Last year, students scoring as low as 18 points out of 400 on the university entrance exam could enter universities. This year, even students who scored zero could enter universities. The phenomenon of “zero score students” reflects numerous problems of higher education in Taiwan.
Today, the policies of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Council of Economic Planning and Development and the government’s defense and diplomatic policies seem to be disconnected. The government would be guilty of neglecting its duties if it did not plan for the nation’s long-term plans for higher education, economic development and military strength in accordance with the declining birth rate a decade ago.
The education ministry does not have the right to require universities to stipulate enrollment and graduation thresholds. But when it reviews applications for setting up universities and their maximum enrollment, it should discuss the population problem with the interior ministry and other agencies, so it can understand Taiwan’s population structure and anticipated changes. It should also take faculty, space and equipment into consideration.
All schools must fulfill their responsibilities to students, parents and society, and ensure the quality of their diplomas. As an old Chinese saying goes, “in education everyone is equal.” If this attitude means that some schools do not have an enrollment threshold, so they enroll as many students as possible with the education ministry’s approval and charge considerable tuition fees, they should at least have a graduation threshold to ensure the quality of their education.
If a university or college only offers students a high-school education, it should be made a high school. If a university accepts students who score 18 points or zero without boosting their learning to at least university level by graduation time, it will be letting down its students, their parents and society by issuing “false diplomas.”
If graduate schools cannot control quality and issue meaningless doctoral and master’s degrees, they may even create “zero professors,” endangering students in the future.
Taiwan’s universities are facing many problems. To achieve a higher ranking, schools ignore the quality of publications. Many teachers are busy networking, and they do not read or conduct any research. Students mostly do their research, but the professors are still listed as the first or corresponding authors. Many of these professors manage to keep it up until retirement, and enjoy great pensions.
In public schools, serious budget waste is common. Private schools should be monitored to assess whether they are established purely to make money, or to provide an education.
The Chinese saying “It takes a hundred years to nurture a good generation” should not become an excuse for delaying improvements.
Taiwanese should abandon their blind pursuit of a college degree. Not everyone needs to go to college. A professional skill is much better than a false degree. Mechanic, chef, baker, plumber, bricklayer, farmer and barber are all decent jobs. If the government can promote technical licenses, it can protect not only laborers but also occupational standards. Perhaps it can eventually eliminate the blind pursuit of college degrees.
The discussion of “zero students” may not last for long. Indeed, a college degree may be of some help under certain circumstances. However, the impact is enormous when a country is flooded with degrees. A driver deserves our respect if he drives carefully, and earns every dollar with his time and hard work. A professor deserves our contempt if he does not teach, research, or serve seriously, and maybe even plagiarizes. His or her high pay is in fact stolen.
A university deserves our condemnation if it is unable to offer students a solid degree after making money from them for four or more years. This is also a kind of robbery.
The phenomenon of zero students and professors and empty degrees highlights the nation’s serious social problems, such as overvaluing one’s appearance, falsification, hypocrisy and the blind pursuit of fame and fortune. We should review these problems earnestly. The president, premier, minister of education and all university presidents should face up to their responsibilities.
Chi Hsin is chairman of the Department of Entomology at National Chung Hsing University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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