And this is the reason many of my students don't focus on their academic responsibilities.
Singing, dancing & dreaming of becoming any kind of media star dominates the mind of many. Impressionable kids in a land of little real opportunity are developing delusions of grandeur (you may call these "dreams"). This hunger is fed by an increasing bombardment of high-school age Korean "stars" and local beauties plucked from obscurity, thrust into the limelight regardless of their obvious lack of talent.
Shows like Vietnam's Got Talent are giving kids hope that they can be famous, even though behind the scenes those in the know would be fully aware just how successful exposing the naked ambition of talentless young hopefuls on national TV is. Train crash TV is always popular.
Talent spotters such as John Roberts Powers prey on these young kids by negotiating their full-day seminars into private school curriculums, when in actuality the people behind the podium addressing high school kids should be academics and career counsellors. Schools, driven by dollar signs, play up to the desires of their pupils by wasting significant time on frivolous pursuits, often pulling students out of important intellectual subjects to have them spend more time getting a dance routine right.
The culmination of this focus on the performing arts is any number of shows put on to accompany end of semester events, and the presentation of embarrassing, amateur dance routines set to backing tapes, the young, participating students blithely unaware of the sexual overtones present in both action and attire.
Having attended quite a few of these fashion/dance/talent shows now I can tell you I'm not alone in reporting that they are generally considered bemusing at best, and usually an annoying waste of our free time.
In my opinion these activities should remain as personal hobbies, or incorporated into the music and PE programs as special projects (especially given that sport is practically a dirty word in Vietnamese schools - dance is better than no physical exercise or team-building at all).
Ultimately, I'd like to see school grounds decorated with lavishly-produced, glamorous posters promoting the exciting world of international study/jobs, and the accompanying longevity of such a life, achieved by excelling in academic pursuits.
