CHAPTER4

ATasteofCompetitionatLeMyredeVilers,MỹTho

MainEntranceof«CollègeLeMyredeVilers»MỹTho1944

I havemanymembers ofmy family living in France as French citizens. Iwant to avoid any misunderstanding. My writing about the French colonialsystemmistreatingnativeVietnamese reflects only the truenatureof historicalfacts. I happen to have lived under that 20th century of exploitation of Asia byEuropeans.ThemajorityoftheFrenchpeopledonotalwayssharethepoliciesofthe French government, especially in the French colonies. Under the FrenchEmpire, two rules were clear: Divide to conquer and the least educated thenatives, the easier to govern them.My junior high schoolwas named after theGovernorofCochinchina,LeMyredeVilers. FrenchIndochinawasdivided intoCochinchina,Annam,Tonkin,LaosandCambodia.ForthewholeCochinchina,thesouth of present day Vietnam, the education system included only two juniorhighschoolsor“colleges”inFrench,locatedinCầnThơandMỹThoprovincesinthe Mekong Delta and four senior high schools or “Lycées” in French namelyPétrusKý,GiaLong,ChasseloupLaubatandMarieCurieinSaigon,thecapitalofCochinchina. There was no university. In the old days, “Cochinchinois andAnnamites”wererequiredtogotoHanoi,1,072mi(1,726km)upnorthtoattendHanoi University, the only institution of higher learning in Indochina. It hadurposelynoengineeringschool, inordertokeepmanufacturingasamonopolyorexportingFrenchmanufacturedgoodstoitscolony.pf

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School’s130thanniversary3/17/1879‐‐3/17/2009

School’s130thanniversary3/17/1879‐‐3/17/2009

A Taste of Competition at Le Myre de Vilers, My Tho 107

Candidatescamealso fromthesurroundingprovincesofBếnTre,TânAn,òCônG g,VĩnhLong,SaĐécandLongXuyên.

Just to study in a junior high, I had to first pass a formal exam for theertificate of primary school level, “CEPCI” “Certificat D’Études PrimairesomplCC émentairesIndochinoises.”

To pass this formal exam, I had to register to compete for a place inMỹTho’s junior high. It was a very tough screening process at a very early ageecause there were too many candidates for very few available seats in thechool.bs

IDphotorequiredforprimaryschoolexam,1943

Iwasverynervousandafraidoffailurebecausetherewasnowhereelseto

continuemyeducation,unlessImovedtothecapitalcityofSaigontoattendsomeprivateinstitutions.At13,livingawayfromhomeforschoolingwasnotappealingatall.Fortunately,Ipassedthatsevereselectionprocess.Thatwasmyfirsttasteoftoughacademiccompetitionanditwastheinitiallaunchofmynon‐stop,longjourneyfullofchallengestotheveryendofmystudentlifeintheUnitedStates.This rough journey started inMỹTho junior high, continued on toDalat at therestigious French Lycée Yersin, then to Lafayette College in Pennsylvania andndedatMIT,Cambridge,Massachusetts.pe

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Studentsinblackandwhiteschooluniformsinfrontofthemaingate,1944

StudentsinfreshlypaintedbuildingAcampuscornerwitholdbuilding

Statue

ofScholarNguyễnĐìnhChiểuGirlstudents’uniform“ÁoDài”

A Taste of Competition at Le Myre de Vilers, My Tho 109

MyIDcardinJuniorHighSchool,inFrench(1944‐1948)

Oldclassroombuilding&courtyard

Studying in primary school was fun with its free style voluntary system

except for the final year exam for the Certificate. A failure meant the end ofschooling because therewas no other institution in town. Now, in junior high,student life was completely different. I was subject to a lot of new disciplines,namely:

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1. School uniforms, Vietnamese style, collarless white pajama shirts, whiteoni sabot.col alcorkhatsandwooden

2. Clothinguniform,butinWesternstyle,composedofwhiteshortsleeveshirtndshortswithwhitesocks,white“Bata”(Frenchbrandname)tennisshoesandhitehelmetcalled"casquecolonial.”

aw

Whitecolonialcorkhat,1944

3. Everyweekday,twohomeworksessionsoneintheearlymorningandonentheeveningonthecampusunderthewatchfuleyesofa“surveillantd’etudes”r“stuio dysupervisor.”

