Taiwan's Moral Education: Comparative Analysis of Elementary School Ethics and Civics Textbooks (1920-1960)

• Main Authors: Drew McNeil, 龍偉
• Other Authors: Li, Jerome
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/3a2tc6

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 亞太研究英語碩士學位學程(IMAS) === 103 === In the Western world religion has long played an important role in moral education and self-cultivation. Conversely, in many Asian countries which have been influenced by Chinese Confucian traditions, moral self-cultivation is one of the primary goals of education. Taiwan, which was a Japanese colony for 50 years before coming under the control of the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), presents a unique case for the study of ethics education, as Taiwanese schoolchildren were exposed to both Japanese and Chinese moral traditions over the course of the 20th century. Taiwan’s modern education system, established by the Japanese and expanded under KMT rule, allowed the ideologies of the two governments to reach a wide audience. Government monopolies on textbook creation, the provision of free or subsidized textbooks to schools, as well as the rigid and uniform nature of the school system all ensured that textbooks would be the primary resource for both students and teachers. This research seeks to examine and evaluate Taiwanese moral education from 1920 through to 1960, a period which covers both Japanese and Chinese rule. The study will be carried out by way of a comparative analysis of elementary school ethics and civics textbooks published under both regimes.