[quote=“ski”]The textbooks I used to use had a little picture of a hitler to represent Germany. Now how F*%ked is that? He was even Saluting and had a little swastika. Good message for Kindergarten students across Taiwan.
Then how about the nazi theme bar in Tiachung?
Ski[/quote]
Simply disgusting. Ugh. :fume:
I am continuously surprised by how ignorant local people are about the rest of the world. Before I came here I thought we (people from the English-speaking diaspora) were ignorant about other cultures, but compared to the average Taiwanese, now I’m not so sure.
Example 1: A university-educated woman who edits English textbooks, who thinks that because Brazil is in America, people there speak English, and that hiring an English teacher from Brazil instead of from England is reasonable, because American English is the preferred accent in Taiwan.
Example 2: The large number of people here who think that Hitler is a great man, and that Mein Kampf is a world classic. I believe that this is partly ignorance, and partly because when the KMT was a dictatorship, fascism was not, of course, criticized.
Example 3: A real question, again from a university graduate: Is London far away from New York?
Dude,
A large part of American Studnets think Russia is America because it is the largest country on a map of the world. It’s a big world out there so I’d cut her some slack.
Remove the final word of this thread’s title and you will sum up the results of Taiwan’s educational system.
Ain’t that the sad truth. I’m baffled at times how kids can spend from 7:30 to 4:00 or 5:00 at high school followed by an evening in the buxibans and still don’t seem to know anything!
Ain’t that the sad truth. I’m baffled at times how kids can spend from 7:30 to 4:00 or 5:00 at high school followed by an evening in the buxibans and still don’t seem to know anything![/quote]
Because they’re taught how to remember things for tests, not learn them.
Quite. I’m reminded of a story I heard from an acquaintance of mine. When asking his students if they could see any faults in Taiwan’s education system was told…“It turns us into test taking machines”.
Oh…can you suggest any way of improving the system?
“No, I’m just a test taking machine!”
Quite simple, ignorance is not a genetic fault, so when an opportunity comes up for educating the poor souls, enlighten them with the appropriate information. To help explain how people can be spending all day sitting in classrooms and still ignorant: these kids/people are most likely learning science, math, chinese history (read propaganda), English (language and not western culture). World history and culture outside of the Far East are simply not taught. Traveling outside the island was probably quite restricted until very recently. So, cut them a slack.
there was an incident in austria a year or two back where some guys from my uni (studying overseas) got their asses kicked by a group of austrian guys at a soccer game in vienna or salzburg or somewhere (I’m not sure about the city)…these austrian guys were chanting “OSAMA…OSAMA” and it led to a fight. anti-americanism and ignorance happens all over the place, as well as insensitivity about stuff involving nazi’s, etc…remember the ad by peta in america comparing animal suffering to the holocaust? (photos of guant prisoners compared with animals in cages) pretty damn insensitive. furthermore in american political discussion, whether its the extreme right or the extreme left there are somewhat constant references to people being “nazis” and the such, such as rush limbaugh calling extreme feminists “feminazis” this is also extremely insensitive and ignorrant to make such casual comparisons. I think honestly most taiwanese probably know more about western countries than most people in the west know about taiwan. Thats a generalization, but the pop-culture media works wonders on shoving bullshit with some occasional truths and fact down foreign peoples throats
I am taking a marketing class at a local university here and yesterday the professor went on and on about how Jews own all of the media and how they are using that to brainwash the United States. Later he added that the only cultures that stress learning are the Chinese, Jewish and some other one, can’t remember.
Several years ago, I bought an art book at the Lucky Bookstore. Written by a local art professor, it was in Chinese and English. In the first chapter he stated that Chinese art is like a middle aged lady. Elegant and wise. Full of meaning. Western art on the other hand is like a young whore. All painted up with bright colors but shallow and ignorant. 
I think you misread his meaning. chinese art is like a middle aged lady. old and useless, stopped learning and evolving. but with no prospects. like a whore’s madam. she may be elegant and wise, but she is a finished product, and an obsolete model at that.
whereas the young whore still has a future ahead of her, still has a chance to grow and evolve. like an unfinished canvas.
what a great metaphor. we should compare everything to whores and old ladies. like WMDs. WMDs are like whores with STD, and Saddam was the pimp. threatening Johns in the US travelling abroad to evade pedophile laws and to buy young girls and boys, but now that 5-0 has gone in and arrested the pimp, there are no whores with STD to be found.
If you can’t remember, you’re obviously neither Jewish nor Chinese! 
If I had to guess, I’d say that the book was written by the Shida Art History professor (last name: Luo) who ended up being the head of the MTC (now: CLCC) for a couple years. You know–the guy who said foreigners use too much toilet paper, and only use the computer center to surf for porn. Also heard that he wanted to shut down the MTC and open up a business school because it would make more money. MAJOR A$$hole. I even joined some teachers and students at the legislature to speak out about the freak.
I sure hope you took him to task, even though it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. What was his response?
for the sake of being controversial…
I dont believe in any of that “jewish conspiracy” bullshit, and I think its definately both incorrect and offensive to say the american media is “controlled by jews”…however America’s stance on israel is highly unusual in its contrast to most countries anti-zionist stances (especially european ones)…Israel makes up over a third of US foreign aid, and its not even a third world country! why is that? I think there is some degree of influence…although certainly not any sort of organized conspiracy. Why is it that more than 2/3 of “neo-conservatives” are jewish (the guys that have helped shape US foreign policy under the bush administration)? look up a list of famous “neo-conservatives” and you’ll be quite surprised… wolfowitz, richard perle, etc…I hate anti-semites but I also hate the PC mind police.
Or the two Mao Zedong theme restaurants in Melbourne?
Brian