A Bilingual Taiwan by 2030 Part I

Good morning Doctor Lee,

Thank you for your reply. It seems like your memory works just fine, not mine though. I only remember waiting and being cut but that's not important and let's get back to the issue here.

Knowing that the government is trying to propel the policy for a "Bilingual Nation" does put a smile on my face but it's going to be a shame if a smile is all there is. What I mean is that the policy is of good intention; it's something that the government should do, the only way they could imagine but it's just not enough. I hereby make my argument of why the policy of "Bilingual Nation by 2030" would fail (but mine would work).

For the record, the MOE does state that it's the blueprint" so maybe I'm being too critical. However, it's going to look like a vague and theoretical policy to non-educators. I've got mix feelings in this. In many ways, I hope I'm wrong because it means there's more than just hope in our education but if I'm right, then the government is trying hard to see the effort in vain and I... will just be right.

The fundamental and unsolvable problems now and for the future:

1. false expectation and culture

2. the paradox of more teaching/learning hours

3. qualification and capability of teachers of the past and future

• False expectation: since most young students are not the "consumers" but instead, the avatars doing what their family wants. These "investors/parents" tend to look at education as outcome-based and want their investments to worth their time and money. If they don't see mock presentations at the end of school years or improvements in scores, they would at best pull out their funds. We can teach children everything right but they won't be able to tell their parents what's right or wrong.

• Our basic compulsory English class hours are at least one hour/class a week but it doesn't matter if the amount is increased to 3 or 5, which only makes schools become more or less a private school or that of an expensive one and THAT, would be anti-educational because everyone has the right to be educated; it shouldn't be a privilege for the more wealthy. We could already see that business people have started to reach their hands into "experimental education" like a trend. Previously, a cram school or profit-based school just needs to put on posters of high(score) achieving students on the wall and they would get many inquiries. Now they are starting to use "ESL teaching" which basically makes no difference from their past approach; imagine what their next commercial campaign could be. They've already been taking advantage of foreign and local teachers(foreign non-teachers are not the case) forever. This new policy will just add another way for them to exploit education even more. The unfortunate truth is, these "investors" will always pay for it.

• It's not that the teacher can't teach, it's that they can't speak. Why can't our children or adults now pronounce "apple", "rain" or even just the letter "n"? Since the beginning, English teachers are trained to teach but not to use and many of them become good at pretending that they can. I've experienced first-hand how deceptive they are in front of students. The core issue is how the "teacher" sees teaching itself. Is it to pass on knowledge or to inspire students to learn in order to use. That being said, the policy isn't about the philosophy thus far, I will go back to teacher training. There haven't been any programs to prepare the existing teachers of "this future". If there were, I'm confident to say that they won't be committed to changing to be bilingual and the school can't touch the unqualified personnel unless a major issue. Even so, oftentimes they still only get transferred. With that in mind, we have countless teachers now facing crisis but they will continue their work until they retire and future teachers that need to be trained both mentally and in terms of skills. What are we going to do?

At last, after listening to everyone who shared their experience and thoughts in the seminar, I cannot help but think of a question:As the government pushing for a bilingual policy "using experimental education", doesn't it mean that the resources will not be fair for all but more divided?

The schools which accept to reform will likely be granted government funds and that would obviously create yet another era of fund-struggling. Not much will change but time will be lost. Every time we fail, it's going to be more difficult the next time.

The schools which don't reform will then be on the flip side of the other. As time goes on, rich schools become richer and other schools will be left behind until they disappear. Then, it comes to the question: what about the students who cannot choose?

I apologize for troubling you with this. It's because I've waited for a long time to be in contact with someone of your position in the government.

regards, Andy

#education