Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0362/03621.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 40KB | 661 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03621}
$Pretitle{263}
$Title{Taiwan
Chapter 8.    Education}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{The Director Foreign Area Studies}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{education
school
schools
government
teachers
students
middle
training
chinese
years}
$Date{1971}
$Log{Table 6.*0362101.tab
}
Country:     Taiwan
Book:        Area Handbook for the Republic of China
Author:      The Director Foreign Area Studies
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1971

Chapter 8.    Education

     The quality, organization, and effectiveness of the educational system
are of primary interest and concern to the government and to the people. The
intensity of a belief in the value of education, frequently expressed by
President Chiang Kai-shek, generally is shared. The goal set-to make Taiwan a
model province on which the eventual rebuilding of mainland China could be
based-necessitates an educated population. The educational process influences
the people's health, their service in the armed forces, and their enjoyment of
cultural pursuits.

     The national attitude toward education as a means to a better life has
been an important factor in Taiwan's rapid social and economic progress since
1949. The literacy rate is second in Asia only to that of Japan; some teacher
benefits are second to none; the government builds and equips new public
schools and accredits new private schools each year. In 1965-66, 83 new
schools were established, including elementary and secondary schools,
colleges, and universities. School and college enrollment increased by
135,337. Government expenditures for education rose to NT$518.5 million (NT$40
equal US$1). Taiwanese-trained professional men and women have skill and
knowledge comparable to their Western counterparts.

     The Constitution states that the basic principles of education are the
development among the citizens of a spirit of nationalism, a spirit of
self-government, good citizenship, scientific knowledge, the ability to earn a
living, and good national health. The Ministry of Education, the highest
educational authority, promotes military training in schools and colleges,
trains teachers, creates opportunities for advanced study, coordinates
education with social and economic needs of the citizens, and maintains
physical education programs in the schools.

     The Constitution also says that all citizens shall have equal opportunity
to be educated; that children from 6 to 12 years of age shall have free
primary education; that people over school age who have not been given an
education should get it; and that the government shall supply books to
children from poor families and to adults in supplementary education classes.
It stipulates that not less than 15 percent of the central government's
budget, 25 percent of the provincial budgets, and 35 percent of the budget of
every municipality and county shall be devoted to education and cultural
affairs.

     Although the literacy rate in 1966 was one of the highest in Asia,
statistics compiled by the Provincial Department of Civil Affairs indicated
that about 20 percent of the population over the age of 6 had not received any
formal education. These people may attend, without charge, supplementary
education classes in the central elementary schools nearest them.

     Motivation to learn was strong; urban parents who could afford it made
every effort to send their children to middle school or to a 3-year teachers'
training school. The Ministry of Education encouraged advanced study by
continuing a scholarship program and aid to students who wished to study
abroad. In addition, the Ministry continued efforts to expand research
facilities and to attract visiting scientists to Taiwan.

     Education also had problems, such as overcrowded conditions in the
schools, cramming sessions before the qualifying examinations for entrance
into middle school, and overburdened teachers. The dropout rate among rural
elementary school children was a source of concern to the Ministry of
Education; it was difficult to enforce the compulsory education laws in remote
areas. Another concern was the number of Chinese students, almost all of whom
were college graduates, who went abroad for advanced study and who did not
return to contribute their talents and knowledge to the development of the
country. Better research facilities and higher pay in Western countries were
among the reasons why Chinese students did not return to Taiwan.

Education in the Society

Traditional

     In traditional China education was the key to power and influence. The
administrators of the empire were recruited through a standardized civil
service examination based on the Confucian classics (see ch. 9, Artistic and
Intellectual Expression). To prepare, a scholar memorized the classics and
repeated them before the officials of the imperial government. Each level he
achieved won him different privileges and material advantages. Scholars who
failed shared the feeling that they had improved themselves through study-a
concept which remains important in Chinese education.

     Study of the Confucian classics was supposed to produce incorruptible,
talented, filially pious government servants. They alone had mastered
sufficiently written Chinese, rituals, moral concepts, and administrative
techniques to be able to maintain social and economic order, but the exalted
position of the scholar class and its influence on what was taught and how
ultimately interfered with the social order and its adaptability to change.
The system produced literate and educated men who, however, had little
understanding of or interest in economic and social problems of the country. A
vast bureaucracy administered China until the beginning of the twentieth
century.

Effects of Japanese Control

     When China lost Taiwan to Japan in 1895, education on the island
underwent drastic changes as the result of a program intended to assimilate
the Taiwanese into Japanese culture. The Japanese forbade the teaching of any
language but their own in the schools; Chinese who could afford it sent their
children to special classes after school to learn Chinese. Literacy in written
Chinese grew lower every year of the occupation. Taiwanese teachers were
poorly trained, and their schools and teaching materials were inadequate,
whereas the Japanese schools and teachers were well-equipped and trained.
Japanese held the government positions traditionally occupied by educated
Taiwanese, and the Taiwanese had to be content with inferior positions and low
pay. The most basic social and cultural patterns of Chinese life were used by
the Japanese to maintain control and therefore were not much changed. For
example, local policing and administration were simplified for the Japanese
because they used the traditional concept of family unity and held the family
responsible for the behavior of individual members.

Modern Education

     When Taiwan was returned to China in 1945, the government found itself in
the position of having to set up a new educational program for the island,
build new schools, and provide a corps of teachers. Because of the disruption
caused by the war, however, it was not until 1950 that any real progress was
made. The new program, based on Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People
(San Min Chu I), had four objectives (see ch. 12, The Government System). The
first was to assure 6 years of elementary education to every citizen. The
second was to make certain that talented youth who otherwise could not afford
secondary or advanced education should be aided by the government to prevent
sons and daughters of rich families from monopolizing opportunities for higher
education. The third was that the government should give work to the educated
youth upon graduation. The fourth was that education should be coordinated
with the country's needs and government policies.

     The long tradition of government control over education was continued,
but the teaching of Confucian