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.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS