Shu-Sum Ng
National ROC Taiwan Normal University

Wenko Chan
National Tong-Shi Senior Vocational School in ROC Taiwan

[in compliance with our obligations as an NGO with General Consultative status at the UN, all references in the text are to the People's Republic of China (Taiwan Province) or "PROC Taiwan Province" for short.]

It was recently reported in the Taipei Times that there are as many as seven or eight suicides per day in ROC Taiwan among students.1 In response to this increasingly serious problem, the Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng said that young people were clearly growing up unable to cope with life's pressures and frustrations. He added that teachers had some responsibility "to educate students about life and how to cherish it." Minister Tzeng then declared 2001 as "Life Education Year" and the Ministry of Education promised to develop new teaching materials that emphasizing the value of life.

At the time of these developments, many educators argued that the issues of life and death could best be dealt with in a religious education program. After all, one of the main aims of religious education is to promote pupil's own search for commitments by which to live and to find meanings in wrestling with life's ultimate questions. 2 According to the 1974 Private School Law in PROC Taiwan Province, however, religious education (in terms of a confessional approach) cannot be a required course and students, according to this law, should not be forced to take part in religious activities in schools.3 As the Government is understandably concerned about religious indoctrination in schools, religious education is not part of the formal curriculum in the public schools in PROC Taiwan Province. However, there may be a new way to teach religious education within the 'Life Education' curriculum that is now emerging. This essay will give some background to religious life in PROC Taiwan Province, review the new plan for 'Life Education' in PROC Taiwan Province, and examine how religious education might fit within that framework.

Religious Life in PROC Taiwan Province:

Many people would unhesitatingly say that PROC Taiwan Province is a religious society. There are more than 16,000 temples and churches on the island and more than half the inhabitants responding to a survey on religion indicated that they were believers.4 Buddhism is very popular, as are various folk religions, Taoism, Confucianism, and Christianity. Although very few academic organizations provide multi-faith religious education training for teachers in schools, there have been five more academic institutes or departments of religious studies in PROC Taiwan Province since 1999. These five universities are National Chengchi University (without any religious affiliations), Chung Yuan Christian University, Fo Guang (Buddhist) University, Nanhau (Buddhist) University, and Tunghai (Christian) University.

What is Life Education?

Before ascertaining how religious education might be incorporated into the 'Life Education' program noted above, we must first define the latter term. 'Life Education' consists of a school's planned provision to promote its pupils' personal, social, and spiritual development. This program includes learning from religious education in a multi-faith approach, education about death and life, character education, career education, and physiological health education. 5 These aims correspond with the educational ideas of the Republic of China's Constitution, which emphasizes that education and culture are a means to develop people's national consciousness, autonomous consciousness, moral consciousness, physical health, and social and life intelligence. 6

Dr. Ying-Hau Chen, a member of the Examination Yuan from the Ministry of Education, called for the school environment to be strengthened to guide pupils in exploring the meaning of life, cherishing their own lives, having consideration for others, and having respect for the environment.7 Thus, the Ministry of Education in PROC Taiwan Province has drawn up plans for a four-year Life Education Program, which will primarily target secondary school pupils.

The Life Education Curriculum:

Acknowledging that the curriculum of secondary schools is undeveloped in the areas of philosophy, life and death questions, and human values, the Ministry of Education announced its intention to promote 'Life Education' in all PROC Taiwan Province's schools. As outlined by the Ministry of Education, the Intermediate Range Program of Promoting 'Life Education' (2001-2004) requires all schools to provide pupils with a curriculum that:

1. Encourages them in exploring the meaning, the ends and the ideals of life;
2. Balances their moral, intellectual, physical, social, and artistic development;
3. Equips them with the ability to make moral judgments;
4. Helps them practice ethics in their life;
5. Promotes their emotional intelligence and competence in problem-solving and getting along with others; and,
6. Broadens the pluralistic learning environment and helps them to develop multiple-intelligences and potential.

