This will probably be the first post of many where I examine the education that students in Taiwan receive and talk about the greater issue of education and problems with the educational system (as I see them, obviously) in Taiwan. This first post will be rather short and concerns the teaching of history in Taiwan.
Taiwan, being officially designated as the Republic of China, is seen as an extension of mainland China by all (correct me if I’m wrong here) soveriegn nations in the world. Many Taiwanese (including former president Chen Shui-bian) would have liked for Taiwan to become a fully independent nation and possibly even join the U.N.; for all intents and purposes, Taiwan is an independent nation – it is not ruled by, governed, nor does it take orders from Mainland China (at least overtly). Despite this, Taiwan is still officially designated as “Taiwan, R.O.C.” in all official documents and by all world organizations, nations, etc.
As such, it was rather odd for me coming to Taiwan to teach and having absolutely no basis of pop culture, history, sociology, culturally relevant issues, or psychology to base my teachings on. In America, we are given an education in government (several types), history (American, British, and European), psychology, and so on. It was therefore much easier for me to draw upon examples from these situations when I taught in order to clearly explain some theory or make an example of what I wanted students to learn. We receive little to no education about Asian (barring the Vietnam war, perhaps) culture, history, language, politics, etc.
By contrast, in Taiwan, they receive an education only in Chinese history and politics. The educational system being what it is in Taiwan, many students don’t even receive an education in Taiwanese history or politics. They are well versed in Chinese history, mythology, politics, economics, etc. and use these as the basis for a large majority of their culture.
Now combine these two together (my background in the American educational system and my complete lack of a basis in the Chinese/Taiwanese educational system) and you end up with an English instructor who has to start from scratch in order to make learning easy and culturally relevant.
Even something as culturally iconic in America as World War II will draw blank stares and looks of puzzlement from a class of Taiwanese students. Some of them may have seen Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan and may be able to infer something if those are mentioned, but to mention the dates 1941-1945, Adolf Hitler, holocaust, or any other keywords or dates such as that will quickly lead nowhere. OK… bad example, perhaps. Many American students might draw blanks from those as well, but I trust the people reading this blog understood my meaning.
Even Britney Spears or pop culture icons are off limits. I once mentioned Britney Spears in class (quickly followed by rinsing with Listerine) and no one knew what I was talking about. I found out later that she isn’t called “Britney Spears” in Taiwan and I must, instead, refer to her as “Schiao schiao Britney” or “little little Britney” if I want to be understood. This brings up another issue – names and the Chinese language – that I hope to write about in the future.
All of this is to say that, after finishing my first year of teaching in Taiwan, I’m still at the beginning of trying to learn several thousand years of Chinese history, politics, and culture in order to improve the quality of my teaching here.
Leave a Reply