Taipei Times: In your decade of advocating reforms in historical education, your "concentric circle theory" -- which encourages students to learn the nation's history from the things most familiar to them -- has sparked controversy. As the nation's top educational official, how are you reforming historical education and rewriting history textbooks to represent local-oriented and diverse historical perspectives?
Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝): I've been thinking that it is the most natural thing for a person to know about the past of the land where he or she lives. In fact, in most countries no controversy would arise from educating children about the country's land, culture and history. That we face such a dispute in Taiwan reveals how unusual a country Taiwan is.
Now that I'm minister of education, I will carry out policies that are considered the most natural and will try to normalize our educational system. I know I'm doing something that can't be too natural in pedagogy, but I don't care about controversies. Our educational system needs to teach our children and teenagers to recognize the history and culture of their land.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
That is to say, "elements of Taiwan" play an important part in the development of children's personality and knowledge. These can be conveyed through coursework in the humanities and social sciences, including the subjects of art, language, literature, history, geography and civics. All of these subjects will contain elements of Taiwan.
We will write a new curriculum that clearly indicates how the local elements will be compiled into the nine-year educational program. The ministry will work out the practical details of this curriculum soon.
TT: When will this new course outline be implemented? Former minister of education Huang Jong-tsun (黃榮村) has been taking a noncommittal attitude about this issue, and some pan-blue legislators have strongly reacted against such changes. Do you have a definite timeline for making a new history curriculum?
Tu: I hope that we can come up with the new course outline before December. The ministry has organized a special committee to develop this curriculum, and I will also urge the Department of Secondary Education to speed up the project's components for history, geography, literature and language classes that will be affected by the reforms.
But I would like to stress that this does not mean we only need to know about Taiwan. Simultaneously, we have to educate our students about China, Asia and the whole world with new and more objective perspectives.
TT: How do you react to the term de-Sinicization (去中國化)? What kind of mindset and theoretical implications do you think this term conveys? If this controversy hinders the course reform, what would you do to dispel some people's doubts about so-called localization?
Tu: For our new educational plans, there is no focus on de-Sinicization. What we plan is to enable our students to re-know China and the places where they are living. In fact, de-Sinicization is a political term created by people who were afraid that the Chinese parts of the curriculum would be reduced as the Taiwan elements increased in education.
Diverse approaches
As a matter of fact, China is a country with complicated ethnic groups, diverse geographical features and extensive territory. Each place in China is currently looking for its own characteristics.
However, it was the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime that simplified China's image and characteristics after it came to Taiwan in 1949. This made the people of Taiwan misunderstand China as a monolithic bloc and unchangeable concept. The education implemented by the KMT for the past 50 years has divorced our understanding of China from reality. This caused the situation that some people strongly oppose when we try to correct the disproportionate part this curriculum plays in the educational system.
In my opinion, Taiwan needs to take a more objective and rational attitude in order to understand China afresh. I have to stress that we can neither neglect China's existence nor be ignorant of China. We have to know China more profoundly, without involving our likes or dislikes or any judgmental values. It is important to look at China's history and culture from more diverse angles.
TT: Two weeks ago, Typhoon Mindulle disrupted the annual Joint College Entrance Examination (JCEE). The vacillating attitude of the College Entrance Examination Center and the education ministry about whether to put off the examination disturbed some students and sparked criticism. What kind of problems do you think this incident exposed, and how will the ministry deal with a similar situation in the future?
Tu: Judging from this incident, I think the ministry needs to enhance its role in facilitating communication between different organizations. In fact, the Joint Board of the College Recruitment Commission was the organization empowered to make the decision on the JCEE. The College Entrance Examination Center was the executive organization, and the ministry played the role of a supervisor. However, the incident showed that the College Recruitment Commission failed to function when it faced an emergency. I think only when governmental departments have better and more efficient communication with each other could we manage emergencies properly.
Besides, I think the three organizations also learned a good lesson about how to deal with a regional natural disaster when a national examination takes place, which is a problem that we rarely faced before.
TT: But the examination was held as scheduled. Was this because holding a make-up exam was less complicated than postponing the national examination?
Tu: Not really. Actually, we didn't discuss much about the make-up examination when we decided to hold the exam as scheduled at that time. But I believe that if we had decided to put off the exam, some people would also strongly oppose that decision.
I think the fundamental problem is how to downsize the scale of the national entrance examination. If we want significant educational reform, how to change the JCEE is the problem that we need to think about.
better universities
TT: Speaking of the educational reform, Academia Sinica's president Lee Yuan-tseh (
Tu: In fact, there is a definite goal for the NT$50 billion for higher education, which is to upgrade some top-notch universities in the country to among the world's best universities in five years. Under such limitations, it's true that only a few schools can be budgeted for. But we will implement the project on its original basis, which is to support some potentially good universities to reach excellence. And the ministry will continue to do its best to allocate more money to advance our higher education.
I agree with Lee that the so-called good universities should recruit more students. If we could expand the student capacity of good universities, then a NT$50 billion budget can be allocated for a more efficient and satisfying outcome.
TT: You were a historian and the director of the National Palace Museum, which are more academic than administrative roles. The public has witnessed several occasions upon which you quarrelled with lawmakers because of different opinions. How do you adjust yourself from a role that allows more freedom and critical remarks to a leadership role that needs compromise and good communication?
Tu: I know it [to be education minister] is a tough task and it requires a lot of compromise and coordination. I heard that the academic circle generally thinks it won't be easy to straighten out the current educational problems. But what I think is that since the country needs me, I am willing to contribute my ability to the nation's educational system. Personal fame or fortune does not matter to me at all. I will hold on to my ideals and viewpoints, but will also accept suggestions from all circles. I've adjusted myself to be more flexible now that I have more important things to accomplish.
Moreover, my greatest asset is that I don't care much about praise or blame, yet this doesn't mean that I would be wayward. For the overall situation and the nation's education, I would restrain my personality as much as possible and I am willing to endure some misunderstandings and criticisms.
TT: In your book Going through the Critical Decade: 1990-2000, you precisely predicted what challenges Taiwan would face in the political, cultural, social and educational realms. What will the new challenges be in the next decade, and what can education do to address them?
Tu: Domestically, I think the most critical challenge that Taiwan faces is how to create agreement. The opinions about the nation's political direction and unbalanced social justice need to find balance and harmony.
a unified voice
Internationally, it is high time for Taiwan to figure out what its identification as a member of the international community is. China has boycotted Taiwan's participation in international organizations for a long time. Although Taiwan's economic performance has been impressive, we are quite alienated from formal international organizations. I think Taiwan has a responsibility to participate in international society since we are a rich and democratic country.
However, a democratic country is supposed to show its unanimity when facing external challenges. People in Taiwan should not be divided into pan-green or pan-blue camps any longer.
I think it is necessary for our educational system to enhance the development of this world view and to apply it to life, and I think cultural and historical education will be the keys to this effort.
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