幸福、教改與通識教育

Happiness, Education Reform and General Education

幸福是主觀的，但也可以用客觀的方式檢驗，當不丹王國在1972年提出國民幸福指數以來，世界各國及聯合國、國際經濟合作暨發展組織及世界銀行等國際單位，均開始訂定幸福指數，希望能夠將單一的經濟發展評比加入人類的生活感受，讓物質與精神不致於偏廢，讓經濟的發展能讓人的生命價值更加平衡。我國在2013年全世界的幸福指數評比中，位列156個國家中的42，在亞洲地區的排名則位列第3，但是國民卻強烈的質疑此項結果。本文透過分析痛苦指數與自殺率來了解臺灣究竟是否幸福，為什麼覺得不幸福？同時，教改也如同幸福指數一般為我國人民所詬病，但教改絕非一兩位學者獨斷獨行即可成事，其反映出臺灣地區欲突破既有社會結構與世界接軌的熱切希望，擴張大專校院是教改團體及民眾曾經的第一訴求，卻成為流浪教師的淵藪，究其原因則與舊經驗與觀念有關。無論是希望「更幸福」，還是100％要求17％的權益，均顯示出國民主觀的不幸福，本文希望擬構一個大學通識教育的內涵，引導學生思考如何面對新時代，尋找心靈的幸福。

The idea of Happiness has become a quantifiable concept of well-being since the Kingdom of Bhutan proposed the Gross National Happiness Index (GNH) in 1972. Since then, other Well-being indices emerged worldwide, including those proposed by international organizations, such as the United Nations, OECD, and the World Bank. The aim of these indices is to measure both quality-of-life and economic development holistically, to the result that the value of human life can be weighed alongside the progress of material wealth. Although the Republic of China in the Greater Taiwan region ranked #42 worldwide and #3 among Asian countries in the World Happiness Report 2013 published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), this result has been criticized as being overtly optimistic. Why is this the case? This paper looks at Misery Index and Suicide rate in the Greater Taiwan Region to study whether the population is actually happy, and why they feel the way they do. Similar to the Happiness Index results, the result of the education reform in the Greater Taiwan Region has also been considered unsuccessful. Education reform was not the product of a few scholars alone, but rather of a national consensus aimed to improve existing social structures and to adopt international standards. Increasing the number of institutions of higher education was a priority concern among groups lobbying for education reform, yet such expansion has created a negative impact against education professionals who could only receive temporary employment, and hence a cause of unhappiness. This paper wishes to propose a general education curriculum that could help students understand new challenges and avenues to the pursuit of happiness.