Education must get back to basics
By Chuing Prudence Chou
周祝瑛
Thursday, Jan 24, 2008, Page 8
FOR A LONG TIME Taiwan's education has had to give way to
economic and political concerns and the voices of students and teachers have
been drowned out by electoral fervor. In particular, the conflict between the
Ministry of Education and the Taipei City Government over the removal of the
inscription dazhong zhizheng (大中至正) on the gate leading to the National Taiwan
Democracy Memorial Hall received a great deal of media attention. It is
regretful that officials traded accusations and resorted to offensive language
over something that could have been resolved through rational communication.
Meanwhile, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development announced that 15-year-old Taiwanese high school students
participating in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scored
first in mathematics and fourth in science. However, the Progress in
International Reading Literacy Study 2006 by the International Association for
the Evaluation of Educational Achievement showed that Taiwanese students'
reading performance was quite unsatisfactory and that many elementary and
junior-high school students don't read extracurricular books.
This important piece of news was unfortunately almost ignored
because of the heated debate over the removal of the inscription. Hong Kong,
Japan and Macau readily responded to the results by drawing up new policies to
improve their educational systems. In contrast, Taiwan's education officials
hailed the test results as a reflection of the success of the nation's
educational reform, but failed to provide the statistics to back up their
claims, such as telling the general public why students perform well in
mathematics and science, if there are any gender-related differences or
differences between urban and rural areas or if the educational background of
parents have an effect. They also failed to explain why the results were so good
when many students don't like math or science classes, or why so many students
don't like to read.
The government should end conflict and return to educational
fundamentals. Only then can the necessary attention and priority be given to
problems such as the fact that more than 100 elementary and junior-high schools
do not have access to running water and students missed school because bus
operations in the south were suspended.
We also hope the government will accomplish five things:
First, review the 10-year educational reform in order to
improve educational quality. The government should use the results in these
international competitions to review educational reform over the past dozen
years. The review should place equal importance on educational quality and
efficacy. It should also work to achieve fairness and justness, implement
regular evaluations and base educational reform on objective and quantifiable
information.
The government should also strengthen the scientific system
for educational statistics, make it available online and improve studies of
these statistics, all in a bilingual Chinese and English format to enhance
information transparency.
Also, given Taiwan's diplomatic isolation, non-governmental
and governmental organizations should take the initiative to provide educational
information to major international organizations and participate in
international educational assessments to help strengthen Taiwan's integration
into the international community and provide further benchmarks for national
competitiveness.
Second, a review of educational policies that have been
frequently criticized in recent years is urgently needed, including the
increased burden on students resulting from the policy of providing several
different books for one curriculum, the confusion among elementary school
students who must learn three languages -- Chinese, their native language and
English -- at the same time. Other issues that should be reviewed are the
function and role of the basic competence test for junior-high school students,
permanent classes and division into groups according to ability. The government
should also pay attention to the educational quality following the influx of
high schools and universities in recent years, teacher training, the allocation
and effective use of central and local educational budgets, and the
qualifications and expertise of education heads.
Third, a permanent education development committee should be
established. The Cabinet's ad hoc Educational Reform Evaluation Committee was
set up in 1994 as a temporary unit. It was dissolved two years later and policy
planning was also discontinued. The Cabinet should review the difference in
policies of the authorities in charge of planning and implementing educational
reform over the past decade. It should also learn from Japan's educational
evaluation committee and push legislation to establish a permanent education
development committee to plan for, initiate and evaluate future reforms.
Committee members should be experienced educators whose educational ideals
transcend politics. They should include execution, management and evaluation in
their policy-making and provide follow-up adjustments to guarantee that the
educational vision and goals are reached.
Fourth, establish a mechanism for monitoring the improvement
of education quality. Current methods of evaluating schools should be improved.
For example, in the past everyone was held to the same standard. This should be
changed and officials should try to understand how effectively a school improves
student results from enrollment until graduation, instead of only looking at the
ratio of graduates going on to study at prestigious educational institutions.
Support for student learning should be strengthened, for
example, by dividing students into groups according to their field of study --
and provide more resources to economically disadvantaged students, as well as
tutoring according to student needs.
More attention should be paid to on student character and
labor education and more opportunities for learning outside the classroom should
be provided. Parents and teachers should start campaigns to promote community
concern and encourage students to attend service-oriented groups in schools or
communities.
Fifth, sustainable development should be emphasized and
existing educational advantages promoted. At a time when Taiwan is striving to
promote economic development, we should also give future generations a chance
for sustainable development.
Politicians, teachers and parents should be conscious of the
impact of their actions on the next generation. They should also review the
appropriateness of the current electoral system and try to restore past
mainstream values -- diligence, humility, honesty, hospitality and thrift. They
should also strive to improve awareness, apply proper restrictions on media and
political parties and pay attention to the sustainable development of the
natural and social environment.
We should promote the advantages in Taiwan's society,
such as parents' emphasis on education for their children, traditional respect
for teachers, a well-developed Internet, the flexibility in people's thinking
and the potential of becoming a model for combining traditional Chinese and
modern Western culture. Our education system should integrate geographic
features, such as Taiwan's 1,240km coastline and proximity to China, and make
greater use of our natural resources and outstanding farming and fishery
industries.
In addition, we should emphasize the reconstruction and
innovation of educational values, and give full play to the characteristics of
East Asian education, turning competition for admission to higher education into
a positive aspect.
Finally, we should also stress Taiwan's advantages and
culture to improve interest in studying and diversity, and thus build Taiwanese
education.
Prudence Chou is a professor of education at National Chengchi University.
Translated by Ted Yang and Eddy Chang