Comments on two stories
The Taipei Times has two articles that are screaming for comment.
The first one is the big one on page 1 (“Foreign students ‘tricked’ into work,” Dec. 28). If the alleged actions to get students to work for the sponsors of universities are indeed true, then they would be a boon for Taiwan.
At one level it would help the Ministry of Education bring the capacity of universities to grant degrees in line with the number of students seeking degrees. That could be accomplished simply by revoking the certificates of those responsible for violations of human rights.
As I understand the situation, the land used by most universities for their campuses is basically on loan from the government, so the land and buildings would revert to the government.
Moreover, if indeed the universities told the students that they “must help the company so that the company can help the school,” then any donations that the school might have received from the companies involved are clearly not donations that would be eligible deductions from revenue for tax purposes.
If those measures were undertaken, it would be difficult for the behavior to be repeated.
Given the surplus of available teaching facilities over the number of local students, it would bring supply and demand closer into balance and would also reassure foreign students about the quality of education they would receive in Taiwan, thus easing the brain drain problem.
The second article is from page 2 (“Health Promotion Administration says cancer cases have risen,” Dec. 28). The information provided does not really justify the headline and the hypothesis that the increased availability of health checkups for women is responsible for the increase is poorly supported.
In fact there is, in my opinion, a better, but more worrying hypothesis.
The increase in new reported cases of all kinds of cancer combined is not too far from what might be expected if the population were not aging.
Based on the data provided by the administration it amounts to a decrease of two seconds between diagnoses out of an average interval of 4 minutes and 49 seconds; considerably less than 1 percent. A random variation of about an average of 4 minutes and 49 seconds would not make that a particularly unusual fluctuation.
The aging of the population might also make a dent, since for most cancers the incidence increases with age. The change in the reported incidence of cancers of the trachea, bronchus and lungs is somewhat larger than would be expected from random effects.
I have not been able to locate information on what the adjustment for age might do. That hypothesis, left unchallenged, might well put blinders on people and miss a hypothesis that appears more likely and would be quite consistent with these types of cancer being on the increase, namely that the increase is caused, at least in part, by increased smoking among women.
The hypothesis that the increased access of healthcare to women is contributing to the increase could be strengthened by information of increases in other cancers not caused by smoking, which would also be more likely to be diagnosed among women if the hypothesis is correct.
It could also be bolstered by showing that the diagnosis of this particular type of cancer shortly before death is declining, since the hypothesis is that better access to diagnostic services also implies earlier diagnosis.
If the Health Promotion Administration can provide such information, it should. If it cannot, it should retract its opinion.
Emilio Venezian
New Taipei City
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