This year’s Advanced Subjects Test, the second round of the joint college entrance examination, was held on Friday and Saturday last week.
A number of cram school teachers have analyzed the test questions for the Citizenship and Society subject, and have come to the conclusion that although the test was already more difficult than usual last year, this year’s test was even harder.
Their main problem with the test was that its scope was too broad and the test was too subjective.
It was as if it was trying to trick the students, whose confidence might be impacted negatively as a result, some teachers said.
Some teachers have been calling on the College Entrance Examination Center to return to the textbook materials used previously.
However, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said that some cram school teachers still do not understand, and are not willing to understand, the new trends in education, adding that their teaching might be stuck in traditional aspects such as rote memorization and problem-solving techniques.
Instead of denouncing the test questions, it would be better to spend more time understanding the new trends and reformulating one’s approach to teaching, Yeh said.
His comment was quite right.
Academia Sinica researcher Ma Chung-pei (馬中珮) said that she recalls when she was a primary and secondary-school student in Taiwan, she had to spend a lot of time studying for exams to get high scores and enter into a good university.
She would have preferred to spend more time on her favorite subjects, such as mathematics, science and music, and less time on other subjects in school, but she did not have that choice in Taiwan, Ma said.
Luckily, her son did, because he was educated in the US.
The renowned scientist Albert Einstein loved mathematics and science in high school, and hated grammar courses in Latin or Greek. It was only when he transferred to the free-spirited Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich that he was able to fully play into his mathematical and scientific talents.
In other words, the test questions for Citizenship and Society are not too difficult. Students should try to be flexible and not limit their creativity by learning only what is in the textbooks.
Secondary-school education in Europe, the US and Japan does not only focus on textbooks: Students often read extracurricular books they can discuss in the classroom.
Teachers do not require students to memorize the content of the textbooks, but to be able to discuss and criticize — to develop the ability to think and express themselves. This is perhaps the true education.
If teachers in Taiwan do not change their teaching methods, do not strive for improvement, and only know textbooks and fill in the blanks, then it is no wonder students are not interested in learning.
Teng Hon-yuan is a university professor.
Translated by Eddy Chang
In the US’ National Security Strategy (NSS) report released last month, US President Donald Trump offered his interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. The “Trump Corollary,” presented on page 15, is a distinctly aggressive rebranding of the more than 200-year-old foreign policy position. Beyond reasserting the sovereignty of the western hemisphere against foreign intervention, the document centers on energy and strategic assets, and attempts to redraw the map of the geopolitical landscape more broadly. It is clear that Trump no longer sees the western hemisphere as a peaceful backyard, but rather as the frontier of a new Cold War. In particular,
When it became clear that the world was entering a new era with a radical change in the US’ global stance in US President Donald Trump’s second term, many in Taiwan were concerned about what this meant for the nation’s defense against China. Instability and disruption are dangerous. Chaos introduces unknowns. There was a sense that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have a point with its tendency not to trust the US. The world order is certainly changing, but concerns about the implications for Taiwan of this disruption left many blind to how the same forces might also weaken
As the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) races toward its 2027 modernization goals, most analysts fixate on ship counts, missile ranges and artificial intelligence. Those metrics matter — but they obscure a deeper vulnerability. The true future of the PLA, and by extension Taiwan’s security, might hinge less on hardware than on whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can preserve ideological loyalty inside its own armed forces. Iran’s 1979 revolution demonstrated how even a technologically advanced military can collapse when the social environment surrounding it shifts. That lesson has renewed relevance as fresh unrest shakes Iran today — and it should
As the new year dawns, Taiwan faces a range of external uncertainties that could impact the safety and prosperity of its people and reverberate in its politics. Here are a few key questions that could spill over into Taiwan in the year ahead. WILL THE AI BUBBLE POP? The global AI boom supported Taiwan’s significant economic expansion in 2025. Taiwan’s economy grew over 7 percent and set records for exports, imports, and trade surplus. There is a brewing debate among investors about whether the AI boom will carry forward into 2026. Skeptics warn that AI-led global equity markets are overvalued and overleveraged
RSS