This site includes my past two decades' teaching-n-leaning in Social Science fields, Educational Technology, Art, and some of my cross-cultural observations, non-academic/cultural critics, and pasquinades (after retired). At the current stage, no guest blogs. No advertisements. All rights are reserved.
One country has 24 million people, territory, sovereignty, democratic processes of electing people's representatives, military, universal health care system, with the 5th largest GDP in Asia and 18th-largest in the world by purchasing power parity. Taiwan a good member of the international community, is included in the advanced economies group by the International Monetary Fund.
People in Taiwan enjoy freedom, high quality of education and living conditions with tenacity in protecting GLBTQA/minority rights, animal rights, and promoting green energy, environmental sustainability in records.
While the other Big country, overpopulated with 1.4 billion, anti-democracy, totalitarian controlling its people without the basic 1st Amendment's contents. The oppressed people in Hong Kong, Xingjian, Tibet are silenced, imprisoned and/or tortured...
It is the world fast growing, luring many people to dig money, yet, the largest polluting country with records of animal and human right abusing cases...and the rest.
Money of a big country does talk loud, but people cannot create wealth and safety by eating money alone.
Which one is a de jure nation?
Krystal LC Huang Doesn't Taiwan, a thriving nation for the sound democracy, deserve the world's recognition, not only acknowledgement?
Krystal LC Huang Some background info regarding the legitimacy of a nation: CCP, originating from a puppet insurgent-organization of the Russian Soviet, or a democratic Taiwan : the international status, embedded in historical complexity (or some, refer to ROC): https://en.wikipedia.org/.../United_Nations_General...
The Literate Butcher 知青屠夫 with a vernacular sociological perspective (i.e., non-academically).
(Written In English, translated in Mandarin with a minor interpretation).
A familiar saying goes, “Well begun is half done, “ which inspires people to be proactive and well prepared themselves at the very beginning of any tasks. But what if it turns out to be obstacles for the intended consequences?
Recently, some stories have been reported that well-invested education does not meet with its return on investment (RIO). I read several anecdotes about it. Yes, they are not personal issues, but institutional, structural. These cases have a commonality associated with life chance/opportunity and social mobility. One of these episodes is about Mr. Bu Xuen Zhao. Through an interview with a mass media agency (attached below), I got more information that provided me to write this article.
Before tackling Mr. Zhao’s case, some taken for granted notions need to be clarified here. Generally speaking, how many college graduates are able to apply what they learned from school to make a living and create a life? Except those professional subject matters, such as medicinal sciences, engineering, laws, technological relevant fields, other majors, like humanities, social sciences, tend to face job- marketability issues. Recently I read an anecdote, regarding a professional couple who urged their children never to touch career-unmarketable majors. Their motto to children is “Be mastered at engineering, physics, chemistry, and technology, then, never have you to worry about the rest of your life…” This type of seeing higher education being the pathway to build a career future seems nothing unusual. As to the ultimate purposes of education, turn unpractical, if not unreachable goals.
According to the origin and meaning of education by online etymology, “Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs, habits and personal development.” Higher education is not equivalent to the job training center, though the training is part of Education. There are many majors and minor fields in most colleges and universities. Some of them directly relate to the job markets, while, others, do not. Many college graduates find the Commencement Ceremony that is the inception to learn how to "live" or survive, including myself who, having been teaching for twenty two years of social sciences, questioning if liberate one's mind as the ultimate mission of education...
Mr. Zhao grew up in a poor farm family in China. Through his endeavors, he passed the throat-cutting national entrance examination to a top school -the Beijing University, with a literature major. Such a success was a rare surprise to his village. His friends and folks wholeheartedly celebrated this high achievement.
After graduating, he was assigned a non-promising job out of boondocks, seemingly without any advancement hopes. Then he quit. When a man loses his job, marriage and family can turn into another foe. Through twists and turns of life challenges, he divorced, and ended up in a market, selling pork as his last straw. Though he worked hard to saving face by hiding the secret of his academic identity, people did dig out something about him. Some sneered at him, while others sarcastically murmured, " what a waste of the country's resources, and now come here to competing with our butchering jobs..."
One day, a villager came to town, accidentally discovering Mr. Zhao who, with the thick black-frame eyeglasses, steamed with the moisture of sweats, lowered his head, gingerly cutting a piece of pork while chatting with the costumers with gentle voices. The villager at the beginning, could not believe his own eyes. After several careful glances, he confirmed what he saw. Then, he reluctantly shared the information to Mr. Zhao's aging father. The senior Mr. Zhao took the villager's words as nonsense. But rumors spread to his ears more often. The senior decided to dispute the fake news. He gathered some money, all the way to the town, peeping at his dear son's working conditions. He shook his head, with tears, silently went back home.
He did well through his efforts and knowledge. Great success comes to him in the pork business. He became a celebrity from both camps of respect for his accumulated wealth and being belittled for his butcher’s job inconsistent with his high educational achievement. The title - Beijing Butcher was stuck to him.
Since he was famous, he was invited back to Beijing university to give a talk. On the podium, the first sentence he uttered was “I am ashamed of myself to disgrace my alma mater for being a pork vendor…”
Most people believe that a good education gives one more opportunity to land a better job which affects one’s upward social mobility in enhancing his/her social status. Sociologists tend to use education and occupation to examine one’s social class. This is encouraging news, particularly, to the societies that are more open, and personal talent-and-efforts in competing for a job are more fairly evaluated.
故事到此告一段落, 現在就開始比較枯燥的社會學分析: Mr. Zhao' story ended here. The following sections are some of my sociological observations:
In some conditions, the above “good education yields better life chance/opportunities” assumption might not be true when taken out of some social contexts for a couple of reasons.
The first context is the socially constructed occupational hierarchy. In most societies, people recognize all occupations are important; all walks of life are equally significant to humanity. Nevertheless, across all human societies, rank-and-ordering occupations based on prestige and/or income are a common phenomenon. Some jobs offer more income and/or prestige, which tend to require more educations, training, experience, and the rest of desirable occupational qualities. Thus, these jobs, usually, are not abundant, thus, competitive. Particularly, people tend to prefer jobs that will not make fingers dirty, thus, white-collar jobs can be more attractive than blue, pink-collar ones.
The following chat is the job ranking based on prestige in the US.
The following ranking is based on job compensation in China:
Most people believe that the best-qualified applicant gets the best job. This assumption usually is based on the meritocratic ideal which is rooted in a myth of the leveled playing field for the pursuant. Every competitor stands at the same starting points. The competing process is nothing to do with social class, race, ethnicity, gender, language, nationality, politico-economic structures…etc. diverse bio-social advantages or constraints, nor treated accordingly. For example, in 1951, Ms. Rosaline Franklin, a well-educated scholar from an upper-middle-class, joined the Biophysical Laboratory at King's College, London, as a research fellow. She applied X-ray diffraction methods to the study of DNA. At that time, very little was known about the chemical makeup or structure of DNA. Her contribution to the research team was not much recognized. Dr. Watson's well-read book, The Double Helix, has slightly depicted the gender discrimination surrounding her.
This event happened in the mid-20th century, not to mention, the old-style societies of which the aftermath is still lingering in the 21st century, such as ancient Egypt, Greco-Roman-Judeo Christian eras, Hindu, China, and the rest, there, classism, racism, genderism, imprisoned humans in the ideological inferno for thousands of years.
Setting aside these old practices, other contemporary events, such as the 1944 G.I. Bill of the US. It rewards the service people to pursue higher educations with taxpayers’ paychecks. Later, due to the demands of wars, more minorities had opportunities to join the military. Many of them earned 2-year, 4-year degrees with knowledge and skills to improve their destinies. Unfortunately, the racial ideology prohibited the public and private sectors to hire colored people. Here, a fact, again, education does not guarantee occupational accessibility. The intensified problems led to 1961 President Kenney’s signing of the Affirmative Action act. It banned discrimination against a person’s race, gender, religion, nation origins in their education and career pursuit. Later, President Jonson also signed several similar acts to protect minorities ’ rights.
Nevertheless, making law and enacting it have different stories to tell. Several cases regarding college admissions outstand others, such as Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978), a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. It upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission. Bollinger vs. the University of Michigan was another Supreme Court case regarding the undergraduate affirmative action admissions policy. In a 6-3 decision announced on June 23, 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that the university's point system was too mechanistic and therefore unconstitutional. In the career domain, such as Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557 (2009), is a United States labor law case. It was about twenty city firefighters at the New Haven Fire Department, nineteen white and one Hispanic, who 1`claimed discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 after “they had passed the test for promotions to management positions and the city declined to promote them. New Haven officials invalidated the test results because none of the black firefighters who took it scored high enough to be considered for the positions.” (Refer to "Supreme Court Hears Major Civil Rights Cases", National Public Radio, April 21, 2009.)
Thus, the invented term – Reverse Discrimination, gains momentum.
Grievances due to injustice may find collective actions or social movements, such as picketing, demonstration, protest, strike, to reform/revolution that tend to occur in a society that its political milieu allows them to happen. Social change has a tendency to progress slowly, sometimes, even one step forward and two steps back, for change does not come easily.
上面的圖中, 用三個國家代表三個基本基本的主要模型. 社會的流動是基於一個社會的開放性程度. 越開放的國家, 人民的社會流動比較容易發生. 社會流動有下面幾個類型: 向上社會流動, 向下社會流動, 平層流動, 世代間的社會流動, 本代的社會流動, 和結構性的社會流動. 上圖中 最左邊的是種姓制度, 以印度為代表. 各種姓階層與次階層之間, 是用實隔開封鎖, 表示幾乎沒有社會流動的可能性. 中間是階級社會, 以美國為代表, 各個社會階級之間有相當的流動性, 因為美國是一個比較開放的社會. 左邊是混合性的階級社會, 是指在最高階層的權貴階級, 要進入此階層是非常的不容易, 日本昭和天皇裕仁等的皇后美智子, 是日本有史以來第一位平民嫁入皇族. 曾引起非常多的爭議. 再者最近的 梅根馬克爾(Meghan Markle) 嫁入英國皇室, 也是鬧得沸沸騰騰. 這可顯示這類型的向上流動機率很小, 但是以下的階層, 只有較多的社會流動社會流動. In the above picture, the possibility of social mobility, first of all, depends on the openness of a society. There are several types of social mobility: vertical social mobility (upward and downward), and horizontal social mobility, intergenerational, intragenerational, and structural social mobility. In a caste system, for example, India, among castes and sub-castes, are separated by the solid lines, which means the mobility is constrained. In a more open society, such as the US., social mobility is frequent, particularly, horizontal mobility. The UK represents a mixed type of stratification. Most commoners are difficult to move into the royal/noble class, such as the controversies happening to the first commoner 美智子／みちこ married to the Japanese Emperor 明仁／あきひと, and recently, Meghan Markle married to Prince Harry. Mobility tends to happen under the royal class.
Sociologists also investigate how cultural capital correlates to one’s life chance and opportunities to access the scarce and desirable social resources, such as the quality of education. health care, and jobs. Cultural capital (can be positive, or negative), as mentioned before, is an interlocked package of social capital, financial capital, psychological capital, to name a few, which is invisibly passed on from generation to generation like a very long distance’s relay race. Among them, social networking is a significant one to affect job seeking.
Most employers emphasize EEOE (equal employment opportunity employer) as an important hiring policy to cast a bigger net for applicants. But depending on the nature of the jobs, how fair in selecting prospects with less implicit biases of the members of the hiring committee can be another issue.
雖然一般的聘用公司, 強調每個申請人, 在接受審查申請書時的機會平等, 或在升遷考核的情況下, 依據審核標準保持公正. 但是, 又能如何保證聘僱/升遷審核委員會的委員, 每一位都是大公無私, 沒有內心潛在的對申請人的家世背景, 種族, 族群, 地域, 性別, 體態, 語言腔調等等的偏好, 或控制得住不易察覺, 或不能得知的下意識和潛意識中的些微偏見或喜好 (Implicit Biases) ; 或者密而不宣, 可做不可說地順從公司的潛規則, 以避免節外生枝或者吃上官司, 而採取的兩面作業. 尤其是在一些比較封閉傳統的社會, 又能如何避免人際關係的巴結關說, 或內部內定操作? To give a concrete explanation, in the following section, I used a real-life example from one of students’ writing assignments/hands-on projects of my Diversity Studies course, happening in a more open and fairer society. For the writing assignment, the worksheets were attached below.
在此, 就用一個真實的例子, 並且是發生在一個比較公開公平的社會. 在我的多元化社會的理論與實際的課程中 (at a Tech College, assignments/projects take more instructions), 有一項作業是學生每週要寫發生在生活中與這個課程的主題有關的生活小故事. 作業的格式如下.
Most of the students’ reading-writing assignments and other hands-on projects are kept confidential when submitted. But if students felt comfortable sharing, the extra points might be earned. One of the assignments was from a non-traditional student (adult students, usually have jobs, family, and children, for example). S/he was a supervisor of a restaurant. On an occasion, s/he and the other two supervisors were on a hiring committee to select a new supervisor. From more than a hundred applications, one would be chosen. During the first step of screening, s/he noticed that consciously or unconsciously, the names of the applicants sounded foreign or unconventional would be set aside into a pile, then they kept on the following steps for the suitable applicants. This student wrote about his/her “cognitive dissonance” between theories learned in the classroom and what happened in reality. S/he found something was not right, but due to one among three, as a “minority” himself/herself at that moment, s/he kept silent. Surely, this type of event might be anecdotal.
There are many students’ genuine stories in my assignment folders. If appropriate, I might share in the future.
In Mr. Zhao’s case, happening in a society, strongly values careers related to the officialdom or aristocratic, intellect, white-collar jobs. Particularly, when one’s educational background ascends to a higher level, the corresponding occupations tend to be scarcer, also depending on the marketability of the discipline. Without better network support (as part of the cultural capital), individual’s endeavors to land a desirable job tend to be more vulnerable than those who have strong supports from various cultural capital, for example, the sons and daughters of the high rank-n-file CCP politburo, having better opportunities to be assigned or arranged to a nicer job. Furthermore, Zhao’s country is renowned for the power of “human connections, 禮多人不怪; 衙門有人好辦事; 朝中無人莫做官, 做官會斷腸/腦, 陽奉陰違等等, bestowing gifts, providing extra services, offering under table red-envelopes, being a smiling tiger and so on so forth human relations lubricants” to survive better in society. If you read the Analects of Confucius or Lun Yu (論語) and other relevant classics, you find that the core of such an enculturation process is all about dealing with HUMANS to every bit of subtlety, whether voluntary or involuntary relations or connections.
Though there are many ways to build connections beneficial for careers, the family’s accumulated connective capital turns to be handy and effective.
Secondly, it also depends on the extent of Individual’s internalization of the occupational value. According to research, parents’ education and occupation have strong correlation with those of the children’s.
The intergenerational upward social mobility tends to be sluggish, even stagnated, particularly in the lower parts of social classes. Parents’ inadequate education, health care, and job resources have impacts on children’s cognitive, physical, and psychological development. As the most important socialization agents, parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and democratic modes) may affect children’s social values, morality, and the outlook of the world, including the perception of career choices. In this case, the saying, “Well begun, half done” can be interpreted in different light. To be born into a specifically “desirable” social class, race/ethnicity, gender, ability/disability, nationality, locality, even religion and so on with abundant resources, it may bring forth much more than the “half done.”
In Mr. Zhao’s case, he has a humble upbringing, but the conventional job preference related to white-collar, officialdom is valued, even China gradually develops into a capitalist society (under Marx-Lenin’s ideological control.) He does succeed in upward social mobility in terms of educational advancement, compared to his father’s, and later, through his efforts in the meat business, Mr. Zhao added his fortunes to his educational achievement.
Nevertheless, Mr. Zhao’s speech to his Alma Mater expressed an uneasy concern which, a sociology jargon names it as - the status consistency. In a traditional society, the wealth, power, and prestige present the state of status consistency, mainly, because the social mobility tends to be low or rare. The wealth can be converted into power and prestige to manifest its consistency. In the non-caste society, or class society, most people have higher level of mobility than that of the rigid societies. Though the old Chinese Dynasties offered the Entrance Examination (with multiple politico-economic functions) for everyone to compete positions of the officialdom – considered the most desirable career, the nation-wide race was horrendously harsh. Only a tiny cream of the crop from the low classes would be able to win the game. These from-ragged-to-fame-and-power stories have the similar undertone with the Horatio Alger’s. They tend to be exaggerated to exemplify the saying, “Heaven helps those how help themselves; Where there is a will, there is a way” to encourage the powerless with the hope of an upward social mobility. In the contemporary society, social resources are less dominated by the privileged classes than before, more commoners have more life chances/opportunities in engaging various types of social mobilities, thus, status inconsistency happens more often than that of the conventional societies.
The issue is that educational advancement cannot guarantee a desirable job launching! Educational competition is different from the occupational rivalry. The former is a necessary competing factor, but, insufficient to be a successful seeker in job hunting. The gatekeepers of the latter are much tighter in terms of the invisible (implicit biased) scrutiny of social class, race, gender, physicality, geo-locality, language, social network capital, and the rest of bio-social qualities. The gatekeeping is much more subjective than the former’s objective, impartial National Exam, not only because the socio-economic resources are limited, but also to the individual’s competing in the distribution of the desirable yet very scarce conditions. I would use one of the most famous examples relating to the above phenomenon from a classic novel – “Dream of the Red Chamber”. In the novel, the Jia is a very aristocratic family with tremendous wealth, power, and prestige, divided into two branches, the Houses of Ning and Rong (寧國府 and 榮國府). The Jia families enjoyed five generations of fame and prosperity. Tracing back to the origin of such a long-lasting fortune and status, you will find that one of Jia’s women got a chance to be the crown prince’s nanny. The nanny Jia’s two boys turned into the crown prince’s playmates. They built a genuine friendship. Later, these two brothers helped the emperor (the crown prince) dealing with many important tasks and were appointed with noble ranks with extreme fortunes. The two brothers were the heads of the Houses of Ning and the House of Rong. Later, one of daughters of the Jia’s family married to an emperor. Thus, the power of the Jia family ascended sky-high. Yes, this is just an episode of how luck would bring forth success. Perhaps, the truer could be that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
In short, to launch a desirable job or career requires both the necessary and sufficient factors. The necessary part is controllable by individuals’ endeavors and/or talents, while the sufficient “gray zone” is more complex, enticing a whole “proper” package of visible or invisible class, race, gender, physicality, ability/disability, sexuality, linguistic conditions, locality, ideologies…etc. depending on what the employer’s looking for. In addition to the above conditions, one more IMPORTANT factor which may play a key role yet is so elusive - LUCK!
Last but not the least, in addition to the elusive “LUCK”, are the institutional factors, such as making society more open to fair competition for upward social mobility. In the past, the much-closed caste system of India, the strictly stratified society of China for examples, countless powerless people were locked in the dark, hopeless strata, endured forever human shackles in poverty, diseases, violence, and ignorance. Social mobility was rare, even non-existing. Even in 1948, India banned the practice of caste system, thousands of ingrained ideologies made the privileged castes unable to accept such a reality. Many confrontations occurred, and some of the practices are still lingering today. Thus, social reforms tend to encounter the conservative’s disagreements or sabotages, except in the authoritarian/totalitarian regimes that coerce people with politico-military force to reach their goals. Then, the extreme and rare method is Revolution, a scary word frightening most people for the potentially massive upheavals ending in bloodshed. Thus, most civilized societies take alternative routes through better education, improving living conditions to gradually increase the possibility of reforms to reduce grievance and wasting human capital due to the unjust or unfair treatment to people.
The complexity to discern personal efforts and/or situational factors relating to achievements in the pursuit of wealth, prestige, and power is like Nature vs. Nurture debates. Most people admire, even worship the highly achieved individuals who tend to be deemed as intelligent, diligent, self-made heroes/heroines. Furthermore, some achievers tend to attribute their accomplishments because of personal efforts.
究竟一個人的成就, 有多少是基於個人的努力與天份, 多少是因為經社環境因緣際會的配合促成? 這個問題就像是長久以來對 Nature vs. Nurture 的辯論一樣, 似乎永遠沒有答案.
A social psychological term – fundamental attribution error (FAE), also known as correspondence bias or attribution effect, refers to the tendency of people to under-emphasize situational and environmental explanations for an individual's observed behavior while over-emphasizing dispositional and personality-based explanations.
I would like to refer to sociologist C. Wright Mills who propounds a perspective – Sociological Imagination which may be a stronger approach to understanding FAE. He argues that many of our particular success or failures are not unique to us as "psychological issues" but are the result of larger social trends. In other words, the tendency to believe that what people do reflects who they are, that is, their personality or bio-genetic attributes, rather than put the circumstances or socio-historical contexts into account, which simplifies the complex issues. This aspect resonates with the above-mentioned concept of how the invisible cultural capital correlating to a person’s life chance and opportunities, entices the sociological imagination to see what is going on in the world, affecting individuals’ daily life. He suggests that by turning personal problems into public issues, the sociological imagination also is the key to bringing people together to create necessary social change.
A couple of days ago, a post on Facebook by the fight for the $15 group reflects FAE which also includes two major terms of sociology – the ascribed vs. achieved status.
幾天前, 有有一個叫做 “為15元而戰” 的組群, 在臉書上貼了一張圖畫:
In the picture, the red-orange-yellow circle refers to an individual’s success which is because pf personal traits: hard work, a can-do attitude, and gumption. Conversely, the FAE also explains when individuals fail in some deeds, then, they will attribute to external circumstances, such as unfair tests, unjust treatments, discrimination, etc.
The other green-blue circle may indicate how other people perceive the rich because of being born to lucky conditions, such as right skin color, right social class, right gender, right looking, right country…and the rest of Ascribed social statuses which are not through personal endeavors but by birth, through a lucky birth lottery. The green color implies the Achieved status based on the Ascribed to gain further “accomplishments”.
People are always different in various bio-psycho-social aspects which are the foundations of the Racial/Critical theory. Fairness or injustice, to what extent is implicated throughout human history, may not be easily identified in the contemporary society after many social reforms and implemented policies.
I had taught 12 years of Diversity Studies, and the critical theory/social conflict perspective scaffolded the course contents. The critical theory[1] is much related to the concept of ideology, particularly, hegemonic ideology and the false consciousness, derived from Marx’s ideas. It comprises of beliefs, values, norms, attitudes etc. held to be true or right of different human groups with variety of diversity and conflict. Due to the “reflective’ nature with the emancipatory elements, the conservative and the liberal hold different “world views” vs. understanding toward it.
[1] The Frankfurt school features of a critical theory consists of 1. It has special standing as guides for human actions in that (a) they are aimed at production-enlightenment in the agents who hold them, i. e., at enabling those agents to determine what their true interests are. (b) they are inherently emancipatory, i.e., they free agents from a kind of coercion which is at least partly self-imposed, from self-frustration of conscious human action. 2. Critical theory have cognitive content, i.e., thy are forms of knowledge. 3. Critical theories differ epistemologically in essential ways from theirs in the natural sciences. Theories is natural science are objective; critical theories are reflective (G. Raymond, 1989, p 2)
The controversies, denials, emotions, or even rejection regarding the conflict theory tend to stir up vehement debates/discussions in my classrooms. I designed a poster to visualize this issue.
基本上, the implicated subjects, 牽涉到的人事時地物, 時空的複雜錯綜交互反應的結果, 常常是課堂上爭論的火爆點. 有關細節我會在以後的文章裡面提到.
下面我嘗試用視覺的觀點, 來解釋上述狀況的一小部分:
When I was young, I wondered why the Buddha said, “All life is equal,” that made me wonder. Prince Siddhartha Gautama enjoyed everything that a royal could have, a beautiful wife and a son, the ruler-to-be of the kingdom. The wealth, power and status exactly accorded with his father’s design to prevent the astrologer’s prophesizing before his twenty-nine years of age. Then, one day, he went out of the palace to shockingly discover all sorts of suffering. Prince Siddhartha decided to find the truth, leaving all the desirable things that most people are eagerly to possess, behind. Don’t wealth, fame, power lure most people’s heart and soul? This is why I respect the prince so much!
Whereas, poverty, disease, and ignorance, don’t they, mainly, come from inequality, inequity through man-made social institutions or intentionally and unintentionally exploiting the powerless? As a person having a sociology major, “all life is equal” is unfathomable. I am seeking explanations to the above statement. One of the answers is that some equity or equality takes time to happen either through the advancement of education/enlightenment, or through social reforms/revolutions, because of a biological fact of human nature – selfishness and greed, entangling with a specific time-frame in a particular place.
In daily life, some old friends through different social media share nice words to console or comfort the frustrated or the despaired. These remarks, such as “you cannot change reality, accepting what given to you” and the like of passive thoughts, implicitly encourage people to accept the status quo, succumbing to the fate playing out your life. Many proses, poems written in literature, history (even in the post-modern Si-Fi movies, such as Arrival) amplified such a type of fatalistic philosophy bred in an extremely stratified/technologized society. These perspectives can soothe many suffering souls, like religion, being the opium for the oppressed.
But what perpetuates the powerless conditions may come from several sources, one of them, as John Stuart Mill’s remarks, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Martin Niemöller described it in more details:
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
This capuchin picked "grapes" and enjoyed them wholeheartedly. The joy is contagious and makes me very happy too. It is also an episode of a discussion on a basic concept of fairness and justice in my sociology and diversity studies classrooms. I posted a well-reviewed video to my classes and attached it below (can be controversial, because of "being in a lab on the specific capuchins"?)
I also found a capuchin, trained to do housework in a poor area, compared to the above grape-enjoying capuchin, this one seems less fortunate. Where and how to be born into, who is your dad, or mom, (and, if lucky enough, who is your husband, wife)...such as " 我爸是李剛, 我老媽是白富美., (運好的話, 加上我老公是高偉貴, 我老婆是錢多多)...等等" probably, determines quite a lot of the sentient beings' life opportunities and life chance... (yes, social class, race, gender...etc.)
Some have room for upward social mobility, while others, none, or very little (such as racial and class-castes in humans' societies)- through many gate-keepers and institutional- controllers. This can be a story of how liberals and conservatives can interpret it differently, and social reforms and social policies can be challenging and hard to be reified.
I commented on Facebook after sharing the above video, "So, why do people protest? Via individual's heroic way, or through collective/social movements, when the grievance is intolerable, when the political climate allows it to happen, well-organized, mobilized collective actions may result in enhancing the immune system to resist the deterioration of society."
Returning to the main theme, some individuals’ achievements under the limelight might be overly glorified as attributed to their personal qualities, excluding their advantageous birth lottery and cultural capital. On the other hand, others’ contributions to humanity are trivialized, ignored, and neglected because of the negatively ascribed statuses’ circumstances. How to explain that 3000 firefighters’ one-year salary is equivalent to an average CEO’s one month’s compensation?
Indeed, some people won’t mind how much the CEO get paid, since the overachievers tend to self-recognize (or are deemed) as highly intelligent, hardworking, and gumption and the like rare qualities. “Absolutely, we deserve to be paid much more!”
Whereas, what about without a high-paid executive for a week versus the garbage sanitation masters on strike for a couple of days? People may be against such an apple vs. orange comparison due to the nature of the “quality and qualification” of the job categories as mentioned in the previous section regarding the occupational ranking and ordering.
Though I respect the sanitation masters very much, I don’t downplay the importance of the leaders of an organization. I just try to answer why “all life is equal” with my own way. So, I design a calculator based on an average of a typical person’s contribution to society to see his/her earned achievement by using a part of the input-output model. In economics, this is a quantitative model representing the interdependencies between different sectors of a national economy or different regional economies. In my design, much a qualitative model, the concept of Interdependencies in the above economic model is emphasized sociologically. Particularly, the functional analysis and symbolic interaction perspectives are two of the main four sociological analytical tools/perspectives.
In the following picture, the first column is various types of input to a person which tend to the ascribed statuses or involuntarily assumed social statuses, the second column is the manufacturing box which includes myriads of socio-economic-cultural capital which is relevant to a person’s life chance, life opportunity, the outlook of social mobility, PLUS personal traits: such as dispositions, personality, motivation, ambition…etc. The last column is the output of many desirable or undesirable consequences, such as goods, services, or crimes…and so on.
There have three types of output (not including the unintended consequences): The first type is that a person’s input is greater than the output. The second condition is that a person’s input is approximately equivalent to the output. The third type is that a person’s input is less than the output.
因此有三種產能效果: 輸入大於輸出, 輸入差不多等於輸出, 以及輸入小於輸出.
Through this model, people are born in a different class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, physicality, religion, language, locality, and the rest of bio-social attributes, the output signifies what and who they and who should be valued or evaluated accordingly.
透過這個模式, 人類的先天與後天所造成的不平等, 經由個人對社會的輸出, 可以得到公正的理解.
In reality, we see some individuals who endowed and consume much more resources for various reasons than others, and if they contribute as much as what they consume, they are fine. If they contribute more than what they consume, they are nice, because their productivity benefits society and civilization can be progressive through their merits. If opposite, that is problematic. The squandering behaviors, unreasonable overconsumption deplete scarce/limited resources and impose tremendous stress to the ecosystem.
If people are deprived resources or with inadequate resources, and if the outcome is equivalent to the input, then they are good. But if they contribute more than the deprived input resources, they are great. If the output is less than the input, it is normal.
So, for example, when a person lacks quality education, health care, and job opportunities due to no fault of his/her own, but still contributes to society through a minimum wage, he/she is respectable. Conversely, a person born with the advantaged conditions in terms of class, race, ethnicity, locality, physicality, language, nationality, cultural capital…etc., plus personal high-quality traits, his/her success or achievements should be commensurate with the resources he/she is endowed, or obtains and consumes.
In this sense, there are numerous unknown heroes and heroines in every walk of life on this planet without glorious haloes, limelight, fame-n-wealth. They are at the bottom of the human pyramid, supporting the above super-structures. Most of them are kept there. To climb up the social ladder, like Mr. Zhao mentioned above, is an outlier, particularly in societies that are less open, have less room of upward social mobility. In human history, the 4 grand-scale of revolutions, one main purpose of them aimed at overthrowing the rigid social structures which privileged the dominant social class at the cost of sacrificing the massive, disadvantaged population. The idealism of pursuing equality and equity for human beings, thus, tends to attract well-educated, conscious, and conscientious individuals.
As to why there are numerous unknown heroes and heroines in many societies, the story can be long enough to be told. Perusing through human history, you find the four revolutions with one common purpose – to release the powerless, the exploited, the oppressed at the bottom of the food chain from the institutional injustice. To enhance the life chance/opportunity and social mobility, these revolutions brought forth tremendous upheavals and bloodsheds, whether in the beginning of the revolutions or the revolutions were done, due to the complexity of human nature or unpredictability of circumstances. A familiar proverb, “ The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, resonates with the above-mentioned conditions.
Indeed, in the human world, only a very few people are revolutionaries, and authentic ones are even rarer. Among them who could integrate theories, education, practice, organization, and actions to accomplish great tasks, if excluding current ideological discrepancies among groups and organizations within Taiwan and between two sides of the Taiwan Strait, I recognize Dr. Sun Yet-sen, being the one. Though he could be controversial due to the politico-economic complexity during that time, his establishing the very First Republic in Asia was a historically revolutionary event.
On October 10th, the courageous revolutionaries led by Dr. Sun Yet-sen overthrew the last - Qing dynasty in 1911, establishing the first Republic nation in Asia. Now Taiwan, based on her unique geo-historical condition in thriving for a democratic nation, reifying Dr. Sun’s legacy, continues being the beacon of freedom and democracy in the Far Eastern Asia.
In the end of this writing, I would like to quote one of Dr. Sun’s well-read advocacies of equity and equality for human beings in his Three People's Principles/Civil Rights Principles Third Lecture: ” I invented a principle in the past, saying that there are three groups of human population: the foresighted, the hind-sighted, and the unconscious (note, due to the interaction of the ascribed and achieved statuses). The first group is inventors, the latter is transmitters, and the unconscious group is the doers. To get work done entices the cooperation and coordination of these three types of people. Thus, the civilization of mankind can progress by leaps and bounds… Since humans are born with diverse conditions, enhancing equality and equity for everyone is the highest morality. Rational human beings will be treated as an end in themselves and not as a means to something else. To serve others, is to exist. Exploiting others has no place and shall not happen in human society. The able ones, contribute more; the lesser, serve as best as they can; even the plain ones, take good care of themselves. Thus, the ascribed advantaged and disadvantaged differences of socioeconomic statuses will be balanced out and find the midway to harmonize society."
拉雜地寫了一大串, 不如引用大家比較熟悉民權主義的第三講裡, 他言簡意賅地闡釋的平等精義, 作為本文的結語. 由於孫先生是學醫的, 也許對生物基因的做研究比較深入, 主張類似柏拉圖在其著作共和國中的人群三系 (Plato's ideal state was a republic with three categories of citizens: artisans, auxiliaries, and philosopher-kings). 但是對於形成階層的現象, 沒有文化歷史的釋因, 少有指出階層之間的垂直, 水平, 代間, 與結構性的流動的現象.
Conclusion: I am not a Christian, but I read this text into my heart: “…But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. “ (King James, Luke 12:48)
我雖然不是基督徒, 但是這句話深得我心, “那受到恩寵, 被給予愈多的, 應需多付出.” This is what I mean “the blessed are the servants of the unblessed.” 這正與老子所說 “既以為人己愈有, 既以與人己愈多”, 相輝映. 我想這平等的精義, 大概就是體現在佛陀所說的 ”眾生平等”, 老子所謂的 ”不積”, 耶穌所說的 ”恩寵與付出的平衡”, 以及孫中山先生所說的 ”巧者拙之奴”之中.
Crystal LC Huang, is a writer, folksong melophile, visual art/social science educator, and "poetic" cultural-n-social critic.
Teaching Experience:
Fall 2003 to Spring 2020, faculty professor, teaching Art Appreciation, American Government, Diversity Studies, Psychology, Sociology, and Social Problems via multiple delivery formats (course designer and facilitator for the face to face, online, hybrid, ITV -Youth Option, Web-conference, and Accelerated/Evening alternative methods) at Chippewa Valley Technical College. (During the above teaching career, I also completed my terminal degree in 2015 through being a part-time student for 10 years. This could be an answer to some friends' curiosity why I did not teach at the 4-year college? In fact, students and I have some similarity regarding SES at the 2-year college environment that sustains my teaching enthusiasm.)
Spring 2000 to spring 2003, Lecturer, Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Stout
95-97, TA at the Wayne State College, NE
1. Taught “Introduction to Visual Arts” sections 2. Assisted Design, and Painting studio courses 3. Conducted workshop for Information Literacy and Library Automated System
Professional Experience: 2000 to 2003, adviser of Undecided Student Advisement Program, UW-Stout
1999 to 2000, program coordinator at the Undecided Student Advisement Office,
College of Arts and Sciences, UW-Stout
Nov.1997 to Jan.1999, Computer Layout Specialist in the Composing Department and
lifestyle columnist in the Editorial Department of the Dunn County News, Menomonie, WI
1992-93, library assistant, UW-Madison
Civil Servant:
1. Supervisor, the Supervisory Committee of the Congressional Aide Association of the Legislative Yuan (首屆立法院國會助理協會監委 Congress of Taiwan), Taipei
2.Executive Secretary and member of Taipei Women Rescue Foundation (台北婦女救援會執行長)
3. Taiwan-China policy researcher at the Executive Yuan (研究考核委員會/大陸工作會報 - 陸委會前身 of the Central Government), Taipei
4. Journalist at the Ta Hwa Evening News, Taipei.
5. Cultural/English tour guide at the Ministry of Transportation, Taipei, Taiwan. (交通部導遊 英語組)
6. Military educator, and English/Japanese instructor.
Education:
(Luckily, I won a full scholarship to study abroad through a nation-wide competition in 1990.)
Ph.D. Learning Technologies (previous Instructional Systems and Technology) , Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 明尼蘇達大學科技教育研究所博士
Dissertation: Preferences, Pedagogical Strategies, and Challenges of Instructors Teaching in Multiple Delivery Formats within A 2-Year College Context
M.S. Ed., Art Education, Wayne State College, Nebraska with a minor in Computer Science. Research Project: Integrating Multimedia Technology into Art Curriculum with Classroom Implementation, 1997. 偉恩大學美術教育研究所碩士
M.S. Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Major: Social Psychology focusing on Social Movements Minors: Journalism and Women's Studies. Thesis Title: Multilevel Analysis of A Social Movement-1947, 228 Social Uprising in Taiwan, 1993. 威斯康辛大學社會學研究所碩士
M.S. Socio-political Science (the Graduate Institute of National Development), National Taiwan University. Thesis: Social Ideology and Gender Roles- Women's Issues in Contemporary society, 1986. 臺灣大學國家發展研究所碩士
Special Training. Major: Military Education. Political Warfare Academy, Army of Taiwan (due to a national crisis, I joined the Army Academy). 國防部政治作戰學院
B.A. Sociology, National Taiwan University. 臺灣大學社會學學士
Taipei Municipal First Girls' High School. 北一女
Areas of Interests
Innovation in Online Education Programs
TPACK Integration of Emerging Technologies
Equity and Quality of Diverse Learning in the Digital Age
Learning Technologies in the post-secondary educational setting
Interdisciplinary collaborative (Education, Social Science, and Technologies) Learning
Skills
Interpersonal, enthusiastic, and helpful with strong work ethics
Multiple language ability: Taiwanese, Mandarin, English, and Japanese
Have taken computer science as a minor (2001-2003). Knowledgeable of C++, JAVA, Assembly language and Web Design CMS/LMS: BlackBoard, WebCT, E360, Moodle, Joomla. General Software application: Multi-aid, QuarkXpress, Pagemaker.
