The Ministry of Education’s meeting on the 12-year national education curriculum is to convene at the National Academy for Educational Research (NAER) today to review the draft guidelines for social science subjects, with Minister Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) chairing the panel.
The ministry has been rushing to finish its review of the guidelines by the end of the month, which is necessary for the guidelines to take effect at the start of the schoolyear next year. Over the summer, it has increased the frequency of review sessions, which were previously held on Sundays.
Draft guidelines for social science subjects propose to reduce the amount of rote memorization at high schools and shift the focus of history textbooks from a Han ethnicity-centered history to the history of Taiwan over the past 500 years.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Education
The draft curriculum proposes to turn the three subdivisions in history textbooks — History of Taiwan, History of China and World History — into three separate courses worth two credits each, named “Taiwan and related history,” “China and East Asia” and “Taiwan and the World.”
According to social science subjects panel convener Chang Mau-kuei (張茂桂), history is about the cause and effect of events and students should learn to view history from a broader regional perspective instead of the angle of one nation and one people.
The new curriculum is not seeking to place Chinese history in the category of East Asian history, nor is its purpose to supplant Chinese history with East Asian history, Chang said.
The draft proposes instead to understand Chinese history on a regional scale instead of by the dynastic history of China, he said.
The new curriculum seeks to emphasize the link between Taiwan, China, Eurasia and world history, and show the necessity of globalization in the modern era, deputy convener Chin Shih-chi (金仕起) said.
National Dong Hwa University student Hsiao Chu-chun (蕭竹均), the student representative on the review committee, said that he would demand that more Taiwanese history be included, with the ultimate goal of having no less than half of all class hours spent on Taiwanese history.
Hsiao was among a group of students protesting curriculum changes in 2015 and calling for greater transparency in how guidelines are changed, the retraction of the changes and a more culturally diverse curriculum.
Hsiao said that historic justice and transitional justice should be taught in History and Civil Ethics class.
The panel should consider teaching the history of Aborigines, exploring the slander and discrimination they have faced, Hsiao said.
Advocating localization and embracing internationalization do not necessarily clash, National Sun Yat-sen University professor Yen Ching-hsiang (顏慶祥) said.
The more a nation seeks to embody and to be represented by the cultural history of their nation, the more the international community will consider its culture “unique,” Yen said, adding that Taiwanese students should develop more confidence about their feelings for their country.
Acting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Culture and Communications Committee Director-General Tang Te-ming (唐德明) yesterday said that it was unusual that NAER president Sheu Tian-ming (許添明) on Wednesday last week resigned from his function and the review committee if the review is urgent.
Vice Premier Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) is left to head the academy now that its vice president has also resigned, which raises the question of political intervention, Tang added.
Placing China’s history in the greater context of East Asia means forgetting one’s roots, Tang said, adding: “How would the Xinhai Revolution [which ended imperial rule in China and led to the establishment of the Republic of China by Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙)] be explained from the context of East Asian history?”
If young people do not understand the greatness of their nation and the difficulty of its founding, it would be difficult for them to identify with the country and its history, Tang said.
If that were to happen, the Democratic Progressive Party would accomplish its political goal of desinicizing Taiwan entirely, he added.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
RSS