Thu, Jan 24, 2008 page8

• Education must get back to basics

  • By Chuing Prudence Chou 周祝瑛
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  FOR A LONG TIME Taiwan's education has had to give way to economic and political concerns and the voices of students and teachers have been drowned out by electoral fervor. In particular, the conflict between the Ministry of Education and the Taipei City Government over the removal of the inscription dazhong zhizheng (大中至正) on the gate leading to the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall received a great deal of media attention. It is regretful that officials traded accusations and resorted to offensive language over something that could have been resolved through rational communication.

  Meanwhile, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development announced that 15-year-old Taiwanese high school students participating in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scored first in mathematics and fourth in science. However, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2006 by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement showed that Taiwanese students' reading performance was quite unsatisfactory and that many elementary and junior-high school students don't read extracurricular books.

  This important piece of news was unfortunately almost ignored because of the heated debate over the removal of the inscription. Hong Kong, Japan and Macau readily responded to the results by drawing up new policies to improve their educational systems. In contrast, Taiwan's education officials hailed the test results as a reflection of the success of the nation's educational reform, but failed to provide the statistics to back up their claims, such as telling the general public why students perform well in mathematics and science, if there are any gender-related differences or differences between urban and rural areas or if the educational background of parents have an effect. They also failed to explain why the results were so good when many students don't like math or science classes, or why so many students don't like to read.

  The government should end conflict and return to educational fundamentals. Only then can the necessary attention and priority be given to problems such as the fact that more than 100 elementary and junior-high schools do not have access to running water and students missed school because bus operations in the south were suspended.

  We also hope the government will accomplish five things:

  First, review the 10-year educational reform in order to improve educational quality. The government should use the results in these international competitions to review educational reform over the past dozen years. The review should place equal importance on educational quality and efficacy. It should also work to achieve fairness and justness, implement regular evaluations and base educational reform on objective and quantifiable information.

  The government should also strengthen the scientific system for educational statistics, make it available online and improve studies of these statistics, all in a bilingual Chinese and English format to enhance information transparency.

  Also, given Taiwan's diplomatic isolation, non-governmental and governmental organizations should take the initiative to provide educational information to major international organizations and participate in international educational assessments to help strengthen Taiwan's integration into the international community and provide further benchmarks for national competitiveness.

  Second, a review of educational policies that have been frequently criticized in recent years is urgently needed, including the increased burden on students resulting from the policy of providing several different books for one curriculum, the confusion among elementary school students who must learn three languages -- Chinese, their native language and English -- at the same time. Other issues that should be reviewed are the function and role of the basic competence test for junior-high school students, permanent classes and division into groups according to ability. The government should also pay attention to the educational quality following the influx of high schools and universities in recent years, teacher training, the allocation and effective use of central and local educational budgets, and the qualifications and expertise of education heads.

  Third, a permanent education development committee should be established. The Cabinet's ad hoc Educational Reform Evaluation Committee was set up in 1994 as a temporary unit. It was dissolved two years later and policy planning was also discontinued. The Cabinet should review the difference in policies of the authorities in charge of planning and implementing educational reform over the past decade. It should also learn from Japan's educational evaluation committee and push legislation to establish a permanent education development committee to plan for, initiate and evaluate future reforms. Committee members should be experienced educators whose educational ideals transcend politics. They should include execution, management and evaluation in their policy-making and provide follow-up adjustments to guarantee that the educational vision and goals are reached.

  Fourth, establish a mechanism for monitoring the improvement of education quality. Current methods of evaluating schools should be improved. For example, in the past everyone was held to the same standard. This should be changed and officials should try to understand how effectively a school improves student results from enrollment until graduation, instead of only looking at the ratio of graduates going on to study at prestigious educational institutions.

  Support for student learning should be strengthened, for example, by dividing students into groups according to their field of study -- and provide more resources to economically disadvantaged students, as well as tutoring according to student needs.

  More attention should be paid to on student character and labor education and more opportunities for learning outside the classroom should be provided. Parents and teachers should start campaigns to promote community concern and encourage students to attend service-oriented groups in schools or communities.

  Fifth, sustainable development should be emphasized and existing educational advantages promoted. At a time when Taiwan is striving to promote economic development, we should also give future generations a chance for sustainable development.

  Politicians, teachers and parents should be conscious of the impact of their actions on the next generation. They should also review the appropriateness of the current electoral system and try to restore past mainstream values -- diligence, humility, honesty, hospitality and thrift. They should also strive to improve awareness, apply proper restrictions on media and political parties and pay attention to the sustainable development of the natural and social environment.

  We should promote the advantages in Taiwan's society, such as parents' emphasis on education for their children, traditional respect for teachers, a well-developed Internet, the flexibility in people's thinking and the potential of becoming a model for combining traditional Chinese and modern Western culture. Our education system should integrate geographic features, such as Taiwan's 1,240km coastline and proximity to China, and make greater use of our natural resources and outstanding farming and fishery industries.

  In addition, we should emphasize the reconstruction and innovation of educational values, and give full play to the characteristics of East Asian education, turning competition for admission to higher education into a positive aspect.

  Finally, we should also stress Taiwan's advantages and culture to improve interest in studying and diversity, and thus build Taiwanese education.

  Prudence Chou is a professor of education at National Chengchi University.

  Translated by Ted Yang and Eddy Chang
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