2010,Hyperstudio, Inspiration and variety of social media applications
Authorize tools: Macromedia (DreamWeaver, and Flash) Web 3.0, Blog 2.0., Cloud Computing, Photoshop/Photodeluxe, Premiere, Illustrator
PC and Mac proficiency
Visual-art making (2-D: Calligraphy; drawing, traditional ink/painting and mixed media; 3-D: mainly, ceramics and other mixed media
Trained quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods
Statistic software: Spssx, MaxQDA2, and Minitab
Certificates:
Canvas/E360/BlackBoard/WebCT/Joomla - LMS (Learning management system) Teaching Certificates from UW-Stout and CVTC
Hybrid/blended and Web-conference training Certificates from CVTC
Quality Matters Certified Peer-Reviewer
Web Design and ITV Certificates from UW-Stout
General and Special Higher Civil Service Certificates from Taiwan
Academic Activities and Professional Development
Research, Papers, Posters, Projects, publications, and Professional Development
Book
1993, Title :The February 28, 1947 Uprising in Taiwan: A Multi-leveled Analysis of Collective Actions Author Li-Chin (Crystal) Huang Publisher: University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1993 Digitized Feb 19, 2008. Length 172 pages
2015, Dissertation: Preferences, Pedagogical Strategies,and Challenges of Instructors Teaching in Multiple Delivery Formats within A 2-Year College Context. Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction, Learning Technologies (previous Instructional System and Technology), University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
1997, Thesis Research Project: Integrating Multimedia Technology into Art Curriculum with Classroom Implementation. Wayne State College.
1986, Thesis: Social Ideology and Gender Roles- Women's Issues in Contemporary society. Socio-political Science (the Graduate Institute of National Development), National Taiwan University.
Research Papers/Publications, Posters, and Projects
2017, Internationalizing the Curriculum Conference, Panelist, 2017
Apr 13, 2017 publication description Crystal Li-chin Huang Learning-Teaching-Sharing Blog
2009, Title: “What is the Lived Experience of Designing and Teaching Multiple Delivery Methods -Live Meeting, Hybrid, Online, and Face To Face (f2f) within a Semester at a Technical College Setting”? Paper presented at the 2009 AECT International Convention, Louisville, KY Published in the Convention Proceedings, and in the ERIC http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED511355.pdf
2009, Title:Learning Information Technologies as Empowering Tools to Narrow the Gender Gap in the Rural-Urban Spectrum - a Review from Global to Domestic Perspective (Project Leader: Dr. Susan Walker) Paper presented at the 2009 AECT International Convention, Louisville, KY Published in the Convention Proceedings, and in the ERIC http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED511355.pdf
2008, Title: Green and Dao “The Wonder of the Tao-Six Meditation on Science, Spirit, and the Future of Economics” Presented at University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, 2008 http://tinyurl.com/XenaCrystalLCHuang-B
The next 5 research projects, due to my job descriptions (mainly, as hired in a Non-Research Institution of a 2-year college setting, the dir. of professional development (a male) at that time/2010, informed me that the school budget supported attendees, but not the researcher-presenters), I was unable to attend/present to the following conferences.
2015, Research proposal: Title: “How Could It Be, Two Identical Online Deliveries in One Composite, and One Did So Well, While the Other…” , accepted by Association of Educational Communication and Technologies (AECT) for presentation at the 2015 International Conference.
2010, Research proposal. Title: “Struggles and Triumphs– A Female Minority Social Science Instructor’s Reflection on Sociology Web-conference Course in Facilitating Disadvantaged Learners”, accepted by Association of Educational Communication and Technologies (AECT) for a presentation at the 2015 International Convention.
2010, Research proposal: Title: “From Quantity to Quality - Quality Matters! But, What and How Does It Matter? – Pursuing Online Courses Quality Assurance One Step at A Time!” accepted by the Association of Educational Communication and Technologies (AECT) for a presentation at the 2015 International Convention.
2010, Research proposal. Title: “Live Meeting: Web-conference Triumph in Sociology Course facilitation”, accepted by the League of Innovation for a presentation at the 2010 Maryland Conference.
2010, Research proposal. Title: “Constructing a Bio-ecological System of Teaching and Learning Environment for 2-year College”, accepted by the League of Innovation 2010 Maryland Conference
----------------------------------------- 2008, Quantitative Research Project. Title:“Do The Knowledge Of Using The Internet And The Annual Income Level Affect The Total Life Skill Assessments Of Rural Low Income Mothers”? University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (as part of my collaborative research projects)
2008, Co-presenter: The 16th Midwest Quality Research Conference Topic: “The Lived Experience of Relocated Teachers in Korea”, at St. Thomas University.
2008, Co-presenter: “A Brief Introduction to the Multimedia Enhancer” at UW-Stout.
2008, Co-presenter: “A Mini-presentation: A brief of CMS” at UW-Stout
2007-8,Collaborative Research Project: Joined the “Rural Families Speak” – A Multistate, Longitudinal and Multidisciplinary research project, focusing on low-income women’s using information technology, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.
2007, research project presentation. Title: “Reflection on the Pedagogies of the Oppressor and the Oppressed”, at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
2006, Research paper: Exploration of PCTMK Model of Hybrid Teaching. Published as an Op-Ed in the Dunn County News.
2004, Collaborative project. Assisting professor emeritus Jim Eggert as a translator and illustrator of the Book- “The Wonder of the Tao- A Meditation on Spirituality & Ecological Balance”. FL: Brumby Holding, Inc.
2004, Panelist, UW-System Women's Study Consortium Topic: “A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study of Childless Issues in Contemporary American Society”, at UW-Stout.
2003, Keynote speaker: Annual Spring Awards and Recognition of Multicultural Student Services at UW-Stout.
2003, Presenter, “A Cultural Sojourner's ‘Courage to teach’ in Intro-Sociology”, at UW-Stout.
2002, Poster presentation, Student and Faculty Research Day: ”An Action Research Report on a Spontaneous Thematic Pedagogy in Intro-Sociology”, at UW-Stout.
2002, Panelist- International Forum AAUW Midwest Regional Conference Presentation:
American Education and Research Association (AERA)
Association for Educational Communications and Technologies (AECT)
International Society for Technology Education (ISTE)
Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE)
Wisconsin Association for Career and Technical Education (WACTE)
National Educational Computing Conference (NECC)
CVACTE, EDUTOPIA
American Sociological Association.
Member of American Association of University Women (AAUW)
Governance Involvements
Executive Secretary of Li-ling Huang Gender Equity Memorial Endowment at Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC). (2016 to present).
Sponsor of the Tsai-Huang Memorial Endowment Scholarship at CVTC. (2007 to present).
Adviser of Art Club at CVTC (2016 to present).
Adviser of Diversity Student Organization at CVTC (2011-2013).
Co-chair of Professional Development Committee of Chippewa Valley Technical College Career and Technical Education Association (2009-2011).
Chair of the Chippewa Valley Technical College Education Association Scholarship Foundation (2010 to present).
CVACTE Event/Year Book Coordinator (2010-11).
Representative of ALC (Academic Leadership Council –WTCS).
Representative to the Advisory Committees of Renal Dialysis, Surgical Technician programs.
Course representative of Art Appreciation and Diversity Studies.
Nominations and Awards
2019, nominated to the Teaching Excellent Award at Chippewa Valley Technical College.
2013, nominated to the Teaching Excellent Award at Chippewa Valley Technical College.
2010, nominated to the Teaching Excellent Award at Chippewa Valley Technical College.
2006, nominated and the recipient of the Regional Outstanding Teacher of Chippewa Valley Technical College.
2001, nominated and the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to UW-System and Women of Color representing UW-Stout in 2001.
Activities in Taiwan
1989-1990 Taiwan-China policy researcher at the Executive Yuan
(大陸工作會報兩岸政策研究員 - 陸委會前身 Central Government), Taipei.
- 1988: Elected as the Supervisor of the National Congressional Assistant Association, Taipei. (首屆國會助理協會監委)
- 1987-88: Delegate of Taiwan, invited
by both Congresses of Taiwan and the U.S. to observe the
Primaries and Causes in New Hampshire and Iowa as well as
followed the Presidential campaign trails.
- 1985-88
1. Journalist at the Ta Hwa Evening News, Taipei.
2. Cultural/English tour guide at the Ministry of Transportation, Taipei, Taiwan.
3. Twice Campaign Coordinator and Speaker, and later,
the Speech Writer in the Congress. (問政質詢總主筆, 競選文宣策劃, 選民服務)
4. Executive Secretary and member of Taipei Women Rescue Foundation. (台北婦女救援會執行秘書長)
1985-87 Congressional aide at the Legislative Yuan
(首屆立法院 國會助理 Congress of Taiwan), Taipei
Job including: coordinating election campaigns,
Congressional speech writer (問政質詢總主筆) and serving constituencies.
- 1984-85: Summer and Winter Camp Speaker. (奉派執行冬令夏令營巡迴演講)
Previous career:
Military educator, and English/Japanese instructor at Chung-San girls' High School, Chung-Sing University, Taipei-Tech College, and Chang-Shu high school.
Others:
Grad Student Activities:
College and Graduate School at National Taiwan University
- Vice Chairperson
of the Graduate Association of National Taiwan University.
- Due to a National Crisis, I joined the Army Academic. A retired Captain since 1985.
- Four semesters top 3% students of Sociology Department,
National Taiwan University.
- Selected, members of softball and volleyball varsity teams, National Taiwan University.
Non-Academic Publications/Writing:
· Calligrapher and illustrator
of The Wonder of the Tao-Six Meditation on Science, Spirit,
and the Future of Economics by Jim Eggert.
A Human Trade Group Publisher, FL., 2004.
· Karma Ode, Burning Snow-Poetry, 2002, (in process).
· "Introductory Miao (Hmong) History and Culture by Tinqgui Li":
Translation,(collaborated with Steve Vang.) Wisconsin, UW-Stout. 2001.
· A Comprehensive History of the Chinese Miao (Hmong) by Xingfue Vue.
Translation. (collaborated with Steve Vang.), Wisconsin, UW-Stout, 2001.
· 10 articles related to cultural phenomena for the Dunn County News, 1998-1999:
1. A thought to the Humane Society.
2. Homeopathy- a look from a tradition medical perspective.
3. The sociocultural perspective to Mulan.
4. Gua Sha-the traditional home remedy.
5. Halloween in the U.S. vs. Ghost Festival in Asia.
6. Organic products and its co-op practice.
7. Bosnia first hand report-Military sisters.
8. A cultural-sojourner's multicultural perspective.
9. Mini international house-visit the "Sharon the ambassador".
10.The legends behind Chinese New Year in Taiwan.
Selected writing/proposals as A Congressional Aide:
· “Women and Social Order,”
The Research and Assessment Monthly, Taipei, Taiwan, 1990.
· “The Interpellation to the Central Government”
- a compilation of 3 volumes (300 articles) relating to social welfare
and political system reformation drafted by me when working at
Congress,1986-88.
Some articles related to Women's issues are:
1. A proposal for "Equal Right, Equal Pay and Equal Opportunity of Employment
for both genders." September 29th,1987, the 80th session Legislative Yuan.
2. A proposal to Establish the "'Ministry of Women's Affairs'
to implement the Social Welfare for Women."
January 6th, 1988, the 80th, session, Legislative Yuan.
3. An interpellation on the issue of the Dilemma of
Single Parent and Divorced Women. January 19th,
1988.the 80th session, Legislative Yuan.
4. An interpellation on the issue of "the Myth of Marriage and
Increasingly Dysfunctional Families in contemporary society."
January 18th, 1987, the 80th session, Legislative Yuan.
· Personal Quantitative Research Project:
"Gender and Political Tolerance-The Study of Dane County,
