The Ministry of Education’s curriculum review committee yesterday approved the 12-year national social sciences curriculum, with 34 out of the 37 members at the meeting voting in its favor.
The new curriculum would change the way students study history, moving away from rote learning and a view of history dominated by Han Chinese ideals, the committee said.
Mandatory history courses would be cut to six credits with a massive reduction in content, giving the primary focus to learning, the committee said.
Photo courtesy of the Curriculum Review Committee
Students would progress from learning about Taiwan’s history — with which they are familiar — to learning about East Asia, which would encompass Chinese history, it said.
The world history section would focus on interactions between Taiwan and the world, with the hope of allowing future generations to form a historical perspective with Taiwan at its core, the committee said.
Other social science subjects would deliver knowledge of proper social behavior, as well as logic and argumentation, while empowering the concept of “learning while doing,” it said.
The curriculum is to teach students to approach content with a critical mind to consider whose history is being taught and who wrote the account, the committee said.
Minister of Education Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) said the passage of the curriculum was a sign that Taiwanese education was on the move, according to committee member and National Federation of Teachers’ Unions secretary-general Lee Ya-ching (李雅菁).
Student representative Hsiao Chu-chun (蕭竹均) said that if textbooks reflect the curriculum, the social sciences would no longer require rote memorization.
The curriculum would expand students’ capability to think and present arguments, as well as their ability to be upstanding citizens, Hsiao said.
Hsiao was among a group of students protesting curriculum changes in 2015, calling for greater transparency in how guidelines are changed and a more culturally diverse curriculum.
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