Lifestyle

Education To foreign eyes, the Taiwanese generally seem a fairly relaxed bunch, at least on a superficial level. But beneath the surfa...

Information+ The Culture

Lonely Planet's Taiwan

Title: Lifestyle

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Education

To foreign eyes, the Taiwanese generally seem a fairly relaxed bunch, at least on a superficial level. But beneath the surface, Taiwanese society is plagued by much the same pressures that bedevil Japanese, Korean, Hong Kong, and increasingly of late, middle class Chinese society; namely an education system that's an absolute pressure cooker for pathos.

One of the elements cited as a factor both in Taiwan's economic success and its successful transition from authoritarian dictatorship to representative democracy is the emphasis Taiwan society has placed on education. But this has come at a price, one especially paid for by the young. for most Taiwanese, the pressure begins in early adolescence. Competition in Taiwan is done on the basis of the results of standardised testing. Mastering these tests requires rote memorisation, offering students little incentive for creative 'out of the box' thinking. Beginning in high school, and often earlier, most Taiwanese students will spend long hours at one of tens of thousands of bũxíbăn (cram schools), where, well... they'll do just that; cramming as much studying and memorisation in as possible. One of the subjects they'll be tested on is English, but generally speaking, learning useful conversational English takes a backseat to memorising the grammatical patterns they'll be tested on is English, but generally speaking, learning useful conversational English takes a backseat to memorising the grammatical patterns they'll see in their all-consuming tests. Many an idealistic Westerner has come to teach at one of these cram schools with the idea that they'll be beloved by gearing the preexisting curriculum towards fun and useful language skills, only to learn that their effects are not appreciated. 'Teach us the English we need to pass the test', will commonly be the response of young Taiwanese towards their earnest foreign educators. 'When we've gotten into university then we can learn English we can actually use.'

You might be able to detect the long-term detrimental effects of this type of education when interacting with educated Taiwanese, who often feel shy and awkward when confronted by a Westerner. Often times, what's going on in their head at the time is, 'Dammit, I studied English for years but I still can't tell this Western guy how to get to the train station.' Because of the overall friendliness of the Taiwanese, combined with their desperate desire not to lose face, they'll try their best. This is another reason Taiwanese people tend to flatter to the point of obsequiousness a Westerner who can barely string together three words of Chinese. Part of it is cultural (the Taiwanese are, in general, pretty prone to flattery), but another part is that they's generally impressed with someone who has the courage to risk losing face by speaking a language not their own.

Tolerance

A primarily Buddhist nation, Taiwan is, by and large, a highly tolerant society. Though no Sydney or San Francisco, Taipei has a flourishing gay culture scene, with plenty of bars, cafés, bookstores and other places where gay, lesbian and transgender people hang out. In 2006, then-mayor Ma Ying-jeou officiated the opening of the city's annual Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Festival, ceremonially hoisting a rainbow flag contributed by San Francisco mayor Gavin Newson, and stating that he felt the festival demonstrated that Taiwan society placed a premium on 'peace, compassion, and respect for all voices and culture's. Certainly 'traditional' values hold sway in certain families, so a young, gay Taiwanese is probaly slingtly less likely to be comfortable coming out to their parents than, say, their North American counterpart might be. But the difference is probably not all that pronounced.

Drugs

Though Taiwan has liberalised in many ways, drugs are still as illegal as they've always been, and even possession of 'soft' drugs like cannabis is dealt with harshly. \the Western traveller or expatriate caught with illegal drugs (in any quantity) soon discovers that the Taiwanese tendency to be overly kind towards westerners does not extend itself into the criminal justice system. Really - we can't stress this enough - if you need to catch a buzz during your visit to Taiwan, consider the mixing of Whisbih and betel nut to be your safest option.

Home Life
Taiwanese home life is about as diverse as that of Australia, Canada, or other countries where a large percentage of families are urban and a small percentage lead more rural lifestyles. More typical Confuncian family structure is still strong in some parts of society - especially in more rural areas, where an extended family living under one roof is common (opposite) - but nowadays most urban Taiwanese families wouldn't seen much different from their Western counterparts. Sexual equality has been the norm for decades in Taiwan, so two working parents are a feature of a good many families. Since most kids go to after - school programs of one sort or another (bũxíbăn, usually), there isn't the same level of outcry over children being left unattended in the afternoon as in the West. Furthermore, its still fairly common in Taiwan to have one or more surviving grandparents living within the nuclear family, taking more of a role in child-raising than in the west.

Source: Lonely Planet Taiwan

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