Associate Professor Nguyen Vu Luong tells the reason why 'The General Specialized School is poor but has high achievements'

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Vu Luong - former Head of the General Mathematics and Information Technology Department, the first Principal of the High School for the Gifted in Natural Sciences - told the story of "a poor school with good students".

At the ceremony to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the General High School tradition and the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Natural Science High School, which took place on the morning of October 4, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Vu Luong shared his memories of the school. According to him, this is a special school, where teachers and students can contribute their best to the common success.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Vu Luong, former head of the General Mathematics and Information Technology Department and also the first principal of the High School for Gifted Students in Natural Sciences, University of Natural Sciences - Vietnam National University, Hanoi . Photo: Thanh Hung.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Vu Luong said that in June 2010, the High School for Gifted Students in Natural Sciences - Hanoi National University was established and "from this moment, students had an address to tell their friends about their school; there was a school yard to sing the National Anthem at the beginning of the week".

60 years ago, in September 1965, the school's predecessor was the first special Math class established, consisting of 38 students at the Evacuation Area in Thai Nguyen of the University of General Sciences.

According to Associate Professor Nguyen Vu Luong, since then, through many stages of development, the school has always been proud that despite receiving the least investment and not having any special preferential policies for training the best students in the country, teachers and students are still very happy.

“Many journalists and education experts have asked me, 'Why is the General High School for the Gifted, though poor, still achieving the highest results in the country every year?' The answer: we are a 'fairy tale' school. The State's decision has given us the 'richest' educational house with four pillars that every educational institution dreams of,” Mr. Luong shared.

The first pillar of education, according to him, is a school with many good teachers.

The High School for the Gifted in Natural Sciences is located in the Hanoi University of Science and is now the University of Natural Sciences, so students can learn directly from leading scientists. Some of the respected teachers include the late Professor, Dr. Le Van Thiem; Professor Hoang Tuy; Associate Professor, Dr. Phan Duc Chinh; Professor, Dr. Hoang Huu Duong; Professor, Dr. Nguyen Duy Tien; Associate Professor, Dr. Le Dinh Thinh...

Photo: Thanh Hung.

The second pillar is students with good abilities. “Students of the High School for the Gifted in Natural Sciences are selected nationwide, so they are very good and always proud of the logo 'HSGS' on their shirts - which means 'Already Excellent Students'; 'Professor Students'”, Mr. Luong humorously said.

However, according to him, the numbers will speak for themselves.

Students of the Natural Science Specialized School won 249 medals out of 770 medals nationwide in international competitions, accounting for 32% of the countries. Of these, there were 79 Gold Medals out of 198 Gold Medals nationwide, accounting for 40%.

The third pillar, according to Mr. Luong, is to have an advanced training program and a scientific and effective way of organizing and managing education.

“Because of the mission of training gifted students, the school's training program is always updated and supplemented. Perhaps thanks to this method, the school can maximize the capacity of students and teachers,” said Mr. Luong.

Students of the High School for Gifted Students in Natural Sciences, University of Natural Sciences, VNU. Photo: Thanh Hung.

The fourth indispensable pillar is tradition, built up by many generations of students of the school. We can mention Professor Ngo Bao Chau, the first Vietnamese mathematician to win the Fields Medal in 2010; or Professor Dam Thanh Son won the Dirac Prize in 2018 of the International Center for Theoretical Physics ICTP. And many other former students of the General High School also became outstanding scientists, successful businessmen, outstanding leaders of the country...

“Someone asked me, 'What do teachers of specialized schools wish for the most?' Of course, our answer is that we hope our country will build more specialized schools to train more valuable natural science talents for the country. This dream is completely possible because, as said, 'we don't need a lot of money', we just need more good teachers who are dedicated to their profession,” Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Vu Luong shared.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/pgs-nguyen-vu-luong-ke-ly-do-truong-chuyen-tong-hop-ngheo-nhung-thanh-tich-cao-2449159.html