As a teacher working on the front lines of education, I face young people every day who are about to go out into the big, wide world. Their concerns are not about how much they can travel, or whether or not they can enjoy lavish meals in retirement. They are far simpler: If they work hard, would they still be able to live decently in the future? When I saw the blue and white camps joining forces to push through amendments to halt pension reforms, I felt only one thing — this is no minor institutional adjustment, but a betrayal of intergenerational justice.
The original purpose of the pension reforms was never to make military personnel, civil servants, or teachers suffer. It was to face a simple and honest reality: If the system is not changed, it would eventually collapse. When it does, those who bear the consequences would not be the beneficiaries of the current system, but the younger generations now in their 20s and 30s.
Nevertheless, the blue and white camps have clearly chosen to appease those with the loudest voices, the strongest mobilization capacity and the greatest voting power, while turning a blind eye to young people trapped in low wages, insecure work and long hours.
“We have paid into the system our whole lives,” some say.
However, what is important is not who has paid into the system for the longest, but whether the system can last at all. Retirees receiving NT$60,000 to NT$70,000 a month accuse the reforms of affecting their travel and quality of life, while countless young people earn less than NT$40,000 a month, cannot afford to start families and see no future — how could such a system have the gall to call itself fair?
Halting pension reforms might ease some short-term pain, but would ultimately be kicking the problem down the road to those generations who cannot yet vote, but would nonetheless be forced to foot the bill. I teach my students mathematics, how to think and to take responsibility for the future. If society continues to tell them that effort is useless and the system only protects those who came earlier, then what persuasive power does education have left?
The pension reforms are not perfect, but halting reform is certainly wrong. This is not a victory for the blue and white camps; it is a collective failure of our responsibility to the next generation. As a teacher, I cannot accept this. As someone who still believes in fairness, I cannot remain silent.
Hsieh Chia-hao is a teacher at an elementary school in Hualien County.
Translated by Gilda Knox Streader
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