Examination questions on history cause controversy

The issue of national examinations rarely grabs the headlines but the newly-appointed head of the entry-level national examination committee for civil servants, Examination Yuan member Lin Yu-ti (林玉体) managed to do just that this week.

On Oct. 16 Lin started a controversy by saying he would only allow questions about Taiwan's history and geography to appear in the national history and geography test in January's entry-level national civil service examinations.

"I personally think that 100 percent of the questions on national history and geography should be about Taiwan's history and geography," he said.

At present, only 5 percent of the questions in those tests in the entry-level exams for civil servants are about Taiwan.

His controversial remark, however, drew vehement criticism from colleagues, among them Examination Yuan member Hung Te-hsuan (洪德旋).

Arguing that Lin was ignoring the interests of the examinees and trying to influence the exams with his own political ideology, Hung threatened to file a motion at last Thursday's weekly Examination Yuan meeting to have Lin removed from his post.

Hung also berated Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) for his handling of the matter after Yao reportedly criticized Hung's political ideology following his threat to unseat Lin.

Yao earlier had said that he personally thought that 100 percent of such a test should concern Taiwan's history and geography. He also said that he favored scrapping the history and geography test altogether, because it would be too difficult to devise a formula for Taiwan or China-related questions that would be acceptable to all parties. Besides, Yao said that no matter what the scope or name of the test would be, it would not please everyone.

Finding himself in the middle of a firestorm over national identity issues, however, is not a new experience for Lin. Friends and colleagues said that they were not surprised at the controversy because of Lin's personal style.

Lee Shoon-teh (李順德), one of Lin's students at National Taiwan Normal University where Lin has been teaching since 1974, said that although Lin was a good researcher, he was not a good teacher.

"I've read several of his books and they're great," he said. "But when it comes to teaching, I'm afraid I'll have to give him a failing grade because he's not very articulate."

Describing Lee as a "stubborn" and "straightforward" person, Lee said that he was particularly impressed by Lin's pro-independence tinge.

"He often made controversial remarks inside and outside of classes and they drew much attention from the then Chinese National Party (KMT) administration."

Although one of Lin's colleagues at the Examination Yuan, who asked not to be named, refused to comment on Lin's personality, he insinuated that he expected Lin to cause controversy.

"I'm well aware of his style and not at all surprised," he said.

Commenting on the position taken by Lin on this occasion, he said that he agreed that national examinations require reforms, but Lin should not have taken a dramatic approach to reach the goal.

"You simply cannot rush certain things and hope it'll work overnight," he said. "You're bound to encounter many difficulties and even some backlash when the situation is not ripe or the reform plan is not well thought-out or there isn't any supplementary plan to complement it."