Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Education policy has blind spots

Wang Yen-huang 王延煌

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement has released the results of the quadrennial Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

There was not much change in the results for Taiwan, as students scored high in learning achievement, but low in learning attitude toward mathematics and science, and their sense of alienation toward mathematics and science was higher than the average.

Faced with the results, the Ministry of Education’s K-12 Education Administration simply responded that “students in high-performing countries tend to feel a sense of alienation toward learning,” without offering any further background analysis, which was a pity.

VIRUS OUTBREAK: Government still mulling UK travel ban

Taipei Times

A UK government travel ban public notice is pictured at Kings Cross train station in London on Sunday.
Photo: EPA-EFE

The government is considering whether to ban flights from the UK as other countries have done to stem the spread of a new strain of COVID-19 that is reportedly more infectious, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday, adding that the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) would make the final decision on the matter.

Names should represent Taiwan

Ray Song 宋磊

As the navy’s indigenous submarine program gathers pace, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Tuesday attended a naming ceremony for the Ta Chiang (塔江艦), an upgraded production version of the navy’s Tuo Chiang-class missile corvette, at Lung Teh Shipbuilding’s shipyard in Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳). The name Ta Chiang is rich in local symbolism and is a fitting designation to represent Taiwan’s spirit of national defense.

The first character of the ship’s name is taken from the Tawa River (塔瓦溪) in Taitung County, which runs through the ancestral hunting grounds of the Paiwan people, who are renowned for their tenacity in the face of adversity, as well as their bravery and skillfulness in battle. The connection to the Paiwan will be a source of inspiration for the vessel’s crew.

Taiwan pork logic confuses the US

Wu Hai-ruei 吳海瑞

US pork exports grew by 45 percent between 2010 and last year, while those of US beef doubled. Average annual growth of US pork and beef exports during this period has been 4 percent and 8 percent respectively.

US pork has been available in Taiwan for more than 20 years, but because Taiwanese prefer domestically produced pork — freshly slaughtered without being refrigerated or frozen — home-grown pork has a 90.6 percent share of the market.

Out of 2.67 million tonnes of pork exported by the US last year, only a little more than 11,000 tonnes were shipped to Taiwan — a mere 1.2 percent of its pork market.

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