Journalism in my teaching life

I became a lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism, Hanoi University of Science when my life was already in its twilight. Mr. Ha Minh Duc, the head of the faculty, recounted the conversation between him and an organizational officer of the school about asking me to come back as follows:

• What do you do as a cadre about to retire?
• Oh, Mr. Ha will serve our school for at least ten more years! He is a good doctor, one year of his is worth many years.

So the school's organizational officer had to agree. From the day I moved to the school (1992) until I retired, it would be exactly ten years. When I returned to the Faculty of Journalism, class K36 was about to finish its first school year. I quickly got to know the students because among the 68 students in the class, quite a few were former students of Hanoi - Amsterdam School, the same age as my son. Many of them had visited my house when they were high school students. The following school year, I was appointed by the faculty to be the head teacher of this class until they graduated (1995).

I became a teacher by chance, because from my childhood I never thought that in the future I would choose the profession of “knocking children’s heads” or “carrying boats across the river”, although my grandfather, a failed scholar, from the year of Giap Ngo (1894) to the year of Ky Dau (1909) continuously took the exam six times and still failed, was my first and most beloved teacher. My grandfather taught me Chinese characters very early, almost at the same time as teaching the national language at Cong Ich, Chu Van An, Tran Trong Hue elementary schools… When I was at school, I had to study in French, had to parrot “Our ancestors were the Gooloa people”, and during the flag-raising ceremony every Monday morning had to repeat the instructions of Marshal Pe-tan (the name of the President who sold France to the Nazis). When I returned home, I was taught in my mother tongue. The first textbook my grandfather used to teach me was the “Three-Character Classic”, which contained wonderful teachings from the ancients thousands of years ago: “Ngoc bat trac, bat thanh khi, nhan bat hoc, bat tri ly” (Jade not polished, cannot become a useful thing, people who do not study, do not know reason). “A child who does not study, what will he do when he grows up?” “tam tho thi, phong nhuong mat, nhan bat hoc, bat nhu vat” (Silkworms make silk, bees make honey, people who do not study, are not as good as animals). My grandfather was a very good student, and was invited by the French to go to the mother country to teach Annamese to their people as a foreign language, but he refused. The most ironic thing was that in the final exam, a French student who was the chief examiner of the national language exam failed his teacher because my grandfather firmly refused to ask him for help when he suggested it. Perhaps that is why none of my grandfather's children (9 in total) followed this "silver lining" profession. Only my uncle, after being a doctor working in a mountainous area, was invited to become a professor at Hanoi Medical University at the age of 26 (1932) due to his excellent scientific works.

During my childhood, I witnessed unforgettable events with my own eyes: the scene of Hoang Van Thu being executed in the Hoang Mai village field near my school at that time (1944); the Japanese-French coup in Hanoi (March 9, 1945) and the terrible famine; the spirit of the August Revolution and Independence Day on September 2, 1945 in the capital; the endless joy of our army and people during the heroic days of the Lo River victory in Ben Then, Vinh Yen (1947); the atmosphere of preparing for a general counter-offensive and the volunteer movement of students from Han Thuyen school, Bac Ninh (1949)... I became a small military medical soldier participating in the two campaigns of Tran Hung Dao and Hoang Hoa Tham in Bac Ninh - Bac Giang (1950), then was sent by the Military Medical Department to study at the Vietnam Military Academy in Cao Bang (1951). The training objective of this school is to prepare a next generation of military officers by sending them to a short course at the Army School after graduating from the Cadet School. Many of my friends studied in the Army and then joined the ranks of soldiers participating in the Dien Bien Phu campaign (1954). Because I was younger than them, I was able to study in China for 3 years, then in the Soviet Union for 7 years, and it was not until 1961 that I graduated from university and returned to the country, and was assigned to teach at the Gia Thuong Foreign Language Supplementary School, Gia Lam (the predecessor of Thanh Xuan Foreign Language University, now Hanoi University) (original: "the predecessor of the University of Foreign Languages ​​in Me Tri today").

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Do Xuan Ha

So I became a foreign language teacher. Thanks to the active help of the People's Teacher, the late Professor Nguyen Luong Ngoc, Head of the Literature Department, Hanoi Pedagogical University, I was transferred to be a literature teacher for the next 20 years (1962-1982). I was very excited and proud to be among the teaching staff of the Faculty of Pedagogical Literature with famous names that I had heard for a long time: Nguyen Luong Ngoc, Le Tri Vien, Huynh Ly, Truong Chinh, Vu Dinh Lien... I was in the Foreign Literature group led by Mr. Nguyen Duc Nam. This was one of the strongest groups of the Faculty and had great appeal to students.

