The Ministry of Education’s 2024 policy of introducing semiconductor-related courses into high schools, with 36 high schools taking part, has provoked a polarised reaction, with some welcoming it and others worrying about Hypercorrection.
Lin Guosong, principal of Jiangong High School in Hsinchu, one of the schools participating in the semiconductor curriculum entry high school project, said, at present, the semiconductor course is arranged in the“Multi-elective course” of senior one, and the course is planned on the principle of“Tentative”, from the simple principle to the actual visit of the enterprise, finally, the students will be guided to start the application level, the goal is to connect students with industry trends and understand the semiconductor industry chain of vertical division of labor through basic courses. According to Lin Guosong, nearly 65% of the students’ parents are from Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park schools, so it is important for students to be exposed to the application and division of labour of Semiconductor industry early in view of the regional characteristics of the school. He says he expects students’ curiosity to be satisfied at the end of the course, leading to an interest in the industry. Chen Yingqi, a high school teacher in Zhubei, said that as a class tutor, students who want to study materials and electrical engineering will be encouraged to take relevant courses, which will help them apply to universities in the future.
In July, Taiwan’s“Central News Agency” disclosed the plan of the“Ministry of Education”. Reported that Taiwan’s“Ministry of Education” on July 18 and 19 at the High School Affiliated to Chung Hsing University first course workshops, a total of 26 schools to participate. The course covers the science of electricity, semiconductor principles, semiconductor processes, semiconductor applications in life, circuit design, society-oriented six topics, and an experimental course. A press release issued by the Ministry of Education later said that the main purpose of the high school semiconductor course is to arouse students’ interest in learning, and that the course adopts practical practices instead of excessive theoretical exposition, and can add more close to the theme of life.
In fact, before this, TSMC has entered 10 high schools to open semiconductor micro-courses. According to an April report by Taiwan’s“All Under Heaven” magazine, looking back at the original intention of setting up the course in 2022, TSMC’s head of talent development and recruitment, Zhuang Xiuhua, said that education is one of TSMC’s priorities, it is hoped that the course will stimulate students’ interest and encourage them to pursue a career in science and technology, and inject more new blood into the semiconductor field and the industry as a whole. By the end of the 2023 year, 10 senior high schools, including Jianguo Middle School, Zhongshan Women’s High School, Taichung Women’s High School and Hsiung Middle School, had joined. All teaching materials and teaching aids used in class were designed by TSMC with university professors and senior high school teachers and provided to schools and students free of charge. It is worth mentioning that in addition to teaching semiconductor knowledge, the class also responds to students’ curiosity about sensitive questions about TSMC, such as whether to use electricity for drinking water, whether engineers are overworked, and even their salaries and overseas rotation, etc. , the discussion was quite lively.
However, semiconductor into high school also caused controversy in the island. Wu Zhangmei, deputy director of the Policy Department of the all-taiwan Federation of Teachers’ unions, said that it is good to have a tentative curriculum so that students can be exposed to different industries earlier, but if the proportion of curriculum design becomes higher and higher in the future, i’m afraid there’s Hypercorrection doubt. ‘the threshold of knowledge required for semiconductor courses is actually very high, ‘ ms. Wu said. ‘If the difficulty of course design is not well handled, it is likely to increase the burden on students. ‘ . Liu Baicun, director of Research and Development at Yangming Jiaotong University, also said that the semiconductor course currently planned is an elective course, and if the semiconductor course is included in the entrance examination for university, it will cause a burden on high school students. In addition, Chen Yingqi also mentioned that if semiconductor courses are to be introduced, whether liberal arts fields can also carry out some general education courses related to universities and industries, at present, the history, geography and citizenship subjects correspond to the future of the content is less, high school students need to have a more specific plan for the future.