Political socialization of ethnic minorities in Thailand and Taiwan

Description

PhD thesis, McGill Univ., Montreal, 1995 Thailand and Taiwan have indiqenous minority populations which central authorities have souqht to assimilate into the national mainstrea~. In both countries public education has served as an important tool of assimilation. This study examines the political ideoloqy of the moral education curricula as applied to state primary schools servinq indiqenous populations in three localities .in each country. The direct and indirect implementation of moral education was observed and interviews were carried out with teachers, students, parents and community leaders. The results show that as the indiqenous minority children become more familiar with the national culture and its value system, they become more aware of ethnic discrimination aqainst them, which in turn leads to a heiqhtened sense of marqinality and enqenders antipathy toward members of the dominant ethnic group• INTRODUCTION CONTENTS 1 CHAPTEB l REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Schooling and Political Socialization 6 The School and the State 8 Moral Education and Political Socialization 10 The School and Ethnic Minority Groups 14 The School and Involuntary Minorities 15 The School ~nd Indigenous Minorities in Thailand and Taiwan 18 CH.\pTER II METHODOLOGY 20 Preliminary Field Research 20 Selection of sites an& Observations 22 Interviews 24 • CHAfTER III THAILAND Education Moral Education Northern Thailand Three Ethnic Groups--the Akkha, the Karen, and the Hmong 27 31 32 37 48 • • Official Highland Policy CHAPTER IV MO~~ EDUCATION IN THAI~~D'5 PRlMARY SCHOOL5 Ethnic Thai School Hill Tribe Schools Discussion CHAPTER V TAIWAN Education Moral Education MajoritY/Minority Ethnic Relations Two Ethnic Groups--the Amei and the Paiwan Official Highland Policy Highland Educational Policy CHAPTER YI MORAL EDUCATION IN TAIWAN'S PRlMARY SCHOOLS Ethnic Chinese School Hill Tribe Schools Discussion CONCLUSION REFERENCES APPENDICES 55 68 69 75 103 108 110 114 120 128 132 142 144 144 151 171 173 179