Homeschooling in Taiwan
is not popular. However, the number of homeschooling in Taiwan has been growing
since 2011. According to the Taiwanese Ministry of Education’s report, only 78 high
school students, 636 junior high school students, and 937 elementary school
students had the government’s permission of homeschooling. In 2015, the total
number was double (p.2). Is it a warning to
the national education system? Many groups indicate that more and more parents
do not trust traditional schools due to some reasons (p.1). In contrast, sending children to traditional
schools is still the way that most parents choose. Traditional schools have
several differences from homeschooling.
Traditional schools have many
attractive features, such as systematic textbooks and materials, well-managed
schedules, and a good social life for students. The Ministry of Education has
developed a complete course guideline for publishers to follow since 2006.
Therefore, the traditional schools have the right to decide which edition to
use. The content is various, useful, and interesting for teachers and students
when they interact with one another. Also, traditional schools arrange their
course schedules regularly. Teachers and students do not need to worry too much
about their time management, but they can still learn to be responsible. The
most important thing is that healthy body and mind depend on regular hours. Furthermore,
experiencing a stimulation of social life in traditional schools is what most
people care about, especially the team works and companionships. Students build
their friendships at school and finish difficult assignments in group. This
lesson is more than what a textbook can teach. “The goal of traditional education
is to help students increase knowledge, make a healthy life, and develop
variety of the future masters of the country,” said by The Ministry of
Education. That is what the traditional schools
concern about in Taiwan.
On the other hand, homeschooling
provides individual materials, flexible time management, and it is more
comfortable for those special students who cannot adapt in the school life. For
example, the guardians or parents can decide what kind of teaching materials to
use when they file the applications. In other words, the textbooks are not
limited, and they may be more suitable to different students because they are
designed case by case. Second, the course schedule could be arranged flexibly
to fit every student’s life style. If it is necessary, they can change their
plans for some purposes without getting the school’s permission. Moreover, although
it is difficult to have ordinary social life through homeschooling, this way
gives more time to the special students, such as Asperger syndrome, Autism,
Social Anxiety Disorder, disabled students, etc. They have problems getting
along with other people, but their private teachers may use special ways to
help them take care of themselves. Homeschooling
provides more options when the traditional schools cannot match the parents and
the students’ requirements. Therefore, in modern Taiwan, the existence of
homeschooling seems to be necessary.
In conclusion, homeschooling
differs from traditional schools in these ways listed above. Both of them have
advantages and disadvantages. In Taiwan, more and more people are opting
homeschooling, which means that traditional education should change. Although the highest official educational institution has
been discussing this issue and listening to experts’ opinions for many years,
the people are not satisfied. They hope that every student can find a right way
and a safe place to study, whether by going to school or homeschooling. Also, they
expect students to become well-educated no matter they are physically and
mentally healthy or disabled. There are still many problems which are waiting
for the government to solve.
References
Department Of Statistics. Ministry Of Education. February 2, 2016.
Web. September 26, 2017
Hong, Hsin Chi. United Daily News. February 6, 2016. Web. September 26, 2017
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