英文摘要 |
Since the 1980's, the world has seen drastic changes in many a fields such as politics, economics, academics, and so forth. Among them surges the tide of ”globalization,” which exerts a profound impact on human lives. However, the trend of globalization rises on the premise of technological development. Since such development is all too often in the grip of the powerful countries, the so called globalization turns out to be an capitalist tool which enhances the dominance of the strong over the weak, and poses threats to local cultures of the latter. Therefore, it comes to be the responsibility of the higher education to reserve the cultural consciousness and even promote the dialogues among civilizations. Nonetheless, since the end of the 19(superscript th) century, institutions of higher education of both sides of Taiwan Strait have been developed out of ”pragmatism.” For example, Tahoku (Taipei) Imperial University (1928) as a study center was taken to be the springboard for Imperial Japan's invasion into Southeast Asia; even earlier, Peiyang University (1895) and Peking University (1898) in Mainland China were established for building a powerful modern country. Under the circumstances, modern Chinese intellectuals have been sent far away from their traditional culture, and the gaps between technological development and academic subjectivity, between personal profit and social welfare, have been wider and wider during the course of last century. Admittedly, both ”globalization” and ”technological dominance” are international issues, but there are tensions between traditional and modern values specific to Chinese societies being observed. This article discusses the phenomena aforementioned, and proposes that higher education should serve to rehabilitate traditional culture as well as to kindle social conscience, for the wound caused by the trend of globalization to be sutured. |