Diversification for Competitiveness: 12 Year Compulsory Education Needs Broader Horizons

Diversification for Competitiveness:
12 Year Compulsory Education Needs Broader Horizons
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
January 17, 2012

Summary: Today, 12 year compulsory education is a response to the Basic Entrance Examination. The slogan "adaptive learning" sounds good. But the Ministry of Education must explain the significance of 12 year compulsory education. It must offer a clear and viable program. It must eliminate uncertainty for students, parents, and teachers. This will ensure that this large-scale reform proceeds smoothly, and that follow-up implementation will be a success.

Full Text below:

Twelve year compulsory education will be implemented next year. Among the major changes will be the abolition of the Basic Competence Test. It will be replaced by a Junior High School Examination. To help students and teachers understand the examination process, the Ministry of Education has made an announcement. At the end of March this year it will test the exam system by means of a pilot program. The pilot program will be implemented in the Keelung/Taipei and Changhua districts. Approximately 100,000 third year junior high students will be tested. The Pilot Examination will be administered by the National Taiwan Normal University Center for Psychology and Education Testing, which wrote the tests. It will determine whether these important tests are being administered properly. The pilot program tests only the technical aspects of 12 year compulsory education. But it amounts to a declaration that 12 year compulsory education has gone from promotion to implementation. It has considerable symbolic significance.

The government implemented nine year compulsory education in 1968. Twelve year compulsory education is the most important reform to basic national education since then. For the moment however, many issues remain unclear. The educational authorities need to offer clearer explanations. First, what is the central goal of 12 year compulsory education? The Ministry of Education says the main goal of 12 year compulsory education is to "reduce examination pressure on students, enable them to learn a wider range of subjects, and to ensure their proper development." Exam pressure is the most serious problem in our educational system. It must be addressed and resolved. But twelve years of compulsory education will have a major impact on teachers, students, and parents. Implementing 12 year compulsory education merely to relieve exam pressure is far too narrow a goal for such a major change in the educational system.

Consider nine year compulsory education. It was a change in educational policy implemented under martial law. There is not much one can say about it. There is not much doubt about what it was. In 1967 Chiang Kai-shek transformed all secondary schools in the nation to junior high schools by the following year. Elementary school students could enter junior high school without taking entrance examinations. The announcement of the nine year compulsory education program coincided with the successful "land to the tiller" policy. Peoples' lives were afforded basic protections. Therefore the national government turned its eyes to education. It attempted to improve the educational level of the people. Society on Taiwan was undergoing transformation, from an agricultural society to an industrial society. This was advance preparation. Later developments confirmed the predicted transformation. Nine-year compulsory education reduced the adult illiteracy rate dramatically, to only two percent. It cultivated many highly qualified mid-level technicians. It established a solid foundation for Taiwan's economic take-off in the 1970s.

Let us examine 12 year compulsory education using our experience with nine year compulsory education. A major change in educational policy should enhance the competitiveness of the nation as a whole. It should reflect a macro-level perspective. It should not be limited to freeing students and parents from exam pressure. It should allow people to feel that the government has made a courageous breakthrough. that it has eliminated a checkpoint between junior high and senior high, that it is maintaining and enhancing the public's scholastic ability and cultural sophistication, that It facilitates the cultivation of talent, that it makes Taiwan more diversified in its abilities, and better able to confront the more diversified and competitive world of the twenty-first century. 

Consider the current situation. Educational authorities have done little to explain 12 year compulsory education policy. This and a lack of promotion, has led to chaos and divisions. Some parents fear that elimination of the entrance exam means an absence of exam pressure. An absence of exam pressure means students will slack off, and hurt their chances of getting into college. As a result, many parents are seeking ways to send their children to private schools, mainly to combat the enrollment rate. This may not improve their children's learning. It may create another unfair educational gap between rich students, and poor, disadvantaged, rural students.

The nation will be divided into 15 admission districts. Each district will have different requirements for the "special recruiting" of students. The information provided is chaotic. Many parents cannot tell what kind of future their children face, and what screening checkpoints they will encounter. They are confused and anxious. Consider the "no entrance examination required" admissions aspect. Not every student will be able to gain admission to the school they want. Many students will seek admission to school districts with superior academic records. It may be necessary to either exceed the admissions quotas or to draw lots.

Admissions based on test results are not so bad. But what about reliance on test results, volunteer work, or community service? The pressure on the child may not be any less than it is now. Drawing lots involves mere luck. It is an even less desirable way to determine admissions.

Ten years ago, educational reform was born in an atmosphere of optimism. The Basic Competence Test for junior high was being used for admission to senior high. But the changes were too great. Critics said "it turns students into guinea pigs" or "diversified admissions equals wealthy admissions." The intended impact of educational reform was obliterated.

