Colonial Schools in Vietnam

Gloria Kwok Kirksville, Missouri, United States

ABSTRACT

As early as 1860 the colonial regime adopted French as the medium of instruction and set up colonial schools. In order to dismantle the influence of traditional (indigenous) and reformed Vietnamese schools, to keep Vietnamese out of French schools and to provide its administration with lower-level civil servants, the French administration instituted a set of reforms between 1917 and 1924 that led to the creation of separate French schools and Franco-Vietnamese schools, and the adoption of quốc ngữ as the medium of instruction in the first three levels and French at the upper levels. The goal of this chapter is to trace the development of the Franco-Vietnamese schools from 1858 to 1945, discuss the ideological content of the curriculum, and point out legacies of colonialism in American French teaching manuals. This chapter also discusses the role of teaching manuals in representing France and its former colonies to twenty-first century learners and addresses the need to promote textbooks that use a non-francocentric approach as well as an inclusive approach, mindful of all learners, and deserves our attention as teachers and scholars.

Keywords: Franco-Vietnamese schools and curriculum, American French textbooks