The protests against the “black-box” curriculum adjustments involve not only the issue of procedural justice, but the conflict between a closed perspective of history — represented by the ministry’s latest adjustments — and an open historical perspective that educators support, National Taiwan Normal University history professor Chou Liang-kai (周樑楷) said.
Chou called on the ministry to be open-minded and at the very least delay the implementation of the adjusted guidelines, while urging Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) to step down to take political responsibility.
Chou said he is willing to support students protesting against the ministry, even though the 2006 Taiwanese history curriculum guidelines had him embroiled in a controversy involving Taiwanese independence versus unification.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Saying that many people still do not understand the crux of the guidelines protests, despite the death of student activist Dai Lin (林冠華), who reportedly took his own life to raise public awareness of the campaign, Chou said that he decided to come forward and expound on the issue in light of his experience in the curriculum-adjustment process.
Curriculum adjustments have been used for political ends whenever a transfer of power or a major election is underway, Chou said.
The 2009 curriculum guidelines passed public hearings, the reviews of an advisory committee and other open procedures, but then-minister of education Cheng Jei-cheng (鄭瑞城) shelved the curriculum without any reasonable cause in 2008, following a change of government, Chou said.
The ministry has stepped up its intervention in the guidelines over the past six years by devising a curriculum review panel to oversee the latest adjustments, which Chou described as an “illegal add-on structure” that lacks legality or legitimacy.
“The curriculum review panel was not only made up out of thin air, but given too much power. There was no such a panel when I was the convener of the history curriculum,” Chou said.
Stressing the importance of a convener’s professionalism, Chou said: “It was people who had no background in history education being appointed to the history curriculum committee this time.”
If the authorities want to manipulate the public perception of history and return to a closed system of thought by making adjustments to curriculum guidelines, they should at least follow the legal procedures to do so, such as reshuffling the curriculum committee and holding public hearings, he said.
Former Taipei First Girls’ High School teacher Huang Te-chung (黃德宗), who previously worked at the history research center set up by the ministry, said research centers from different disciplines usually assign delegates to participate in the curriculum adjustment process and textbook reviews to act as a medium between teachers and the ministry.
However, those centers were excluded from the latest curriculum adjustments, which was perceived as a prelude to a “black-box” operation, Huang said.
Saying that students are protesting against the procedural opaqueness of the latest curriculum adjustments, Chou said that the previous adjustment process became increasingly strict each time, and all committee members had to be experts in the field of study they were making adjustments to.
The committee had to hold public hearings and pass reviews and any other necessary process, and committee members had to be present at hearings to communicate with attendees, he said.
Chou said he rejected the notion that the ideological conflict between independence and unification, in addition to the procedural flaw of the adjustments, caused the recent curriculum controversy, which he said was centered on the fight between a closed and an open historical perspective.
The latest adjustments maximize the inflexibility of the curriculum guidelines, Chou said, citing as an example that comfort women are described in the adjusted guidelines as “forced” to work in wartime brothels during the Japanese colonial era.
“History education that overemphasizes nationalism or a certain ideology will fall out with time sooner or later,” he said.
He said that the ministry is still refusing the students’ request to postpone the implementation of the new guidelines, which Chou said was a well-meaning request, and that the guidelines should be revoked entirely.
The latest adjustments did not follow legal procedures and society has paid a heavy cost for them, even including a student’s life, he said, adding that the authorities should be held accountable and that a cross-party negotiation at the Legislative Yuan could yield a viable solution.
Additional reporting by Chen Wei-han
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