The ministry of education has introduced major reforms of the curriculum in the last 10 years or so, the main element being the unified 9-year curriculum, covering compulsory schooling from elementary school through junior high school. There are now plans to extend this to a 12-year compulsory schooling programme taking students up to senior high school graduation. Changes in the curriculum, such as the reform of textbook selection, the simplification of the syllabus, and the addition or changes in taught subjects, were cited as causing some confusion for parents, and also contributing to the increases in buxiban attendance.
In the past, a single set of official textbooks for all elementary schools and junior high schools was compiled and mandated for all state schools. Recent policy changes have meant that the choice of textbooks is now open to each individual school or school district, and instead of the Ministry of Education issuing mandatory textbooks, private publishers have been encouraged to supply the market for school textbooks. This is a significant change to the system, and one of the problems in the transition is that parents may be not confident about the particular choices that schools make. They worry that there may be gaps in the curriculum, and that other textbook choices may have more comprehensive content, and so fear that their children may be missing out as a result. Parents are then persuaded that the buxibans can help by distilling the content of the whole range of textbooks, and this can be given to children at the buxibans. In a sense the buxibans can cash in on parental insecurity and feelings of inadequacy in this climate of curriculum change uncertainty.
In the past, we had only one publisher “the National Institute for Compilation and Translation” owned by the government. Now, each school has different version. As they have tests, the students are afraid that they are not learning enough by reading only one version of textbooks. So, they have to go the
buxibans or buy lots of textbooks. That gives the children lots of pressure. As
parents, we think about this. I used to give myself lots of pressure “how come my child doesn’t go to the buxibans?” it’s not saying that my child was better than others. I said to my son “why don’t you go to the buxiban for Math?” It’s necessary to go to the buxibans for English and Math. He said to me “I often get 100 points for my Math. Do I need to go?” I said to him “you only learn the textbook version provided by the school. When you have tests, it uses different version of textbooks, what do you do?” My husband told me that the education
99
foundation is the same for everyone. Some teach first, some later. As long as you pay attention at school, do your homework and pass the tests. You don’t have to ask the children to go to the buxibans. I started to change myself. (Parent 19).
The Ministry of Education reforms were also intended to reduce the pressure on students in mainstream schooling, particularly in junior and senior high schools. However, according to the accounts of parents, there is a sense that the policy reforms have not had the intended effect. The suggestion is that if the curriculum is liberalized and simplified, although the immediate pressure on students may be reduced, parents still feel that the competition for the best university places and the best jobs is still the same, and that they need to reinforce their children’s performance beyond the levels set by the Ministry of Education curriculum.
I think the pressure of education reform is on the Junior High school. It hoped that it could reduce the Junior High school students’ pressure for going to
classes and exams. It didn’t happen. It made it worse. It’s more serious for Asian people. Ha.. In ancient Chinese system, it doesn’t matter how you change the education system you still have to have tests. To pass the tests, you have to have
buxibans. You can’t change this concept. It’s difficult….(Parent 06).
Interviews with teachers also confirmed that uncertainties and lack of trust in the changing system in schools has given rise to some anxiety on the part of parents, who either lack confidence in helping their children in learning, or otherwise do not trust the new system to help their child without some extra help from outside.
Teacher Betty: We just mentioned about the education system. Now, although we are not very sure about the 12 year compulsory education system, we have already started implementing it. However, it’s in the experimental stage. I think most people worry more about the “Grade 1~9” policy which is being implemented now. There are many problems and people don’t trust it. The result of this is that you need to look after yourself first. Never mind about the government policy. You need to increase the students’ knowledge standard. We work with the government’s policies. Therefore, the whole education
environment is in an unstable situation. I think this is maybe one reason why the
buxiban business is so popular. (Teacher Betty)
Teacher Carol: At that time it was to make students happier and to have less pressure. That’s why we started to implement Grade 1~9 policy. However, after the implementation of Grade 1~9 policy, the students don’t get less
pressure. This is because the curriculum becomes simpler. They need to go to the buxibans to learn more difficult things. (Teacher Carol)
100
Teacher Carol’s comment is particularly interesting, as it seems to highlight a conflict between policy and common parental expectations and behaviour. Whereas the Ministry of education policy has attempted to lessen the competitive test-taking school culture, parents are seen to be holding to the assumption that for their children to succeed, they need to perform well in academic tests. The following policy statement by the ministry illustrates the government position on education reform, while the comments above by Teacher Carol expose a situation where parents will strive to support a competitive environment despite the government position.
“Decades ago, Taiwan's education focused too much on the results of the entrance exam that senior high school students had to take and most course content were designed for students to pass it. However, as Taiwan society became more open and liberal, more parents accepted an educational concept that enabled students to demonstrate their talents instead of just scoring high in exams. The MOE has spent more than ten years carrying out an education reform that seeks to transform a static and tedious learning system into one with a more dynamic and creative style. The ultimate goal of Taiwan education is to mold citizens for the 21st century, an era that calls for young people who are competitive, adaptable to a changing world, creative in their thinking and humanistic in their outlook.” (Ministry of Education, 2011).
Thus, we can see that the supplementary education phenomenon reflects some of the tensions between official education policy and the parents who may not trust the mainstream school to provide what they want for their children.
101