The Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday denied it would put more emphasis on Chinese history, saying a task force was still considering making changes to the high school curriculum.
“The Department of Secondary Education’s stance on the issue is clear. We respect the expertise of the task force,” department director Chang Ming-wen (張明文) told reporters at the ministry. “[The task force] has not finalized the changes. I believe members of the task force will consider public opinion when deliberating the issue.”
The task force will finalize the changes by June and hold public hearings before any changes are referred to a curriculum development committee composed of experts, representatives of teachers and parents, and school administrators for final review, Chang said.
National Taiwan University (NTU) professor of history Chou Wan-yao (周婉窈), who is one of the members of the task force, raised concerns about changes to the curriculum guidelines in an article published in the Southern Newsletter on Feb. 10.
Under current high school history curriculum guidelines, students are required to study Taiwanese history for one semester, Chinese history for another semester and world history for two semesters in their first and second years of high school.
Students majoring in liberal arts are required to take history on special topics in their senior year, but students majoring in science are not.
The ministry has been deliberating how to amend the curriculum guidelines because high school history teachers have complained that they do not have enough time to cover Chinese history. The ministry hopes new guidelines will take effect in the fall next year.
Chou said NTU professor of philosophy Wang Hsiao-po (王曉波), one of the members of the task force, proposed that students spend two semesters learning Chinese history, while reducing the time earmarked for world history to one semester.
Chou said although the task force voted nine to four in favor of granting both Chinese history and world history one-and-a-half semesters on Nov. 15 last year, task force convener and National Taiwan Normal University professor of history Wu Wen-hsing (吳文星) resolved to put Wang’s amended proposal up for further deliberation after the term of the task force expired on Dec. 31 last year.
Chou said some members of the task force had suggested that Taiwanese history should be merged with Chinese history since Taiwan has been part of China since ancient times.
Chou quoted a member as saying that “the new [Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)] government would like to set things straight by amending the curriculum guidelines for Chinese literature and history.”
Chou said she feared that the task force, which was reorganized at the beginning of this year after nine new members joined the 10 original task force members, would end up agreeing with Wang’s proposal.
“If Taiwanese history and world history were both granted just one semester each, how are we going to nurture citizens with a global view when they receive such a limited education in world history?” she said.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS