雅歌私塾的部落格

A Review of the Process of the Educational Reformation of Arco School

Introduction

On April 10, 1994, a mass parade was organized in Taipei to demand reform in the education policies to ensure that a student could have a childhood that was happy and healthy. This organization- the League of 410 Education Reform, called for participants in all areas to join the movement. One of their leaders, Yu-Yen Liu劉玉燕, an educator in early childhood education, came to Hsin-Chu to look for someone to take charge in this area. In response to Liu’s request, Der-Jen Sun, an educator who was trained in the United States and was teaching at National Hsin-Chu Teachers College, agreed to devote her efforts in promoting a new education reform in Hsin-Chu.

In 1995, the ARCO Declaration was proposed. Based on the theory of Multiple Intelligences, Der-Jen Sun designed a school that sought to enhance student’s capabilities and motivation in learning. This project began within a public school and later became Arco School, one of the four alternative schools that created a profound impact on education reform in Taiwan.

Arco School, the first MI school in Asia, was established to create an elementary school that would satisfy students, teachers, and parents simultaneously. In order to understand the problems in the school system and implement a theory into practice, the founder traveled all over the country. She listened to the problems teachers encountered, and gave seminars to empower their ability in teaching. Finally, she completed a curriculum that was easy to approach students and more effective in learning achievement.

Shan-Hu Branch School was the first elementary school to implement the Arco Declaration and the results were impressive. However, the operation lacked an environment that could accept people who wished to join in or walk out, including both teachers and students. In other words, while there were no extra openings for people on the waiting list, there was a group of people who could not leave. This then created a need to set up an alternative school that allowed this choice.

A Historical Background

Teachers College Kindergarten 1994

Dr. Der-Jen Sun was the first educator to bring the theory of Multiple Intelligences to Taiwan. She first introduced this theory to six teachers in the kindergarten where they conducted an experiment with an interdisciplinary approach. The mission of the experiment was to explore the function of art education to elevate academic achievement. The outcome received a positive response, and people involved requested the curriculum to extend to the elementary level.

Shan-Hu Branch School 1995

Mr. Fan Chen-Tsung范振宗, the Governor of Hsin-Chu County, was delighted to hear of the Arco Declaration and decided to support this reform movement. In 1995, he offered a reputable public elementary school for Sun to carry out the vision. However, to everyone’s surprise, Sun declined the one offered, and chose Shan-Hu Branch School, a forgotten school in a remote area with only 11 students left. 

She began teachers’ training in the summer and organized a group of parents to prepare the learning environment, and created a curriculum that was new to anyone. The mission of the experiment continued to explore the function of art education to elevate academic achievement, and to develop the application of character education as the core to a curriculum. Many people did not understand what MI theory was, but were attracted by the fact of a new school that could bring hope to them.

At the time Sun began the experiment, student enrollment immediately increased six times. Shan-Hu Branch School attracted the attention from media and people from other cities came to observe the operation. The whole school was excited in unfolding a curriculum that was creative and inspiring. For example, the commencement service, an activity that often seemed boring to students in the past, now turned out so impressive that children often talk about it and will never forget it. The classes were full of surprises that turned students into active learners. Textbooks were put away and the materials for learning were folded inside a series of activities. Students now loved to go to school and stayed focused in order to make new discoveries.

Being a branch school, Shan-Hu had limited room to accommodate students. Pressure was gradually built up as people crowded to observe and learn and parents move from out of town in order to enroll their children. The increased reputation came too soon that soon everyone in the school felt overwhelmed.  The teachers were especially burdened. The desire for privacy emerged, and some teachers called for a stop.  

The curriculum of the experiment seemed to impact children in a way beyond comprehension. Children were too happy that parents could not image how they would survive when entering middle school that was not meant to be a happy time in life. To parents’ annoyance, students who were obedient before now began to express their feelings and their thinking.  They were reluctant to see the change of life and wished to move out of the experiment. Sun tried to explain to the parents that the way to effective learning did not have to sacrifice happiness and that the building of character could only progress when children began to think. However, what she said did not make sense to people at that time.

Another problem was that the teachers at Shan-Hu were there before the experiment began. Many of them chose to teach at a remote school for their own personal reasons. Therefore, to carry on of the experiment for the second year became an issue for some who did not wish to continue, and there was no law to transfer those teachers who wished to leave. There was a need for a new place that all students and teachers had a choice to attend or not to participate.

Chung-Lin Campus 1997

In 1997, Arco School was founded when students who wished to continue the experiment split from Shan-Hu. It was a painful decision to make because there was no other legal campus to accommodate this experiment, and the only way to implement the vision was to take people who wished to join. The separation happened at a time of election when the new Governor came from another party, and the walking away from Shan-Hu turned Arco into an illegal school. Students immediately were forced to go back to their regular school, yet all of them rejected. The media and people who cared for Arco raised their voices to support Arco. Principals from some other cities offered a cover to accept Arco students through a process similar to home schooling. Students were only required to go back to those schools to take tests according to the school calendar. There was a threat for the founder to be put in jail, if arrested. Parents gave their words to protect the founder and vowed to go to jail together.

Besides the political and legal situation, Arco unfolded a most beautiful picture. The word ‘crisis’ in Chinese means danger but also opportunity. The process of the reformation forced us to go through a series of problem-solving sessions while forming the new school.  The lack of resources challenged the teachers to create opportunities from zero. The way the teachers handled the crisis and the wisdom in making things possible provided great examples for the students and the legacy was passed on. 

Arco had an impressive way to launch its first semester. The year Arco withdrew from Shan-Hu, nothing physical was taken away. Chung-Lin Campus was an empty house in need of all kinds of materials to make it a school. A principal from another school kindly offered some recycled desks for Arco students. Seeing the desks were not pleasing to students’ eyes, parents were willing to pay for new desks. Sun suggested that it was not necessary and predicted that children would compete for the worst ones. Parents wondered what kind of magic would happen.

By the third year our theme was “let us make a difference.” During the first week, when students saw the piles of desks n the yard, they asked if they could use them. Sun replied with a story and told students that there was going to be a chance to adopt some desks that were not perfect any more. Only those who had a heart for the poor should apply to be the master of one of these desks. Before and after pictures would be taken of the desks after one week’s time.  Students were very interested in taking the recycled desks and many asked for the worst one. In the following week, parents were amazed with their children’s passionate behavior. Students washed their desks, sanded the rugged surface, filled the cut scars and repainted anew. Letters were written to each desk to show empathy and words granted to assure their proper care in the future. It was during this kind of interaction that students learned to cherish something that seemed wretched and knew that inside every life, there could be a beautiful untold story.

Parents came to nail the blackboard and students decorated the classroom. A field was rented to make a playground. Three former bedrooms were turned into small classrooms, the living room was designed as a multi-function hall that could be a meeting area or a place for indoor performances, and the kitchen was sometimes used for private sessions. The yard was covered as a big porch and podium set to make a stage. A large room was arranged to be the library where many students could read, and a small room was the office.

The point of no return--The resignation

For the two years at Chung-Lin, Arco received nice complements and was awarded some honors and some grants to carry out its dream. However, the status of not being registered was a shadow to all. It finally reached the point of no return that the founder had to make a sacrifice in resigning her college post if Arco was to keep going. The making of this decision was of high concern among people who cared for Arco and Sun. The local newspaper gave half a page to announce and discuss the resignation.  

The resignation did not save Arco from its illegal position in the eyes of the government. A committee was formed from the bureau of education to evaluate Arco. The first thing some officer did was measure the stairway, and then immediately disqualified the school. Parents tried to persuade the committees about how well their children were doing at this school and that they really did not want to see the school terminate. The appeal was refuted and the house scheduled to be torn down.

Invitation to Hsin-Chu City

Not long before this evaluation, the Mayor of Hsin-Chu City, Mr. Tsai came to visit Arco. He had heard of Arco’s achievements and was quite impressed with Dr. Sun’s educational philosophy. In order to listen and discuss educational issues with Sun, he made an official visitation to Arco. His panel expected that his stay would be no more than ten minutes yet it turned out to be a whole afternoon. He listened and asked questions regarding how to make Hsin-Chu City a place for gentlemen through education. He then invited Arco to relocate to his city.

