More than a decade has passed since efforts to reform the educational system were launched, but despite the policies passed in that time, many problems have yet to be addressed, activists from several civic groups concerned with educational reform said yesterday at a Taipei forum.
“The educational reform campaign started around 1994. More than a decade has passed — have we really achieved anything?” asked Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華), a sociology professor at National Chengchi University and the first chairman of the National Association for the Promotion of Community University.
“Are [the new high school and university entrance exams] really any different from the old united entrance exams? Have we fundamentally changed the exam-driven education system?” Ku asked. “Maybe we must try to change the mentality of parents and schools first.”
When the educational reforms began, the united senior high school entrance exam and united college entrance exam were required to apply for senior high school or college admission. A diversified entrance system was eventually adopted in which students may also apply for admission based on their performance at school.
Humane Education Foundation (HEF) executive director Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭) agreed.
“Elitism is still the mainstream philosophy in the minds of educators and parents. If we don’t change [their thinking], any educational reforms will be modified once they reach them,” Feng said, using a Banciao school to illustrate her point.
“We visited Jiangcui Junior High School in Banciao [板橋], Taipei County, just a couple of weeks ago because the school illegally puts students into separate classes according to their grades,” Feng said.
Students judged to be “better” based on their grades are put in classes with more teaching resources, she said.
The HEF learned about the policy from a teacher at the school who knew it was illegal but was scared to speak out because most of the teachers and parents supported it, Feng said.
By the time HEF’s staffers left the school “we were surrounded by angry parents who called us junk,” Feng said.
Wang Hao-chung (王顥中), a college student, said that instead of lobbying politicians and lawmakers, “educational reform groups should, from now on, do more grassroots work to convince parents and teachers and bring about a fundamental change in their mentality.”
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