Open letter to MoE

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

Greetings Forumosans

This is my first post. I have long scanned these boards though, so I’m glad to be here.

I am considering publishing an open letter to the Ministry of Education about the educational system at junior high, so I thought I’d put it here first to see if there are any of you who wish to comment. I am also wondering where it could be published if I wish to do so.

Thanks
…

As a long term foreign resident of Taiwan, I have much to be grateful for on this island. There are many wonderful aspects of Taiwan, its people, and culture that I love; I strive to stay mindful and sincerely appreciative of everything this country has provided my family and me. Taiwan is home.

Having married a Taiwan national, I now have three children being educated in state schools in Taipei. My eldest, a daughter, is a ninth grader at ChinHwa Junior High. It is with her in my mind that I find myself writing with a heavy heart. In short, I wish to question the effectiveness of her education, as well as the education of her peers.

I believe the present conditions are harmful to many of today’s youth. “The fear of not being left behind” and the subsequent high expectations from both parents and teachers cause fierce competitiveness, distress, and pressure among students, which, in my opinion, results in drawbacks outweighing benefits. Perhaps the high teenage suicide rate in Taiwan underscores the point. A daughter coming home close to tears almost every day is proof enough for me.

There are two areas I wish to mention. Firstly, the students’ workload is extreme. My daughter’s school day begins at 7:30am and ends usually after 5.30pm. Yesterday, she had mock exams and had to be there before 7.15am; she did not leave school until after 6pm. As such, she begins before most adults start work and arrives home after many in the workforce. Yet, she is one of only three students from her class who leave school “that early!” The rest are strongly encouraged by the system to stay until after 9pm, virtually fourteen hours of “learning.” Since my daughter does not attend the evening classes, she has some difficulty in keeping up with the sheer amount of material presented during the semester. As such, in a class of almost forty, I think she does pretty well to stay ranked virtually in the middle.

Second, the continual testing – as well as the very public system of ranking - is also a concern. Tests are taking place every day in the morning and most late afternoons/early evenings. In such an intense environment I have to question how much actual acquisition – genuine learning - is taking place. One only needs to look at the English material being taught in the classroom and then speak to the average teenager to see the divide between what is expected and what is actually acquired. The few students that actually excel in this system are those that are responding positively (possibly temporarily) to such pressure. In fact, evidence shows the present system only suits a minority of students – those who have established a mechanism to block the pressure and who have a certain learning style: a better than average verbal-linguistic intelligence, meaning they learn best by reading and memorizing – rather than visualizing or interacting. Consequently, the system is not suited for the many others.

Has the MoE honestly determined this present system of cramming in a great deal of information and the daily testing of ninth graders to be the best method of acquiring new knowledge and cultivating talent? Shouldn’t students be given more time and opportunities to work in different areas and discover strengths without such imposition? Shouldn’t both student and pedagogical creativity be a key area of enhancement? How can students be given more ideas of social responsibility and of the importance of family interaction if they spend 12 hours of the day at school? Shouldn’t the students be given more opportunities to acquire understanding by other means, rather than just memorizing? These are just some of the questions that are of concern for me.

I acknowledge the refinements to the curricula the MoE regularly conducts. The system is improving in my opinion. But not fast enough. If there were just one government bureau that held the keys to the future of Taiwan, it would be the Ministry of Education. The ministry is more than aware of the importance of its work. Admittedly, I can offer no panaceas, nor do I hold a doctorate in education. I do, however, hold something much more valuable: three young Taiwanese lives that I fear are being mangled by the system.

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No arguments with any of that. It’s worth saying again and again to the MOE even if nothing comes of it.

On another practical note, anyone here who teaches English to JHS/HS should be aware of the horrific workload those kids are under and cut them some slack in class. On top of all the other crap they have to deal with, their insanely competitive parents push them into additional buxiban English lessons.

How many Taiwanese teenagers have people on forumosa come across who genuinely enjoy learning for the sake of it? Very few I would guess. It’s beaten out of them.

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Soloman -
Well written.
As the Father of a Son who is now in his 2nd year of high school, I understand your concern about the ridiculous state of middle-school “education” here on the island. I was completely sucker-punched seeing middle-school children getting grey hair from overwork and stress.

Many other parents shared their similar views with me over this during that 3 year period. They were all locals (native Taiwan and fully understood the tremendous pressure put upon their children and the ludicrous methods employed.
At my Sons middle-school the pressure was so bad that the head principal even committed suicide as a result of the stress he felt. He was completely frustrated by:
1 - The demands he was required by the state educational system
2 - The lack of co-operation from educational services up the chain in the state system
3 - The placement of incompetent teachers in his school
4 - The constant barrage of complaints from parents about why their children didn’t get more work - (ironic, but its a gauge of how ingrained the system really is)
5 - He also thought the entire “bushiban/cram school” system was a result of the poor teaching system - but that’s another topic

If its any consolation, it looks like this year is the end of the massive ‘high-school’ prep tests.
My Son told me that the education central planning office will no longer require this as of next year.

Keep heart…You are not alone in this worry.

All the best,

TC

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Great letter Soloman. Great first post.

tom: You’re right, in general. There were kids at the school I used to work at in Taoyuan that were ready to snap. There was one boy in the eighth grade who had about half a head of white hair. One of my colleagues used to say that he would be completely white by the end of high school. At my current school though, there isn’t that same kind of pressure, which is good and bad. It’s good for the kids because they don’t need that kind of pressure to that extreme level. On the other hand, my school is so slack that I think it lets them down. For many of the kids living here (rural Taidong), education is probably the only way out of the poverty (and its associated social problems). I feel it’s a real shame that their teachers let them down.

Either way, I won’t be sending my kids to a government junior high school here. Most likely, my wife and I will homeschool our children.

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[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]
Either way, I won’t be sending my kids to a government junior high school here. Most likely, my wife and I will homeschool our children.[/quote]

I was just thinking, “why dont the expats just homeschool their kids (should they be unable to afford the private international schools)?” Its hard to imagine an expat not making enough money to afford homeschooling. Yes, it takes time and effort, but seriously how could the cons outweigh the benefits? You hire some foreign tutors with actual teaching qualifications and handle the rest your self.

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[quote=“Soloman”]Greetings Forumosans

I believe the present conditions are harmful to many of today’s youth. “The fear of not being left behind” and the subsequent high expectations from both parents and teachers cause fierce competitiveness, distress, and pressure among students, which, in my opinion, results in drawbacks outweighing benefits. Perhaps the high teenage suicide rate in Taiwan underscores the point. A daughter coming home close to tears almost every day is proof enough for me.

[/quote]

Sorry I am getting a little unsure of myself right now.

Shouldn’t this be a positive instead of a negative? The fear of being left behind”

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Lil: For sure. Private schools are not really an option for us (aside from the cost) because of where we live. We’d prefer to remain living in the countryside.

We plan to do the teaching ourselves for as long as we can. Ideally, I’ll be out of teaching by the time my kids hit what would normally be elementary school age. I think at the elementary school level, it’s not too hard to teach most things. The primary school teachers I knew in Australia weren’t the sharpest knives in the draw, in general, and I actually tutored one in mathematics while I was studying to be a secondary (non-mathematics) teacher. At the secondary level, I’ve taught many different subjects. I would feel comfortable teaching most things up until the end of junior high school, except some areas of science, though I could bone up on them if necessary. By the upper end of secondary school, we could employ tutors, as you suggest, but part of homeschooling is also the kids learning to become independent learners, as well as making use of non-standard resources (much easier to do with the internet these days). The other thing that I like about homeschooling is it allows a lot more flexibility in the schedule, methods of learning, and the range of subjects studied. If a kid were to take a particular interest in something slightly unusual, e.g. geology or astronomy, then there’s far greater latitude to explore such things than is present in a standard school system or curriculum and it’s possible to make it a lot more hands-on or seek out experts, museums, etc. on such topics.

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Hamlet: It really depends upon the context. As it stands in Taiwan, it’s generally a negative. The fear is overwhelming, as is the pressure. Also, get left behind about what? When everyone is running the wrong race in terms of what they’re [strike]learning[/strike] cramming for tests, it doesn’t make much sense.

Obviously, no one wants his or her kid to be a dumb arse, but many of these kids are, despite being able to pass tests. Also, no one wants his or her kid throwing himself or herself off a balcony because the pressure is too great. Most of these kids are going to end up doing average jobs in offices, shops, etc. Do they really need to study fourteen hours a day to be a desk jockey? It’s complete overkill.

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The root of the problem lies deep within this “confucian” culture. Unlike western societies where the individual and creativity among other things are highly valued and where everybody (at least in theory) can develop his own particular talents, here these things are not much valued. Instead, the group (family, state, etc.) is considered more important than the individual and people are socialized in order to fit into this uniform society: “what do you do with the nail that sticks out of the plank? right! you hit it on the head until it is back in”. The easiest way to ensure a uniform society is by having a uniform educational and testing system, i.e. you have 'em all memorize the same stuff without allowing for too much critical thinking and you only teach what can be tested, which cuts out a lot of the creative stuff. …

There are certain advantages to both systems, the western and the chinese. The difference goes right to the core of the philosophical question of what comes first, the individual or the group. Having one of those positions engrained in your cultural upbringing makes it very difficult to fully appreciate the other system. So while I fully sympathize with the OP’s struggle, I don’t think it will be (or even can be) fully appreciated by the MoE.

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Very on time discussion, me thinks. About time, actually, as per current events:

See this piece translated from Apple Daily. This part is OK:

[quote]2011-10-27 12:16:35

In a public speech on Tuesday, Quanta Computer Inc. Chairman Barry Lam said he "extremely hates" National Taiwan University's Department of Electrical Engineering from which he graduated. 

He criticized the department's teaching as rigid and uninnovative, likening his study experience to "Bible study." He also said "because I did not perform well academically, I succeeded later on." 

Lam's argument is invalid. Although both Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg are university dropouts, this does not mean all those who skip or drop out of university are successful. And among university graduates, there are both winners and losers. 

Indeed, Taiwan's university education in the past was very rigid and emphasized a lot on memorization. Such a situation was worse in law and humanities programs than in science and engineering programs. 

During the martial law era, books discussing existentialism, logical positivism, liberalism and socialism were banned. Even works by German sociologist Max Weber were forbidden, because he was mistaken by Taiwan's secret police at that time for communism advocate Karl Marx. At one point, even music by Peter Tchaikovsky was banned just because he was Russian. 

There was seldom any class discussion, because professors dared not tell the truth, especially those teaching history and political science. They feared that they might get finked by secret police informers, which could cost their lives.

[/quote]

That is what we know. The first generation of teachers after 49 was composed by soldiers and other not so qualified people. Hence, the rote reading memorization method. They taught the next generation, 60s and 70s ad 80s’, to obey as they cannot have dissent/questions/contradictions because they can’t answer them/they are linked politically to their posts. That is teh generation we have now. To make matters worse, the newer teachers nowadays face a systme that has them roaming aimlesly, also subject to tests and retests, looking for a patron or a break -cough, cough- so they can have a permanent position -no more iron bowl. Therefore, they can’t rock teh boat/have no power to make changes.

As a result, this next part of the essay is pie in the sky. It doe snot conform to reality as it is like trying to build a house out of cinder:

[quote]The purpose of university education is developing independent thinking. Today, Taiwan’s universities have paid more attention to imaginative and innovative thinking than they did in the past.

For those who are already very imaginative and creative and are able to produce more innovative and smarter ideas than most university graduates, they indeed do not need to go to university. But such people are rare. 

Therefore, we still encourage young people to complete their university education so as to compete in the job market. (Editorial abstract -- Oct. 27, 2011)

[/quote]

Dunno. Given the choice, maybe self-taught is not such a bad idea. Anyways, there is no more room for NTU graduates only. Even their dean was telling NTU students to be more “humble” and accept pay cuts. Given the job saturation, isn’t it logical to think that all this effort in test taking is going nowhere? We still have teenagers tying their shoes up in the middle of the street, NTU doctoral candidates/big company CEOs believing Petraus will marry them, etc. in summary, kids without independent thinking, suitable for a more backward style of governing but rarely time not capacity to create/quetsion/analyze. So, what is the point?

I was arguing this with my boss, as her kid is somewhat reluctant to keep up with the pace anymore. He’s a teenager now, still has some brain cells left, and anyone with half a brain knows that if he passes his exams with high scores, he will be rewarded with more work, especially if he ends up in one of teh 2 or 3 schools that matter. So, where is his incentive? And I already told you about the warped system in most schools, divinding kids by “ability” and then giving more homowork to the ones with better abilities as the others are lost cause. This sytem is warped and ugly.

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Just be aware that there is a larger educational reform movement in Taiwan with more than 20 years of history. The Taiwanese are well aware of the issues you are raising.

NTU math professor Huang Wu-hsiung is a particularly wll known leader in this area. His books would at least give you the comfort of knowing that some very intellgent Taiwanese people have thought long and hard about this and reached the same conclusions you have. And there have been some significant reforms–corporal punishment, although still around, has been greatly reduced. It is far easier to get into high school and college than it used to be. But there are still huge problems. Most parent either want, collude in, or tolerate the vast system of oppression that characterizes education in Taiwan from middle school on. Even parents who disagree face serious pressure and the threat of retaliation against their kids. It is truly insidious, and the problem lies deep in society, not in the Ministry.

There are alternatives. I urge you to check out the the Humanities Primary and Middle School in Toucheng. Yilan and the Holistic Education Schoolin Zhuolan, Miaoli. The former is trelatively inexpensive since it it partly sponsored by the Yilan Co. government. The latter is a borading school for middle school and high school students in the mountains of Miaoli. It is more expensive, but nothing like the American or European Schools. Both are well-established, having been around for more than 10 years.

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For anyone wishing to home school their children, I strongly suggest using khanacademy.org – absolutely awesome website. Sal Khan is amazing at explaining concepts. I’ve been using it to brush up on my physics and math. There are also many, many free, full course lecture videos from Yale, Harvard, Berkeley, Oxford, etc… online. Some of them even have sample problem sets, like the physics class for Yale. So if you have ambitious kids, you can watch these videos together.

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OP, I love your letter, but I think it looks just too ‘Western’ for Taiwanese people to take it seriously. The wording and the presentation of ideas is far too Western.

If you want to try and make an impression you really need to write for your audience.

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I will also be taking my son out of this educational system starting in Jr. High. I also have the full support and agreement of my wife, a tai ke local, on this. We will either go back to the US then, or home school him here. My school district back home has put together a pretty decent on-line charter school program. I expect it to improve in the next few years, so that might become a viable option as well.

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Soloman, are you familiar with the phrase 不鳴則已，一鳴驚人? 9 recommends for a first post is pretty damn impressive. Clearly you’ve struck a chord.

I think the first thing you need to do is find someone to translate your letter into Chinese. If your wife can’t do that, I’m sure there are people here who could recommend a professional translator. Once you’ve done that, I’d suggest sending the letter to a magazine rather than a newspaper; perhaps Commonwealth (天下) would be a good choice. A newspaper would probably cut down the letter to fit into a small box on the op-ed page, but if you can attract the interest of a good writer for a good magazine, your thoughts will reach a wider and better-educated audience.

I admire you for taking the time to write the letter. There have been many times I’ve thought about writing down some of my thoughts on Taiwan and publishing them, but I’ve never taken the time to do it. You’ve not only done it, but done it eloquently. Best of luck to you and your kids!

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We have the same problem at work.

Employees who work fast and efficiently are “rewarded” with additional workload, until they reach their 12 hour work day that is, with no pay increase I might add.

Those employees might stand a better chance of getting promotions or increased bonus (seems that’s how Taiwanese reward employees, not through pay but through bonuses)

While employees who demonstrates a lack of willingness to work extra hours or work “hard” aren’t given additional workload, but stands a better chance of being laid off.

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About education in Asia; Taiwan system sure isn’t perfect but then no where it is! It might seem a bit odd to the westerners but pushing children isn’t such a bad idea, of course one has to see the limit too. I obviously do not support complete creative curriculum for kids but I would love to see a blend of creative and local education system within reasonable school hours. I believe that would be the best for kids as if they want to go for medical etc., learning all the terms isn’t going to be easy if one does not have a trained mind. I personally would not like to send my kid to the school for more than minimum hours; i don’t give a damn to the ranking until college starts.

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I had a pretty well-trained mind from some of the standard run-of-the-mill schools in the west. I was straight A pretty much all through schooling and only started studying for tests in my final year - if we read off and worked on a list of 20 vocab words during class I’ll have at least 12 of them memorised by the end of it, and I’ll remember them next class too.

It stood me in good stead when I had to memorise entire essays for my university exams here, but unfortunately I absorbed very, very little of the information I was forced to regurgitate. That coupled with some of the kids I teach, who can copy a word out twenty times for homework yet can’t spell it at their next lesson (and these are the ‘smart’ ones with good grades) has kinda convinced me that TW education doesn’t need reforming,it needs DEMOLISHING.

Design a decent teacher training qualification, make it super hard to get into; retire all the current teachers at whatever their rate would be if they’d actually retired voluntarily; make the salary for teaching super high (considering salaries in Taiwan are so low, it shouldn’t be too hard to make teaching pay enough to attract some of the best and brightest). Let the old teachers take the course for free and they can of course teach if they pass.

Paying all that retirement money would be a great investment for the future economy of Taiwan. It’d start paying off in about ten or fifteen years.

No idea where university fits into my new improved system though :frowning:

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It has been damaging to yesterday’s youths, too, as can be seen by the zeal with which people (notably parents) perpetuate the system. :wink:
And Japan has exactly the same problem.
And there is another issue: one conseqeunce of keeping people busy from morning to evening especially in that critical phase of their lives where they are changing from children to adults is that it leads to adults who are inept at humen relations. As can also be see in Taiwan and Japan. These countries could do with a good dose of Steiner education. :slight_smile:

:thumbsup: For westerners like the OP, it sounds like a good time to join the movement…!

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Interesting fact: it’s usually easier to get on with the yankees and the xiaohunhun and the other high school dropouts (or equivalents), because they actually have social skills. I always thought it was the weirdest thing in the world.