The legislature on Dec. 25, 2020, passed the third reading of an amendment to Article 12 of the Civil Code, lowering the age of majority from 20 to 18. This was the right thing to do from the perspective of comparative jurisprudence and legal consistency.
However, during the two-year “buffer period,” all levels of government, from the Ministry of Education to education bureaus or departments of local governments, have failed to provide adequate administrative guidance to schools across the board, or to adequately introduce the amendment to parents.
After the Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy raised questions about the change, the ministry’s K-12 Education Administration finally responded before the new law took effect on Sunday last week, but its response was insipid.
The lowering of Taiwan’s legal age of adulthood inevitably has a significant effect on schools, especially on high schools.
For high-school students, school attendance is often affected by the joint college entrance exam system in Taiwan, and the problem is complicated by the decline of learning motivation that takes place after students take the General Scholastic Ability Test prior to the last semester.
ADULT STUDENTS
It is difficult to guess how many high-school students would submit leave slips in school after becoming “adults” on New Year’s Day, when the new law took effect
In the absence of complementary measures, should homeroom teachers approve leave slips directly submitted by adult students?
If they do, they could face criticism from parents and school administrators. If they do not, they could be seen as old-fashioned and have to deal with students’ negative responses directly.
Homeroom teachers have to choose between “teacher-student conflict,” “teacher-parent conflict” and “teacher-administration conflict” under such circumstances.
Also worrying is that high-school students who became “adults” at the beginning of the year might turn out to be the biggest losers.
In Taiwan, the teacher training process pays little attention to education regulations, so changes in campus regulations often have extreme consequences.
As education authorities neglected to provide guidance on the new law to schools, many schools might simply ignore the lowering of the age of majority to avoid criticism from parents, thus defeating the good intentions of the legal amendment.
The K-12 Education Administration did mention the necessity for teachers to “notify” parents that adult students’ counseling and discipline remains important, as well as certain matters related to students’ rights.
However, without the consent of adult students, the legality of such notification could be dubious, and the adoption of such an uncertain legal concept could be beyond what a teacher can offer. It is therefore likely that adult students’ rights would eventually be harmed, and such a result would contradict the legislature’s intent in amending the law.
Lawmakers gave education authorities a sufficient “grace period” of two years, and the new law has already come into effect.
Unfortunately, there has still been no change or review of school regulations. How much longer will education authorities keep parents, teachers and students waiting?
Zachary Chen is a high-school teacher.
Translated by Eddy Chang
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
RSS