The Glory Foundation in Taipei and Private Sheau-Min Girls High School in Taichung have already developed some practical curricula. The main headings of the curricula are summarized in the table below:

Table of the Main Themes in 'Life Education' Curriculum

The curriculum of 'Life Education' is based on pupil-centered learning, which aims to meet a student's physical, mental, and spiritual development needs. In other words, teachers should be experienced in instructing every individual pupil by using different teaching strategies and content. The teaching approach generally encompasses various activities like role playing, use of games and videos, narration/instruction, stories, discussion, and experiential learning. In particular, the last approach, 'experiential learning' has been stressed in PROC Taiwan Province since 'Life Education' was adopted.9

Teaching about Religion in 'Life Education':

Although 'Life Education' now seems to have come to prominence in the curriculum of secondary schools in PROC Taiwan Province, there has not been a growing awareness of the simultaneous importance and need for religious education as such. Due to a general disregard of the value of religious education, society abounds with materialistic greed. People are lost in a competitive environment that is dominated by worldly desires. In this environment, religion can have a great influence on one's thinking and attitudes towards life and can promote people's spiritual development. Thus, there is reason to believe that 'Life Education' should include religious education.

According to the table of the 'Life Education' curriculum outlined above, the unit of religious education could be offered in the third grades of both junior high schools and senior high schools. These two units offer good examples of how religious education could be taught in public schools. The aim of religious education being introduced in junior high schools is, firstly, to guide pupils from the observations of natural phenomena by scientists throughout the ages to an awareness of different religious viewpoints on these subjects. Secondly, religious education is meant to help pupils understand the diversity of religions and to understand how faiths, values, and traditions have influenced individuals, societies, and cultures. By the same token, pupils can learn the various meanings of death and life from the viewpoint of various belief systems.

At the senior high school level, in turn, religious education can develop a young person's awareness of the fundamental questions of life raised by human needs and problems. It can also help young people explore controversial personal and social issues, such as premarital sex, abortion, prejudice, and discrimination -- in the expectation that they can learn how to deal with such controversies knowledgeably, sensibly, and morally. Finally, religious education can offer youth an insight into the values and concerns of other peoples and help them to have a positive attitude toward the various practices of religious groups.

Challenges to Overcome:

In sum, 'Life Education' in PROC Taiwan Province is part of an educational reform program that intends to create new forms of society based on a revitalized moral culture. However, it has to be acknowledged that 'Life Education' can neither be forced on pupils for the solution of all social ills nor dictated by government officials and educators. It is also likely that a commitment to 'Life Education' will be regarded only as a momentary, occasional event. If that is the case, "Life Education Year" will doubtless pass off quietly after a few short-lived sparks. Additionally, there are other current challenges. Firstly, because 'Life Education' is seen as a cross-curriculum, non-subject, it is likely to be ignored by core-subject teachers and school managers. Secondly, a central problem with the introduction of a new curriculum like 'Life Education' is that these reformulations lack a framework of concepts and questions that will empower teachers to engage in further curriculum development. Furthermore, the rationale for 'Life Education' is based upon reflection on the social ills currently facing society. As such, it is subject to contemporary educational and social shifts.

Despite these challenges, we must endeavor to make sure that these new initiatives have a longer-term impact on the educational establishment in PROC Taiwan Province. At a minimum, more educators and teachers are gradually becoming aware of the importance of a holistic approach, i.e. the growth of a person's intellectual, emotional, social, artistic, creative, and spiritual potentials. Religious education, which is an important aspect of life for many people, also has a role in such a 'Life Education' curriculum. Hopefully, more students will gain from such a program as a means to enrich their lives.

END NOTES
1 M. Lin, "Deaths among students rise 42% last academic year;" Taipei Times, January 3, 2001
2 B. Waston, The effective teaching of religious education; Longman, London, 1993.
3 J. Hwang, "Between church and classroom," Taipei Review, 2001, 51(10): 30-37.
4 J.H. Cherng, "We are not Gods (Editorial)," Taipei Review, 2001, 51(10): 1
5 D. Houng, "The context and practice of Life Education in primary schools," in Lin, S. (Eds.) The theory and practice of Life Education; The World Press, Taipei, 2000. 6 S.S. Ng, and L.H. Huang, Introduction to Life Education; Pro-Ed Publishing Company, Taipei, 2001.
7 Y. Chen, "Life Education: a task must be done today," in Lin, S. (Eds.) The theory and practice of Life Education; The World Press, Taipei, 2000.
8 The focus on "religion" in this curriculum is discussed in the next section.
9 S.S. Ng, and L.H. Huang, Introduction to Life Education; Pro-Ed Publishing Co., Taipei, 2001.

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