The Ministry of Education’s curriculum review committee yesterday approved the 12-year national social sciences curriculum, with 34 out of the 37 members at the meeting voting in its favor.
The new curriculum would change the way students study history, moving away from rote learning and a view of history dominated by Han Chinese ideals, the committee said.
Mandatory history courses would be cut to six credits with a massive reduction in content, giving the primary focus to learning, the committee said.
Photo courtesy of the Curriculum Review Committee
Students would progress from learning about Taiwan’s history — with which they are familiar — to learning about East Asia, which would encompass Chinese history, it said.
The world history section would focus on interactions between Taiwan and the world, with the hope of allowing future generations to form a historical perspective with Taiwan at its core, the committee said.
Other social science subjects would deliver knowledge of proper social behavior, as well as logic and argumentation, while empowering the concept of “learning while doing,” it said.
The curriculum is to teach students to approach content with a critical mind to consider whose history is being taught and who wrote the account, the committee said.
Minister of Education Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) said the passage of the curriculum was a sign that Taiwanese education was on the move, according to committee member and National Federation of Teachers’ Unions secretary-general Lee Ya-ching (李雅菁).
Student representative Hsiao Chu-chun (蕭竹均) said that if textbooks reflect the curriculum, the social sciences would no longer require rote memorization.
The curriculum would expand students’ capability to think and present arguments, as well as their ability to be upstanding citizens, Hsiao said.
Hsiao was among a group of students protesting curriculum changes in 2015, calling for greater transparency in how guidelines are changed and a more culturally diverse curriculum.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique