Nearly 70 percent of junior high school students said they have been taught with alternate "reference" books in class despite a ban on such publications, a recent poll showed.
“This result indicates abnormalities in our education system, as ‘credentialism’ is still hurting Taiwan’s junior high students,” Shih Ying (史英), chairman of the Humanistic Education Foundation, told a press conference yesterday.
Presenting the results of a foundation survey that polled 1,433 students in 299 junior high schools nationwide, Shih said 69.94 percent of respondents had been taught with unauthorized reference books, which present course material in a way that makes it easier for students to prepare for tests.
BANNED
The Ministry of Education (MOE) has prohibited elementary and junior high school teachers from using reference publications to teach and test students since 1989, Shih said.
“In addition, an overwhelming 97.38 percent of the respondents said that their schools were using the unauthorized books,” the chairman said.
Shih attributed the rampant use of the reference books to an education system that is too focused on passing entrance examinations, which junior high school students must take to enter high school.
Meanwhile, Shih said 89.39 percent of students said that their teachers have used unauthorized test prep sheets to help students score better on the exams.
SACK 'EM
“Teachers who have violated the ban should be sacked, while the school principals who tolerate such conduct should also leave their posts,” said Shih, who is also a mathematics professor at National Taiwan University.
The foundation will invite students and their parents to organize a monitoring group to help normalize the education system.
The poll was conducted between May 15 and June 10.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS