Liberty Times (LT): How are students at your school — regarded as an elite institution, both in terms of the academic performances of students and their subsequent dominance at the nation’s most prestigious universities — involved in the debate over the government’s adjustments to the high-school curriculum? What issues are you concerned with and to what extent are you working with protesters from other schools?
Ho Wei-tzu (何蔚慈): I was not actively involved in the Sunflower movement last year, but remained on the sidelines, as our students did not have a unified position on the cross-strait trade in services agreement, which requires an understanding of economics and Taiwan-China ties.
However, the “black-box” changes to the curriculum are set to impact all high-school students personally.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The most unacceptable thing to most high-school students is the manner in which the adjustments to the curriculum where made; the process was manipulated by a small number of academics without professional expertise, and there was no consultation with high-school teachers.
The adjustments were made to indoctrinate students with nationalist dogma and a China-centric view of history, and it seems that high-school students and schools are being forced to take sides over issues as significant as independence or unification with China — which is unreasonable.
Some adjustments — such as the reduction in the syllabus of Taiwanese literature and its replacement with classical Chinese literature, the increase in weight given to Chinese history, the removal of multiculturalism and the accent on Chinese culture are an unnecessary burden on students that has little connection with their daily lives.
Although classical Chinese literature is important, its representation on the new curriculum is disproportionate, as classical Chinese is no longer used in everyday life.
The new China-centric history curriculum is an oversimplification of the nation’s history, which leaves out the influence of the Japanese colonial period and earlier histories, which does Taiwanese students a disservice.
The government has foisted this biased curriculum on students via an opaque procedure.
The student groups protest the way the government brought about these changes vehemently, and demand the curricula adjustments be revoked.
Future curricula must be formed in accordance with the principles of pluralism, and consistency, and the curriculum development process must be open, transparent and independent.
The curriculum committee should be an independent and autonomous agency so as to avoid the interference of political parties and prejudices.
LT: Have students at your school faced obstructions to staging anti-curriculum protests?
Ho: We have studied civic education for years, and this campaign is an opportunity to experience and practice what we have learned in class.
Despite the outcome, the campaign gave high-school students a chance to exercise their citizenship and learn how to protect their own basic right to an education free of political manipulation.
This campaign is a test of academic freedom in high schools, as well as an examination of what teachers mean when they talk of education.
The inter-school campaign allowed me to see how open the academic body of National Taichung First Senior High School was toward student participation in public issues.
Students at that school did not have to campaign behind closed doors, and they held a public forum on the campus to allow students to openly express themselves.
The Taichung high school principal even supported students discussing the public affairs that they had learned in class.
This was why the National Taichung First Senior High School student association fired the first shot in the anti-curriculum campaign by organizing a protest by students at the school’s 100th anniversary ceremony last month.
However, teachers and officials at most high schools, even those at our school, still have a relatively conservative attitude, selecting textbooks according to convention and believing that the most important thing for students is to learn by rote.
The ministry ordered high schools to “maintain safety and stability on campus.” Our school respects the students’ right to debates on the curriculum, but has misgivings about these being made public in media reports.
Students in the anti-curriculum campaign are often challenged by those with a conservative mindset, and students must fight to ensure their demands are heard.
Students have to express their points of view articulately in order to win the respect of their teachers and other adults in authority.
I believe that the campaign will bring about changes at high schools.
Such black-box decisions cannot remain hidden in the Internet era; adults in power — of any political affiliation — should not assume that high-school students can be easily controlled or are prepared to accept without question what they are taught.
Translated by staff writer Chen Wei-han
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS