A magazine must first and foremost appeal to its readers. This is fairly easy for a specialist magazine, whose audience is well-defined, but is a major problem for a general interest publication. For a magazine published in four languages, with readers in 160 countries, it is almost insurmountable. Our editors often debate about what kind of material will satisfy readers from Taipei to North American to Africa to Micronesia. For a journal that boasts, "wherever there are Chinese people, you'll find Sinorama," the question is: What kind of content will please everyone? What kinds of topics are both those at home and those abroad interested in and concerned about?
Last October we began a reader survey. We wanted to know why readers choose Sinorama, and if they are satisfied with our editorial policy, layout, subjects, perspectives, photographic quality, contents. ... What columns do readers like? What are the most popular topics, and what the least? Which areas should there be more coverage of, and which less? What are the similarities and differences in the views of domestic and overseas readers, and what do they signify?
We were very gratified by the reader response. In this age of "radio call-ins" and the possibility of immediate transmission of one's views, thousands of readers took the time to sit and answer our questions, offering criticism and encouragement. We were pleased to note that more than half our readers chose Sinorama out of the countless available publications because of the topics, and one-third find Sinorama worth keeping for the long term. Interestingly, while both domestic and overseas readers cite these two reasons for reading Sinorama, many domestic readers also use it to study a foreign language, and not a few overseas readers also indicated that they read us because they miss Taiwan so much.
As for the features, the "Cover Story" section was most popular both home and abroad, while "People and Society" was second. Domestic readers gave the "Potpourri" section (in Chinese only) third place, with culture and arts fourth. Overseas readers voted these two sections third and fourth also, but in the reverse order. On the next item local and foreign readers diverged sharply, but understandably: Overseas readers prefer "Chinese-Abroad," which is more closely related to their lives, while Taiwan readers place more emphasis on the "Environment" section.
As for reader suggestions, there was not an area left untouched. In particular, many readers suggested publishing a cumulative index covering all of the years of publication of Sinorama. We will do our best to satisfy reader needs. Perhaps most gratifying was that we found that two-thirds of domestic respondents are below the age of 35, and half are under 25. While this is not a scientific indicator, it suggests that the idea that "young people do not read" is a myth.
And speaking of reading, naturally one thinks of the reading and study habits of people in Taiwan. "All things are beneath contempt, only education is to be esteemed." This traditional "literati" way of thinking has its roots in Confucian culture, which shapes the attitude many parents have long had toward educating their children. It is inculcated in children from the time they are infants, and young children are made to memorize English vocabulary, mathematical formulae, Tang poetry... Undeniably, the ambition of Chinese parents for their children has produced many great minds, and this Confucian tradition has indirectly produced a "comparative advantage" for the countries of East Asia, especially Japan and the "four little tigers."
But there is a down side to everything. Many of the younger generation of parents, who themselves grew up in the "examination hell" system, have begun to doubt the methods and values of traditional education. They feel their own childhoods were wasted on mindless rote memorization, cram schools, and examinations, and they do not want their children to grow up the same way. Though they'll never get their childhoods back, why not let their children grow up in a more carefree way?
As growing numbers of people in our increasingly pluralistic and wealthy society have come to share these feelings, educational reform has been under way since 1990. Primary schools-from the well-known Forest and Caterpillar private schools to established government halls of learning-are undertaking all kinds of classroom experiments. With so many options all at once, how is one to choose? Maybe the homework load is unbearable in regular classes, but will an absence of homework make the kids lazy or cause them to fall behind the other kids by the time they get to middle school (where experimental education has not yet begun)? Strict schools make life hard for the kids,but will relaxation of rules hurt the children and produce anti-social behavior? Parents, hoping for something better but fearful their children will somehow lose out, are likely to feel ambivalent about the new experiments for a long time to come. Even the reporter wonders whether or not she has drawn too rosy a picture of these new alternatives. But the views of experts are reassuring. As pre-school education specialist Hsu Hui-ming says, "The important thing is that their environment be rich in resources, and that the teacher be adequately active ." Under these conditions, more open education is definitely more effective than traditional schooling.
Open education needs resources,and resources come in many forms: land, buildings, talented people, and, of course, funding. This is true not only for education, but all national construction. Today, in a period of massive government projects, with the ROC soon to join the ranks of the developed nations, what is the situation with government finances? How is the trillion NT dollar budget divided up? Where does it go? Everyone is sure to be curious: Who gets the biggest piece of the budget pie? Who is left hungry? Can the distribution of resources be made fairer or more reasonable? Perhaps our readers could imagine what they would do if they were in charge....
