The Vietnamese Values System: A Blend of Oriental, Western and Socialist Values

Abstract

<p class="apa">Values education has been discussed extensively in many parts of the world in the context of the dramatic changes associated with globalization which directly affects the set of human values. Vietnam is a developing country with an intermixture of cultural heritage and social-economic transformation. In order to achieve the goal of becoming a modernized and industrialized country, the Vietnamese government is setting the development of human resources as priority. In line with the enhancement of advanced industrial knowledge and skills, Vietnamese should be fulfilled with value codes to meet the requirements of the international labour market, to keep the specific ‘Vietnamese’ characters and to develop sustainably. The content of values education should be addressed to be promoted in families, schools and society. It is thus the aim of this paper to explore the Vietnamese values system. The first section of this paper discusses the notions of values and values education. The following section presents a brief outline of the Vietnamese cultural and historical context. It suggests that irrespective of the changes of historical flows, Vietnamese values still retain traditional values. Holding the same cultural features with other Asian countries, the Vietnamese values system is impacted by the thoughts of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Additionally, Vietnamese adapt Western values from the French and American. Under the management of the Vietnamese government, socialist values are promoted as key rulers of social well-being and prosperousness.</p>