The class of teacher training students in those years was very good, there were many cadres who went to school even older than the young people of my generation, such as Nguyen Hoanh Khung, Nguyen Duc Dong (aka Tu Son, son of critic Hoai Thanh), Bui Van Ba ​​(aka Phuong Luu), Thanh The Thai Binh... From the class of teacher training students that year, many later became famous writers and poets such as Ma Van Khang, Nguyen Khoa Diem, To Nhuan Vy, Pham Tien Duat, Lam Quang Ngoc, Vuong Tri Nhan, To Hoang, Nghiem Van Da, Hoang Hung...

A few years ago, Mr. To Hoang – writer, journalist, scriptwriter and film critic – came from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi to visit me and said that he still kept his pedagogical graduation thesis that I supervised as a souvenir even though more than 30 years had passed and he had studied at several “universities”: in the B battlefield, in the Soviet Union, at a film factory, at a newspaper office… A few days ago, Mr. Trinh Binh An – a science manager – from Hai Phong came to my house to visit, although he was 60 years old, he still read me a poem he composed, his voice still as young as it was more than 35 years ago, when he was a student doing his thesis that I supervised.

I came to the Faculty of Journalism of Hanoi National University not from the Faculty of Literature, University of Education but from the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, where I worked after defending my PhD thesis in literary theory at Moscow State University and was appointed by the Minister of Education at that time as the Scientific Secretary General of the large institute and Deputy Director of the Institute of Educational Studies. Mr. Ha Minh Duc was surprised when I intended to leave those positions and return to the Faculty of Journalism to become a regular lecturer. Even due to problems in the Organization and Personnel Department of the Ministry, I had to wait for 5 months without seeing the decision of the Minister to transfer me to work. At that time, Mr. Duc had to climb up to the 5th floor of my house in Thanh Xuan Bac and ask my wife: "Has Mr. Ha changed his mind about returning to the National University?"

My path to the Faculty of Journalism in the final stage of my teaching career was a fortunate inevitability. I was born in the year of the Ox, a beautiful year. There are people of the same age as me who are heads of state, ministers, deputy ministers, members of the Central Committee or who have enjoyed other “heavenly blessings”. I was unlucky to be born at 8am, when the “buffalo” was sweating on the plow! But since I was a child, my mother told me that I was “supported by a noble person”. I don’t know about other things, but in the story being discussed, it is true: In the beginning of my teaching career, I was wholeheartedly helped by Professor Nguyen Luong Ngoc, and at the end of my teaching career, Professor Ha Minh Duc wholeheartedly lobbied the competent authorities to let me return to my workplace according to my wishes. Here, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Mr. Ha Minh Duc.

I was trained for more than 12 years in the center of Russia to become an expert in Russian Literature with 3 bachelor's, associate doctoral and doctoral degrees, was listed in the book "Who is who?" of the MAPRIAL organization (Russian Studies worldwide), was elected by the General Assembly of this organization as a member of the Inspection Committee - in 1990, was appointed by the 7th Congress of this organization to be the chairman of the conference on literature and country studies with 3 famous scientists from the US, Hungary and Russia, had many textbooks, monographs, articles, scientific reports, taught at many universities in and even in Cambodia, attended many international conferences and in 1981 was elected by the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi Pedagogical University as Associate Professor (Decision of the Prime Minister - 1984). However, ironically, in 1985, I became an educational researcher, an expert in aesthetic education for 7 years, leading a Vietnamese delegation to visit and research a Nordic country, attending and reading reports at international conferences on this field - a field very far from Russian literature and culture that I had studied and researched relatively thoroughly.

That is why when Mr. Ha Minh Duc asked me to become a lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism, I was very happy. In addition to my foreign literature expertise, he asked me to be in charge of the Department of Journalism History and directly teach the World Journalism History section. I have been a good writer since I was young, I still remember when I was in secondary school, Mr. Pham Tuyen once gave me a score of 19.1/4 (on a scale of 20), I was the owner of the university wall newspaper for 5 years, in 1957 I had an article published in the journal "General University", then I wrote many articles in newspapers and magazines about literature and education. My articles about education were compiled into a book and printed twice. However, I have never actually worked in journalism. I always tell my students that I am just a teacher, not a journalist, although I have written for newspapers, and once even won an award from a major newspaper.

During my time working at Hanoi University of Science, the school gave me quite a lot (Original: “Although I have only worked at Hanoi University for 8 years, the school has given me quite a lot”):In 1996, I was elected Vice President of the Council by the Council of Academic Titles of the Faculty of Literature and Han Nom and was elected Professor with 93.3% of the votes in favor; I was twice elected as an Excellent Teacher by the School Council with a high number of votes of over 80%. But the most important thing is that the Faculty of Journalism gave me: I became a real journalism teacher and had more than 1,000 former students, now journalists working effectively in all types of journalism across the country, among them, many still remember me very much and occasionally come to visit me.