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In Taiwan, as in many other countries, the education of adults plays a key role in national economic development. Universities especially are considered significant in factors shaping the economy of Taiwan (Peng, Wang, Liu, & Tuan, 2017). Adult learning is a prominent feature of the education landscape of Taiwan. The importance of adult education in Taiwan is underscored by the publication of the government white paper titled “Toward a learning society” and the announcement of the Lifelong Learning Act in 2002 (Chang, Wu, & Lin, 2012). Taiwan has a high portion of aging population, close to 16%, predicted to grow to 40% by 2060 (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1112400/taiwan-share-of-persons-in-population-aged-65-and-older/). As a result, older adult education may be considered, to use the words of Lee (2015), “a new public pedagogy of 21st Century Taiwan” (p. 460).
Given the significant role of adult education in Taiwan, an understanding of teaching approaches, and an understanding of how those teaching approaches emerge from, and interact with, national culture is worthwhile. We are subsequently understand the effects of education and are better positioned to contribute to the ongoing evolution of educational endeavors. Interestingly, the bulk of studies focus on exploring how Confucianism manifests in adult education and there are few, if any, studies explore how Confucian and Western approaches come together in Taiwanese adult education.
Without a clear understanding of how adult education is shaped in Taiwan, the task of helping Taiwanese adult learners is ill-defined and difficult to address. In attempt to contextualize the study, we begin with a precis of the history of Taiwan.
A Brief History of Chinese Culture in Taiwan
The history of a country is inevitably reflected in its social constructs, including education. Four groups of people live in Taiwan. During the Ming dynasty, the Chinese emperor sent his people to live and work in Taiwan. The first group consists of the natives who have been living on the island from the long past. The second group is the Chinese who have been living there prior to the time when Chiang Kai-shek and his followers were driven from mainland China to Taiwan in 1949 as a result of an eight year-long civil war directly following the surrender of the Japanese invaders. Between 1895 and 1945, Japan occupied Taiwan, bringing Japanese culture, which was a different version of Confucian culture. During the colonial years, only the most academically gifted and achieving students could be admitted into normal schools where teachers were trained. Japanese education impacted Taiwanese education and how people perceived the honorable role of a teacher (Fwu & Wang, 2002).
The third group is the Chinese who came with Chiang in 1949. In the aftermath of Japan’s withdrawal (September, 1945), Chiang received military and financial aid from the United States, yet his corrupt leadership and army lost the support of Chinese peasants who chose to support Mao Zedong. Mao was successful in enlisting more young farmers as soldiers and establishing more military operation bases in the countryside. Chiang could only use cities as his military operation bases and his territory was getting smaller and smaller. At length, Chiang was ruthlessly overpowered by Mao’s People’s Liberation Army. In addition to bringing Chinese people to colonize the island of Taiwan, Chiang brought Confucian culture to Taiwan. Interestingly, even when Chiang lived in mainland China. Chiang’s wife, who persuaded President Truman to send military aid to Chiang, received her education in the United States. It was Chinese tradition to send children to receive a Western education and hence, with Chiang’s coming to Taiwan, some of the Western education influences were also brought into Taiwan. Chiang’s people make up the majority of the population in Taiwan, and these people contributed substantially to Taiwan’s economic, political and cultural development.
The fourth group consists of non-Chinese people who moved to Taiwan for professional and personal reasons, bringing with them Western influences.