The tradition of "respecting teachers and teachers" is currently being renewed in many different ways. Students can now look up everything online, watch lectures online, or ask more "AI friends", making the role of teachers more expanded: Not only teaching knowledge, but guiding learning, thinking, and maturity through countless information.
Many teachers admit that they have to constantly update to avoid falling behind their students, but instead of considering it a pressure, many teachers consider this an opportunity to innovate methods, to be closer and more effective. Although there are many classes, a tight schedule, and less hours of conversation after class than before, the connection between teachers and students has flourished through new forms: Class chat groups, video calls, and online instructions after hours.
More importantly, inspiring stories about teacher-student love still appear every day... For example, students donate to help a teacher being treated for illness; successful former students return to their old school just to light incense at the table to thank retired teachers or visit retired teachers; or teachers in remote areas who persistently "keep the classroom" because "school is still a hope". Those simple things prove that the love of teachers and students has not been lost, it has only shifted, streamlined and deepened according to the new rhythm of life.
Therefore, Vietnamese Teachers' Day is not only a day of flowers and wishes. It is an opportunity for everyone, whether sitting in school or away from school for many years, to quietly reflect on their memories: A teacher once put his hand to shape words, a sentence that changes the direction of life, or simply a smile every time he goes to class.
Students may not write handwritten letters anymore, but they send cute videos, warm messages. Teachers may not meet their ex-students regularly, but an online greeting is sometimes enough to warm their hearts all day long. Technology does not lose affection; it only opens up many more ways for love to be sent.
November 20 can be bustling or quiet depending on the year, but the love of teachers and students, if it comes from sincerity, will always last over time. Because in each person, there is always a teacher somewhere in memory, simple, but always the mainstay of a lifetime.
