In 1987, the Republic of China lifted the Martial Law and the first bona fide democratic constitution in Chinese history was finally in practice in Taiwan. Seven years later, on April 10th, 1994, a protest was held to call for education reform with four major propositions: practicing small-class and small-school teaching, setting up more senior high schools and universities, establishing the Fundamental Law of Education, and promoting the modernization of education. Efforts to realize such in every aspect of education are continually made through the Education Reform Committee of the Executive Yuan.
In the past 20 years, education reform in Taiwan had been through heated debates and still under scrutiny. In this film, reform advocators, government officials, critics, teachers, students, and parents were interviewed, in an attempt to review its purposes from a historical perspective and to gain insights on the dilemmas it faced along with reasons behind. We structured the film by seven classroom episodes: “History Class: Prequel of Education Reform”, “Education Class: When Cram Schools Become Real Schools”, “Ethics Class: New Life, Old Ethics”, “Economics of Winning and Losing”, “Public Administration Class: What Happened to the Public Sector”, “Civic Class: General Plans for the Future”, and “Biology Class: Species Diversity”. Adopting the preluding textbook recitation by elementary school students and humorous stand-up comedy, a serious topic was presented in a light-hearted atmosphere. As we present the testimonies and opinions from reform advocators and witnesses, we hope to look, layer by layer, into the core of education reform and simultaneously into the core of sociocultural reform in Taiwan.
About the Director
Born in Taiwan, 1966, CHANG Chao-wei both writes and produces for television, print and web in Taiwan and China. An accomplished author, he has published three books to date. He has also written widely on international and local current affairs and culture for various magazines. He presently works as the Chief Producer of CNEX on developing various documentary projects in Greater China Region.
Filmography
2012 The Non-conformist: Chen Du-xiu 1879-1942
2007 Way of Fortune
2005 Dreaming of Building
2004 Leftism Forgone and Generation Divided
2000 Throat of Mountain and Ocean
1998 Crossover – Map of Ruins
1997 Flying Before the Storm
