The Curriculum Movement of Taiwanese High School Students as a Practice of Critical Pedagogy: A Participating Teacher's Perspective

• In Event: Roundtable Group 2
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Critical Pedagogy and Empowerment: A Journey of Civic Awareness, Teacher Activism, and Deconstructing Neoliberalism

Proposal

In the summer of 2015, hundreds of Taiwanese high school students occupied the Ministry of Education of Taiwan courtyard to launch a protest lasting for two months (Hioe, 2015). They proclaimed that the new reformed history curriculum contained the governors' pro-China ideology and asked to stop publishing the new textbooks for Taiwanese high school students to prevent brainwashing.
This study interviewed a history teacher as an active role in the movement who personally joined and led students participating in the protest, analyzing the teacher's leadership and participation as a practice of Freire's idea of critical pedagogy with political action (Freire, 1985; 1992). Critical pedagogy advocated revolution with a focus on social justice, emphasizing the importance of action to transform the status quo. Critical pedagogy fostered a partnership between educators and students, who collaboratively discussed real-life issues and took action to bring about change (Shor & Pari, 2000).
The author had several interviews with the teacher and his students before the summer of 2015. While our discussion did not involve the protest, they were enthusiastic about the event. During our conversation, I observed the students' trust in their teacher. They discussed passionately how the new textbooks were flawed, the excitement when envisioning collaborations with other area high school students in Taiwan, and their pride when presenting their designed slogans and pamphlets. This scene exemplified critical pedagogy. A teacher was willing to share their political passion with students outside of class hours, leading them to participate in politically oriented activities related to their high school study. The students trusted their teacher and expressed their thoughts about the movement with him. They felt a sense of achievement and pride when they approached their goals. This process enabled students to trust and be willing to go on the streets to express their political stance.
Through proper discussion and analysis, the experiences of the movement as a counter-narrative against the authority will benefit Taiwanese society in developing critical consciousness. The campaign also reflected ethnic awareness. The narrative of the movement's participants was Hoklos' experiences in fighting against Mainlanders' history formalized by political power. Therefore, the description and understanding of the participants in action should be respected and treasured as collective experiences of the non-conformists, the ones who obtained the anti-China ideology. Developing more non-conformists’ experiences would help Taiwanese understand and appreciate the ethics of tolerance in a democratic society, to educate citizens about democratic attitudes.

References:
Freire, P. (1985). The politics of education: Culture, power, and liberation. South Hadley: Bergin & Garvey Publishers.
Freire, P. (1992). Pedagogy of the oppressed. (M. B. Ramos, Trans.) New York: Continuum. (Original work published 1970).
Hioe, B. (2015, August 3). Five days of struggle against black box education in Taiwan. New Bloom. https://newbloommag.net/2015/08/03/five-days-against-black-box-education/
Shor, I. & Pari, C. (Eds.) (2000). Education is politics: Critical teaching across differences, postsecondary. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook Publishers.

Author

• Ming-Kuo Hung, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology