China News Service, Taipei, March 9th: Title: Go to the Internet platform to correct errors in Taiwan’s education. Guizhi: I am not alone in Taiwan.
China News Service reporter Yang Chengchen
"The platform wants me to do my first live broadcast on Women's Day. This design is very good." Ou Guizhi, a Chinese teacher at Taipei No. 1 Girls' High School, announced on the 8th that she would join "Today's Toutiao".
From the three-foot podium to the Internet, she decided to "meet and chat" with mainland netizens here.
After the evening live broadcast, she told reporters from China News Service that Women's Day has special significance.
"It shows that in this era, girls have great opportunities and platforms to express their ideas."
Since December last year, this Chinese language teacher’s call to criticize Taiwan’s current 2019 curriculum for “de-Sinicization” has continued to resonate with both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
This is not the first time Ou Guizhi has spoken out on this topic, but the response in mainland China has exceeded expectations.
She wrote in her first article in "Today's Toutiao": The role of "Internet celebrity" that became famous overnight unexpectedly fell on me... A high school teacher has accumulated many years of teaching resentment - resentment that national moral character has been belittled, resentment that cultural classics have been Liangbo actually triggered countless responses both at home and abroad.
"I found that mainland netizens are particularly concerned about education." During this year's Lunar New Year, Ou Guizhi accompanied her mother back to her hometown of Zhanjiang, Guangdong. While visiting Leizhou West Lake, she was recognized by mainland netizens and asked to take a photo with her.
"I was recognized by such an accidental situation. I think those videos of the voice should have spread far in the mainland."
In 2018, the educational affairs department of the Taiwan authorities adopted a new version of the high school history curriculum amid doubts, which included Chinese history "into the discussion within the framework of East Asian history." In September 2019, teaching materials compiled according to the new curriculum entered the classroom.
"Taiwan's education policy is ignorant and ruthless and cuts off the cultural veins, causing children to lose the opportunity to learn deeply about their own culture." In the opinion of Ou Guizhi, the loud voice last December was "good luck", and his speech was heard and understood. Agree.
Ou Guizhi once worked in publishing. His old colleague and writer Zhang Dachun once said in a podcast that his eyes lit up when he saw Ou Guizhi stand up and speak out after many years.
"The experience of working in the publishing industry has exposed me to more complex knowledge than other middle school teachers." Ou Guizhi said that Taiwan's education reform has always emphasized the so-called "diversity", and the new curriculum in 2019 also promotes the so-called "cross-border", but This is no reason to turn the curriculum into "water without a source or a tree without a root."
Now that he has chosen to oppose the new curriculum, Ou Guizhi emphasized, "I have crossed many boundaries." Now he is not worried that he will not be able to cope with the new curriculum, but "I really see the harm that the curriculum will do to students' future."
Over the years, Taiwanese education circles, including district teachers, have "heavy attacks" on education reform more than once.
She told reporters that the education reforms carried out in Taiwan for more than 20 years are just "salami slicing": the history curriculum merged the history of China into the history of East Asia. Children in the past may not be able to remember the sequence of dynasties. Today's students not only lose the main axis of chronology, but even the history of East Asia. Chinese history has been lost.
The geography syllabus turns the description of mainland place names into "others" in its narrative tone, subtly affecting the self-identity of the next generation.
Ou Guizhi found that the students' lack of historical knowledge background also made it difficult to advance the Chinese course, and the consequence was that their overall language ability declined.
“A math teacher once complained that students couldn’t learn math well because they couldn’t understand the questions.”
She said that some young teachers also grew up in such a oriented educational environment, and they themselves also had unclear problems.
"Students can't figure out what the teacher wants to ask, and teachers can't explain what they want to express, which leads to a decline in young people's overall subject ability. As students' competitiveness declines, the competitiveness of the entire society will also decline."
Ou Guizhi has never considered herself an "Internet person", but this time she became "unexpectedly famous", she realized the influence of the Internet.
"Since someone is willing to provide a platform, I am also willing to share my thoughts here about the nation and education."
Over the past three months, many like-minded people on the island have come to Ou Guizhi to express their support.
She hopes to connect more people to pay attention to Taiwan's education and change the current situation faced by children through pragmatic measures.
"I also hope to convey to mainland netizens that in Taiwan, the people who hold my thoughts may not be the majority, but I am certainly not alone." (End)