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Textbooks biased against workers: teachers' group

The textbooks used in high schools around the country present laborers in a bad light, a teachers' group said yesterday.

In a press conference called to mark Labor Day, Wu Chung-tai (吳忠泰), president of the National Teachers' Association, said that high school textbooks, published by various companies with the approval of the Ministry of Education, either fail to prepare students for the workplace or portray laborers and labor unions in an unflattering light.

Wu said that all high school textbooks were skewed in favor of "capitalists," although a majority of their readers were likely to end up as salaried employees.

Wu added that instead of priming students with information about workers' rights, or ways to solve labor disputes and the negative impact brought about by globalization, these textbooks offer an unrealistically rosy picture of economic development and globalization.

Citing examples, labor activist Chen Chu-po (陳巨擘) said that a history textbook published by Taiyu Co for vocational senior high schools "unfairly" put the blame for the exodus of local firms in the 1980s on environmentalists and high labor costs.

The group urged the authorities to cooperate with labor activists in working out guidelines for compiling textbooks, revising them to embody respect for labor rights and the value of socialism.
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