Er-May Campus 2000

The relocation of the campus was not easy and the space offered did not seem practical, and Arco needed a place to move out immediately. Land at Er-May Township was offered to solve the crisis and Arco’s team built the squatters in a forest (in 45 days) to greet a new era. Besides the construction of the classrooms, Arco enjoyed the making of the school and put together everything they needed. The path between classrooms were grounded, paved with bricks and surrounded with green grass. All classrooms were one story so that there was no need for a stairway, and there was ample space for kids to run and to explore. Teachers were challenged to use all the space available as a possible classroom in replacing the regular classroom setting. Students could have class basically anywhere the teachers wished and the discoveries could happen anywhere as they were observing.

By this time, the older children were started graduating. An examination was conducted to see if they had developed sufficient competence to fit well into their next level of education. The requirement was to complete a biography in which each life was examined for the past 11 years: how he was educated, what he believed, what his dream was, and what type of character he had developed. In the graduate ceremony, this presentation was projected on the screen while the student played a movement of music on stage.

Every crisis in the history was like throwing a lemon at Arco roughly, yet Arco caught it with faith and made it into a cup of lemonade with gratitude. Each time when the hardship caused another reset for the experiment, it revived the inner strength and brought forward another step in the development of the curriculum.

      Er-May Arco was regarded a legend in the field of education. The Ministry of Education gradually noticed what Arco had accomplished in educational reform and appointed Sun to the MOE Committee. The Arco experience was shared to those struggling in seeking a quality education. The regulation for registration now was liberated again in some aspect, yet Arco was in need of a piece of land suitable for school use. And the financial situation was becoming more severe. It came the time for the liberation of a law permitted a chartered school. An invitation came from the newly elected Governor, Mr. Yung-Chin Cheng鄭永金 who proposed a plan to the County Council and decided to appoint Da-Ping Elementary School as a chartered school where Arco may take charge. Da-Ping was another remote school that needed some help in restoration. To prevent it from closing, the principal went to Arco and asked for the training of teachers to copy the curriculum. It was then considered an opportunity for the merging of the two schools. The residents at Da-Ping were mixed with joy and anxiety: some were grateful for a good curriculum and that resources would be merged.  Others were afraid that Da-Ping might lose its name. An agreement was reached to merge Arco into Da-Ping and Arco’s name was only used for the foundation that ran the chartered school.

Da-Ping Elementary School 2002

      Arco finally had a legal campus and was in the system again. There was something even more attractive, it was now a public school so parents had no obligation to pay for the tuition. The number of students increased to its full capacity, 106. Arco devoted all it had to make Da-Ping a public version of Arco. It was a great risk for Arco in case Da-Ping regretted in the future and decided not to continue Arco’s way. However, a grain of wheat could only bear more when it was buried into the soil. The founding of Arco was to impact the system Arco took the chance.

      The time Arco moved in with Da-Ping, the atmosphere of Taiwan’s education reform was maturing. People enrolled their children mostly after they had some knowledge about MI theory. It was expected to be a different situation so that the Shan-Hu effect would not be replicated. Nevertheless, the curriculum received admiration from outside yet was questioned from inside by the teachers. Some Da-Ping teachers were concerned about the family diversity and unconsciously discriminating two types of students. Students from Arco were therefore regarded as the fortunate group and received more accusations that rarely happened at Arco. Teachers from Arco were challenged with bi-culture integration that they needed to work very hard to resolve the threat from the host teachers, and to elevate students who were so much behind their peers in learning. The bi-cultural interaction consumed a great deal of time and energy even though everyone considered themselves highly supportive of the program.

      The most striking factor was the failure to accommodate the founder into the administrative post. Governor Cheng at the final minute stated that he was not able to transfer the previous principal to another school, according to the contract. All of a sudden, the entire situation turned complicated yet the move had been done and there was no way to reverse it. Sun accepted the fact with great determination and led the project as a project advisor. With high respect from everyone at the school, every thing seemed to continue the way it was planed except that Sun had no authority in administration and there was no salary. It had been ten years since she returned to Taiwan and dived into education reform, the dedicated and stressful living now consumed her health into a critical situation and Sun was forced to retreat in order to recuperate. Starting in 2003, Sun stayed in the States and came back to Da-Ping during the summer and winter vacations to conduct seminars.

      The way Da-Ping continued the experiment was still considered a success to the public’s eyes. Since the cost of tuition was the same as a public school, the parents were content with what Da-Ping could provide and the demand for a real Arco type education gradually reduced. After a time those who once studied at Arco graduated from Da-Ping and the Arco School rested in history.