QUANDLE TWISTED ALEXANDER INVARIANTS

We establish a quandle version of the twisted Alexander polynomial. We also develop a theory that reduces the size of a twisted Alexander matrix with column relations. The reduced matrix can be used to refine invariants derived from the twisted Alexander matrix

The Provincial Allocation System in Chinese College Entrance Examinations: A Comparative Study

The available data for the current situation of admission process were analyzed by Chinese province as one of the characteristics of the college entrance examination system in China. The analysis aims to clarify the actual situation of disparities by province, which was often pointed out in previous related studies. As a result, the following three points were identified. First, even if the same exam questions were used in highly selective universities, differences in average passing score rate can be seen among the provinces. Moreover, these differences were almost fixed and did not depend on the year. Therefore, as one of the causes, we consider that each province has differences in the education level. Second, the quota allocation did not correspond to the number of examinees in each province; therefore, the quota system itself may create a gap. This is a serious problem because this obstacle cannot be overcome by students’ efforts. Third, students of provinces that prepare their own exam questions tend to have the advantage in the selection process. Because the exam questions were created independently, it is not possible to easily compare the difficulty of the test questions with those of other provinces, which avoids some criticisms. Most of the provinces that have created their own exam questions are the advanced Chinese provinces with many universities, including highly selective and prestigious universities. These prestigious universities could be entered more easily by allocating capacity to the local students

“Newcomers” Portrayed in Civics Textbooks in Taiwan Society: “Multiculturalism” in Taiwan

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the “newcomers” and their children, whose presence has been increasing since the 2000s, and to clarify how they are positioned in Taiwanese society through policy and textbook descriptions. The results of the analysis of the “Civics and Social Studies” textbooks, which are considered to reflect the most “multicultural” education in Taiwan, showed that the “newcomers” are positioned as one of the ethnic groups and that it is important to understand the different cultures of the “newcomers” and other ethnic groups to respect multiculturalism. However, the textbooks also stated that the “newcomers” were a group of ethnic groups. On the other hand, the textbooks do not mention specific images of “newcomers,” and portray biased images of “newcomers” in other parts of the text (pictures and columns), which may indicate a risk of discrepancy with reality. In addition, while the textbooks depict the “newcomers” as a symbol of Taiwan’s “pluralistic culture,” the focus is on how to guarantee the rights of the “newcomers” and other socially vulnerable groups, rather than on how to include the “newcomers” as a social minority and create a “community” for Taiwan as a whole. The focus is on how to guarantee the rights of the“ newcomers” and other socially vulnerable groups, rather than on how to imagine a single “community” that is inclusive of all Taiwanese “newcomers”. Such descriptions may lead students to perceive“ newcomers” as“ those who need to be taken into consideration” and may inculcate false stereotypes

Development of Quality Education in Chinese Senior High Schools

The senior high schools in China are considered to have an exam-oriented curriculum and a strong competitive environment, turning the life of students into a nightmare. This type of education has been criticized for a long time and instead, “quality education,” which is the opposite of knowledge-oriented and exam-oriented education, has been recommended since the 1990s. This study focuses on “quality education” as the key for educational reforms in China, and reviews and analyzes the policy trends, and the effect of quality education on high school education and college entrance exam reform. Our investigation resulted in the following findings. First, an analysis of the education policy revealed that “quality education,” a term which was relatively vague and was understood as the opposite of exam-oriented education, could be used as criteria for reform by clarifying each ability as “core background.” This clarification makes it possible to provide concrete guidelines for high school education. Second, it was found that, reflecting on “quality education,” high school education has newly established a subject called “comprehensive practical activity” that fosters students’ independent thoughts and creative activities. It also gave schools more discretionary power and teachers more freedom to teach in class. Lastly, regarding college entrance exams, it can be pointed out that, in addition to the conventional written exams, there is a shift toward evaluating not only the test scores but also other aspects such as student records. However, we also found that the movement has not reached all the schools because of its hasty implementation and a large number of examinees.本研究はJSPS科研費 JP19H01639の助成を受けたものです

Development of the Taiwan Citizen Concept in Senior High Schools: Focusing on a Multicultural Society

This paper deals with education-related policy documents, courses of studies and civics textbooks of senior high schools to clarify the concept of ‘Taiwan citizen’. There are following three findings as a result of the analysis. First, academic ability and the ‘Taiwan citizen’ have been strongly linked at the policy level, and, accordingly, the realization of the ‘citizen’ means to improve academic ability. Second, what was clarified through the analysis of the textbooks was that ‘Taiwan citizen’, ‘we’, and ‘our country’ was strongly tied. In other words, ‘Taiwan citizen’ is a concept close to ‘nation’, and, in this sense, it cannot be said that the concept of ‘Taiwan citizen’ has changed significantly. Thirdly, there are various sub-items under the concept of the ‘Taiwan citizen’, and, among them, ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘multicultural society’ has been newly added and emphasized as the items of ‘Taiwan citizen’ in recent years. One of the findings from the textbook analysis is that while multicultural education in Taiwan was traditionally for indigenous people, it is more conscious of coexistence with new residents coming from Southeast Asian countries, which suggests the flexibility of Taiwan's concept of ‘citizen’.本研究はJSPS科研費JP19H01639の助成を受けたものです