Taiwan Today

Prior to its restoration to China after the second World War, Taiwan had been under Japanese rule for 50 years from 1895 to 1945. During those years Japan did much to develop elementary education on the island. Statistics show that for the academic year 1943-1944, when the enrollment reached peak figures under the Japanese regime, 71.3 per cent of the Taiwanese school-age children attended schools. Figures for secondary and higher education are, however, far less impressive. In the high schools, there were 29,005 students, of which only 12,826 were Taiwanese; in the University and colleges, there were 2,346 students, of which only 539 were Taiwanese. Since the restoration of Taiwan in 1945, the Provincial Government has been devoting its utmost efforts to adjust, reform and enlarge the scope of education. By the spring of 1953, there were 42 kindergartens with 28,531 students, 1,251 primary school with 1,003,304 students, 130 high schools with 93,564 students, 8 normal schools with 6,350 students, 77 vocational schools with 40,092 students, and 8 institutions of higher education with 9,925 students. These figures show that during the last eight years the number of college students has increased by more than fourfold, that of high schools by more than threefold and that of primary schools by about one-seventh or 14 per cent. Beginning from the current term a new college and several new high schools and primary schools have been established and hundreds of additional classes have been set up in the existing schools, so that by the end of the present year (1953) when the new statistical data will be published, there will be over 1,250,000 students in Taiwan as pointed out by Dr. Tien-fong Cheng, Minister of Education of the Republic of China, in his recent article on "Educational Development and Reform in Free China" (October, 1953 issue of Free China Review). As Taiwan has a population of 8.6 million, this means there is a student out of every seven persons. It is the aim of this paper to present some of the major problems caused by the rapid expansion in education. I. Elementary Education During the last eight years, owing to the joint efforts of the government and the people, the number of school-age children attending primary schools has steadily increased as com­pared with that under Japanese rule. This semester at least 86 percent of school-age children are receiving elementary education. In some urban districts as Taipei and Kaohsiung, the percentage is as high as 911, but in more remote rural areas it is as low as 75. Of the problems confronting elementary education, first is that of the 14 per cent school-age children left out of school. Although elementary education is free, some rural families, for economic reasons, still keep their school-age children at home to help in the fields. Second is the lack of buildings and transportation facilities. Because of the increase in the number of school children, the capacity of the old buildings is not big enough to accommodate all of them. In mountainous and moorish areas where farmers are scattered widely apart, to place a school in any locality would mean too great a distance for all others. The third problem is lack of teachers. The Government has taken steps to tackle these problems. The first step is to improve the livelihood of farmers so that children may be free to go to school. Recently, thanks to the enforcement of the law on land rent reduction to the maximum of 37.5 per cent of the total yield of the main crop, rural living conditions have been much improved. Second, the Government is making greater appropriations for additional buildings to accommodate more students. In remote areas numerous schools with one or two classes are being established to give children in scattered farms more chances of schooling. Third, in order to train more primary school teachers, a greater number of normal schools has been established. II. Secondary Education Next we come to secondary education which is not compulsory but is free in government established schools. The major problems of secondary education in Taiwan are: (1) shortage of teachers, (2) lack of buildings and equipment, (3) curriculum. There is no difficulty for the secondary schools in urban areas to find teachers, but in more remote areas the problem of shortage of teachers is acute, especially teachers for such subjects as English, mathematics, physics and chemistry. On the other hand, secondary schools in remote areas do not have the problem of lack of buildings. But the great increase in the number of students in urban areas makes all secondary schools there crowded beyond their capacity. Therefore they are confronted with the lack of buildings and teaching facilities. One of the problems of curriculum is that it is too heavy, and the second is that most youths who have had high school education have a stronger desire to receive higher education than to enter society to take up any occupation. This should also be adjusted as high school education should not be considered as a stepping-stone to college education. It should also assume the responsibility of training youths to take up occupation in society. There are many vocational schools of high-school level in Taiwan, but most of the youths do not like to go to these schools as they consider the training offered to be inadequate and that if they should change their minds, they would not be able to enter college as the courses they have taken are not preparation courses for college admission. In solving the second problem, consideration is now given to dividing high schools into two kinds. One kind is to be purely academic, that is, to give course in preparation for college education. The other is for vocational purposes, and, aside from the ordinary academic courses for the first two years, vocational courses are taught for the last two years. This means that such schools will take four years to complete, instead of six years as generally required for secondary education. This is similar to the modern secondary schools in Britain. It is rendered possible for those who have entered such schools but who, later on, desire to get further academic training after the first two years. For those who stay in such schools, qualified vocational training in the last two years will enable them to take up their chosen occupations in society. The academic kind offers a 6-year course which