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Social Control and Circles of Influence in Taiwan’s School System

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Abstract

Unlike many other societal transitions to democracy, Taiwan’s rapid and dramatic economic progress did not create massive social disorder. The economic and political achievements are arguably partly attributable to its education system, in which students are served well with rigorous teaching in academic knowledge and social conformity. This chapter takes a glance at the development of Taiwan’s educational system and elucidates the norms and daily practices of such social control in schools in respect of students’ behaviours and campus safety, achieved through supervisory practices by teachers and administrative staff. We conclude the chapter by suggesting that the school’s social control base in Taiwan is weakening, arguably making the function of school more utilitarian in orientation and more visibly a mechanism of mere social selection.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Taiwan is ranked second in the IEP (Institute for Economics and Peace) list of safest countries (2014–2015) in the world with low exposure to robbery, crime, and violence. It also ranked highly in terms of health care, economic freedom, education, and human development (http://www.presscave.com/top-safest-countries-in-the-world/).

  2. 2.

    Taiwan is among the top four performers above the OECD average (PISA 2015).

  3. 3.

    The Dutch colonized Taiwan from 1624 to 1662, but seems not to have left any obvious educational legacy. China’s Ming Dynasty General, Cheng Ch’eng-Kung (or Koxinga), brought his armies and refugees to settle in Taiwan to continue the fight against the Manchus from 1646 to 1683. Cheng established a government in Taiwan introducing the basic Chinese legal and scholars/literati system. This short regime’s educational legacy was very similar to the Ch’ing Dynasty; therefore we will not discuss it in any detail here.

  4. 4.

    KMT (Kuomintang) is the Nationalist Party, which was established by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. Dr. Sun was recognized as the “national father” of the Republic of China.

  5. 5.

    At that time, as Wade pointed out, “China’s emerging economic virtues in 1985, President Marcos’s ousting from the Philippines in 1986, and South Korean students’ protests at President Chun’s attempts to rig the nomination of his successor in 1987, may have helped to force his [KMT’s President, Chiang Ching-Kuo, the son of Chiang Kai-shek] hand” (1990: 252).

  6. 6.

    Before 2000, this ethnic conflict was not so serious because the KMT attracted many of the native Taiwanese elite to join their party step by step; and some top government posts were filled by native Taiwanese, such as Lee Tenghui as Vice-President in 1984 and President in 1988, Lian Zhan as Premier in 1992, and Guo Wei-Fan as Minister of Education in 1993 (Law 2002: 65–66). Otherwise, the process-equity mechanism, especially the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) and CSE institutions, had contributed to native Taiwanese social mobility.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Taipei University, New Taipei, Taiwan

    Susyan Jou

  2. Yi-Kao Junior High School, New Taipei, Taiwan

    Min-Cheng Lin

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  1. Susyan Jou
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  2. Min-Cheng Lin
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Jo Deakin

  2. Department of Sociology, City, University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Emmeline Taylor

  3. Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware, Newark, USA

    Aaron Kupchik

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Jou, S., Lin, MC. (2018). Social Control and Circles of Influence in Taiwan’s School System. In: Deakin, J., Taylor, E., Kupchik, A. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of School Discipline, Surveillance, and Social Control. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71559-9_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71559-9_9

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71558-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71559-9

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