| Abstract: | The purpose of this article is to analyze the values intentionally promoted in civics education in junior high schools in Taiwan. The article first examines the antecedents of civics education in Taiwan, then applies content analysis in exploring the values promoted through the curriculum for civics education at junior high school level. The article uses eight categories of values clusters as the framework for analysis, namely: self cultivation, family values, democratic values, civic life and community, economic life, fair government, national identity and social cohesion/diversity. The following findings emerged from this study: -
? Social cohesion, democratic values, and national identity are emphasized the most in the civics curriculum. -
? The democratic values promoted in the traditional period are used as a means to distinguish democratic Taiwan from totalitarian Communist China. -
? Self cultivation is less emphasized than in the traditional period. -
? National identity is promoted less as a fundamental value than in traditional civics education. -
? Because of social and environmental change, the new civics education integrates several Western values into the curriculum. This research was supported by a grant from the Pacific Basin Research Center of Soka University of America. |
