'Harmattan, 1997,
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Colloque international “Enseignement et colonisation dans l’Empire colonial français, une
histoire connectée?”, Lyon 30 septembre 1er et 2 octobre 2009.
17
17
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Colonisations, p. 211 – 221.
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République (1896–1939): Éléments de compréhension d'un groupe social en situation coloniale
French Colonial History - Volume 9, 2008, pp. 65-77.
HA Marie-Paule, 2014, French Women and the Empire, the case of Indochina Oxford
University Press.
http://books.google.com.vn/books?id=v0VZAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA197&lpg=PA197&dq=mad
ame+sogny+college+dong+khanh&source=bl&ots=IROALFJ3sc&sig=dEatzFmbAJR_oAFO
KT4O8ZNGtJQ&hl=vi&sa=X&ei=GC6YU9v5HoLi8AX9h4DgAw&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAQ
#v=onepage&q=madame%20sogny%20college%20dong%20khanh&f=false – Truy cập ngày
6/6/2014.
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Indochinoise. 30 VIII 1907, p.1135-1149
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Studies, Vol XXXV, Number 3, May, pp. 371 - ?
NGUYỄN Thế Anh, 1985, L'élite intellectuelle vietnamienne et le fait colonial dans les
premières années du XXe siècle. RFHOM LXXII, 268, III, 1985, p.291-308
NGUYỄN Thụy Phương, 2013, L’école française au Vietnam de 1945 à 1975. De la mission
civilisatrice à la diplomatie culturelle.
Thèse de Doctorat de Sciences de l’Education – Université Paris-Descartes
PRÊTRE, Ch., 1912, L'enseignement indigène en Indochine. L'Asie Française, VIII 1912,
p.311-343.
TRAN Thi Phuong Hoa, 2009, Franco-Vietnamese schools and the transition from Confucian
to a new kind of intellectuals in the colonial context of Tonkin. Harvard-Yenching Institute
Working Papers.
TRINH Van Thao, 1995, L’Ecole française en Indochine. Editions Karthala, Paris, 321 pages.
Trinh Van Thao, 1993, L'idéologie de l'école en Indochine (1890-1938). Tiers-Monde. 1993,
tome 34 n°133. pp. 169-186.
VU, Milkie, 2012, Examing the Social Impacts of French Education Reforms in Tonkin,
Indochina (1906-1938), 2012, VOL. 4 NO. 04.
http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/634/examing-the-social-impacts-of-french-education-
reforms-in-tonkin-indochina-1906-1938. Truy cập ngày 6/6/2014.
18
18
1 After 1975, the schoolname changed as Trung Trac schoolduring a short time, then later on it changed as Hai
Ba Trung school and received both female and male students.
2 Changed as Gia Long schoolin 1953, after 1975 it changed as Nguyen Thi Minh Khai school, and received
both female and male students.
3 Equivalent to junior high school in Southern Vietnam prior to 1975, or equivalent to Grades 6 to 9 today.
4 BEZANÇON, Pascale, 2002, Une colonisation éducatrice? L’expérience indochinoise,1860 – 1945.
L’Hamattan, tr. 25.
5 Enseignement franco-indigène.
6 TRINH Van Thao, 1995, L’Ecole française en Indochine.Editions Karthala, Paris.
7 Trinh Van Thao, 1995; p. 126
8 Bùi thị MÈ, 2001, Kể chuyện đời mình [My Life Story].Nhà xuất bản Trẻ, tr. 21
9 Interview Ms. Nguyễn Khoa Diệu Biên, on August 8, 2009
10 Interview Ms. Bùi thị Mè, on July 5, 2010.
11 Nguyễn Ngọc Nghi, Áo Tím trên mọi nẻo đường [The Ao Tim Students (Purple Dresses)on All the Roads of
the Country], tr.20
12 Phan Thị Thương, Áo Tím trên mọi nẻo đường [The Ao Tim Students (Purple Dresses) on All the Roads of the
Country], tr. 168
13 Áo Tím trên mọi nẻo đường [The Ao Tim Students (Purple Dresses)on All the Roads of the Country], tr. 92
14 Interview Ms. Diệu Biên
15 Đặng Thị Bảy, Áo Tím trên mọi nẻo đường [The Ao Tim Students (Purple Dresses)on All the Roads of the
Country]. tr.25
16 Lecture of a training course on Franco- Vietnamese schoolat Hoa Sen University, 2009

Franco vietnamese female students - finished

  • 1.
