This year marks the 30th anniversary of the “410 Demonstration for Education Reform” march on April 10, 1994.
As a junior-high school teacher, I have had the chance to experience the major changes during the education reform. In all fairness, there have been gains and losses in education over the past 30 years.
Generally, for the pros: The content of Taiwan’s education has become more diverse, the school atmosphere has become friendlier and school management has become more open and participatory. Even though the challenges for teachers and the burden on students have increased, technology has now opened up channels for learning and the ability of students to learn on their own has greatly influenced their learning achievements.
For the cons, the general elevation in academic qualifications has not been accompanied by a simultaneous improvement in the quality of learning.
The education reform in Taiwan has abandoned the traditional academic culture of “credentialism” in the past, while opening the door for students to pursue a variety of technical, athletic and technological skills.
Apart from studying, many students have found their own goals in life, and the campus is no longer just an environment for studying, but also a place where students can discover various learning opportunities by themselves.
With an emphasis on human rights, every student is treated with respect in school today. As society pays greater attention to the protection of students’ rights in general, teachers’ discipline methods become an issue of public concern.
Under such circumstances, the campus atmosphere has become more harmonious and friendlier, and more civil groups can participate in the education system to jointly protect the next generation, so they can grow up healthily.
In addition, the advocacy of teachers’ rights has led to a qualitative reform in school management, changing the “top-down” hierarchical structure of the past, replacing orders with communication and cooperation with individualism. Teachers have a greater sense of participation and students have a greater sense of recognition about school affairs, as they work together to make contributions mentally and physically to the development of schools.
Plus, the advancement of technology has brought about changes in learning styles.
On one hand, teachers use technology to assist instruction. On the other, despite that technology makes teaching more effective and faster, it also widens the gap among students’ learning achievements.
While technology allows for autonomous learning, it is still necessary to rely on students’ motivation, and they should make good use of technology to enhance academic performance. As for students who are addicted to computers, they might lose their motivation to learn once they “get lost on the Internet.”
There are voices in society blaming the “410 Demonstration for Education Reform” for the excessive establishment of senior high schools and universities across Taiwan. However, how could the current problem of school closure caused by the drastic decrease in the country’s population have possibly been foreseen at that time?
What we should review is that, when establishing senior high schools and universities, the reformists should have thought about how to control the quality of education and not devalue diplomas, which is where the problems lie.
Chen Chi-nung is principal of Shuili Junior High School in Nantou County.
Translated by Eddy Chang
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS