The Ministry of Education in 2019 implemented a 12-year compulsory curriculum, also called the “108 curriculum.” Under the scheme, university admission requires not only taking the General Scholastic Ability Test, but also submitting an electronic learning portfolio. This year marks the introduction of the portfolio as a part of university admission.
The learning portfolio, also called an e-portfolio, includes records of courses, extracurricular activities and a catalogue of experiences that a student acquires during the final three years of high school.
The portfolio is meant to reduce emphasis on test-oriented education by relieving the pressure of achieving a high marks on exams. It is meant to help students present themselves to universities in the way a resume presents the best side of a person to an employer. This means that students need to begin exploring their interests and passions early in their high-school years by taking part in activities and groups.
The National Federation of Teachers’ Unions had concerns. For example, it said that National Taipei University of Technology was using the learning portfolio to create a commodity. The school was reportedly offering a five-day course priced at NT$8,000 to teach students how to prepare their portfolio documents and perform in an oral interview.
Although the university pulled the course from its Web site, the course was criticized for contravening admission ethics and turning the portfolio into an “arms race.”
Parents, teachers and students have shared concerns about the necessity and fairness of the portfolio since it was launched.
One criticism is that the portfolio favors wealthy families who can pay to put their children through elite extracurricular activities. Students from affluent families could send their children abroad to study during summer breaks, or enrol them in courses that offer respected certificates.
Another concern is that families in urban areas are said to have an advantage over those in rural regions, given the opportunities and resources available in cities.
A gap between private and public education also provides uncertainty. Private schools reportedly put more effort into motivating students to build their portfolios, partly by requiring a minimum number of activities to be completed each semester.
Teachers have concerns about how to coach students to write the reflections and essays the portfolio requires. Others wonder how seriously university professors would consider these writings during the admissions process.
For students, their workload becomes more burdensome. They must juggle academic subjects while feeling required to feign passion in subjects in which they might have no interest. In other cases, students might feel compelled to divert energy away from their true interests, and toward more rigorous clubs and activities that might look better in their portfolio.
One student said that the submission process was like turning their life into a story that could be compared with those of their peers.
While the portfolio of the “108 curriculum” was designed with good intentions, the ministry must monitor how the program is carried out, and whether its unintended consequences outweigh its proposed benefits.
In the first year of his second term, US President Donald Trump continued to shake the foundations of the liberal international order to realize his “America first” policy. However, amid an atmosphere of uncertainty and unpredictability, the Trump administration brought some clarity to its policy toward Taiwan. As expected, bilateral trade emerged as a major priority for the new Trump administration. To secure a favorable trade deal with Taiwan, it adopted a two-pronged strategy: First, Trump accused Taiwan of “stealing” chip business from the US, indicating that if Taipei did not address Washington’s concerns in this strategic sector, it could revisit its Taiwan
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) challenges and ignores the international rules-based order by violating Taiwanese airspace using a high-flying drone: This incident is a multi-layered challenge, including a lawfare challenge against the First Island Chain, the US, and the world. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) defines lawfare as “controlling the enemy through the law or using the law to constrain the enemy.” Chen Yu-cheng (陳育正), an associate professor at the Graduate Institute of China Military Affairs Studies, at Taiwan’s Fu Hsing Kang College (National Defense University), argues the PLA uses lawfare to create a precedent and a new de facto legal
Chile has elected a new government that has the opportunity to take a fresh look at some key aspects of foreign economic policy, mainly a greater focus on Asia, including Taiwan. Still, in the great scheme of things, Chile is a small nation in Latin America, compared with giants such as Brazil and Mexico, or other major markets such as Colombia and Argentina. So why should Taiwan pay much attention to the new administration? Because the victory of Chilean president-elect Jose Antonio Kast, a right-of-center politician, can be seen as confirming that the continent is undergoing one of its periodic political shifts,
The stocks of rare earth companies soared on Monday following news that the Trump administration had taken a 10 percent stake in Oklahoma mining and magnet company USA Rare Earth Inc. Such is the visible benefit enjoyed by the growing number of firms that count Uncle Sam as a shareholder. Yet recent events surrounding perhaps what is the most well-known state-picked champion, Intel Corp, exposed a major unseen cost of the federal government’s unprecedented intervention in private business: the distortion of capital markets that have underpinned US growth and innovation since its founding. Prior to Intel’s Jan. 22 call with analysts
RSS