    1 1 FRANCO-VIETNAMESE HIGH SCHOOLSDURING THE PERIOD 1920 - 1945 AND THE FORMATION OF INTELLECTUAL WOMEN Cases of the Dong Khanh and Ao Tim Female Secondary Schools By Thai Thi Ngoc Du, Dominique Rolland, Nguyen Thi Nhan, Bui Tran Phuong Gender and Society Research Centre (GAS) - Hoa Sen University & INALCO Paris Abstract This paper focuses on a collection of testimonies from some generations of former students who attended two female high schools, Ao Tim in Saigon and Dong Khanh in Hue during the period between 1920 and 1945. Its purpose was to study the memories and thinking of these students about the process of female students becoming mature in the Franco-Vietnamese education. Although Franco-Vietnamese schools in colonial times had their imperfections, the former female students acquired good human values under a system of selecting only those that were suitable to the Vietnamese culture. These newly-learned human values enriched the spirit of the nation. Female students became mature in the interactions of the French and Vietnamese cultures. Through the establishment of the Franco-Vietnamese school system, Vietnamese females officially obtained their schooling for the first time and consequently succeeded and participated in various intellectual activities of their society. The self- confidence from this first generation of intellectual females was improved as a result of the initial awareness of the important position of women in society. Key words: high schooleducation, female students,period 1920 – 1945, French language, educational heritage, train the thinking, cultural interference. Acknowledgements The research team would like to express their gratitude to the VALOFRASE Project (Valorisation du français en Asie du Sud-Est/ Enhancement of French in South East Asia) to the francophone organizations and to Hoa Sen University for their facilitation in terms of technique and financing the team to complete this research. Special thanks are also conveyed to the former female students, from the Ao Tim and the Dong Khanh schools, who are residing in Ho Chi Minh City, for enthusiastically providing information and sharing their opinions relative to their studies in the old days at the Franco- Vietnamese schools.
  • 2.
    2 2 1. Background andresearch question Education during the French colonial era in the first half of the 20th century contributed to the training of generations of Vietnamese intellectuals who later served their country during the era of independence. Combining traditional patriotism with the new values of Western education, such as independent thinking, creativity and critical thinking these intellectuals of the new generation were thirsty for seeking independence for their country and of building Vietnam as a modern country, thereby overcoming the backward model of a feudal society. Colonial schools received female students and became an important factor in promoting the development of women and the strengthening of women’s positions and roles in Vietnamese society. In such an education system new thinking had been disseminated and acquired to contribute to the formation of new identities for intellectuals. They were capable of understanding the complexities of socio-political challenges at that time. From this educational model, one can draw the lessons learned and experienced to strengthen the current education system and gender equality while aiming at sustainable development. Through the French language, the culture of a French-speaking community had enriched the multicultural and multilingual education system of Vietnam. Two localities selected for this study were Hue and Saigon with the female schools of Dong Khanh1 and Ao Tim2 (meaning: purple long dress). The research focused on the primary college years3, or about four years after primary school. The research did not mention the primary school level because the studies did not have enough conditions for contributing to the training of future intellectuals. The study focused on understanding how education was seen through the eyes of students and what they learned while studying in French schools. The acquisition and transformation of the students’ knowledge had gone through a process of personalization and changes over the years. In addition, this personalization process was also influenced by the family environment and socio-political context in which the students lived and learned. This study also determined whether the expansion of knowledge did or did not assist female students who were more interested in the plight of the country than in their future or careers. On the other hand, this study also determined whether the patriotic and socio-cultural movements of that time had or
  • 3.
