VietNamNet Bridge – The scenes of Vietnamese students, aged 18-20, drive cars to school, have been seen more regularly. They belong to the new class of students – the aristocratic students.

Driving cars to show the upper class

Phuong Lan, the student of a university in Thanh Xuan district in Hanoi, introduced herself as a member of the aristocratic students’ club which is comprised of five members, and all of them go to school by cars.

Lan said the Honda Civic she drives to school every day is the award for her passing the national university entrance exams.

“All of us drive cars to school. My car is the cheapest one. I have asked my parents to buy me a Mazda 6,” she said.

It took Trang only 20 minutes to drive motorbike to the university, which is not too far from her house. However, Trang has decided to give away the motorbike to a nephew and now she drives cars to school. Trang said she feels more self-confident when the friends look at her admirably.

Trang stressed that she completely does not feel sinful when she drives cars to school, while her friends don’t have enough money to pay tuitions. “My parents are the successful businessmen and they have the right to give comfortable lives to their children. I am a good student and I deserve my parents’ awards,” she said.

What do parents think?

Vietnamese parents think differently about whether to allow their children go to go school by cars.

Nga, 46, who works for a foreign invested enterprise, said her daughter, 19, is grown up enough to drive cars. She said that car is just the means of transport people can use to travel, while they cannot show the personality or the learning capability of students.

Meanwhile, Tuan, 49, thinks that driving cars to school may cause negative influences to the learning environment, thus badly affecting the learning of other students.

Universities are the places which gather students from many provinces and cities who come there to study. The students have different conditions and come from the families with different financial capability. The appearance of the “aristocratic students” would create the big gap between the rich and the poor. They would give other friends, especially the ones from poor families, a complex.

Educators stay neutral

Mai Anh, a student of the Hanoi University of Foreign Trade, said she began driving cars when she lived abroad with the parents. Therefore, she feels less comfortable when driving motorbikes to school.

Anh said adults should not be too stern to children and students, while they should simply think that car is just a thing used to travel. Driving cars cannot show the ability and personality of people, therefore, the car driving should not be seen as a behavior to widen the gap between the rich and the poor.

Anh said the university is to far from her house and it’ll take her a lot of time to go to school without the car. “When can’t I use the car to travel in a more comfortable way?” she said.

Dr. Tran Tuan, Director of the Center for Training and Community Development, said all the citizens who are 18 years old and older, have the right to drive cars.

However, he has also warned that young students may entertain illusion about themselves as they can get things so easily, which would badly affect their personality.

Nguyen Hien