The school discipline was under very strict control of a “SurveillanténérG al”or“PrincipalSupervisor”whohappenedtobeanIndianFrenchcitizen.

Eachmorning,thestudentswererequiredtosalutetheFrenchtricolorflagbefore classes started. For special occasion, the uniform shirts had two blackinsignias at the collar, with the embroidered gold letters CMV ‐ for Collège LeMyredeVilers.Onweek‐endstheinternstudentsintheirnice,prestigiouswhiteuniform made a promenade tour of the town under the watchful eyes ofsupervisors. “Interns”were studentswho lived in the campusdormitories.Asastudent livingoff campus, I had towear the schooluniform like the interns forpecia schoolevents.s

l

A Taste of Competition at Le Myre de Vilers, My Tho 111

1947

Thiswasmy juniorhigh schoolwesternuniform;missingwere thehat, awhite“ casquecolonial”andwhitetennisshoeswithwhitesocks.

Asanexternstudent,Ilivedwithmyparentsintown.However,everydayIhad to wear the school uniform and at 7AM started my one hour and half ofhomework in school together with the intern students. In the evening, afterdinner I had to come back for another one and a half hours of homework. Noonversation or distractions were allowed during those homework sessions.iscip

cD linewasverystrictcomparedtowhatIseenowintheUSschools.

Fast food restaurantsdidnot exist.Near the school entrance, a fewsquatfoodvendorsgatheredaroundthelightofthetownlampposttosellbreakfasttoexternstudents.Forbreakfast,Itypicallyhadthefollowingchoices:hominygritsorstickyriceservedwithwhitecoconutchips,brownsugarandroastedsesameseeds,orfishsoupwithricenoodles.Therewerenopapernapkinsorplasticwares. Food was served on skillfully wrapped green banana leaves. A morewestern breakfast of Frenchbaguette, pâté andheadcheesewith pickled carrotanddaikon(whiteradish)camefromamerchantinhistricycleshop.Hehadhisownacetylenelampforlighting.

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BaguetteP

âtéfoieHeadcheese

Classroomswithgreencourtyardandtalltreestomaintainacomfortabletemperatureunderthehottropicalsun

AllthecoursesweretaughtinFrenchby“professors”asweallcalledthem.They were either graduates of Hanoi University or French universities. Oneprofessorwasresponsibleformathandsciences,oneforgeographyandhistory,oneforVietnameseliterature,onefordrawingandoneforphysicaleducation.Allwere ietnamese except one French professor from Paris teaching French andFrench

Vliterature.For each class, a studentwith nice and neat handwritingwas chosen to

keeptheaccountingbookforgradesofallstudents.IremembermyfriendPhạm

A Taste of Competition at Le Myre de Vilers, My Tho 113

ThếHùngwasassignedtothatprestigioustask.Hùnghappenedtobethetalleststudent inmy class.We became friends for the next four years and beyond. Infact,hemarriedmyfirstcousinwhileIwasastudentintheUS.HecamefromChợGạodistrictabout30kmfromMỹTho.Helivedinaboardinghousejustoutsidethecampus.Iusedtostudywithhimbecauseathome,thejewelrystorewasnotquietwithadozengoldsmithsworking.At theendofeachmonth, therewasanofficial ranking of the students for each class. That put a lot of pressure onmebecauseIwasveryafraidtobeatthebottomofmyclass!Myparentstacitlydidnot expect that. It was my very first taste of stressful academic competition.verybody tried to be on the “top of the basketful of crabs!” Now I find thisxpresEe sionamusingsinceinreallifethechefmaycookthetopcrabfirst!

Iwanted tobenumberone inmyclass,andso Ibeganto learn theartofcompetition at this early age. The reality was rather simple but hard toaccomplish. Inanutshell,moststudents tendedtostudyonly thesubjects theyliked, so I figured out that if I studied bothwhat I liked and didn’t like, then Iwouldgetahighertotalmonthlyaverage.Itwasfair,simpleandstraightforward.Tobenumberone,Ididnothavetobethesmarteststudentintheclass,butonlyneeded toobserve the lawof thesurvivalof the fittest. Itusually required10%inspiration and 90% perspiration, and I practiced this philosophy withperseverance. Ibelievedthatthissimple formulakeptmewhereIwantedtobeduringmylongacademicjourneyfromMỹThojuniorhightoDalatLycéeYersin,allthewaytocollegeanduniversityintheUnitedStates.Ihadtobeasteadyhardorker and awell rounded one. Like in a lot of famous schoolsmany studentsante

ww dtobeontop.

MyhomeinMỹThowasknownas“TiệmVàngKhươngHữu”orinEnglish,“KhươngHữuJewelryStore.”Adozengoldsmithsworkedthere full timeduringtheweekandsomealsoworkedduringtheweekendsonrushjobs.Itwasanoisyandverydistractingplacetodomyschoolhomework.Theysang folkssongsorplayedguitarduring lunch andbreak times. I lovedalso to listen to their jokesandinterestingstories.Myescapewastogotosomeofmyclassmates’homesandstudy with them. They becamemy buddies and on weekends we got togethereitherinmyparents’orchardandricemillor inthecityparkalongtheMekongRiver.

Atschool,therotesystemwasusedextensively.IspeciallylikedthementalcalculationclassofthefamousprofessorPhùngVănTài.Itwasasmartwaytodoquickmentalcalculation.HowevernowthatIknowtheUSsystem,Ipreferitandbelieveitismoreopentoinnovationthanthestrictlyold‐fashionedrotesystem.Students who learn through reasoning and understanding are able to transfer

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their knowledge to tasks requiring problem‐solving with greater success thanthosewho learn only by rote. Vietnamese and Chinese educators hold high thetraditionofrotelearningasbeinganintegralpartoftheirculture. InSingapore,with the introduction of the Integrated Program, the government is makingattemptstomoveawayfromrotelearning,atleastforthemoreablestudents.Inmanyfieldssuchasmathematicsandscienceitisstillamatterofcontroversyasto whether rote memorization of facts such as the multiplication table or theboiling point ofwater is still necessary. Progressive reforms ‐ such as outcomebased education –which emphasize the eliminationof rote learning in favor ofdeepunderstandinghaveproducedcontroversyamongthosefavoringtraditionalrote methods. In some American text books, such as the K‐5 mathematicscurriculum, the subjects of investigations in Number, Data, and Space of TERC[Technical EducationResearchCenters (TERC), Inc.] omit rotememorization infavoro lf conceptual earning.

I noted that Vietnamese students including myself rarely asked toughquestions of the teachers. This might have been due to our upbringing inConfucianismwithitsgreatrespectfortheelderly‐inparticulartheteachers.Bytradition,teachersaretheequalsofparents.So,intheclassroomthereseemedtobe just a one‐way street in the flow of information. No heated debate with orchallengingoftheteachers.

I remember most my math and science professor. A graduate of theUniversityofParis,hewasveryconfidentintheteachingofhiscoursesandkeptthe class alive with little jokes every so often. Probably he liked Vietnamesenoodlessomuchthathealwaystoldthestudentstoorderforhim“Mộttôhũtiếu,haitônướclèo”“Onebowlofnoodleswithtwobowlsofbroth.”HetoldusalotofshortstoriesfromhisstudentdaysinParis.Heinvariablywalkedtoclassfromhishomeamileaway inhiswhite suit,white shirt andwhite colonial cork casque.Another unforgettable teacherwas professor Tài fromNorthVietnam.His verystrong,funnyaccentinFrenchwasthetalkoftheclass.

Ihadthemostfunwithafewcloseclassmates.Weenjoyedpickingallthetreeripenedtropicalfruitsinmyparent’sorchard.Weswaminthemuddyriverand caught wild shrimps using a specially designed bamboo baskets along thewater palm trees on both sides of thewaterway. Most ricemills had a pigeonfarm because those birds fed on the paddy that fell out of the paddy jute bagsstored around themill. On special occasions,we used a ladder to climb up thepigeonneststocatchyoungsquabs.Theywereconsideredrealdelicacies intheVietnamesemenu.