    3 3 had not createda favorable environment for the development of the female students’ personalities. The research was mainly based on the interviews of former female students, former teachers and the collection of documents, memoirs and biographies of the families. The research team performed 12 in-depth interviews of former students at Dong Khanh, a former Marie Curie student and seven former Ao Tim students. The Ao Tim students were in groups from 1932 to 1940, while the Dong Khanh students were from later groups between 1940 and 1945. Thanks to these groups, the research team had favorable conditions to compare and follow the progress during a period of 15 years. 2. Education for female students in the colonial era Education in the colonial era adapted the French education model. According to Pascale Bezancon4, an Act dated 28 March 1882, under the time of the Education Minister Jules Ferry, was an education revolution for the second time when the legislation enacted compulsion for both boys and girls from 6 to 13 years of age. Jules Ferry favored female education and opened many schools for girls. This policy avoided opposition from men because they believed that they had greater intellectual ability than women. Education in France during the second half of the 19th century profoundly changed from the characteristics of sole reservation for a small number of elite male students and religious education to expanding into mass education. This change affected the concept of organizing education in Indochina in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. The Franco-Vietnamese education system5 in the three regions of Vietnam inherited the principles of the Jules Ferry laws established during the years 1881-1882; they were free, non- clerical and mandatory. Along with the complete French education system, the Franco- Vietnamese education systems were developed in the South of Vietnam in 1879, in the North in 1904 and in Central Vietnam in 1906. Therefore, the schools’ systems were established after the trial period of 1878-1907, and were produced under the motto of the Ferry policy (1908- 1918)6.
  • 4.
    4 4 Because schools inIndochina followed the model of schools in France, girls also attended and there were high schools as well for them. For females this was the first time they officially attended school because in the old education system, girls were not allowed to attend school and take examinations. According to Trinh Van Thao, the number of girls attending school was increasing, although female students represented only 8% of the total number of students during the years 1918- 1922. This was to dispel doubts from several French officials in the late 19th century about the ability of female students to learn in a school environment7. From the three female public high schools in Ha Noi, Hue and Saigon, the number of students in primary level colleges (also known as the general level) tripled from 105 females in 1921 to 343 females in 1931. However, there were 4,496 male students and female students accounted for only 7.6 % of the total number of students, with 70 % of them concentrated in South Viet Nam. 3. Origin of the respondents Dong Khanh was the unique public high school for female students in Central Vietnam at that time, consequently, students came from all over the Central provinces, from Thanh Hoa to Phan Thiet. The majority of students came from the middle and upper classes: civil servants of the French government, teachers, Southern Dynasty officials and merchants. There were very few poor students with the exception that for several who lived in Hue, their schooling was less costly because they did not have to pay for boarding. Many girls came from families of teachers, one of their parents or a relative. The family tradition of learning created favorable conditions for those girls to attend school because their parents had more or less acquired the progressive ideas of human beings, especially about the benefits of learning for both boys and girls. Mothers with less education were also very earnest about their children's learning; they had “a fear of ignorance for their children” including the girls8. Families of mandarins cum intellectuals often had a tradition of learning continuously from the Han script to the Quoc ngu script (today Vietnamese script) and French text for generations of children. The Nguyen Khoa’s family was famous because of having many excellent students as
  • 5.
    5 5 their children. MadamDam Phuong was also very concerned about the education of her daughters and granddaughters. She said that girls must learn “to obtain a profession first and to rear their children later on”9. Not only the mothers but also the fathers were very earnest about their daughters’ schooling and future careers as they saw learning as a launching platform for them to obtain a career later on. Students from the Ao Tim School also belonged to the middle class. Except for a very small number of students who were from poor families and often had to drop out after one or two years of high school, the majority of students were naïve and did not face the anxiety and difficulty of a material life. Perhaps thanks to that, most female students always recalled their time in high school as unworried, pure and joyful memories. 4. School in memory of former female students 4.1 School brought pride to female students At that time quite a large number of female students dropped out of primary school after grade 3 because they had received their elementary school diploma which made it easier for them to find jobs. Additionally, the number of female students attending high school significantly decreased due to the following reasons: - Students from the provinces were faced with difficulties when they wanted to continue schooling up to Grade 9 because there were only high schools for female students in Saigon and Hue. - Due to thinking that girls did not have the need to learn much, parents often gave priority to their boys to attend school, especially when it was schooling at a faraway location and quite expensive. Even those female students who resided in Hue or Saigon were also affected by the gender-prejudice thoughts of their parents, and a number of them had to discontinue their schooling after completing primary school. They then stayed at home to help with their parents business and to marry later on. - The entrance exam to these schools was very difficult so that the number of admitted students was very limited and depended on the receiving capacity of the school. Therefore, being one of few females enrolled in a very reputable school which was not only of the city but also of a large area, they were all happy about their learning conditions and very proud of their school. Through our interviews or through their written memoirs, former students
  • 6.
