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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty