DANGER TO STUDENTS?The Humanist Education Foundation’s director said the Ministry of Education was ‘raping’ the education system with outmoded guidelines
Taipei Times
Date: , Sep 07, 2015
By: Rachel Lin and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Action Coalition of Civics Teachers spokesman Huang I-chung (黃益中) said the
A page from a textbook based on previous high-school curriculum guidelines says that people’s identification with being Taiwanese has been on the increase since 1996. Photo: provided by Huang I-chung
Ministry of Education’s changes to high-school curriculum guidelines allowed it to sneak in the desiccated corpse of party-state education of bygone days.
The dogma of the past might be making a comeback in some parts of new high-school civic education textbooks after its removal nine years ago, Huang said.
Changes in 2012 required textbooks to “define the concept of national identification and describe how Taiwanese hold different views on the issue of national identification in accordance with the Constitution,” which allowed textbooks to be more in tune with contemporary matters, Huang said, adding that there were differing ideas on national identification due to internal politico-historical factors and the China factor.
Textbooks introduced the idea that there are many facets of national identification, Huang said, adding that organizations often used identification and political stance as ways to gauge ideas of national identity. [FULL STORY]
