When knowledge is no longer confined to books…

The 2018 General Education Program has had its first class of high school graduates.

This goal was clearly demonstrated in this year's high school graduation exam, when current issues really "entered" the exam room.

It can be said that the 2025 high school graduation exam is designed to assess capacity, integrate interdisciplinary knowledge, and require students to apply it to solve practical problems. The questions do not stop at testing knowledge but aim to assess the candidates' critical thinking, analysis, comparison, and connection abilities. Although there is still much debate about the level of difficulty, objectively speaking, the exam questions of some subjects, especially Literature and English, have demonstrated this spirit.

Candidates complete procedures to take the 2025 high school graduation exam at the Hong Duc High School Examination Site, Buon Ma Thuot Ward, Dak Lak Province. Photo: Thanh Huong

Regarding the subject of Literature, the Ministry of Education and Training has previously issued guiding documents such as Official Dispatch 3175/BGDDT-GDTrH, dated July 21, 2022, guiding the innovation of teaching methods and testing and assessment of Literature in high schools; Official Dispatch 3935/BGDDT-GDTrH, dated July 30, 2024, guiding the implementation of secondary education tasks for the 2024-2025 school year, which requires avoiding reusing texts learned in textbooks as materials for constructing end-of-semester, end-of-year, and end-of-grade tests in order to accurately assess students' abilities, overcoming the situation where students only memorize lessons or copy content from available documents.

The social argumentation question in this year's high school graduation exam with the details "every homeland's sky is the Fatherland's sky", "the country's context is undergoing many great changes" is aimed at the current hot issue: the policy of merging administrative units of provinces and cities, organizing two-level local government from July 1, 2025. To do well on this exam, in addition to the actual knowledge in textbooks, it is clear that "candidates" must be interested in the situation of the locality, the country, and must watch... current events!

The same is true for the English exam. Among the vocabulary appearing in the English exam, there is one word that makes many candidates want to… cry the most because they do not understand it: “greenwashing”. However, if you watched the VTV24 program on June 26 (1 day before the exam), you must have understood what “greenwashing” is. “Greenwashing” refers to the acts of pretending to be green/greenwashing, pretending to be environmentally friendly by some organizations and businesses to deceive the public and customers. This issue has been mentioned frequently in the media in recent times. After the exam ended, “greenwashing” became a “hot” keyword on social networks with the advice of students who had just taken the exam that if they want to do well in English, they need to watch the news!

This reality shows that, in order to teach and learn well, teachers and students must not only be limited to “scholastic” knowledge and books, but must also expand and closely connect with issues in daily life. Paying attention to current news helps students grasp real information, understand social issues more deeply, and increase their ability to relate in exams.

For subjects in the social sciences, identifying ongoing social situations is very suitable for the spirit of "escaping" from textbooks of the 2018 GeneralEducation Program, the essay will be more vivid and convincing.

In English, the vocabulary is extremely vast, so if candidates encounter vocabulary and current topics that they have known before, they can better recognize the context, limiting misunderstandings and mistranslations.

The habit of following the news is also a way to equip students with essential life skills, supporting them in developing critical thinking, practicing the skills of analyzing and synthesizing multi-dimensional information, and identifying correct and incorrect information. From there, they will have a comprehensive view of the world around them, improve their social awareness, and adapt and develop.

It can be seen that the 2025 High School Graduation Exam is requiring adjustments in teaching and learning to meet the goals set by the 2018 General Education Program.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/Giao-duc/202507/khi-kien-thuc-khong-con-goi-gon-trong-sach-vo-8f50bdb/