    6 6 in the late19th century all considered that their years at school was a period in which they gained much knowledge and at the same time they were able to live and study under the best of conditions despite the discipline which they felt sometimes was harsh. 4.2 Franco-Vietnamese acculturation became the pride of female students at the two schools Students acquired academic content through a learning curriculum disseminated to them by teachers. In addition, other activities of the school, together with rules and discipline were also an important component involved in the educational process. The aggregate results of the training process were not only knowledge of each subject teachers taught, yet also the formation of students’ personalities, a system of values, and a method of learning and thinking for the learners. Deeply ingrained in the perceptions of several students was “a school which trained them on how to be a human being”10. So what factors did that training include? According to Bui Thi Me “French education formed the human being to obtain both morale and skills and not to become robots. The education received from kindergarten and primary school was to educate the students by learning from textbooks in which there was ethical and national literature”. These female students had mastered an important characteristic by their method of learning and later on it became one element of their personality, honesty in learning and in work performance. It meant avoiding plagiarism, which was not to copy their classmates’ tasks or other documents when doing their assignments. Thus, in their thinking, were the values they learned in school that formed their human personality: responsibility, honesty, patriotism, love for their family, solidarity, mutual assistance, discipline and politeness in dealing with others. Teaching human behaviors also had specific aspects toward female students, such as knowledge of hygiene for women, the process of conception, pregnancy, child-rearing, discrete and proper dressing, how to walk lightly and how to manage a family. There was also the knowledge of child care in the pediatric nursing course, the understanding of disease and how to prevent it, embroidering and sewing skills, and cooking and nutrition in the course on homemaking arts. All former students of the Ao Tim and Dong Khanh schools agreed that the knowledge they had acquired followed them after they left school and on to their adulthood, thereby assisting them in how to take care of their children.
  • 7.
    7 7 A former studentfrom Dong Khanh School said that during her entire period of participating in the National War of Resistance and while moving through several places she always kept beside her the memory book autographed by her friends and teachers, as well as the book entitled “Ecole du Bonheur”, which was a detailed manual teaching family management and child- rearing. 4.3 Francophone contributed awareness of human values and patriotism among the students Most former students interviewed by the research team had participated in the resistance against the French in 1945 or previous years. Following that they moved to Northern Vietnam to perform their professional work and then continued to work in Southern Vietnam after 1975. Very few former students who had not participated in the resistance war and had always been living in the South were in the interview sample of this research. The question is whether education in the Franco-Vietnamese schools assisted or hindered involvement of female students in Vietnam’s warfare. Was there any contradiction between absorbing French culture and awareness of resistance against the French in order to gain independence for their country? Why is it that the patriotic females tudents who had joined the resistance against the French still appreciate their Franco-Vietnamese education? It should be noted as part of the social and political context of the period 1930-1945. The French had perfected their ruling apparatus in all three parts of Vietnam (North, Central and South) and at various levels of society (high and low), and people were already aware of the French dominance. The activities of the two patriots Phan Boi Chau and Phan Chau Trinh resonated in many social classes. The generations of female intellectuals during the years 1920- 1930 in Hue had an opportunity to meet with Phan Boi Chau and Ms. Dam Phuong and had taken part in some patriotic acts. The secret operations of the Viet Minh movement that developed in urban areas contributed a number of seed organizations among the students. In addition, the Franco-Vietnamese education program also taught the Vietnamese language and history of Vietnam during the first and second year of the primary level, although it was for only a few hours. Thanks to that, however, those students had knowledge of the history of their country, knew about the period
  • 8.
