[Editor’s Note]Success Beyond Expectations

This year is a good time to reflect on the fruits of Taiwan’s educational ­reforms.

When Taiwan repealed martial law late last century, it fostered a push for all manner of reforms. Amid passionate discussions about the future of society, movements formed to advocate for the environment, as well as to push for equal treatment for women and minorities, and for labor and residents’ rights.

It has been 20 years since citizens’ groups launched the education reform movement, which has had a powerful and profound impact in raising the skills of Taiwan’s people. Back in 1994 the Educational Reforms Association was pursuing four main goals: smaller classes and schools, broader access to higher education, modernization of education, and passage of the Education Basic Act. The government immediately responded with policies in each of these areas, most of which have brought positive results in the years that followed.

Yet reforms often result in new challenges. Apart from problems related to the baby bust, various other issues have cropped up. For instance, broader access to higher education has resulted in a flood of college graduates, as well as an expected wave of college closures starting in 2016 due to oversupply. The more holistic approach to college admissions has not lessened academic pressures on high-school students. In fact, families feel even more at a loss. All in all, there is an urgent need for a second wave of reforms in ­Taiwan.

Yet events can take unexpected turns. Though not receiving a lot of attention back then, calls were also being made for a lifelong learning system. Originally, the idea was simply to give adults a chance to take some classes in their spare time. But in the 20 years since, community colleges, the places where this lifelong learning takes place, have sprung up in locales throughout our island. They have given rise to methods and approaches that are very much outside the box. Working with various NGOs, they have developed new educational models and experiences that emphasize special local character.

Community colleges have even subverted the traditional meaning of “Taiwan studies,” creating an organic and lively “new Taiwan studies” that deals with both “big picture” matters such as cultural preservation, water resources, agriculture, ecology, the assimilation of immigrants and so forth, and also “smaller” concerns such as photography, dance, music and other personal interests. This multifaceted approach, touching on all aspects of life in Taiwan, has allowed community colleges to cast their nets widely, attracting even grandparents. It’s an approach that pushes faculty and students to engage in hands-on research and to gain deeper insights from their hobbies and interests. It has fostered energetic debate and ­activism.

Take, for instance, the movement to map old trees. Community colleges throughout Taiwan have worked together to conduct surveys of old trees, record their GPS locations, monitor their health, and find real permanent solutions to protect them.

When foreign tourists come to Taiwan, they often remark on the courtesy and friendliness of Taiwan’s people. Indeed, the most precious resource of Taiwan’s culture is its people, and community colleges, by tapping their potential and enlivening local social networks, are making a contribution that shouldn’t be overlooked. Our cover story this month, by senior writer Liu Yingfeng, offers a passionate and in-depth look at Taiwan’s community colleges, giving readers an example of how citizen power can be leveraged for the betterment of society.

To quote the Book of Psalms: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”

Every reform is born of dissatisfaction with the status quo, and discontent often leads to indignation and tears. But so long as we are willing to bend down and plant seeds, giving our best effort, we will find peace and meet with success beyond whatever we could have imagined.

Nothing demonstrates this phenomenon so well as community colleges in Taiwan.