The Tonkin Free School was started in 1907 to provide a Westernstyle education.
This education included classes in science, hygiene and French (these classes were held in the evening and had to be paid for separately.
It was not enough to learn science and Western ideas: to be modern the Vietnamese had to also look modern.
Looking Modern
The Tonkin Free School was started in 1907 to provide a Westernstyle education.
This education included classes in science, hygiene and French (these classes were held in the evening and had to be paid for separately.
It was not enough to learn science and Western ideas: to be modern the Vietnamese had to also look modern.
Resistance in Schools
Teachers and student did not blindly follow what was written in the curriculum.
In 1926 a major protest erupted in the Saigon Native Girls School.
Seeing the situation getting out of control, the government forced the school to take the students back.
Students fought against discrimination against the Vietnamese in white collar jobs.
By the 1920s, students were forming various political parties, such as the Party of Young Annan, and publishing nationalist journals such as the Annanese Student.
Schools became an important place for cultural and political battles. Education became an important part of the larger battle against colonialism and for independence.
Talking Modern
The French were faced with yet another problem in the sphere of education: the elites in Vietnam were powerfully influenced by Chinese culture.
To counter Chinese influence, the French systematically dismantled the traditional educational system and established French schools for the Vietnamese.
The textbooks glorified French rule and culture.
The Vietnamese were represented as primitive and backward, capable of manual labour but not intellectual reflection.
They could work in the field but not rule themselves.