    8 8 of independence andunderstood the situation of the country as a French colony. In addition they inherited patriotism and commitment from generations of predecessors good examples in their family. 4.4 Learning about the culture and history of France in the spirit of “selecting the good aspects for our adaptation” Many testimonials from former students of the Ao Tim and Dong Khanh schools demonstrated that they still remembered the good things and the universal humanitarian values during their learning of French literature and history. They also compared it with the plight of Vietnam dependence and realized that Vietnamese people and society did not enjoy these human values. Many students spoke of faith while they were engrossed in learning the history of the French Revolution in 1789. They recognized that the values of "freedom, equality and fraternity" were what made France a civilized and democratic country. They understood that it was the fundamental right of all peoples. At that time Vietnam was a French colony and was not entitled to those rights and they realized it was an injustice to the people of Vietnam. When learning about Joan of Arc, they recalled and compared it with the undaunted spirit of Ba Trung and Ba Trieu of Vietnam. After having several hours of French literature, a number of students were enthralled by it. Through those hours of learning the French language they also absorbed the liberal ideology of humanity in Victor Hugo’s works on courage, romance, and love of country. Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Nghi’s statement generalized a tremendous influence on cultural values: “This showed that the strength of a beautiful culture overcame colonial intentions to open schools in order to make students dazzled by the greatness of the "mother country" in order to recruit obedient minions.”11 The students already had the spirit of criticism and judgment from what they had learned which mostly related to the history of Vietnam. A large number of former students, even during their schooling, reacted when they learned the sentence “Our ancestors are the Gauls”. Others questioned and did not accept the concept of the “mother country”. In addition, former students also pointed out other weaknesses of the Franco-Vietnamese schools, such as their failure to be linked to real life. At that time, the students knew nothing
  • 9.
    9 9 about the miserablelife of the poor under the colonial regime where people who performed manual labor were despised. The students were also not aware of the role of farmers and workers. The teaching program was colonial and indoctrinated; students had to learn many things about France’s history and literature, while they could only learn Vietnamese literature for two hours per week and Vietnamese history and geography only at the primary schools. There was also discrimination in terms of salary between Vietnamese and French teachers, however, in appreciation to the Vietnamese female teachers, patriotism was integrated into their lectures. 4.5 Studentsof DongKhanh School likedto learn homemaking arts, childrearing and music French language and math courses were only recalled by a few gifted female students, however, most of the former students from Dong Khanh School enjoyed the subjects of homemaking arts and child-rearing; all of them also mentioned the subjects of music and drawing. They remembered these “supplementary” subjects more clearly because they said those were the subjects that assisted in perfecting the people. Therefore, those things they remembered from what they had learned in school were not necessarily subjects of many hours. The subjects with fewer hours that brought practical benefits were also taught and learned seriously; the knowledge was well acquired and remained for a long time in students’ memories. 4.6 Studentsfrom Ao Tim School admired and learned much from theirVietnamese teachers There were several French teachers in both schools and only a small number of Vietnamese teachers who had been former students of the Ao Tim and Dong Khanh schools. They had then received a higher education in pedagogy and returned to teach at the two schools. There was especially Ms. Nguyen Thi Chau a teacher of history and geography at the Ao Tim School who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from France. In addition to teaching the Vietnamese language, Vietnamese teachers also gave lessons of science and history in the French language. Ms. Phan Thi Cua who taught Vietnamese literature at the Ao Tim School was loved by her students for her good-hearted characteristics as she cared for them and especially communicated patriotism through her lectures. “After reading a piece of literature, my teacher deeply commented about the French and the Vietnamese, as well as about the old and contemporary times. She mentioned the dark side of the colonial regime which had made people miserable. She highlighted the examples of patriotism, the profound politeness and reason in rural and urban areas of the poor and of some patriotic intellectuals.”12
  • 10.
    10 10 In the DongKhanh and Ao Tim schools several Vietnamese teachers, although they had received a French education, expressed the patriotism of intellectuals in the context of a colonized country. Ms. Ngo Thi Chinh and Ms. Vo Thi The in the Dong Khanh School also displayed similar actions. However, not all teachers had such high political consciousness and those teachers who had a more “non-political” attitude were also loved by the students because of their knowledge, their pedagogical ability and their love. Most students of Ao Tim School mentioned Ms. Chau, the teacher of history and geography, with love and admiration because she fluently conducted her lecture in French and with effective teaching methods. 4.7 Memories of the French teachers with love Former students of the two schools still distinctly remembered some French teachers, female superintendents and supervisors, including of course the Vietnamese supervisors as well. The feelings that resulted were all shared by the students during their schooling and today when they recalled them. The French teachers taught very well because they were trained to meet the requirements of the job. Every teacher had his/her own style and teaching methods. Some were quite serious, kept themselves aloof from students, while others were cheerful and close; however, all former students admitted that their teaching methods were appropriate and assisted them in understanding and firmly acquiring the knowledge as needed. The teachers of sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and natural sciences were very good and students could do their practice in a laboratory. According to former students, although their French teachers worked in the system of the French colonials, they were educators following the principles of French education, an education for justice, progress and science that they had received. As intellectuals, they had independent thinking and nurtured their own values, not to interject politics into education. The students also did not let their political views affect the evaluation of teachers and their teacher- student feelings, because the French teachers never talked about politics in class and were completely devoted to their profession as well as to their students. The preface of the book “Ao Tim on all the ways” also noted: "The students-teachers love was warm and profound and not dyed with political colors of colonials." (p.8). Students were treated like adults by their French teachers. This made them feel respected and
  • 11.
