What would you say about a day when the books had different stories, and the examinations didn't mimic the books?
From September of this year, little Billy's music book could stress training in reading sheet music printed in black and white; Johnny's could be multi-colored, stressing music appreciation. Likewise with home economics, boy scouts, or activities, the printing styles, the size, and the contents could all show differences.
This is the result of the participation of the private sector in publishing texts. According to the Ministry of Education (MoE), the situation this year is only a first step. All 16 classes affected are arts, activities, or electives. They are "non-examination subjects"; that is, they are not on the exams students must take to pass into the next level of education.
According to the ministry's plan, for the next three years they will open up middle school electives and primary school arts and activities. As for the exam subjects, Dr. Tseng Chi-chun, director of the National Institute for Compilation and Translation (NICT), says that there will be a comprehensive evaluation, set for the 1992 school year. That is, if it is possible for subjects like Chinese, history, and geography connected to school promotion to be opened up, this will happen four years from now.
Every school system uses textbooks. What differs is the editing system. Western countries usually choose an open system, where the private sector can freely publish any textbooks. In Japan, an "approval system" is used. The private sector may freely author or edit books, but they must pass an approval committee directly under the Ministry of Education.
From the time the government first came to Taiwan until 1968, the ROC also used the approval system. After 1968 gradually the unified edition system used today came into being. Currently, aside from high school English books and technical high school texts, which are published in the private sector, the remaining texts are all handled by the NICT. At present, the NICT is responsible for editing and printing 94 subjects per school year, totalling 704 different items and 46 million volumes.
Because of the heavy workload, the NICT early on began to mull over the idea of opening up textbook production to the private sector. But further, points out Director Tseng, a pluralized society is taking shape. This generates a wider variety of opinions about texts. The Institute hopes to involve the private sector in this important fundamental work.
What disadvantages exist with the unified system? Ou Yung-sheng, professor and dean of studies of the Provincial Taipei Teachers' College, notes that the unified edition system played an extremely vital role in standardizing education and extolling national policy. But from the point of view of curriculum development theory, the editing process should include participation by the national, local, school, and teaching sectors. The unified system concentrated decisionmaking mostly at the national level.
Hwang Jeng-jye, professor at the Graduate Institute of Education at National Taiwan Normal University, explains that the editing process was concentrated in a small number of hands. The personnel rarely changed; it was hard for new ideas to get in and their subjective views affected the contents of the textbooks.
Until last year there was no fixed terms for the members of the editing committee. The number of members actually involved in teaching was very small. Some simply posted their names and didn't do any practical editing. These factors caused the process to become too arbitrary. Now the MoE has fixed terms at three to six years, and increased the number of actual teachers to nearly one-third.
What kinds of contents have been under fire? The most important issues have been bias and ideology.
Ou Yung-sheng notes that, taking sex roles as an example, in the first textbook for primary school it said, "Mother gets up early to do the sweeping, father gets up early and reads the newspaper." If not for the rise of women's organizations since the lifting of martial law and the expression of their views to the governing authorities and the media, mother would still be sweeping away. But now, the same text reads, "Mother gets up early to do her morning exercises, father gets up early to read the newspaper." Nevertheless, other inequities remain. Ou Yung-sheng points out that inequities in the depiction of sex roles are worldwide, including the U.S. and Britain. He says this reflects a view that only if men and women each have their responsibilities can society be stable. This theory is not without some rationality.
Aside from sex roles, the degree of political ideological bias has been a matter of some debate.
Ou Yung-sheng discovered in a study done two years ago that of the 102 names raised in the primary school social studies texts, one third were Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, or Chiang Ching-kuo. Moreover, political leaders begin to appear in Grade 1 texts, and increase in frequency with grade. By the sixth grade text, describing the period from the establishment of the Republic to the government's move to Taiwan, the text completely becomes political anecdotes about these three leaders.
This focus on leaders is an important medium for child political socialization. But American scholars have found that U.S. children distinguish between the government and the leaders, but Chinese children do not make this distinction. Whether this is directly related to the texts requires further research.
Another topic has been whether or not social studies texts are historically accurate, and in particular the section on relations between the mainland and Taiwan.
Tai Pao-tsun, a Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of History at National Normal University, points out that the social studies text for primary school implies that Chinese immigrated in large numbers to Taiwan in the Sung dynasty; in fact this only happened in the late Ming dynasty, several hundred years later. Obviously the text wants to stress the unity of the mainland and Taiwan, and the blood links between the two. Another product of this point of view is the claim that the aborigines of Taiwan came from the mainland; in fact, this is not yet certain, and stating it to be so is inappropriate vis-a-vis both the aborigines and scholarship.
