Public education discussions in Taiwan these days are boring, repetitive, and polarizing. Much like many things in the internet age, active listening is highly lacking, and everything could be politicized or debated heatedly without mutual respect.
I'm so tired of listening to certain people complain about cram schools, government, and occasionally, private instructors, yet leave out those stubborn, inflexible, lazy parents and public school teachers from the blame. (NOTE: Most public school teachers try their best but usually they are not the ones in power within the hierarchy.) When it comes to public policy, it is everyone's business. Everything is interconnected. This blaming business has GOT to stop. Blaming any singular group does not fix the problem. And holding everyone accountable is only the first step. Afterwards, it is pushing to make sure kids don't ONLY learn for the sake of taking tests...and bam! Our uphill battle will commence once again. But that's the beauty of humanity, isn't it? It only learns from mistakes when the situation is bad enough. Being in a system usually gives people of a sense of empowerment, but it certainly does not give them the right to feel superior towards or to criticize those who are NOT within their system. To be fair, cram schools are businesses. Not every cram school starts out trying to become some frontrunner for education, and for good reason: that's usually not how money can quickly flow in. If people blame them, they highly oversimplified the problem. Cram schools are directly affected by public education, which is directly affected by teachers, which are affected deeply by parents' and students' opinions or stances, which are inevitably influenced by how society defines success and intelligence. The next time, you hear someone blame education on certain people or groups, smile and keep walking. We have bigger things to do.
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AuthorDoctor, journalist, English instructor, and social reformer Archives
May 2022
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