The dream competition

At the beginning of the year the school organised a "Dream" competition for Grade 9 students, who were to answer the question: "If you later led a locality, what would you prioritise first so that foreign visitors do not think little of the culture of our Vietnamese nation?"
These were some typical answers:

• I would campaign, educate, publicise, persuade, inspect, impose sanctions... to make the streets clean without a single scrap of rubbish. Clean, beautiful streets are the most basic standard of civilisation of a country. Whoever loves their country must not litter, must pick up and clear rubbish, and must sort rubbish. Waste collection services would also be allowed to accept only sorted rubbish.

- I would direct that road surfaces be made smooth and flat to international standards. I would have every bumpy, uneven, undulating stretch of road investigated to see who built it and who accepted it, and discipline them all without leaving out a single name for lack of competence and lack of responsibility. Vietnamese roads must be the smoothest in the world.

- I would resolutely direct noise inspections according to world environmental standards. There has been a murder because of karaoke noise disturbing the neighbours. Civilised people accept only a quiet living environment. Any shop that puts out loudspeakers blaring music to attract attention, the local official there would be reprimanded and disciplined at once for lacking the environmental knowledge to manage the residents. Construction establishments and services must have measures to stop noise leaking out.

- I would have all residents trained in a friendly attitude towards foreign visitors so they feel fondness for Vietnam. There was once a case in which a motorbike taxi driver jumped into a dirty drain to grope for a female tourist's wallet, which won her extreme goodwill. The world will come to Vietnam to enjoy the loving and kindest culture on this planet.

- I would limit house building and expand the area of green planting, requiring every house to have a certain proportion of leaf cover. Whether planted in the ground or hanging overhead on the roof or the porch, we must try to plant as much as possible. By the proportion of greenery we can judge the level of civilisation of a people. Vietnam must become the greenest country in the world.

- I would direct the restoration of the polite way of life of the nation's tradition. Families harmonious and faithful. Schools respectful and diligent. Officials exemplary and incorruptible. The people patriotic and loyal. The world would come to Vietnam not to have fun, but to learn the noble culture and way of life of the Vietnamese.

- I would direct the drawing up of a curriculum teaching the ethics of cause and effect in prisons. Prisoners are people who once had a deficiency in ethics and so need ethics added. The people's tax money cannot keep prisoners idle only for them to commit crimes again after release. Studying ethics really well should be the prisoners' main duty. If ethics is not taught carefully, bad people living together will reinforce one another and magnify the badness many times over.

- I would take the articles on the FOUNDATIONS OF ETHICS page as the curriculum for teaching ethics in schools 😛

Do we have the same dream, I wonder?