St. John's News

Next Student Study Trip Planned for July

Globalization of the Pacific Rim countries is affecting Vietnam 30 years after the end of the Vietnam War, with the country reporting an annual growth rate of 8.9 percent, Associate Professor of History Robert R. Tomes, St. John’s College of Professional Studies, told his audience at the recent Vincentian Chair of Social Justice-sponsored lecture on campus. As Professor Tomes-- Vincentian Center Fellow--showed slides from the trip he took there with 12 St. John’s University students last spring, he shared the insights the group gained from their two-and-a-half week experience traveling through the country.

The undergraduates who traveled there were enrolled in the Professor’s History 1018A course on the Vietnam War. The trip is also planned for next July. “It’ll be the fourth year in a row that students travel to Vietnam as part of their coursework,” says Professor Tomes. Assistant Dean Hung Le, Graduate Division of Arts and Sciences, Rev. James J. Maher, Campus Ministry, and Rosanna Sanders, associate director of the Study Abroad and International Programs office, also accompanied the students. Born in Vietnam, Dean Le is also the Director of the Vietnam Initiative, which encourages St. John’s students to study in Vietnam, and Vietnamese students to study in the United States. Currently, there are 21 students from Vietnam on St. John’s campus.
 
Modernization exists in Vietnam, says Professor Tomes, and although the population of 80 million people is growing quickly, life expectancy is still only 60 to 65 years. Half of the population is under 25 years of age. “Factories exist next to rice patties,” he says. “We don’t know what growth will mean to the health of the people or their environment.”

“With 54 different ethnic groups, and the prevalence of both Buddhism and Catholicism, ethnic and linguistic divisions exist,” he says. “People are friendly and love Americans. Many people, especially young people, speak English, as it has supplanted French as the major foreign language taught in schools.”

“The U.S. has become the top investor in Vietnam,” says Professor Tomes, with Germany, China and Japan close behind. Students commented that southern Vietnam appeared to be more westernized than the northern part, noting that more people spoke English in the South than in the North. “The country has changed a lot since the communist government starting allowing foreign investment in 1988. It remains to be seen whether market capitalism will bring democratic reforms.”

The students visited Nike factory headquarters, toured the underground tunnels of Cu Chi, and did community service work in a Hanoi orphanage, and, in Ho Chi Minh City, under the auspices of the Daughters of Charity, at a school for “street” children, at a nursing home and at an HIV/AIDS Clinic. They toured Hanoi in the North and Ho Chi Minh City in the South, and took study trips to Da Nang and the Me Kong River Delta.

Professor Tomes is the author of the highly-regarded book on Vietnam, Apocalypse Then: American Intellectuals and the Vietnam War (1954-1975), and co-author of an American history textbook now in its fifth edition, American Issues.

St. John’s Men’s Soccer Team will be traveling to Vietnam in late Spring play matches and perform community service work, also under the auspices of the Daughters of Charity. “This is the first time an American soccer team will play officially in Vietnam,” says Dean Le. (A delegation from Vietnam’s Sports Ministry recently visited St. John’s, and in January Dean Le and Rev. Maher will sign a formal agreement in Vietnam.)

Applications for the History Department’s study trip to Vietnam will be accepted starting in November in a rolling admissions process. Qualified individuals will be admitted as long as space is available. The Vietnam trip costs from $2,600 to $2,800, depending on the number of students who go. “When more students sign up, we’re able to get better discounts on air fares and hotel room, which keeps the cost of the trips down,” says Rosanna Sanders of the Study Abroad office. Tuition for the course is additional; students may take three or six credits and should contact the Bursar’s office for tuition rates.

Students will be able to choose from eight or nine courses involving travel abroad next summer, says Sanders. They’ll need to get their applications in by the start of second semester.