That was the revelation of Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen, former lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, at the talk show "Books & the mission of teachers" held at Ho Chi Minh City Book Street recently.

Waste of student's time

More than 20 years ago, graduating as valedictorian, Ms. Huyen was retained at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education. She recalled her image when she became a lecturer at the age of 22: "At that time, I had just graduated but I was as old as I am now."

To build the image of a virtuous lecturer, the female student who had just graduated at that time had her hair curled, dressed neatly, and always had a serious and frowning face...

"But now, after more than 20 years in the education industry, I look at the mission of a teacher very simply. The mission of a teacher is to make every moment that students are with us the most meaningful moments in their lives," said Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen.

Dr. Huyen said that she met many teachers in remote areas who were struggling to maintain students’ interest and motivation to go to school. They thought and worried that their students would fall into a vicious cycle of dropping out of school, getting married, having children, and poverty.

She shared with the teachers, do not think about these things but focus on the present moment. Today, when the students are at school with you, what can you do to make that day meaningful for them.

Observing many classes, Ms. Huyen had to say that for about 20 minutes of class, teachers taught unnecessary things. These were things that students already knew and things they did not need.

That is, we are wasting their time. Those 20 minutes are not just 20 minutes, but must be multiplied by the number of students in the class.

Meanwhile, the mission of a teacher is to make every moment with students meaningful. Children coming to him will learn something valuable along with moments of joy and happiness. Through that, children will see that learning is the happiest and most joyful thing.

"With this mission, teachers will cherish every moment we are present in the lives of our students. This is the definition and motto that I myself must practice every day," Dr. Huyen expressed.

Unable to argue with the teacher, the student walked out of the class.

After returning from studying abroad in England, Ms. Huyen said she is a lecturer with a "different" dressing style.

She heard students share that they like to come to her class to see what she is wearing today and what shoes she is wearing. Looking at her style, they see freedom and openness.

In particular, students were impressed by having a lecturer who could comfortably accept opposing opinions, criticism, and debate from students.

The female doctor said that to do this, each teacher needs to accept that today's youth are more agile and intelligent, and that they can learn from them. They, on the other hand, are the product of traditional education, of public education.

Ms. Huyen admitted that it was only after studying abroad that she truly learned about critical thinking and accepting debates from students.

This person recalled that when she first came to England, she was shocked by the case of a student whose face turned red and argued with the teacher in the middle of the class. Unable to win the argument, the student picked up his bag and left the class, while the teacher calmly said, "Ok, bye bye."

Ms. Huyen thinks that if in Vietnam, an angry teacher would most likely cancel that class.

Not only that, in the next class, the student, after going to the library to look up information, returned to class… to argue with the teacher. The teacher was ready to accept that, ready to debate with the student.

There are different teachers for everyone.

Along with the mindset that teachers learn from their students, the teachers attending the discussion also said that there are other teachers right next to each person.

According to lecturer and HCM City reading culture ambassador Trung Nghia, parents are the first and greatest teachers of each person, from birth to adulthood.

And another great teacher that can be with us anytime, anywhere is books. To learn for life requires the learner to study and to read.

Mr. Nghia worries that it seems that young people have less access to books these days. There are children who need to have their phones in front of them to eat.

In order for this teacher to be able to accompany the children for life, Mr. Nghia believes that first of all, right from within the family, books need to be placed everywhere, books must be seen everywhere to build a love of reading in children.

Having worked for 3 years at Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City, MC Giang Ngoc stated his opinion: "The immortal teacher of each person is books".

Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen added that generations now have to go through the crisis stages of their 20s, 30s, 40s… And the only way to overcome the crisis is lifelong learning. The most important thing is to fight internally and dare to admit one’s weaknesses in order to learn.