Tuan Anh, a teacher at Colette Secondary School in HCM City, noted that profanity is quite common among students nowadays.

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“When I hear students swearing, I warn them to not do this. I tell them that when they use foul language, people will negatively judge them and their parents and teachers,” he said.

“The students listen to me, but they don’t change theur manners,” he said.

The teacher noted that many students swear, no matter whether they are from well-off or poor families, or have parents who are manual workers or university educated.

“Curses are heard in all schools, the schools with students from wealthy families, and the schools where the majority of students are from poor families,” he said.

“When talking to each other, gossiping or chatting via internet, they often swear. The words they use sometimes are terrible,” said Nguyen Le Minh, a teacher at a private school in Tan Phu district in HCM City.

The teacher hears students swearing when he goes to the tea shop next to the school. Bad language is used more commonly when students gather for meals or parties.

Nguyet Viet Dang Du, a teacher at Le Quy Don High School in HCM City, noted that students restrict their swearing in class, but they do it regularly in school and on social networks.

The students attending the workshop titled ‘Students in cities and school behaviors’ in HCM City s
recently admitted the use of bad language in classes and schools.

“Many students use uncultured words in communication,” a student said.

“They cannot control their words. They speak profanity all the time. Seven out of every 10 sentences they speak contain foul words,” the student said.

In fact, correcting students’ behaviors and giving warnings against using foul language is a focus of schools.

The handbooks delivered to students at the Nguyen Duc Canh High School in Thai Binh in the 2015-2016 academic year comprised school regulations. The No 1 regulation says students must not talk nonsense and swear, including swearing in abbreviated form.

Dong Son 2 High School in Thanh Hoa also set the same regulation. Luong The Vinh High School in Hanoi released “the things that they must not do on Facebook”.

Of the 10 articles at the Nam Viet Secondary and High School in HCM City, Article No 7 prohibits students from talking nonsense, swearing, smoking, drinking beer and using stimulants.

However, as a teacher said, students still swear and curse. 

Thuy Nga