School Behavior Culture of Khmer Ethnic Students in Southern Vietnam - A Case Study in Chau Thanh District, Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam

School behavior culture is a system of cultural standards and values that affect consciousness, attitudes and behaviors of teachers and students during the process of communication at school. This plays a leading factor in the process of training and educating students' personality. Therefore, in each educational environment, the development of school behavior culture must be considered as the most concerned and important element. School behavior culture is part of the national culture, which inherits and promotes the traditional values of the nation (Nguyen Ngoc Tho, 2020). Each school has its own culture with behaviors, regulations, unreasonable opinions, and complicated moral standards. Of those, morality is the root of behavioral culture. Social norms are principles that guide and regulate behavioral culture, and behavioral patterns are institutions that guarantee and implement behavior (Nguyen Van Tuan, 2008). In the Khmer ethnic community, these elements are built on the basis of Buddhist philosophy. Therefore, the ideas of Khmer Theravada Buddhism have a great impact on the moral conception, behavioral standards and social patterns of each individual in general, and the Khmer students in particular. Research Objectives: The aim of this research is to explore the reality of school behavior culture of Khmer ethnic students in terms of the behavioral relationship between Khmer ethnic students and teachers, the behavioral relationship between Khmer ethnic students and other students, and the behavioral relationship between Khmer students themselves. Research Methods: The study was conducted with the adoption of interview and questionnaire survey with the participation of 200 Khmer students and 200 Kinh students in the academic year of 2014 - 2015 to determine the reality of school behavior culture of Southern Khmer students through the case of students from Luong Hoa A Secondary and Upper-Secondary Schools. Results: The results show that the majority of Khmer students have a sense of compliance with standards and behavioral patterns in their behaviors at school. Furthermore, the survey results also indicate that there are discrepancies in behavior culture between Khmer and Kinh students in some aspects such as the way how to address themselves, and the way how to show the attitudes towards uncultured behaviors. Based on the findings, solutions are likely proposed which contribute to the building up of school behavior culture in Vietnamese high schools.