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Pigeonnests

WewouldalsosittogetheralongtheMekongRiverembarcaderoandenjoyhesut nsetandthecoolbreeze.

Thefirstthreeyearsofschoolwerelessstressfulthanthelastone.Duringmyfourthyear,Iwasreallyobsessedwithstudyingforthefinalexaminordertoearn the diploma known as DEPSI (Diplôme d’Études Primaires SupérieuresIndochinoises),whichwasveryhighlyratedintheFrenchEmpire.IntheFrenchsystem, none of the grades you earned during the entire four years countedtowards theDEPSI.Regardlessof howwell I did inmy last four years, I had topass the final exam to get the diploma. Thank God, I made it with a “MentionBien,” the highest rating of my promotion. I was valedictorian or “Major dePromotion” in French.De facto, Iwas nominatedbymy school to go to FrenchLycée in Saigon to participate in the Brevet Élémentaire exam, which had thesamerating inFrance,unlike theVietnameseDEPSI. Iwasshocked todiscoverthat I had to know the fundamentals of music called solfège, a system ofattributingadistinctsyllabletoeachnoteinthemusicalscale.

IhadtosingaFrenchsongandbeatthetimewithmyfingerforthisexam.Solfège is a form of solmization, commonly characterized in English‐speakingcountriesbythesyllables:do,re,mi,fa,sol, la,ti,do.I lookedforthebestmusicteacherintownandwentthroughacrashcourse.Itwasanadventureformetogo to Saigon, the capital city, and take the exam at a French school. A reallyintimidatingtrip.OurfamilyownedabuscompanyconnectingMỹThotoSaigon.I tooktheeveningtripandsleptontheroofof thebus. Itparked in frontofmySisterSix’shome.Atnight,theVietnameseuseaspecialmatmadeofreedsimilar

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toatatamitosleepinandavoidthemosquitobites.AfterItookmybreakfastatmySister’shome,IheadedstraighttotheFrenchLycéeMarieCuriefortheexam.Ihadnoproblemwithall the regularcoursesbut feltvery scaredof thismusictest.AFrench ladyaskedme to singa songwhilebeating the time followedbyseveralquestionsonsolfège. I feltall shookupbut it turnedoutOK in theend.Thatwasaliberatingmoment.

No one in my family celebrated my achievement in passing the exam,probably because they expected no less. However, my father’s friend andneighbor,pharmacistTrầnVănKhanh, acknowledgedmyacademic success andasked my father to go to Saigon’s famous Albert Portail bookstore on CatinatStreet to choose the best French desk set for me. What a great gift for myacademicmilestone!

Bytradition,theschoolorganizedaveryimportantyear‐endvarietyshowperformedbythestudentsthemselves.TheprogramincludedaFrenchtheatricalplaysuchasCinderellaor“BarbeBleu,”tapdancing,standupcomedians,singers,chorals … ending with the traditional farewell song “Choral des Adieux,” theFrenchequivalentofAuldLangSyne.

In retrospect, after four years atMỹTho juniorhigh school, I learned thefundamentals for academic success: study discipline, rigorous competition, andperseveranceamongstudentsmoreintelligentthanmyself.Ialsolearnedthatinaddition to academic success, somesocial activitieswerenecessary tomaintainsomeequilibrium in life.Academic geniuswithout social contact can lead to anunbalancedlife.AllworkandnoplaymakesJackadullboy.

Asmentionedabove,abigcitylikeMỹThohadnoseniorhighschool.Thatwastypicalofthecolonialsystemrestrictingthenumberofeducatednativesforeasygoverning.However,evenatthejuniorhighlevel,itwasQualityevenintheabsenceofQuantityineducation.ImustadmitthatfortheprestigeoftheFrenchempire, the colonial government unfailingly maintained the high quality of its“diplôme”ordiploma.TheproofwasthatwithmymodestFrenchschoolinginMỹTho,IwasabletomoveontoanotherFrenchschool,theprestigiousLycéeYersininDalat,whichwouldpavethewaylateronformetoperformsuccessfullyatMITinAmerica.Myunbelievableacademicjourneyactuallybeganatthis juniorhigheMyredeVilersinmyhometownofMỹTho.L