Going studying abroad has been described as a kind of “betting on the future.” In many cases, the “investment deals” bring fat profits, while in others, the “gambles” end with tragedies.

Letting things drift

In recent years, sending children abroad to foreign universities has become in fashion in Vietnam. The parents believe that foreign degrees would be better than Vietnamese ones; therefore, the degrees would bring better lives to their children

Nhung’s parents are not considered as “millionaires”, they just run a small restaurant in the residential quarter. However, they still wanted to send Nhung, their daughter, abroad for university education. In order to have money to pay for Nhung’s tuition, they decided to sell all the land plots they saved for many years. 

With the money, Nhung left Hanoi for a five year study course at a university in Australia. Nhung and her parents could imagine before that the decision to send Nhung abroad could lead to such big changes in her life.

“I know that many parents had to spend much money to fund my study in Australia. However, the sum of 35,000 dollars per annum for tuition and subsistence expenses was too little for me,” Nhung wrote in her diary.

Therefore, Nhung tried to get adapted to the new life in the foreign country and went working after school hours. Then Nhung had many new relations, including the complicated and “sensitive” ones. As Nhung was out of the control of the parents, she could do everything she wanted. “Like a mayfly, I fell into the love affairs, became a kept woman who appeared at bars and dance halls,” Nhung said.

The new living environment changed Nhung a lot. She could not remember when she began living with liquor, tobacco and drunkenness.

In many cases, going studying abroad is really not a good choice. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, 22, who lives in Thanh Xuan district in Hanoi, said that as he failed the entrance exams to domestic universities, his parents decided to send him to a junior college in China. However, Nguyen could not obtain anything after three years. He could not speak Chinese fluently, so he could not understand the lessons. 

Tran Anh Tuan, 25, who lives in Phu Tho province, finished the Hanoi University of Culture. However, as it was difficult to find a job with the degree, Tuan decided to fly to the UK to study finance at a university, though finance was not the strong point of Tuan.

As a result, Tuan only got bad study results after two years of studying in the UK. However, he has made “big achievements” in money spending and football betting.

The tragedies

All Vietnamese parents hope for the best when sending their children abroad, because they believe that high learning would help more easily find jobs. However, in many cases, they only witness tragedies.

Returning to Nhung’s story, only when local newspapers reported the arrest of a group of foreign students using drug, did Nhung’s parents understand what Nhung did in the last few years. They had to borrow money from relatives and friends to pay for the air ticket that brought Nhung home.

“If I had foreseen the tragedy, I would have stayed in Vietnam and taken a simple job,” Nhung said.

Meanwhile, Nguyen gave up the training course after one year in China, during which he spent all the money of parents. Tuan incurred big debts because of the football betting, and his parents had to sell their house to get money to pay Nguyen’s debts.

Source: VNN