An open letter to the Ministry of Education:
Thank you very much for asking the Ministry of Education to revamp the collegiate-level teachers' employment measures. Without a doubt Taiwan's government and citizens fully understand the importance of English. All across Taiwan, colleges and universities appear to be desperately searching for qualified English professors.
I am a Taiwanese-American who received all of my formal academic education in the US. I recently returned to Taiwan for interviews at eight colleges and universities, and all of them expressed a critical need for native English-speaking professors.
Unfortunately, under the traditional regulations set by the MOE, my dual graduate degrees do not qualify for the position of "assistant professor," even if I have a JD (doctorate of law) and an MBA from a fully recognized university in the US. And because local colleges are trying to upgrade themselves to university status, almost none can afford to hire even lecturers.
As a result, my effort to offer a vital service to Taiwan has thus far been rejected as a result of the MOE's policies. Here is an obvious conflict between the MOE's policies and the practical needs of the colleges and universities in Taiwan.
Thankfully, one college has offered to hire me as a lecturer. Even then, it was an extraordinary exception made by the chairwoman and president of the college. I am most grateful to that college, but I also wonder what will happen to Taiwan if the MOE's hiring regulations are not updated to reflect the increasingly chronic shortage of English professors.
Given that college and graduate school is generally regarded as the pinnacle of formal academic education, what will happen to the thousands of students who graduate every year and struggle to speak and write in English?
When I attended graduate school in the US, many of my Taiwanese classmates struggled to speak English both inside and outside the classroom. And when it came time for job interviews, they were unable to carry on a conversation with the interviewers. Many of these students carry excellent academic credentials to those interviews.
These are fully competent, highly enthusiastic Taiwanese graduate students. Unfortunately, one barrier that they struggle to overcome is the ability to speak and write English with ease. As a result, those students who wish to work for a few years in the US before returning to Taiwan are unable to fulfil their dreams.
This is where the MOE can significantly help, by revising the hiring regulations so that native English speakers with non-traditional, "professional" doctoral degrees (such as those with MDs or JDs) or those with multiple graduate degrees are eligible for professor-level English teaching positions at colleges. This is not to say that the policies should be so relaxed that anyone can become a professor. Instead, I am merely advocating that the rules be relaxed somewhat to enable colleges to make meaningful decisions about whether or not a person is qualified to teach the subject matter. As it stands, the MOE's current regulations do not leave any room for the colleges to hire anyone beyond the rigid scope of narrowly defined regulations.
Therefore, I ask in good faith that the MOE reexamine and redefine what it means to be "qualified" to teach English as a college professor. Must a dissertation be required, or is there an alternative method available, such as a combination of teaching experience, fluency in English and possessing other types of doctoral degrees. After all, if a native English speaker with a graduate business degree is unqualified to teach conversational business English, who is?
Ken-Hung Pong will be a full-time lecturer at Chung Kuo Institute of Technology beginning this fall.
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