Today, 12 year compulsory education is a response to the Basic Entrance Examination. The slogan "adaptive learning" sounds good. But the Ministry of Education must explain the significance of 12 year compulsory education. It must offer a clear and viable program. It must eliminate uncertainty for students, parents, and teachers. This will ensure that this large-scale reform proceeds smoothly, and that follow-up implementation will be a success.

中時電子報 新聞
中國時報 　2013.01.17
社論－迎向多樣化競爭 12年國教應放大視野
本報訊

    　十二年國教即將於明年正式實施，主要變革之一是廢除基測，改考國中會考。為讓學生及老師了解會考形式，教育部宣布，今年三月底要進行會考的試考，實施地點也選定基北區及彰化區約十萬名國三生施測；試辦會考也是檢視試務單位師大心測中心的出題、評鑑度等重大試務是否執行得當。試辦會考的性質雖然只是十二年國教的技術性測試，但也形同宣示十二年國教已從宣導階段進入執行階段，具有重大的象徵性意義。

    　十二年國教是台灣繼民國五十七年實施九年義務教育後，最重要的國民基礎教育變革，但目前仍有若干疑慮不清之處，需要教育主管單位更清楚的闡釋釐清。其一，是十二國教的中心思想。教育部對實施十二國教的主要目的是集中強調「減輕學生考試壓力、多元學習、適性發展」。考試壓力可說是國內教育制度最嚴重的問題，應該徹底解決，但十二年國教的實施，對教師教學、學生學習、家長適應各方面都形成不小的影響，如果只是以減輕考試壓力為十二國教的宗旨，則似乎侷限了這項重大教育變革的意義。

    　以九年國民義務教育而言，那是一個在戒嚴時代宣布的教育政策變革，沒有太多討論、質疑的空間，蔣中正在民國五十六年指示後，隔年全國的中學就變成了「國中」，全體小學生不用考試就能快樂進入國中。當年宣布九年義務教育的時空背景是，在「耕者有其田」政策成功、人民生活有了基本保障以後，國家施政目光因而轉向「教育」，以提高人民教育水準，做為將台灣由農業社會轉型到工業社會的先期準備。事實上，由後來的發展也證實，九年義務教育不但大幅降低成人的文盲率到只有二％左右，更為台灣培養了大批素質優良的中級技術人力，成為台灣在七○年代經濟起飛的紮實基礎。

    　由九年義務教育的經驗來檢視十二國教，一項重大教育政策的改變與實施，應該具有提升國家整體競爭力的功能與宏觀視野，不是只讓學生與家長感到能自考試壓力中解放出來，必須同時讓人民感到，政府以大魄力衝破、消除國中升高中的考試關卡，不但能維持並進一步提升人才學力與素質，更能達成人才分流培養的目標，替台灣建立多元能力板塊，以面對廿一世紀更多樣化競爭的世界。

    　但目前的狀況是，教育單位對十二年國教的政策願景說明有限，加上宣導不足，以致亂象紛陳。有家長們怕學生都免試入學後，沒有考試壓力而落後，影響後面更重要的大學進路，於是紛紛想辦法把孩子送進以拚升學率為主的私校。此舉不但無助改善孩子的學習模式，又可能製造了另一個由貧富差距形成的弱勢及偏鄉學生受教權的不公平。

    　而未來全國分成十五個招生區，各區對「特色招生」的選才條件各自不同，在資訊混亂的情況下，許多家長因搞不清楚自己的孩子未來要面對什麼樣的升學篩選關卡而困惑、緊張。在「免試入學」部分，也不見得每個學生都能進入自己想進的理想學校，因為，一旦各招生區內辦學績優的學校有太多學生選填志願而超過學校招生名額的話，就要超額比序或抽籤。

    　超額比序若按照會考成績還好，若又要看競賽成績、志工或社團表現，那麼，孩子的壓力就不一定比現在減輕。抽籤入學純粹靠運氣、手氣，是一種更不可取的入學方式！

    　十多年前，教改在一片期待中誕生，並且以國中基測為高中升學方式，最後卻因變動太多，「讓學生變成白老鼠」、「多元入學等於多錢入學」等負面評價，幾乎掩蓋了教改應有的成效。

    　如今，十二年國教是針對改革國中基測應運而生，免試入學、適性學習的口號固然美麗，但教育部必須先說明十二國教的意義，提出清楚可行的方案，才能消除學生、家長、教學現場對新制的不確定感，以確保這項大規模改革起步順利，後續執行成功。