Nationalist Movement in Indo – China Notes

1. What were the broad opinions on colonial education? 

• Some policy makers emphasized that French should be the medium of education.
• They felt, by learning the French language the Vietnam would be influenced by the French culture. They expected that the educated Vietnamese would respect the French sentiments and ideals.
• While some others suggested that Vietnamese must be taught in the lower classes and French should be taught in the higher classes.
• Those who learned French and acquired French culture would be awarded French citizenship.

1. Why were only a few admitted, passed school leaving examination?

This was because of the deliberate policy of failing the students in the final year so that they could not qualify for the better-paid jobs.

1. C) How school textbooks glorified the French and justified colonial rule?

Vietnamese were represented as primitive and backward, capable of manual labor but not of intellectual reflection; they could work in fields but not rule themselves, they were skilled copyists but not creative.