History proves to be the toughest exam subject for students. A lot of zero marks have been given to the examinees at the latest university entrance exams.

Silly mistakes

Though believing that the knowledge of the examinees attending the C-group exam (students have three exam subjects of literature, history and geography) this year is better than the last year’s, the Da Nang University still has reported that 45 students have got zero for history.

Of the 1947 exam papers, only 61 got over five marks, accounting for 3.1 percent of the only. This means that the majority of the examinees are bad at history. Meanwhile, the students who attend C-group exams are believed to be the ones who have better knowledge in social sciences, including history, than the students who attend A, B or D group exams.

The Saigon University has also reported that examinees got lowest marks in history. A lecturer of the school said that of the five boxes of exam papers delivered to examiners, only one 6.25 mark was given; some got 5-6 marks, while the others got 0-3 marks. Especially, an exam paper got 0.25 mark only, even though the examinee showed his knowledge on four pages.

The HCM City Law University, the HCM City Culture University, An Giang University, Dong Thap University, Da Lat University and Tra Vinh University have also reported a high number of exam papers getting zero for history.

NTH, a lecturer of the Tay Bac University, said she could not understand why the examinees made so silly mistakes. This shows that the students do not have basic knowledge about the Vietnamese history. Many students mistake the nation’s struggle against the French colonialist and the war against the US imperialist.

Students afraid of learning history

History remains the toughest exam subject for many students. In fact, general school students are always afraid of history, the subject that forces them to remember too many events and too many dates. A lot of forums have been opened to analyze why Vietnamese students are so bad at Vietnamese history.

Especially, some educators have pointed out that Vietnamese young students nowadays seem to be keen on other countries’ histories than Vietnamese. The Ministry of Education and Training has been violently criticized for the high number of students who get zero for history at the annual exams.

Nguyen Tuong Vi, a teacher of the Nguyen Hien High School in HCM City, said that the problem lies in the lack of respect for history subject at school.

Vi said that in general, only the bad students, who believe that they cannot have opportunities to pass the university entrance exams if they attend A, B, D group exams, would have to choose C-group as the last resort.

The students attend C-group exams, because they think that they just need to learn by hearts the knowledge of the three subjects, while the social sciences do not require logical thinking.

Vi has affirmed that the “rote learning” and the “rote teaching” is the biggest problem in teaching, which makes students stay in passive mode. They do not try to think and analyze issues to find out reasonable conclusions for them. At school, they just need to take note what teachers say, while at home, they just need to learn by hearts what they have written down in the books, while no need to understand what the words mean.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Han, a history teacher, said the students, who got zero for history from the university entrance exams should have failed the final exams, because they do not have basic knowledge about the subject. Therefore, their success in the finals remains questionable.

Source: Dan Viet/ VNN