The French policy-makers wanted to educate the people of Vietnam, because they considered education as one way to civilise the “native”. They were convinced that Europe had developed the most advanced civilisation and they had to bring modern civilisation to the Vietnamese.They were driven by the idea of a ‘Civilising Mission’, and considered it their duty to bring modern ideas to the colony. It did not matter that this meant destroying local cultures, religions and traditions because in any case they were outdated and an obstruction to modern development. Another reason was that they needed an educated labour force.