In an exclusive interview with SuperFM radio, former minister of education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) voiced his thoughts on the controversy over high-school social studies curriculum changes, saying that Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa’s (吳思華) name would be tarnished by the incident.
Panels assembled to inspect curriculum material primarily sought to find problems in textbooks that had already been compiled and were being used, Tu said.
When problems were found with textbooks, the ministry would convene another panel to correct them using an executive order, Tu said, but added that such corrections were usually tiny.
The changes made this time are significantly greater in scale, to the extent that it has become an entirely new curriculum, Tu said, adding that accusations the decisionmaking process was illegal has allowed the curriculum to supersede the curriculum agreed on 2012.
It is an extreme expansion of the ministry’s powers in terms of administrative orders, Tu said.
When asked about changes to the curriculum during the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, Tu said the alterations were on a small scale and only on inappropriate terms, such as the term, “mainland,” which could mean either a continent or China.
The consensus then was to change the term to “China,” he added.
Publishers were given the liberty of treating the consensus as a reference and allowed to make their own decisions, Tu said, adding that panel meetings were recorded and were given to lawmakers.
Everything was in the open and people invited to contribute were all experts in their fields, as opposed to the current changes, which saw history altered by people trained in finance and economics, Tu said.
Responding to claims by the pan-blue camp that the 2012 curriculum was based on a pro-independence ideology, Tu said that the issue should have been an academic one, but the pan-blue camp was trying to politicize the issue.
In terms of how the Ministry of Education handled the issue, Tu said Wu should be held accountable, as Wu did not recognize his role and function amid the controversy.
As minister, Wu had the power to stop the curriculum changes from going through, just as his successor did, stopping the 2009 curriculum from passing, Tu said.
By bringing charges against minors, he will go down in history with his name tarnished, Tu said, adding that Wu should step down, as that would do society a service.
Young people should have confidence in themselves and stand fast on issues where they should, but also give ground when they need to, Tu said.
The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has always wanted to table its version of the curriculum, but no history expert would go along with it, Tu said.
Tu criticized the Ma administration, saying it “viciously” took advantage of the fact that the young protesters were not “professional revolutionaries and social activists,” who were at a disadvantage in social terms.
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