is similar to the 6-year high school in the United States. For experiment, there are in operation in Taiwan at present five secondary schools which other four-year education and two offering six-year courses. If compulsory education is ex­tended to eight years, it means that the first two years in the secondary schools would be free to all. In such case, it would also help to solve the problem of shortage of teachers for primary schools. III. Higher Education Higher education in Taiwan is given in one university, two colleges, one teachers college and five junior colleges. The number of full-time students attending these nine institutions of higher education in Taiwan this semester is about 12,000 of which about 15 per cent are women. This shows an increase during the last 8 years of over 400 per cent. This increase has been due to the greater number of women students now entering the university and colleges, the growing demand for university degrees in both private and public spheres, the greater opportunities offered to young people to take up higher studies, and the increase in the population of Taiwan. The rapid expansion brings the familiar problems of shortages in teaching staff, books, equipment, libraries, classrooms and laboratory space. Of these shortages, staff shortage is the most serious and will be discussed first. In certain fields, such as philosophy, mathematics, biological sciences, etc., there are not enough trained men and women of the right calibre to fill the vacant academic positions; while in others, such as law, agriculture and engineering, the demand for qualified personnel by offices, research institutes, factories, and other governmental and industrial organizations has taken away many competent persons who would otherwise be available for academic work. The university and the colleges have provided their own staffs to some extent, especially the junior members; many graduates were sent abroad, mostly to the United States for post­-graduate work, and we have also secured the services of visiting professors and short-time consultants from abroad. But there is still some shortage. Next comes the financial problem. The provincial Government has done its utmost to allocate 25 percent of its total budget to education. This amounted to NT$110,732,771.00 in 1952. Of the total, NT$35,829,149.35 went to seven institutions of higher education. So for each student in the university, the government spent NT$4,391.84 (equivalent to US$280) and for each student in the colleges, NT$3,294.15 (equivalent to US$210). However, this is not enough. The university and colleges have to look to other sources for funds to make up the deficit. A third problem is the curriculum. Starting from last year (1952), courses of general education, such as Modern Chinese History, Contemporary International Relations, etc., have been added to the college curriculum and are required of all students. While broadening general education, this also helps the student to gain a better knowledge of the aggressiveness of the Soviet policy and the nature of the struggle between democracy and World Communism. It has been criticized that in one way, university education is extravagant. In some of its departments, there are but a few students where a large amount of money is being appropriated for its maintenance. This criticism is not without foundation, but unless the students freedom in the selection of studies is restricted, the university authorities could do little about it. The more important side is not so much extravagance as the likelihood that when the Government needs a certain kind of personnel, no such candidates could be supplied by the university. It is, therefore, up to society, high­ school teachers and students' families to lead the students to certain specialized fields of study. Higher education should also exert efforts to make students morally conscientious of their responsibilities to the community. It should also lead students to the more realistic side of life. Usually graduates with degrees regard themselves as a special class. After graduation, they are unwilling to do manual or productive work. Their sense of superiority makes agricultural students reluctant to work in the fields and engineering students in the workshops. Because of this, the Ministry of Education is taking steps to lay emphasis on the importance of practical training in higher education. This is why there is the collaboration project of the Provincial Tainan Engineering College with Purdue University. The problems of education in Taiwan are many. It is the responsibility of the government as well as the educational authorities and the civilians to solve them one by one. The Chinese Government is making its utmost efforts to improve all grades of schools. Figures showing various developments in this direction are encouraging. Besides, effort is made by the authorities to secure financial and technical aid from such sources abroad as United States aid, the various Foundations and private endowment funds. Recently the Provincial Tainan Engineering College has entered into collaboration with Purdue University of the United States. According to the agreement, Purdue has sent several members of its teaching staff to give instruction to Tainan students. Under a similar contract, Pennsylvania State College is helping the Provincial Teachers College to train teachers for vocational schools. The National Taiwan University is also planning to collaborate with American universities. According to the latest estimates, there are about 4,000 Chinese students studying abroad, including about 3,000 in the U.S., 500 in Japan, 100 each in France and Italy, 50 in Great Britain and the rest in Canada, Australia, the Philippines, Spain, Turkey and the Latin American countries. We hope that through the coming of experts from abroad and through our students going abroad, they would serve as a channel for the exchange of ideas and the free flow of culture between China and the democratic nations. This will foster a genuine spirit of mutual understanding and promote international goodwill and cooperation among members of the Free World. ＊This paper, in the preparation of which the author was indebted to Minister Tien-fong Cheng, Dr. Shen Yi-tsen, and Professor Chen Hsueh-ping for helpful suggestions, was presented before the Eighth Pacific Science Congress held at Manila. P. I. in November 1953.