A colleague was reading this piece: Taiwan's Low Quality and Elitist Education System.
It mentions Finland's education system, which we discussed recently ("What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?").
I'd have a number of things to say about the Taiwan piece but I'd first like to know what you have to say about it.
Hmm... glad that I bump into this thread by accident (I usually don't have time to read the moodle social forum). I will try to provide my 2 cents here. 
First of all, according to the "Global Competitiveness Report" published by WEF (World Economic Forum), Taiwan's "Health and primary education" is ranked #6 in the world and the "Higher education and training" is ranked as #4 (yes!) in the world. So the education system cannot be low quality.
See: http://www.gcr.weforum.org/ for more details
That said, people sometimes only focus on effectiveness, but not efficiency issues. Yes, Finland's egalitarian system is good, but if you think about the cost, it is really expensive (think about the teacher's overtime salary that government has to pay for the one-on-one instructions for slow learners). Taiwan is a country with limited resource (not to mention the national defense budget that is accountable for 3% of the GDP, to prevent China's invasion), so people should not just compare oranges with apples.
For higher education, according to the WEF, Taiwan is ranked as #4, and United States is ranked as #5. To put it in better perspective, see this "comparison of university tuition and fees between Taiwan and other nations":
http://english.moe.gov.tw/fp.asp?xItem=7517&ctNode=505&mp=1
Taiwan used to be part of Japan for a short while (during World War II) so it also adopted the Japanese educational system, which (used to be) very hierarchical. However, I believe it is much less hierarchical now (as there are more universities than students now) and the flexibility is also growing in Taiwan. A interesting example is a famous song writer (方文山, Vincent Fang), who used to be a "handyman" in Taiwan, found his own way and become a successful song writer (more info here: http://www.chi-field.com/Fang/). The "Elitist" educational system, IMHO, is partly caused by Taiwanese parents' expectations and ideology (which could trace back to the Chinese Confucianism), but this is also changing too.
Again, just my 2 cents.
Blessings,
Wen
First of all, according to the "Global Competitiveness Report" published by WEF (World Economic Forum), Taiwan's "Health and primary education" is ranked #6 in the world and the "Higher education and training" is ranked as #4 (yes!) in the world. So the education system cannot be low quality.
See: http://www.gcr.weforum.org/ for more details
That said, people sometimes only focus on effectiveness, but not efficiency issues. Yes, Finland's egalitarian system is good, but if you think about the cost, it is really expensive (think about the teacher's overtime salary that government has to pay for the one-on-one instructions for slow learners). Taiwan is a country with limited resource (not to mention the national defense budget that is accountable for 3% of the GDP, to prevent China's invasion), so people should not just compare oranges with apples.
For higher education, according to the WEF, Taiwan is ranked as #4, and United States is ranked as #5. To put it in better perspective, see this "comparison of university tuition and fees between Taiwan and other nations":
http://english.moe.gov.tw/fp.asp?xItem=7517&ctNode=505&mp=1
Taiwan used to be part of Japan for a short while (during World War II) so it also adopted the Japanese educational system, which (used to be) very hierarchical. However, I believe it is much less hierarchical now (as there are more universities than students now) and the flexibility is also growing in Taiwan. A interesting example is a famous song writer (方文山, Vincent Fang), who used to be a "handyman" in Taiwan, found his own way and become a successful song writer (more info here: http://www.chi-field.com/Fang/). The "Elitist" educational system, IMHO, is partly caused by Taiwanese parents' expectations and ideology (which could trace back to the Chinese Confucianism), but this is also changing too.
Again, just my 2 cents.
Blessings,
Wen
Wen,
Thanks for the insight. The cultural dimensions are quite interesting.
In fact, instead of comparing results at "international" standardized tests, we could think about how adapted different education systems are to their own contexts.
Thanks for the insight. The cultural dimensions are quite interesting.
In fact, instead of comparing results at "international" standardized tests, we could think about how adapted different education systems are to their own contexts.
Dear Alexandre, good point!
For me, I think it's all about balance, and that's really hard. There is no one-size-fit-all solution or "best education system" that could fit with different contexts, and it's all up to the policy makers to make a "balanced" and "wise" decision.
Standardized tests really doesn't mean THAT much. IMHO, the key is really how do you help students learning "how to learn." Oh here I just google'd and found this: http://www.studygs.net/metacognition.htm
Hope this helps,
Wen
For me, I think it's all about balance, and that's really hard. There is no one-size-fit-all solution or "best education system" that could fit with different contexts, and it's all up to the policy makers to make a "balanced" and "wise" decision.
Standardized tests really doesn't mean THAT much. IMHO, the key is really how do you help students learning "how to learn." Oh here I just google'd and found this: http://www.studygs.net/metacognition.htm
Hope this helps,
Wen