    11 11 they then imitatedsuch civilized manners. For example, the teacher addressed students as "Mademoiselle". Another case was Ms. Ravinetti in Ao Tim School, who returned a student’s notebook and said: "Je vous remercie"13 any time she called upon them to recite her lesson and they completed all questions. Many French teachers expressed love for their students such as taking them to the funeral of an unfortunate student who passed away14 or providing scholarships for poor students15. However, not all French teachers were kind to students, a handful of them who were colonial- minded scolded the students as "Sale Annamite, idiote!". Students such as Ms. Nguyet Tu, who later on became a writer and Ms. Phuong Thao protested: "You are not allowed to offend us!" Apart from a few incidents, most students had good memories of French teachers at that time. 4.8 The Franco-Vietnamese schools had trained the first batchof female intellectuals of the modern era The former students interviewed in this research were in schools in the period between 1932 and 1945. Previous female students had already graduated from Grade 9 (Diplôme d'études primaires supérieures franco-indigène (DEPSFI), learned baccalaureate, then pedagogy and returned to school to teach; however, the number was small. From the generations of former students from around 1920 and onwards, the number who attended junior high school/ Grade 9 increased. Although this number was still very small compared to the female population in age, it was enough to form a class of well-educated women and who appeared more and more in the professional activities of society from the South to the North. At that time, after receiving (DEPSFI), female students could study one year in pedagogy also at Dong Khanh and Ao Tim schools, then after graduation they could teach at primary schools. Another situation was that some students could go to Ha Noi to attend midwifery school. There were also cases of DEPSFI graduates who were appointed as primary school teachers immediately without going through pedagogy school. The Dong Khanh and Ao Tim schools did not have a high school; if female students wanted to learn further at that level, they had to attend Petrus Ky school (Saigon) or Quoc Hoc school (Hue) with male students. Thus only a very small number of female students attended secondary education, and even fewer female
  • 12.
    12 12 students continued toa university. Quoc Hoc school began to have baccalaureate level from the academic year of 1936 - 1937, which meant that three more grades were added equivalent to Grades 10, 11 and 12 today. Ms. Nguyen Khoa Dieu Hong, later on became chairperson of the Vietnam Women's Union, was in the final year at the baccalaureate level of Quoc Hoc school, and then was appointed to teach at Dong Khanh School. The availability of female secondary schools was only one factor. The reason which made female students discontinue their studies after having graduated from DEPSFI, was that at the time male students of even middle-class families with a DEPSFI degree, could take exams for the position of government officials at various sectors for employment right away. They could seek the teaching profession, become a court clerk, administrative clerk, railway or post office staff. For many families, females with a DEPSFI degree were already in the high level of education; they could work as teachers or do intellectual work. In addition, they also needed to become married and have a family. In Vietnam society until the 1940s, there were only few people with DEPSFI degrees, thus they were considered as intellectuals, elites of their families and society. Through the interviews and memoirs of 52 former female students from Ao Tim and some scattered articles from those of the Dong Khanh School, one can see that most of them became teachers, university lecturers, or had medical professions as midwives or doctors; some were doing diplomatic services, became economic experts, writers, musical artists, and in other professions as assigned by the State. The women who moved to the North to join the resistance war became middle or senior government officials. In general, except for a few women who were housekeepers or traders, most of those with a degree went into an intellectual profession. Conclusion As mentioned above, for the reason of convenience most of our interviews, memoirs and articles accessible to us were derived from the former female students of the two schools Dong Khanh and Ao Tim. After graduation, some joined the resistance war and moved to the North, then successfully settled down in a regime which was antagonistic to colonialism. However, all of these women, former students, highly appreciated the Franco-Vietnamese education they received, although the French government considered that the Franco-Vietnamese education in Indochina had poor quality. This is strong evidence that there were positive effects on Franco-
  • 13.
