There are a lot of myths and history concerning the origin of the summer vacation. As agriculture was still most nations’ major economic activity in the 19th century, it is believed that school children took a break during summer to help their parents in the fields.
However, in modern times, long summer breaks are not exactly beneficial to the economy. The government puts a lot of resources into education, but colleges and universities possess a lot of equipment and other resources that are not used during summer breaks.
When I was studying at university, I wrote to the Ministry of Education, suggesting the establishment of a third semester. After acquiring my doctorate, I came back to Taiwan and wrote to the ministry again, without receiving a proper reply. I also submitted opinion pieces “The benefits of a third semester” to the Taiwan Times and “25 percent off college tuition” to the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).
Some people mock going to college, saying it is an excuse for students to muck about for four years, as Taiwan’s four-year higher education system is fixed and rigid. In contrast, students in the US can graduate early by earning credits ahead of time and maximizing their course load, so that those who wish to start their careers early can finish their degrees in the shortest time possible.
In Taiwan, with the exception of certain departments, students generally need 128 credits to graduate. Most of the students in the law, liberal arts and business departments can finish their degrees in three years. Why make students stay for another year when they can acquire the same degree in three?
Most seniors only have nine hours of class per week, and those who wish to make a few bucks during the extra time they have can only apply for low-paying jobs without employee benefits. This benefits neither the student nor society.
The long summer break also works against young people and could be instrumental in widening the gap between the rich and poor. Students from low social-economic backgrounds need to help their families by working part-time jobs instead of taking part in extracurricular activities, while those from affluent families can attend summer camps or go on study trips, thereby exacerbating the social divide.
If there is a third semester, young people would not need to suspend their studies.
Furthermore, all of the basic skills and technologies that they have learned in class must be honed and mastered through real practice. Students could use their time to conduct experiments skipped in class during the three semesters. There would also be time for a little traveling, so that students could experience the beauty of nature.
When I was studying in the US, the campus was still humming with students during summer break. There were also prizes drawn to encourage students to enroll in summer classes, so that they would have the opportunity to enroll in popular classes that were highly sought-after during the regular semester.
From an efficiency point of view, the recent “three plus one” program should have been introduced long ago and should be open to all students, instead of only male draftees for compulsory military service.
As students from low-income families have to take on part-time jobs during summer break, perhaps a better solution would be to allow them to finish college early and take on full-time jobs with a good salary rather than spending three summer breaks working menial jobs for an hourly wage.
Yang Der-yuan is a professor in the money and banking department at National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology.
Translated by Rita Wang
China badly misread Japan. It sought to intimidate Tokyo into silence on Taiwan. Instead, it has achieved the opposite by hardening Japanese resolve. By trying to bludgeon a major power like Japan into accepting its “red lines” — above all on Taiwan — China laid bare the raw coercive logic of compellence now driving its foreign policy toward Asian states. From the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China Seas to the Himalayan frontier, Beijing has increasingly relied on economic warfare, diplomatic intimidation and military pressure to bend neighbors to its will. Confident in its growing power, China appeared to believe
After more than three weeks since the Honduran elections took place, its National Electoral Council finally certified the new president of Honduras. During the campaign, the two leading contenders, Nasry Asfura and Salvador Nasralla, who according to the council were separated by 27,026 votes in the final tally, promised to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan if elected. Nasralla refused to accept the result and said that he would challenge all the irregularities in court. However, with formal recognition from the US and rapid acknowledgment from key regional governments, including Argentina and Panama, a reversal of the results appears institutionally and politically
Legislators of the opposition parties, consisting of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), on Friday moved to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德). They accused Lai of undermining the nation’s constitutional order and democracy. For anyone who has been paying attention to the actions of the KMT and the TPP in the legislature since they gained a combined majority in February last year, pushing through constitutionally dubious legislation, defunding the Control Yuan and ensuring that the Constitutional Court is unable to operate properly, such an accusation borders the absurd. That they are basing this
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) was on Monday last week invited to give a talk to students of Soochow University, but her responses to questions raised by students and lecturers became a controversial incident and sparked public discussion over the following days. The student association of the university’s Department of Political Science, which hosted the event, on Saturday issued a statement urging people to stop “doxxing,” harassing and attacking the students who raised questions at the event, and called for rational discussion of the talk. Criticism should be directed at viewpoints, opinions or policies, not students, they said, adding
RSS