「國家與社會」的理論與實例：臺灣教育的個案

Theory and Practice of "State vs. Society" - the Case of Taiwan

「國家與社會」(State vs. Civil Society)的討論，近年來是社會學和政治經濟學的重要主題。但在教育的領域內，國家與社會的界限難以釐清，因為國民教育是人民的權利也是義務，意指教育是公民權利也是國家權力。本文討論教育與國家的一般理論，以及台灣教育發展中的國家角色。發現台灣的案例中，國家對於國民教育及高等教育均居主導地位，同時教科書中強調國家主義，民間社會對教育的參與則非常微弱。本文兼以森林小學為個案，討論私人興學所受的限制。

The theory of state vs. civil society has been broadly discussed in the recent study of political economy. In the field of education, however, the roles of the state and the society are less clearly defined because of the vague nature of education. National education in most countries is as both a right and an obligation of the citizens. In other words, education could be viewed as (1) one kind of civil rights,as well as (2) one kind of state's powers. This paper briefly explores the theory of education and state , and examines the case of Taiwan. It is observed that in Taiwan the state has played a dominating role in the development of both national education and higher education. Through a content analysis it is also found that nationalism has been strongly addressed in textbooks. The paper also examines a specific case to show the government's interference with the establishment of a private educational program.