After months of meetings, a Ministry of Education (MOE) task force charged with revising high school curriculums is coming close to approving a version that will increase emphasis on Chinese history over world history, education activists said yesterday.
Groups protesting the revision said they feared the move could have a spillover effect onto other historical issues including changes on how the 228 Incident and the Kaohsiung Incident are portrayed in relation to the development of Taiwan’s democracy.
At present, high school students are required to take one semester each of Taiwanese and Chinese history and another two of world history. The revisions, if passed, would mean that students would first take one semester of Taiwanese history and then one-and-a-half semesters in Chinese and world history.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
However, Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深), president of the Taiwan Association of University Professors, said yesterday he feared members of the task force could further increase the emphasis on Chinese history during its next meeting on Saturday.
According to committee members, National Taiwan University philosophy professor Wang Hsiao-po (王曉波) has proposed that students spend up to two semesters studying Chinese history.
“Our concerns that these changes will have a negative effect on students have fallen on deaf ears,” Chen said. “The MOE says it will respect expert opinion from the task force, but the truth is that members are not free of bias.”
“A string of changes by the MOE now mean that there are more pan-blue academics advocating Chinese ideas on the task force,” Chen said.
A statement released yesterday by pro-independence organizations and signed by groups representing teachers and professors said the problem of political bias on the task force was becoming so serious that they were asking Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to become personally involved in the matter and pressure the MOE to reject the proposed changes.
“The kind of history education they are proposing … is deeply flawed. While the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement [ECFA] will unify China and Taiwan economically, the new [education] revisions are a political tactic designed for political unification,” the statement said.
National Chengchi University history professor Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元) said there was concern within the education community regarding the content of the revisions and not just changes in course timetables.
Earlier this month, activists led by DPP lawmakers met Education Minister Wu Ching-chi (吳清基), who said that changes were still under consideration and that final decisions by the task force would be subject to public hearings.
However, Hsueh said yesterday that: “The committee members have already reached a consensus to raise the emphasis of Chinese history over world history.”
Negotiations over the revisions are expected to be completed by the end of next month, Hsueh said, adding that it remained to be seen whether textbook publishers would have enough time to incorporate the changes into the 2011-2012 school year curriculum.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
RSS