By Cheng Shiuh-tarng 鄭旭棠Starting this academic year, the Ministry of Education has implemented the 12-year compulsory curriculum — also called the “108 curriculum” — for first-year elementary, junior-high and senior-high school students. The new curriculum has been in the pipeline for five years and has a budget of NT$45 billion (US$1.49 billion). The heavy study load and intense pace of learning is vastly different from the vision set out by the ministry. With this fixation on the outcome of competitive national exams, how can teachers, students and parents be expected to devote time to the seemingly “useless” pursuit of proclivity and passion? The imposition of testing as a common pedagogical practice instills passivity among students (Why study when there are no exams to study for?)

Source: Taipei Times January 06, 2020 16:30 UTC