President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has finally acknowledged that the alleged “black box” high-school curriculum changes include more than 100 controversial items, which he should not refuse to drop, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) said yesterday.
Cheng was referring to Ma’s response to Yanping High School student Lin Yen-ting’s (林彥廷) question at the National Taiwan University (NTU) political leader’s camp on Wednesday.
The high-school curriculum, which forms the basis of learning for young students across the nation, should not include any controversial items, much less hundreds, Cheng said, adding that Ma considers the changes — which he had ordered in 2012 — to be his “legacy.”
Ma made the directives in a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee meeting in July 2012, Cheng said.
While the Ma administration seemed to have taken a step back in the conflict by saying that both the old and new versions of textbooks could be used and none of the controversial materials will be covered in exams, Cheng said that with the nation’s examination-centric educational style, a lot of the materials on Taiwanese history would be lost, as students would not study what teachers neglect to teach.
Cheng also said that as soon as the license for the old version of textbooks expires, then the new version would be the only version left.
If the changes are not repealed, then it would naturally become the template on which the new curriculum for the 12-year national education takes shape, Cheng said.
Cheng added that the ensuing curriculum would not only be centered on brainwashing the nation’s students, but would be anti-democratic.
Critics say the changes reflect a “Greater China” historical view. They have also criticized the opaque way in which the decisions for the changes were made.
Cheng said that the changes must be dropped and that there could be no other alternative, adding that the DPP would not accept the fake concessions the Ma administration was making.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said that she could not believe that such words could be uttered by the head of state, adding that it was Ma’s intent to sacrifice another generation of students as guinea pigs.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said the changes went against actual truths and attempted to “de-Taiwanize” young people through brainwashing attempts simply to satisfy the ideologies of people adhering to the “Greater China” historical view.
It is completely unacceptable, Gao said.
Taiwanese students have proven with the Sunflower movement that they would brook no deceit from the government and would not allow the government to reach decisions without full disclosure to the public, Gao said.
The Ministry of Education should immediately drop the controversial changes and apologize to students and teachers across the nation, Gao said.
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