旁聽文化部教育會議
今天，我前往文化部旁聽了何宗勳秘書長參與的一個會議。會議主題是公民運動史料收集～教育改革座談會」。這次會議讓我意識到何先生的工作範圍之廣——就在本週早些時候，我們還在討論動物保護倡議，現在卻在討論教育改革和政策！會前我做了一些背景調查，試著比較台灣和美國的教育體系。台灣的義務教育只有九年，但大多數人會完成十二年的高中或職業學校教育。我了解到，台灣非常重視高中和大學的入學考試，競爭異常激烈。台灣的家長參與度似乎也很高，他們積極參與孩子的日常學習，並資助孩子參加課外輔導和補習班。與美國的教育部類似，台灣的教育部負責制定教育政策、管理公立學校、監督教育行政機構。台灣有一些影響教育的關鍵立法，例如《教師教育法》，它規範教師資格認證，確保教師素質高；以及《大學法》，它為大學自治奠定了法律框架，保障大學享有學術自由和自治權。台灣也高度重視教育機會均等。
他們花了很多時間討論教育改革的社會背景，並將這個主題分為三個層面：更廣泛的社會背景、國家層面以及他們在基隆的本地情況。我發現特別有趣的一點是，他們提到他們的宏觀願景常常受到美國和歐洲關於教育運作方式的概念的影響。他們也著重強調了家長在教育中的作用，並認為家長會發揮著一種「社會監督」的作用。在美國，我通常認為家長的角色比較表面化，因為家長教師協會（PTA）的成員通常只是一些全職媽媽，負責組織節日聚會、體育宴會、郊遊和其他課外活動。據我所知，他們很少參與教育改革，也不與教育部進行討論。此外，他們提出的台灣教育改革應置於更廣泛的民主化背景下理解的觀點令我印象深刻，因為如果沒有政治自由化，這些社會運動（包括教育改革）就不可能出現。 2000年，台灣史上首次政權更迭，也是50年來教育部首次由非國民黨政府執掌。未來，我希望對黨外時期以及台灣解除戒嚴令的過程進行更深入的研究。
Attending a Ministry of Culture Education Conference
Today, I attended a meeting at the Ministry of Culture attended by Secretary-General Ho Tsung-hsun. The meeting's theme was "Collection of Historical Materials on Civic Movements – A Symposium on Educational Reform." This meeting made me realize the breadth of Mr. Ho's work—just earlier this week, we were discussing animal protection initiatives, and now we're discussing education reform and policy! Before the meeting, I did some background research, trying to compare the education systems of Taiwan and the United States. Taiwan's compulsory education is only nine years, but most people complete twelve years of high school or vocational school education. I learned that Taiwan places great emphasis on high school and university entrance examinations, making the competition extremely fierce. Parental involvement in Taiwan also seems very high; they actively participate in their children's daily learning and fund their children's extracurricular tutoring and cram schools. Similar to the U.S. Department of Education, Taiwan's Ministry of Education is responsible for formulating education policies, managing public schools, and supervising educational administrative agencies. Taiwan has some key legislation affecting education, such as the Teacher Education Act, which regulates teacher certification to ensure high teacher quality; and the University Act, which lays the legal framework for university autonomy, guaranteeing universities' academic freedom and autonomy. Taiwan also highly values equal educational opportunities.
They spent considerable time discussing the social context of education reform, dividing the topic into three levels: the broader social context, the national level, and their local situation in Keelung. I found it particularly interesting that they mentioned their vision was often influenced by American and European concepts of how education works. They also emphasized the role of parents in education, viewing parent associations as acting as a form of "social oversight." In the US, I generally perceive the role of parents as more superficial, as PTA members are often simply stay-at-home mothers organizing holiday parties, sports banquets, outings, and other extracurricular activities. To my knowledge, they are rarely involved in education reform or engage in discussions with the Department of Education. Furthermore, I was impressed by their view that Taiwanese education reform should be understood within a broader context of democratization, as these social movements (including education reform) wouldn’t be impossible without political liberalization. In 2000, Taiwan experienced its first change of government, and for the first time in 50 years, the Ministry of Education was controlled by a non-Kuomintang government. In the future, I hope to conduct more in-depth research on the period of opposition parties and the process of lifting martial law in Taiwan.
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