It’s dream comes true when some Vietnamese young people have a chance to broaden their minds in a foreign country. In minds of various Vietnamese families, getting their children study abroad is something beyond their expectations, which they believe their children will be successful as they would enjoy better education, compared with the current developing educational system in Vietnam.
The answer is Yes and No.
Living abroad requires independence and self-discipline. That said, a young naïve adolescent must learn how to adapt to the new environment. Coming to a new country is not only for learning, but also adjusting oneself to live well with new things. I came together with around 50 friends to study in a public university in Singapore. At first we all found hard time as homesickness came in here and there. But gradually, we learnt to connect ourselves through events of Vietnamese community, and got advice from our seniors for where to buy stuff, how to travel, pay fees, control expenses and so on. Almost 3 years have passed by, and we could see ourselves more mature.
Still, parents would worry if their children lose control of their study and are attracted by bars, and clubs. A lot of stories I heard revolve around their leaving the schools and using the money provided for parties without parent’s knowledge, which happens to be common in some private institutions in Singapore. And yes, we could even see some Vietnamese students who could not cope with pressure of study and secretly work in hotels instead. How can their parents know the situations? Some adults note that they send their naughty sons to foreign schools with the hope of changes in their children’s development, but it turned out to be the worse cases.
I write this little note, which I found not yet fully illustrate the overall picture of studying abroad, but to certain extent, I want to assert the objective of educational investment for our children. We would need to see carefully if we are going to make wise choices. Are we going to make our children better or expose them to a more vulnerable zone?
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This is a guest post by Huy Pham. Huy is a student studying in Singapore.
Yes, so true