戰爭與台灣的高等教育，1945－1990

War and Higher Education in Taiwan, 1945-1990

研究台灣的高等教育演變，有兩個突兀的階段值得做深入探討。一個是1950年代前後，高等教育在台灣的急速增加；一個是1990年代前後，因應教育改革運動而出現的大學林立現象。前後兩個階段各有其特定發生脈絡，其對個人、大學和社會造成的影響，正隨時間拉長而浮現。這種綿延不絕的走向，和其引致的對高等教育的不滿，必須放在1945年後國民黨政權經歷的內戰與冷戰來觀看才不會有漏失。政權生存和經濟發展雖然是明顯可見的因素，但這兩個因素還不足以解釋1945年後的台灣高等教育，為何會有戲劇性與特定性的演變。這個變化必須和戰爭扣連起來才有清楚答案。將戰爭帶回來，不是要否定前兩者的作用力，而是要在更大的框架下，察看台灣高等教育的發展究竟受到哪些力量的交錯牽制，而這種交錯發展又和戰爭的發生與進行脫離不了關係。戰爭的生產性、目的性和限制性，如何反映在大學系統的建立與發展上？其對大學的性格塑造和對教育正義的滲透也需要受到正視。過去只以國民黨政權的威權政治，和經濟發展對人力資源的需求等，來討論台灣的高等教育，這些論斷容或豐富，其立論卻是將戰爭隱形化或只是當作背景因素，一筆帶過。這個簡化和不足正是本文想要澄清、補足之處。 This article investigates the remarkable development of Taiwan's higher education system from the 1950s to the 1990s. Differing from the prevalent arguments that generally identify economic needs and regime survival as the main reasons for the growth of higher education, this article brings the Civil War and Cold War that Taiwan was encountering back into the field of higher education, and elaborates how and why the two wars shaped Taiwan's higher education system. More than just nursing specific areas of study, to mobilize society for war, the two wars also confined the character of university, as well as the concept of justice of education in a fundamental way. Taking a macro perspective, rather than situating war as a hidden factor or a background component, I highlight the impacts of war on education.

This article investigates the remarkable development of Taiwan's higher education system from the 1950s to the 1990s. Differing from the prevalent arguments that generally identify economic needs and regime survival as the main reasons for the growth of higher education, this article brings the Civil War and Cold War that Taiwan was encountering back into the field of higher education, and elaborates how and why the two wars shaped Taiwan's higher education system. More than just nursing specific areas of study, to mobilize society for war, the two wars also confined the character of university, as well as the concept of justice of education in a fundamental way. Taking a macro perspective, rather than situating war as a hidden factor or a background component, I highlight the impacts of war on education.