A group of authors and professors of literature yesterday gathered outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to protest against the new high-school Chinese language curriculum which reincorporates a high percentage of classical Chinese material while neglecting Taiwanese and contemporary literature.
Na Su-phok (藍士博), one of the founders of the Alliance of the Young Safeguarding Taiwanese Literature and History, said that while concerns have been raised against the adjustments made to the history and civil education curriculum guidelines, there have been relatively few objections made public against the adjusted curriculum for Mandarin Chinese-language study.
However, that does not mean that the adjusted Chinese-language curriculum is problem-free, Na said.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
“On the contrary, the problem is serious to the point that [the curriculum] is in the intensive care unit,” Na said.
Chu Yu-hsun (朱宥勳), a young author of several books and editor of anthologies of contemporary Taiwanese fiction and essays, said that the percentage of classical Chinese has been raised from 55 percent to 65 percent, with less flexibility.
What is more, according to Chu, a subject called “Chinese culture basic materials” has been singularly highlighted in the new guidelines, which suggests that is to be set up as an elective.
Classical Chinese literature is set to take up 72 percent of the allocated learning hours for Chinese-language study, Chu said.
He opposed the arrangement, saying that the curriculum should be designed to introduce young students to literature “from recent to ancient times and from easily accessible texts to works that require further interpretation.”
Earlier this week, another group of academics also drew attention to the new Chinese-language curriculum.
Referring to themselves as the Alliance for Saving the Education of Chinese Language, the group campaigned for even more class hours for Chinese and the adaptation of “Chinese culture basic materials” as a required course.
The alliance, led by National Taiwan University political science professor Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), who is also the chairman of the pro-unification Chinese Integration Association, has said that younger generations — without the cultivation of Chinese culture — have become empty, “with no identity, confidence, patience, vision, direction or viewpoint.”
Chang also said that more Chinese-language learning hours would equate to “more filial piety and sibling love.”
Former Soochow University president and alliance member Liu Yuan-chun (劉源俊) said he worried that Taiwan “would become the next Philippines,” if Chinese culture continued to lose its influence in public education in Taiwan.
Their comments have since been widely ridiculed and criticized as a “great Chinese superiority complex,” and as examples of explicit racism for deeming other cultures to be less sophisticated and less worthy of respect.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do