Tộ’s educational reforms sought to replace traditional Confucian political indoctrination and moral cultivation with “realistic studies”, meaning an emphasis on European disciplines but with a curriculum grounded in contemporary Vietnamese reality. Since Confucian ethics had historically played a dominant role in East Asian civilizations, it was incumbent upon Tộ to convince his Confucian audience that morality would not erode as a result. Tộ asserted that the phasing out of Confucian morality would usher in the rule of law. He argued that relying on an extensive legal system would not be dangerous to morality—as many Confucians believed—but manifested a superior and different form of morality: