Embedded Files
From dntrinh@hotmail.com Wed Jun 30 09:03:51 2004
Date: Sat, 29 May 2004 01:29:27 +0100
From: Le Quynh <dntrinh@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Chu nghia thanh tich
Dear list,
May I ask how the phrase "chu nghia thanh tich" can be translated into English? Is there an equivalent in English?
Many thanks,
Le Quynh
From hhtai@fas.harvard.edu Wed Jun 30 09:03:57 2004
Date: Fri, 28 May 2004 21:43:37 -0400
From: Tam Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Chu nghia thanh tich
It sounds like it could mean fetishism, but without context, it's hard to know. Could you quote from a passage where it is used?
Hue-Tam
From dntrinh@hotmail.com Wed Jun 30 09:04:02 2004
Date: Sat, 29 May 2004 23:00:58 +0100
From: Le Quynh <dntrinh@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Chu nghia thanh tich
Someone asked me the English equivalent of 'chu nghia thanh tich', so I don't have yet a particular article in which the phrase is used. But some of these passages below express the meaning of this phrase (chu nghia thanh tich, can benh thanh tich...):
“… từ lúc xuất hiện những cuộc thi học sinh giỏi quốc gia thì đó cũng là lúc ngành giáo dục các địa phương bắt đầu cuộc chạy đua về thành tích, bởi kết quả của các cuộc thi này sẽ làm nên “bộ mặt” cho ngành giáo dục của tỉnh nhà. Tuy nhiên, điều đáng nói ở đây chính là cách thức “chăm bẵm” các học sinh để đi thi học sinh giỏi…”
Source: http://web.tintucvietnam.com/News/PrintView.aspx?ID=12071
“…Bộ GD-ĐT thì luôn luôn báo cáo thành tích qua các con số về những người được đào tạo sau đại học ở trong nước cũng như ngoài nước đã và đang giữ những vị trí quan trọng trong công tác quản lý, chỉ đạo và hoạch định chính sách ở các cơ quan, đơn vị Nhà nước, các bộ, ngành, UBND các tỉnh, thành phố, trong hoạt động sản xuất kinh doanh ở các doanh nghiệp…”
Source: http://web.tintucvietnam.com/News/PrintView.aspx?ID=32223
I hope this clarifies the meaning.
Le Quynh
From hhtai@fas.harvard.edu Wed Jun 30 09:04:06 2004
Date: Sat, 29 May 2004 19:56:24 -0400
From: Tam Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Chu nghia thanh tich
Okay. I doubt that there is an absolute equivalent, but something like "the cult of awards and prizes" would probably render the meaning.
Hue-Tam
From jhannah@u.washington.edu Wed Jun 30 09:04:11 2004
Date: Sat, 29 May 2004 20:28:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joe Hannah <jhannah@u.washington.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Chu nghia thanh tich
My informant tells me that this is a phrase that implicitely criticizes an ethic that revolves around awards and the acheivement of numerically measured goals. It implies that the *score* (based on some predetermined quota or statistical goal) is more important than the actual results. For instance, the number of children immunized becomes an end in itself, rahter than the actual decrease in the incidence of disease, or the test scores of students becomes more important than the actual learning taking place. (MacNamara's "body counts" during the American War was another example given me.) There is certainly a connotation of "numbers" and "statistics" in the phrase, and it is certainly a "negative" phenomenon. (Or so I am told.) English equivalent? Can't think of one.
Joe
From NLan@ifc.org Wed Jun 30 09:04:16 2004
Date: Sun, 30 May 2004 10:49:11 +0700
From: Lan Van Nguyen <NLan@ifc.org>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Chu nghia thanh tich
Joe,
Yes, that's exactly what "chu nghia thanh tich" or "benh thanh tich" mean, I can confirm that but can't think of English equivalent either. "benh thanh tich" or "chu nghia thanh tich" were common during the centrally-planned period and now a serious problem in the education system,
Lan
From adam@aduki.com.au Wed Jun 30 09:04:20 2004
Date: Sun, 30 May 2004 14:07:27 +1000
From: "Adam @ Aduki" <adam@aduki.com.au>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: Chu nghia thanh tich
How about 'careerism'?
Adam
Website: www.aduki.com.au
Contact details:
PO Box 2096, Ivanhoe E,
Melbourne Vic 3079, AUSTRALIA
Tel 61 3 9497 3493; Fax 61 3 9497 4856
From ProschanF@folklife.si.edu Wed Jun 30 09:04:26 2004
Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 09:17:01 -0400
From: Frank Proschan <ProschanF@folklife.si.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Chu nghia thanh tich
What about "bean counting" or "award collecting" or "statisticism"? Or "resume padding," depending on the context? Surely the military must have a word for someone more concerned with accumulating medals and citations rather than accomplishing anything of importance. Or public school teachers now who must now strive for success on quantitative metrics rather than learning results. And there's always the good old Soviet "stakhanovism" and "stakhanovite" for someone who always exceeds production quotas.
Frank Proschan
Save Our Sounds
From sinh.vinh@ualberta.ca Wed Jun 30 09:19:19 2004
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 06:47:25 -0600
From: VINH Sinh <sinh.vinh@ualberta.ca>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Chu nghia thanh tich
Dear all:
I just returned from a long research trip and am reading this interesting discussion today. On the subject of "chu? nghi~a tha`nh ti'ch", I believe it has surfaced in China during the Cultural Revolution (circa 1965-75).At the time, I remember the English media translated it as "meritocracy".
Best,
VINH Sinh
From hhtai@fas.harvard.edu Wed Jun 30 09:19:25 2004
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 09:17:51 -0400
From: Tam Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Chu nghia thanh tich
Actually, I don't think that meritocracy is used to translate the concept of fulfilling or exceeding quotas regardless of quality. Meritocracy has been used in contradistinction to what Susan Shirk called "virtuocracy." Another way of putting this dichotomy is "red v.s expert". In other contexts, meritocracy is set against ascriptive status, as in stating that the Confucian examination system was meritocratic. The notion of accumulating diplomas and fulfilling mindless quotas smacks more of Stakhanovite influence than meritocracy. One could claim, however, that there is a precedent for this mind-set in the merit-making mentality that meshed Buddhist and Confucian ideas (see Cynthia Brokaw's work on the ledgers of merit and demerit in Ming China).
Hue-Tam
Page updated
Report abuse