Instruction in the Three Principles of the People (
"Since the subject [the Three Principles] is no longer included in the Joint College Entrance Examination (JCEE), its significance for high school education will naturally be diminished," Fan said.
"Though the course still remains in high schools, it will very likely be removed in the foreseeable future," she said.
However, Fan said the proposed axing of the course did not mean educators should underestimate the significance of the Three Principles.
Fan said it was still vital for Taiwanese students to understand the philosophy behind the founding of the nation, the essence of the Constitution and respect for human rights.
"Such education should begin as early as elementary school," Fan said.
The Three Principles or San Min Chu I, nationalism, the rights of the people and democratization -- was elucidated by Sun Yat-sen (
The Three Principles has been a core subject for Taiwanese senior high school students and part of the JCEE examination system until last year. Though it was excluded from the JECC examination, the course is still being run in senior high schools.
The compulsory course in Sun Yat-sen Thought (國父思想) was halted in 1996 at the university level when the Ministry of Education allowed schools to determine their own teaching policies. In most schools the course was replaced by study of the Constitution, civil education or human rights studies.
Instruction in the Three Principles was raised when the Graduate Institute of San Min Chu I (三民主義研究所) at National Taiwan University (NTU) was renamed the Graduate Institute of National Development (國家發展研究所) on June 3.
Discussions about re-naming the institution began over ten years ago when scholars questioned the suitability of a research center being called after the "San Min Chu I" -- as it was felt that the principles were outdated.
The decision to re-name the graduate school last week was largely approved of by the public.
The National Taiwan Normal University (
An NTNU official said he believed the name was outdated: "We are putting in an immense effort to have the name [of the institution] modified because we are completely aware of the impropriety of the current name. We are just waiting for the permission of the school authorities," he said.
With the exception of National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU, 中山大學), where the school for the study of Sun Yat-sen's theories was named the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies (中山學術研究所), the remaining four universities -- including NTU, NTNU, National Chengchi University (NCCU, 政治大學) and the Chinese Culture University (CCU,文化大學) -- were originally called "Graduate Institutes of San Min Chu I," according to a report released by the Ministry of Education.
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