In an exclusive interview with SuperFM radio, former minister of education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) voiced his thoughts on the controversy over high-school social studies curriculum changes, saying that Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa’s (吳思華) name would be tarnished by the incident.
Panels assembled to inspect curriculum material primarily sought to find problems in textbooks that had already been compiled and were being used, Tu said.
When problems were found with textbooks, the ministry would convene another panel to correct them using an executive order, Tu said, but added that such corrections were usually tiny.
The changes made this time are significantly greater in scale, to the extent that it has become an entirely new curriculum, Tu said, adding that accusations the decisionmaking process was illegal has allowed the curriculum to supersede the curriculum agreed on 2012.
It is an extreme expansion of the ministry’s powers in terms of administrative orders, Tu said.
When asked about changes to the curriculum during the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, Tu said the alterations were on a small scale and only on inappropriate terms, such as the term, “mainland,” which could mean either a continent or China.
The consensus then was to change the term to “China,” he added.
Publishers were given the liberty of treating the consensus as a reference and allowed to make their own decisions, Tu said, adding that panel meetings were recorded and were given to lawmakers.
Everything was in the open and people invited to contribute were all experts in their fields, as opposed to the current changes, which saw history altered by people trained in finance and economics, Tu said.
Responding to claims by the pan-blue camp that the 2012 curriculum was based on a pro-independence ideology, Tu said that the issue should have been an academic one, but the pan-blue camp was trying to politicize the issue.
In terms of how the Ministry of Education handled the issue, Tu said Wu should be held accountable, as Wu did not recognize his role and function amid the controversy.
As minister, Wu had the power to stop the curriculum changes from going through, just as his successor did, stopping the 2009 curriculum from passing, Tu said.
By bringing charges against minors, he will go down in history with his name tarnished, Tu said, adding that Wu should step down, as that would do society a service.
Young people should have confidence in themselves and stand fast on issues where they should, but also give ground when they need to, Tu said.
The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has always wanted to table its version of the curriculum, but no history expert would go along with it, Tu said.
Tu criticized the Ma administration, saying it “viciously” took advantage of the fact that the young protesters were not “professional revolutionaries and social activists,” who were at a disadvantage in social terms.
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,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS