What with the worsening shortage of police and swelling number of surplus teachers -- crime and terror up and education down -- people who thought they were on track to becoming teachers have now been told by Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) that they should instead consider policing as a profession.
What a master stroke, stunning in its simplicity and almost on par with Vice President Annette Lu's (呂秀蓮) suggestion that the nation ship the nation's mountain-dwelling residents off to El Salvador as the answer to the occasional mudslide.
Why is the government so intent on applying the brakes to an educational trend that enjoys broad support? Why is it putting the damper on after-school programs when they are so popular that many of them becoming businesses while openly flaunting the law?
No one can deny that the demand is there. On the one hand, we see a million or more parents shopping around for the best possible ESL deal for their kids (some of them for their pre-school years), on top of which millions more parents are now so locked into a nuclear family setup that, with auntie and gramps no longer at home, they must go search for schools that are educational at best, glorified day cares at worst.
On the other hand are those who have been deluded into thinking that their teacher training was about to qualify them for lifelong careers in what was once an exalted profession.
In the face of these twin pressures, what does this government do? Does it conclude that teachers and parents can all be satisfied in a single stroke by expanding educational opportunities?
No, it tells all would-be teachers: sorry, but now that you've wasted the prime of your years on teacher training, it is worthless -- but would you like to join our campaign in clamping down on crime?
Before we follow Hsieh down the slippery slope from education to a government police state, let's remember that this is not at all a new experiment. One need look no further than at the country Hsieh and his associates consider Taiwan's best friend and protector, the US. From Reagan on, right down to our current "education president," school budgets have been in precipitous free fall while the military/police/security slice of the budgetary pie has swelled several times over.
What a sorry state the US is in! Does anyone really want Taiwan to become like that?
Lynn Miles and Wu San-lien
Historical Materials Center
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, people have been asking if Taiwan is the next Ukraine. At a G7 meeting of national leaders in January, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that Taiwan “could be the next Ukraine” if Chinese aggression is not checked. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that if Russia is not defeated, then “today, it’s Ukraine, tomorrow it can be Taiwan.” China does not like this rhetoric. Its diplomats ask people to stop saying “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow.” However, the rhetoric and stated ambition of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Taiwan shows strong parallels with