A case where aborigines got a text changed was the removal last year of the story of Wu Feng from primary school texts. The story tells about how Wu Feng sacrificed himself to convince the aborigines to abandon headhunting, and is used in an ethics text to describe "righteousness." One scholar believes, "Currently in Taiwan there are 300,000 aborigines; how will they feel? Do their children want to read this textbook?"
Of course, as society becomes ever more open, these kinds of incidents are likely to become more and more evident, and will not stop at revision.
Aside from bias and ideology, the biggest problem with the unified editions is that they stultified education. Teachers could only teach, and students could only feed back, what was written in the books. Teachers, long cut out of selection and design of teaching materials, lost their enthusiasm to do education research. Students lost the ability for independent thought.
If one adds to this the problem of "promotionalism," that is, the single-minded focus on passing the examination to the next educational level, then the consequences are even more serious. Tseng Chi-chun argues that under the pressure of promotionalism, many teachers could only teach students according to the texts. This is perfectly understandable. But the abandonment of the thinking process and research is not forgivable. Professor Hwang believes that opening up textbook publication is absolutely a good thing. But parents, students, and teachers are less clear.
Before liberalizing textbook publication, the MoE did a survey of people from all walks of life. It showed that 74-plus per cent of respondents approved or extremely approved of the texts used in primary and middle schools. Going one step further, these were mostly heads of households, students, and teachers. Obviously this is because these texts are convenient as a standard for promotion.
Professor Hwang says that from the angle of promotion any matter in education is the subject of controversy. However, the proper method of study is not the one operating now of reading the same thing repeatedly. But given the primacy of teachers wanting the exam scope to be fixed and materials to be clearly determined, teachers oppose abandoning the unified edition. This goes against the very meaning of education.
There hasn't been any sound of opposition to the current plan to open up the arts or electives. But if one wants to touch the examination subjects, the reaction will not be so calm.
As for the problem of how exams may be handled after textbook liberalization, perhaps the Japanese case, where promotionalism is also intense, may provide a useful mirror.
In Japan, textbooks are freely edited by publishing houses, but they must pass a complex approval process before they can be published. Examinations for high schools and universities (with each school having a separate examination) are only held on a specific range of subjects determined by the Ministry of Education. Because the schools in each region are different, the exams cannot be made from any specific text, and there can only be a flexible system. Although the problem of promotion competition remains, the goal of textbook pluralization is nevertheless achieved.
What about the ROC? Up to now, it seems that the MoE has not made any concrete consideration of this problem. If the purpose of opening up private textbook publication is not just to add a little variety in music and art texts, but to allow the education system to be more vital and fresh, this problem must be tackled.
[Picture Caption]
The first lesson in a Mandarin primer used in 1948.
Everyone in Taiwan recalls toting book bags to school, and the books inside are even more unforgettable. (photo courtesy of Li Ting-ts'ai)
Another Mandarin primer from 1948.
The art textbook currently produced by the National Institute for Compilation and Translation for use in the seventh grade.
The music textbook currently used in the seventh grade.
Reading, writing, and doing homework are the center of a child's life. Textbooks that kids are tested on are always a big headache.
This new physical education textbook was also produced by a private publisher.
What will descendants of the aborigines think about the story about Wu Feng? Shown is Tawu Elementary School in Wutai Hsiang. (photo by Arthur Cheng)
Nobel Prize winner Yuan T. Lee is a modern-day hero to many high school students on Taiwan. Some people think it's all right for textbooks to encourage that kind of "hero worship."
To avoid a sermoniziing tone, the new books no longer say "older brother teaches younger brother." But some people wonder what's wrong with older brothers and sisters teaching their younger siblings.
The stereotyped sex roles in textbooks do not fit well with reality. Shown below is the lesson used until last year in which "mother gets up early to do the sweeping."
Does pressure to test into high school and college determine the direction textbooks will take? Shown are a scene outside the site of a university entrance exam and one of the posting of results.
The phenomenon of shops moving to side atreets, residential buildings, or basements is most serious in the Eastern District.
The prosperous, crowded Eastern District, is often called "Eastern Gate, " a Chinese pun on the "Hsimenting" or "Western Gate" district, and has long been the equal of that latter area, Taipei's most flourishi ng section in its heyday.
Many companies have already learned their lesson, and have bought land i n smaller towns around Taipei to build their own office buildings.
Advertising companies invest most of their resources in manpower and pay close attention to office appearance. Many have already been forced out of the high-rent Eastern District.
The first lesson in a Mandarin primer used in 1948. Everyone in Taiwan recalls toting book bags to school, and the books inside are even more unforgettable. （photo courtesy of Li Ting-ts'ai）
Reading, writing, and doing homework are the center of a child's life. Textbooks that kids are tested on are always a big headache.
Another Mandarin primer from 1948.
The art textbook currently produced by the National Institute for Compilation and Translation for use in the seventh grade.
The music textbook currently used in the seventh grade.
