Fate of Education Ministers: "Brief Stints in Capital”

 Fate of Education Ministers: "Brief Stints in Capital”

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

July 9, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

The chaotic situation of "the Education Ministry has no Minister, National Taiwan University has no President" has continued for more than a month. The Cabinet tells the public that interviews for a new Education Minister are coming to an end, and the appointment will soon be announced. Looking back at the last two decades, during the three turnovers of ruling parties, there have been eleven Education Ministers, on average serving a little more than a year. Wu Maw-kuen, who was only on the post for 40-plus days, set a record for the shortest stint. Precisely because of this, ambitious men and women regard the post of Education Minister with dread; Granted that the Cabinet can find a person who is willing to jump into the pit of fire, if it cannot shake off political interference, it will be difficult, we are afraid, for the new Education Minister to escape the fate of a "brief stint in the capital" in the end.

The immediate challenge of the new Education Minister is to handle the resolution just adopted by the Academia Sinica Council meeting: "With regard to the selection system and selection results of National University presidents, the Ministry of Education is hereby requested to observe the provisions and spirit of the University Act, and implement the appointment of their presidents." The Academia Sinica, which enjoys the highest prestige in the academic world, has not lightly delved its hand into political issues; if not for the fact that the two immediate past Education Ministers abused their authority to infringe on university autonomy, how come the academicians had to stand up and make their stance known, demanding that the matter of university president appointments return to the right track? Not only that, the "National University Autonomy Alliance," which has just been organized by the majority of National University presidents and scholars, has also demanded that the Ministry of Education safeguard the spirit of university autonomy, appointing university presidents in accordance with the law, and not arbitrarily interpreting the law by itself. What the two organizations have proposed is the same issue, and the new Education Minister has to resolve it.

Speaking bluntly, the Education Ministry is currently facing a dilemma which is precisely the result of relentless political intervention by high echelons in the Presidential Palace and the Cabinet. If President Tsai and Premier Lai can spend time pondering after this unpleasant episode, and stop the horse at the brink of the abyss, letting professionals use the viewpoint of “the standpoint of education” to formulate anew the fundamental policy of education, and with an open-minded mentality to face international competition of higher education, injecting more resources into education, then perhaps there is still a chance to save our education.

When all other countries are progressing, we are taking steps in the opposite direction; hence, Taiwan’s education will not possess competitiveness. If high echelons in the Presidential Palace and the Cabinet still want to appoint a yes-man who only looks at the political countenance to serve as Education Minister that would be tantamount to using iron chains to shackle Taiwan's education in the dungeon, being unable to see the light of day. Pan Wen-chung as Education Minister was a poor choice; the appointment of Wu Maw-kuen was a crazy and failed gamble. As to whether the next candidate can help Taiwan's education to ascend again to higher ground, it really depends on the idea in a flash moment on the part of Tsai and Lai.

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