The ethnic groups in the Central Highlands always dream of having “a large number of children and grandchildren”. This is understandable because in the past, the Central Highlands society often had conflicts between ethnic groups; production was low, and medical capacity was rudimentary, so the situation of “having children but not nurturing them” still occurred. Meanwhile, the premise of “a large village is strong, a large family has a full granary” made the birth of a new member always considered a valuable asset.

Family is the place where the good values ​​of the Vietnamese people are passed on. Photo: NVCC

In addition to having to follow many taboos and rituals before and after a child is born, the care and upbringing of them is always in a state of utmost care. It is very rare to see people, especially women, beating their children with a whip or scolding them harshly. With children who are not yet aware, they only coax them, and at most, they use threats. With children who are aware, parents use gentle advice or actions to set an example. The educational role of the family is mainly at this stage and the role of the mother is often more important than the father, especially for girls.

However, when the child is about 6-7 years old, the educational role of the family has almost given way to the community. Children, especially boys, will feel ashamed if at this age they still hang around their mothers. Girls follow their grandmothers and sisters to gradually learn the work of their gender. Boys go to the communal house to sleep with the village boys to receive guidance and direction from their elders and village elders in all men's work.

In every community, there are always enough “teachers”: from important tasks such as building houses, hunting, playing gongs, carving tomb statues to small tasks such as weaving and crafting household items. Every night, under the roof of the communal house with a flickering fire, the “teachers” are ready to impart and instruct the young generation selflessly without ever asking for any material compensation.

Not only are they taught the skills to perform daily tasks in the village, these community teachers also play an important role in shaping the personality of the young generation. From the community night activities, those who have bad behavior do not go unnoticed by everyone. Therefore, rice left on the huts, buffaloes and cows in the forest, beehives in the trees... are used by everyone, never lost.

Some people believe that the reason why ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands did not have bad habits such as stealing and cheating in the past was because of very strict punishments. They do not see that a large part of it is thanks to the educational role of the community. The effect is that in each community, everyone is aware of avoiding bad things and living according to common standards. The legacy of the previous generation is inherited like an unbroken stream without necessarily having to be "passed down from father to son".