The Ministry of Education’s (MOE) recent reinstatement of calligraphy to curriculum guidelines and decision to allocate NT$4 million (US$128,000) to set up calligraphy centers in 24 elementary and middle schools across the nation has produced mixed reactions from legislators and educators.
Academics said calligraphy education has been seen as less important since the implementation in 2004 of the Nine-Year Educational Program — which allowed schools partial autonomy in establishing curricula — adding that the then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration underestimated the importance of calligraphy and its place within Chinese culture.
However, calligraphy education was viewed with greater significance when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) came to power in 2008, they said.
In 2011, the ministry published curriculum guidelines for calligraphy, and later included the standard of calligraphy education in criteria used to evaluate a school’s performance and eligibility for ministry subsidization, they said.
The level of calligraphy education in the nation has received increasing attention ever since — with calligrapher Tong Yang-tze’s (董陽孜) saying last year that Taiwan’s calligraphy education standards had fallen behind those in China, and Ma donating NT$1 million to an elementary school in Taichung for the construction of a classroom dedicated to calligraphy education.
Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) said that the 12-year education curriculum highlights pluralism, and that calligraphy is a form of art worthy of conservation, which can help students learn how to concentrate and relax.
K-12 Education Administration division head Hsu Li-chuan (許麗娟) said the ministry recently formulated a set of regulations on subsidizing calligraphy education, with a NT$4 million budget available for teaching staff, learning activities and schools specializing in calligraphy education.
The ministry designated 24 schools as calligraphy schools, which would be provided with relevant teaching materials and specialized curricula, she said.
Calligraphy education is the only subject that has received special funding from the ministry, and many schools nationwide have been subsidized, except those in Taoyuan and Hsinchu counties and Tainan, she added.
DPP Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) said the unique art of Oriental calligraphy should be preserved, but it should be the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and not the Ministry of Education.
It is unnerving that the education ministry not only formulated curriculum guidelines on calligraphy, but also earmarked a specialized fund simply to cater to Ma’s personal penchant for calligraphy, she said, adding that the ministry should be tasked with allocating educational resources reasonably instead of varying education policies to please those in power.
“The Ma administration should avoid using calligraphy as a way to connect with China,” DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said.
National Alliance of Parents Organizations chairman Wu Fu-pin (吳福濱) said that as Taiwan uses traditional Chinese characters, the education ministry should put more focus on traditional Taiwanese arts, such as glove puppetry and shadow play.
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and