Not putting down roots
Generally speaking, mainland curricula "move faster and delve more deeply" than Taiwanese. For example, the mainland math curriculum goes into equations with one unknown variable in the fourth grade, inequalities in the fifth, and trigonometric functions in middle school. On average, materials are introduced about one-and-a-half years sooner than they are in Taiwan. The Chinese language and literature curriculum is similarly advanced, with about 30% of the material in classical Chinese.
Besides the intense competition, most Taiwanese parents don't want their children studying in mainland schools because they are concerned that the political courses will confuse their children's sense of identity.
Chen Keng-jen and Wu Chien-hua, both graduates of National Taiwan Normal University who have taught at the Taiwan Businessmen's Dongguan School, conducted in-depth interviews with 17 of the school's fifth graders in 2005, three of whom had spent more than four years studying in mainland schools. The children regarded the sermonizing of the political courses as "a little boring," and felt they "couldn't idolize the Chinese heroes in the books." All 17 also retained fond memories of Taiwan and a sense of connection to their hometowns which was supplemented by visits home every summer and winter vacation.
Making a similar point, Wang Ming-ke, a fellow with Academia Sinica's Institute of History and Philology, comments that immigrant communities are "hotbeds of structural amnesia," but notes that it takes generations for these communities to lose their memories of their homeplaces. Even then, they are always able to forge new identities through collective root-seeking. He sees these activities as a kind of "new memory creation" that reflects both a sentimental and rational choice.
Kids are prevented from losing their sense of Taiwanese identity by their parents' sentimental attachment to their homeplaces and by their own very reasonable fondness for life in Taiwan. (For example, they feel that Taiwan is safer and cleaner, and that its people are more polite than those in the mainland.)
The connection that Taiwanese kids have to Taiwan is a good thing, but is also often an obstacle to integration into the place where they actually live. With China emerging as a global power, improving its educational system, and advancing its thinking, it is inevitable that more and more Taiwanese will choose to have their children educated in its schools. The next big hurdle for Taiwanese in China is to figure out how to get their kids into ordinary mainland schools.
Chou Su-yan went with her husband when his company sent him to Shanghai to work in a computer-and-electronics emporium. She also brought their first- and fourth-grade daughters. The two girls were quite happy in the Chinese division at the SMIC School for two years. They didn't have much homework or feel much pressure, and nonetheless easily ranked at the tops of their classes. Everything was fine until Yi-ching, the elder of the two girls, graduated from elementary school. Then Chou learned that only three of Yi-ching's classmates would be continuing on in the school's middle-school program. The other parents had transferred their kids out because they didn't want them to continue "wasting time" in SMIC's Chinese division.
She thought she could perhaps put Yi-ching into the more demanding international division, but Yi-ching's 66 on the English exam was far below the minimum of 90 required by the international division. That left Chou with no choice but to find another school quickly. She was okay with the idea of a local school, and when she saw the facilities at the new Tianshan Middle School in the Changning District, she decided to give it a try. When she learned that the school had no openings, some of Shanghai's Taiwanese recommended the more distant Xianxia Middle School, which still had spaces. Yi-ching took Xianxia's entrance exam and was promptly admitted.
"When my daughter first started at the school, she didn't speak much in class," recalls Chou. "She just had this sour expression on her face and was always asking when she could go back to SMIC." Chou told her that Pudong to Puxi was a three-hour round trip, and hoped she'd drop the subject. "We've already bought a home here," she said. "We're not going to waste that kind of time commuting."
Fortunately, Yi-ching had a sympathetic young homeroom teacher at Xianxia who wrote notes praising her progress. The competitive young girl soon found herself among the top students in her class and winning numerous awards. Her teacher even recommended her for membership in the Communist Youth League. Chou thought this was a little inappropriate. "We're Taiwanese," she reminded him, before asking delicately: "Would it be possible for her not to join?" The teacher readily agreed.
Chou says that as long as her husband experiences no major upheavals at work, her daughters are likely to end up attending mainland universities.
Childhood's end marks the start of educational choices that have important consequences. At the Huadong Taiwan Businessman's School 70% of students hope to attend Taiwanese universities while another 20% are likely to remain in China. The school therefore teaches both the Taiwanese and Chinese curricula, increasing the pressure on students.