    13 13 Vietnamese education inVietnam. A high school education was more meaningful for women; they became women confident in their capabilities both in their family management and in their professions. They belonged to the first generations who had proven to the Vietnamese society that women are fully capable of learning to obtain an intellectual profession and deserve a considerable place in society. With a career structure which was still simple, the Vietnam society at that time very much respected the teaching profession. Many former female students became teachers and therefore changed the perception of society towards women, respecting their skills and virtue. The DEPSFI education level was a launching platform for female students to join a life of further education in order to become the elite of intellectuals. Their success also created confidence and ambition for the younger generations of women , as well as became an example for the youth to follow. Compared with today, the quantity of knowledge that these female students received was much less. However, perhaps because they learned less, they remembered more, had long-term memory and recalled the main things. A general observation of the research team about them is that the spirit, a blend of subjects, the way of organizing and the activities in their schools contributed to building their personality and qualities such as discipline, care, creation, diligence, scientific spirit and necessary knowledge for women of all ages. According to the researcher, Dominique Rolland16, education in France since the 19th century was a scientific, modern and progressive education, which created equal opportunities for all classes of society to access knowledge. This education was struggling against economic and social inequality. French colonial authorities wanted to convey these principles into the education in the colony, though with a specific purpose to train officials to serve the administration and economy of the colony. Therefore, education was organized in form of a pyramid, broad at low level and elite training at the higher level. However, teachers in colonies were intellectuals educated in the liberal education of France, they were imbued with the ideology of progress and they were conscious about their own freedom, so that they had humane behavior in schools. At that time, the Vietnamese youth, in the spirit of selecting the good things for their adaptation, acquired the progressive ideas of
  • 14.
    14 14 humankind. Then theydemonstrated their consciousness about freedom of thought and they nurtured patriotism right inside the colonial schools. Ho Chi Minh City, June 2014. Translated into English by Le Thi Hanh
  • 15.
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  • 18.
    18 18 1 After 1975,the schoolname changed as Trung Trac schoolduring a short time, then later on it changed as Hai Ba Trung school and received both female and male students. 2 Changed as Gia Long schoolin 1953, after 1975 it changed as Nguyen Thi Minh Khai school, and received both female and male students. 3 Equivalent to junior high school in Southern Vietnam prior to 1975, or equivalent to Grades 6 to 9 today. 4 BEZANÇON, Pascale, 2002, Une colonisation éducatrice? L’expérience indochinoise,1860 – 1945. L’Hamattan, tr. 25. 5 Enseignement franco-indigène. 6 TRINH Van Thao, 1995, L’Ecole française en Indochine.Editions Karthala, Paris. 7 Trinh Van Thao, 1995; p. 126 8 Bùi thị MÈ, 2001, Kể chuyện đời mình [My Life Story].Nhà xuất bản Trẻ, tr. 21 9 Interview Ms. Nguyễn Khoa Diệu Biên, on August 8, 2009 10 Interview Ms. Bùi thị Mè, on July 5, 2010. 11 Nguyễn Ngọc Nghi, Áo Tím trên mọi nẻo đường [The Ao Tim Students (Purple Dresses)on All the Roads of the Country], tr.20 12 Phan Thị Thương, Áo Tím trên mọi nẻo đường [The Ao Tim Students (Purple Dresses) on All the Roads of the Country], tr. 168 13 Áo Tím trên mọi nẻo đường [The Ao Tim Students (Purple Dresses)on All the Roads of the Country], tr. 92 14 Interview Ms. Diệu Biên 15 Đặng Thị Bảy, Áo Tím trên mọi nẻo đường [The Ao Tim Students (Purple Dresses)on All the Roads of the Country]. tr.25 16 Lecture of a training course on Franco- Vietnamese schoolat Hoa Sen University, 2009