September 25, 2006
Queens, NY -
Young adults in Vietnam will be the ultimate beneficiaries of a
Fulbright Award recently won by St. John’s University Associate
Dean Frank Biafora, Ph.D., who will be spending four weeks in
that country next month.
Thanks to the Fulbright Specialist
Program, which provides short-term academic opportunities (two
to six weeks) for U.S. faculty and professionals who are unable to
make longer commitments to independent study, Dean Biafora will be
collaborating with educators at the Hanoi University of Education
to, he explains, “help them better understand the philosophy and
practices of American higher education and move away from the
Soviet-style learning models, and to integrate American-style
models.”
He has met several times in the past with Vietnamese education
officials and has already presented them with St. John’s Graduate
Psychology model, which includes a research-laden curriculum.
During his stay, he will be stressing the importance of student
feedback to the teaching process--something he says was a new
concept for the Vietnamese—and will be giving lectures on research
and American history that the Fulbright organization has requested
of him. He hopes to leave behind a framework on which the
Vietnamese educators can build and enhance their graduate
programs.
Teen Delinquency on the Rise
Dean Biafora, who earned his doctorate in Sociology, will also be
using his expertise to study adolescent delinquency, which has been
on the rise since Vietnam adopted a policy of “Doi Moi,” (“renewal”
or “modernization”) in 1986. “By the time President Clinton visited
Vietnam in the mid-90’s” he explains, “Vietnam was ready to become
a member in the new world order, and took up Clinton’s challenge to
embrace free trade, human rights, environmental concerns, and model
itself on international law. After that modernization
exploded.”
Unfortunately, “Doi Moi” created a tension between modernity and
tradition, with youth caught between respect for the ways of their
ancestors and the appeal of technology and the 21st century
culture. Fueled by the rapid changes that were occurring all around
them—including a newly free economy that allows ownership of such
luxuries as mopeds and iPods, as well as that open channel of free
information called the Internet—the youth of Vietnam began to fall
victim to a variety of social ills. Drug abuse, mental health
issues, suicide, prostitution and delinquency among the young
emerged as serious problems.
Will Establish Crisis Hotline
“Youth culture and the impact of ‘Doi Moi’” on the mental health of
the adolescent was the second segment of Dean Biafora’s proposal to
the Fulbright program. He plans to establish a crisis hotline
modeled on one he is familiar with from his work as a crisis
counselor at the University of Miami. He will also create a “train
the trainers” program, so that hotlines staffed with trained
counselors can be established in other areas around the
country.
This will be the fifth trip to the Southeast Asian country for
Dean Biafora. On previous visits, he—along with Assistant
Dean Hung Le, Ph.D., a native of Vietnam—began building
relationships with officials at the Vietnamese Ministry for
Education, the American Embassy and the United States Consulate. He
expects to continue relationship-building on this trip and
anticipates returning to Vietnam to continue the work he begins in
October.
Learn
more about St. John's Fulbirght recipients.