History of education in Taiwan

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Overview of the history of education in Taiwan

The recorded history of education in Taiwan can be traced back to the Dutch colonial period.

## Dutch Formosa

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In 1636, the Dutch started a school for the Sinckan people that not only featured religious instruction, but also provided schooling in Western literature. Because the Dutch advocated missionary work to be done in the native language, the school was taught in the Sinckan language. The missionary Robertus Junius recorded in his 1643 education report that the Sinckan school had enrolled 80 students, of which 24 were learning to write and 8 to 10 had solid penmanship, while in neighboring Baccaluan (modern-day Anding) school there were 90 students, of which 8 knew how to write.

Aside from proselytizing, the missionaries also compiled dictionaries and books of religious doctrine; they translated Gospel of Matthew into Sinckan and also compiled a vocabulary of Favorlang, another aboriginal language. These would become important sources for later research. The most important Sinckan documents were the contracts between the Sinckan and the Han settlers.

## Qing dynasty

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Under Qing dynasty rule, many traditional schools were established, mostly studying Chinese classics such as the teachings of Confucius. Education was limited to the children of well-to-do parents, as public and free schools did not exist. "Even the paid schools limited their instruction to the usual Chinese curriculum, which is devoted first to the study of the characters, and, if a higher education is desired, to the mastering of the Chinese classics...There were none of the studies which in western lands and in Japan are considered necessary for an educated man, and the general tendency of their training was to increase conservatism and love for ancient customs."[1]

## Empire of Japan

[edit]

Elementary school during the Japanese period (蕃童教育所)

During the Japanese period school attendance for Taiwanese children increased from 3.8% in 1904 to 71.3% in 1943 and literacy in Taiwan became common.[2] Modern schools were formed with widespread establishment of primary schools while higher schooling for Taiwanese people remained rare and secondary schools and colleges were mostly for Japanese nationals. In special cases Taiwanese did receive higher schooling and many went to Japan for further studies.

## Republic of China and martial law

[edit]

See also: History of Taiwan (1945–present)

After Taiwan came under control of the Republic of China in 1945, education in Taiwan became a synthesis of the Japanese system and the Chinese system implemented by the Kuomintang (KMT) government. During the first 20 years of KMT rule, mandatory schooling consisted of six years of primary school education, which was also the length under Japanese rule. In 1968, this was extended to nine years.

After taking control of Taiwan, the Republic of China sought to remodel education on the island, a process that involved politicizing public schools and curtailing private ones. This became more urgent when the ROC and its Nationalist government exiled themselves to the island in 1949 to escape the Chinese Communist Party and the incipient People's Republic of China, which later model its education system aligning with the Soviet Union. Education reassumed a colonial dimension, this time to create a new national identity (a process referred to by Taiwanese scholar Ting-Hong Wong as “national colonialism”).

During a 1953 visit to Taiwan, Vice President Richard Nixon stated that the United States would help turn Taiwan into an anticommunist military and cultural bastion.[3]: 10 In 1954, the United States began providing significant funding for education in Taiwan, including to attract overseas Chinese.[3]: 10 These efforts also helped the KMT to consolidate its power on Taiwan.[3]: 10

In the late 1950s, the government yielded to pressure from both older Taiwanese communities and recent waishengren immigrants, and enacted a series of education reforms, including the restoration of private schools (with measures taken to ensure their political loyalty).[4] Aspects of politicized education in Taiwan included a mandatory university level course, which had first been introduced by the Kuomintang in mainland China in 1944 as "party principles". The course later became known as the "Three Principles of the People". The Ministry of Education expanded the course to all levels of education in 1950, and renamed the university level course "Sun Yat-sen Thought" in 1964.

## Modern era

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The Council of Grand Justices ruled against mandatory university courses in 1995, and questions relating to Sun Yat-sen Thought were eventually removed from the General Scholastic Ability Test in 1999.[5]

## See also

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* Education in Taiwan
* Sinkang Manuscripts

## Notes

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1. ^ Davidson (1903), pp. 601–2.
2. ^ Gary Marvin Davison (2003). A Short History of Taiwan: The Case for Independence. Praeger Publishers. p. 64\. ISBN 0-275-98131-2. "Basic literacy came to most of the school-aged populace by the end of the Japanese tenure on Taiwan. School attendance for Taiwanese children rose steadily throughout the Japanese era, from 3.8 percent in 1904 to 13.1 percent in 1917; 25.1 percent in 1920; 41.5 percent in 1935; 57.6 percent in 1940; and 71.3 percent in 1943."
3. ^ a b c Li, Hongshan (2024). Fighting on the Cultural Front: U.S.-China Relations in the Cold War. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231207058.
4. ^ Wong, Ting-Hong (May 2020). "Education and National Colonialism in Postwar Taiwan: The Paradoxical Use of Private Schools to Extend State Power, 1944–1966". History of Education Quarterly. 60 (2): 156–184. doi:10.1017/heq.2020.25. S2CID 225917190.
5. ^ Han Cheung (17 September 2023). "Taiwan in Time: Down with 'Sun Yat-sen Thought'". Taipei Times. Retrieved 17 September 2023.

## References

[edit]

* Davidson, James W. (1903). The Island of Formosa, Past and Present : history, people, resources, and commercial prospects : tea, camphor, sugar, gold, coal, sulphur, economical plants, and other productions. London and New York: Macmillan. OL 6931635M.

## External links

[edit]

* The problems with English teaching in Taiwan
* Education - Reform Fattens Cram School Coffers
* Solutions to Taiwan's Education Woes - The Government: Five Urgent Tasks
* Education Reform - Excellent Teachers Nurture Creative Students
* OECD’s PISA, Media Sensationalism, and Education Reform in Japan Archived 2016-06-08 at the Wayback Machine
* Taiwan’s vocational education must be reformed
* Five questions on regulating for-profit colleges
* 40% of foreign teachers may have fake credentials: report
* Parents' Attitudes toward the English Education Policy in Taiwan Archived 2016-11-17 at the Wayback Machine

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