3 situations that happen when History becomes an elective subject

That is one of the contents of the report of the National Assembly’s Committee on Culture and Education to the National Assembly Standing Committee.

Specifically, according to the design of the new high school curriculum, the History subject program is a compulsory content in the entire basic education stage (primary and lower secondary level) and an elective subject in the secondary education stage. career orientation (high school), designed in the direction of depth.

– Basic education stage: History education is compulsory content

At the primary level (grades 4 and 5), history education content is integrated in History and Geography subjects, with a total length of 140 hours (of which the length of history content is 70 periods/school year). for both classes); does not change in duration compared to the 2006 General Education Program (also 70 periods).

At the lower secondary school level (grades 6 to 9), History and Geography (including 2 subjects History, Geography and some integrated topics) has a total duration of 420 periods (of which for History is 210 periods for all 4 classes). If only the History subject is counted, the duration does not change compared to the 2006 General Education Program (also 210 periods).

In addition, at the stage of basic education, the subject of Nature and Society from grade 1 to grade 3 has some educational contents on patriotism and national traditions; History education content is also implemented in Local Education Content (35 lessons/school year for each grade from 6th to 9th grade), including some topics about local history (accounting for approx. 10 lessons/school year for each class).

– Stage of career-oriented education: History is an optional subject

At the high school level (grades 10 to 12), in addition to compulsory education subjects and activities, students can choose 5 subjects from 3 subject groups (Social science group: History, Geography, Education). economic and legal education; Group of natural sciences: Physics, Chemistry, Biology; Group of art and technology subjects: Technology, Informatics, Art: music, fine arts), in which, Each group chooses at least 1 subject and selected learning topics.

When High School History is an elective subject, there are three possibilities:

– If the student chooses History as one of the five selected subjects, the total duration of the History subject is 210 periods/3 school years (an increase of 70 hours compared to the 2006 General Education Program).

– If the student chooses History as one of the 5 selected subjects, and at the same time chooses the subject of study as History, the student will study for a total of 315 hours/3 school years (an increase of 175 hours compared to the previous year). General Education Program 2006).

– If students do not choose History, they will not take any more classes. General knowledge stops at elementary and middle school program knowledge and integrates in some other subjects. About 140 hours less than the 2006 General Education Program.

Just like at the basic education stage, at the high school level, the content of history education is also included in the local educational content, in which there are topics about local history that take up about 10 periods/hour. school year for each grade. At the same time, National Defense and Security Education at high school is a compulsory subject with a duration of 35 hours/school year, in which educating students about the nation’s tradition of fighting foreign aggression, the people’s armed forces. and Vietnamese military art.

‘Most disagree History is an elective’

The National Assembly’s Committee on Culture and Education said that the synthesis of recommendations from voters, the people, experts, scientists and teachers showed that the majority of opinions disagreed with the introduction of the National Assembly. History subject at high school is an elective subject.

The group’s reasons for disagreeing include:

First, History is a particularly important subject, playing a key role in political and ideological education for the young generation; educating patriotism, national self-respect, cultural and historical traditions; foster the capacity to think, act, and behave properly in social life; thereby forming the qualities of Vietnamese citizens and global citizens in the development trend of the times.

Second, in terms of age psychology, high school students (from 15 to 17 years old) have cognitive maturity, better receptivity to the history of the country and the history of Vietnam’s revolution. This is also the age that determines the formation of worldview, system of views about nature, society, principles and codes of conduct, and human value orientation. In terms of educational science, fostering historical knowledge for high school students is necessary in order to develop comprehensively human beings, arouse patriotic traditions, national pride, beliefs and aspirations for land development. prosperous and happy country of Vietnamese people.

However, if students do not choose history at the high school level (practices show that this number can be up to 50% of students), they will not have access to very important knowledge. educational implications for this age group.

Third, in many countries around the world, History subject in the high school curriculum is always a compulsory subject.

The Committee on Culture and Education affirmed its agreement with the views of the Ministry of Education and Training on listening to the opinions of experts, scientists and people for the subject of History; the need to consider the plan for teaching History subject at high school level and consult the competent authorities in the coming time.

At the same time, he believes that History subject should be identified as a particularly important position in the General Education Program in accordance with the spirit of President Ho Chi Minh’s teachings and in the spirit of Resolution No. November 27, 2015 of the National Assembly, and at the same time ensure the goal of “focusing on ideal education, cultural traditions, history, …”, character formation, patriotism and understanding and awareness of ethnic traditions of students and for the younger generation. Therefore, it is necessary to absorb the opinions of a large number of voters and people of all classes in the direction of stipulating that History is a compulsory subject for upper secondary schools in the 2018 General Education Program with a large amount of knowledge. suitable formula; The design includes historical knowledge (required) and career-oriented knowledge (optional).

This committee also suggested that the Ministry of Education and Training strengthen the propaganda about the General Education Program 2018 in general and the History Subject Program in particular to increase the consensus and support of the society in the implementation of the General Education Program. implementation of the 2018 General Education Program.

Thanh Hung

Mr. Vo Van Thuong: The Central Government directed the review of History subjectMr. Vo Van Thuong affirmed: Whether this subject is compulsory at high school level or not, the content of History education is relatively large. The problem is that the misleading wording of dropping out of History at the high school level makes people nervous.