Student advocacy
I am responding to the article by Rachel Lin and Jake Chung (“Petition over curriculum gathers pace,” June 1, page 3). I am very glad to witness the rise of student opinions, because I had received Taiwanese education from elementary school to senior-high school.
When I was in senior-high, my classmates and I were obedient to school policies. We had our dissatisfactions, but we never really stood up to the teachers or school administrators. Most students did not have their own opinions about the “status quo” and just accepted policies passed down to them. We were unhappy with the teacher’s method of teaching, yet we never protested.
I am glad to see that things today are turning in a different direction.
Senior-high school students are standing up for their opinions, especially against ideas that contradict their right to education. By right to education, I am referring to how the policy will alter the curriculum, especially in history, forcing “high-school students to use ‘China-centric’ texts that gloss over atrocities by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) during the White Terror era, as well as suppressing information on efforts of Taiwanese who fought for democracy.”
By right to education, I also refer to whether students are getting the knowledge that they deserve, or rather, the truth about history and not just one person’s opinion or ideology.
Although the changes are minor and mainly deal with history, minor changes can bring about a great impact.
Minor changes can be an act of propagandizing and indoctrinating ideologies that are considered half-truths or partial truths. For example, the new history curriculum is to be changed from a Taiwanese perspective into a Chinese perspective.
We should not try to mold or control the students to become the shape we want them to become.
We must ask and remind ourselves these questions over and over again. What are we teaching our future generations and are they enjoying the freedom they deserve?
Samuel Chang
Taipei
Review of teacher’s firing
Hsiao Hsiao-ling (蕭曉玲), a female music teacher at Chung-Shan Middle School in Taipei, was fired when Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) was Taipei mayor seven years ago.
The story was recently discussed on a TV talk show.
She was accused of “bad behavior and the loss of a teacher’s honor.”
Bad behavior usually refers to sexual harassment of a student or teacher. Hsiao was not involved in this behavior.
Rather, she protested against Hau’s intention of implementing his “one textbook for one curriculum” policy.
At that time, most teachers preferred to choose from multiple textbooks for the curriculum.
Soon after her 10-year teaching contract was renewed, Hsiao was defamed and fired on the day that she sued the school.
The Control Yuan examined the case and instructed the school to restore Hsiao’s teaching position.
The school never did, indicating that Hsiao’s dismissal was an order from the city government.
As a result, Hsiao was jobless for seven years and suffered tremendously.
Now Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is re-evaluating this case.
It is hoped that Hsiao will be invited back to the same school as a music teacher and given compensation for her lost salary, at least.
Education is a means of teaching and nourishing future generations. It should never be used for brainwashing students and/or harassing teachers.
Charles Hong
Columbus, Ohio
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations