30-Second Overview: In May 2022, banners advertising "re-take cram schools" reappeared near Taipei Main Station — the number of students inquiring about retaking university entrance exams had more than doubled compared to the previous year. The irony: Taiwan spent 30 years of education reform trying to break the cycle of "one exam determines your fate," yet the first cohort under the new curriculum ran straight back into the panic of retaking. From 100,000 re-sit students on Nanyang Street in 1981, to just 2,500 in 2023, and then the re-sit boom's return in 2022 — the cycle reveals a small island's repeated debate over what "fairness" actually means.
In May 2022, after scores from the first cohort of the new curriculum's university aptitude test were released, banners long absent from near Taipei Main Station went up again: "Aptitude Test Re-take Classes Now Enrolling." Cram school operators reported that students inquiring about retaking had grown by more than double compared to the prior year.
For many Taiwanese, the scene felt simultaneously familiar and absurd. After 30 years spent trying to escape the joint entrance exam, why were students voluntarily returning to "re-take hell"?
The answer lies buried in a small island's experiment about the meaning of "fairness."
The Joint Exam Era: The Iron Law of One Shot (1954–2002)
In 1954, Taiwan established the joint university entrance examination system. All candidates sat the same exam on the same day and were assigned to university departments in order of score. The system ran for 48 years, shaping the adolescent memories of two postwar generations.
The logic of the joint exam was brutally simple: fairness meant a uniform standard; opportunity meant your rank by score. Whether you came from Taipei's Xinyi District or a remote village in Pingtung, you sat in the same examination hall with the same test paper, and knew where you could study as soon as the results were out. No back-door dealings, no connections — only a contest of effort and talent.
But this "fairness" came at an enormous cost. A 1996 report in Taiwan Panorama noted that the joint exam "used only a handful of subjects to assess candidates' abilities," causing students to "overemphasize academic achievement while neglecting moral, physical, social, and aesthetic development," and to "lose individual spiritual freedom." More critically, it spawned Taiwan's distinctive cram-school culture.
The Legend of Nanyang Street: 100,000 Re-sit Soldiers
In 1981, 48 re-take preparatory schools clustered along Taipei's Nanyang Street and Roosevelt Road, with more than 100,000 students enrolled. With Taiwan's population then below 20 million, that meant one in every 200 people was retaking the exam.
📝 Curator's Note
To put 100,000 re-sit students in perspective: that equals the entire current population of Danshui District, all crowded into two streets near Taipei Main Station. On any weekday morning at 8 a.m., Nanyang Street was more congested than Xinyi District.
Nanyang Street became a "cram school mecca" because the most famous re-sit tutors of the 1960s and 1970s were based in Taipei, forcing students from central and southern Taiwan to rent rooms and study there. Its proximity to Taipei Main Station made it easily accessible, forming the re-sit student's standard itinerary: take the train → exit Taipei Main Station → walk straight to Nanyang Street to compare cram schools → rent a room for a year → take the exam again.
Taipei Cram School Association secretary-general Chang Hao-jan recalled: "Back then Nanyang Street had 40-plus cram schools, one right after another, so students could compare. The whole street smelled of youth mixed with anxiety — lunch-box shops, comic-rental stores, copy shops, all orbiting a single goal: get into a good university next year."
Reform Launches: The Ideal of Multiple Pathways (1994–2019)
In 1994, education reform began pushing "multiple-pathway university admission." Recommendation admission, application admission, the General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT), and the Advanced Subjects Test (AST) gave students more than one chance.
The core philosophy: every child has different talents and should not have their value defined solely by exam scores. Students skilled in art could apply to fine arts programs; athletes could apply through sports recruitement; programmers could demonstrate ability through portfolio reviews. A fairer society, the argument went, should give every kind of talent a stage.
The data suggested reform was working.
| Joint Exam Era (1981) | Multiple Pathways Era (2023) |
|---|---|
| 48 re-take schools on Nanyang Street; 100,000 students | Only 3 re-take schools; about 2,500 students |
Re-sit students dropped 97.5% over 40 years. Nanyang Street now has more bubble-tea shops than cram schools. It appeared Taiwan had successfully moved from "exam hell" to "diversity heaven."
Reality, however, was more complicated.
The New Curriculum Generation's Re-take Panic: Diversity Becomes Multiple Burdens
The 2019 new curriculum, known as the "108 Curriculum Guidelines" or "competency-based curriculum guidelines," aimed to shift from "rote memorization" to "applied competency," and from "standardized answers" to "critical thinking."
The GSAT system was adjusted accordingly: from five compulsory subjects to four out of five, adding flexibility; mixed question types were introduced to test higher-order thinking; and competency-oriented questions tested application rather than mere knowledge. These changes reflected a fundamental transformation in educational philosophy.
But in 2022, the first cohort under the new curriculum faced an unexpected predicament. The Subject Competency Test (replacing the old AST) dropped Chinese, English, and Mathematics B, forcing many university departments back to including GSAT scores in score-distribution admission. The result: a system designed to "reduce pressure" ended up piling on even more pressure.
⚠️ Contested Perspective
The cram school industry was blunt: the new curriculum is "changing the soup without changing the medicine." "As long as parents' mindsets don't change and resources remain concentrated in certain university departments, academic pressure will persist — and cram schools will actually profit more."
After the 2022 GSAT results, Nanyang Street again hung "Aptitude Test Re-take Classes Now Enrolling" banners. Inquiries about re-sitting more than doubled from the prior year. One prominent cram school educator observed: "Most students retaking now are aiming to get into National Taiwan University's medical school, computer science department, or other competitive programs."
Taiwan seemed to have looped back to the grim adolescence of the parents' generation — "one exam determines your fate."
Cram School Culture: A Parallel Education System That Never Disappears
Even as re-sit numbers fell, Taiwan's cram school culture remained vigorous. Over 18,000 registered cram schools operate nationwide with an annual market worth approximately NT$170 billion — nearly half of a TSMC in revenue scale.
This phenomenon reflects not only academic pressure but a deeper societal anxiety about education. Dual-income families need after-school care; multiple-pathway admission requires portfolio preparation; the 108 Guidelines require cultivating "competencies" — every round of education reform creates new business opportunities for cram schools.
Modern cram schools have evolved into an entire "education ecosystem":
- Academic cram schools: traditional math, English, physics, chemistry
- Arts and skills schools: music, fine arts, dance, programming
- Portfolio cram schools: specializing in preparing application portfolios and interview coaching
- Competency cram schools: marketing themselves as cultivating "108 Guidelines competencies"
💡 Did You Know
Brand-name tutors at schools like Fei Ge English, Jian Hong Math, and Liu Yi English often have higher name recognition than classroom teachers. Their teaching videos log tens of thousands of YouTube views, and their follower counts rival celebrity entertainers.
A cram-school student's description is precise: "School teachers teach the textbook; cram school teachers teach the exam. We need both to succeed on the path to university." This comment exposes the structural contradiction of Taiwanese education: schools pursue ideals, cram schools face reality.
PISA Results — Outstanding but Unhappy
In international rankings, Taiwanese students genuinely excel. In the 2022 PISA results, Taiwan scored 547 in Mathematics (3rd globally), 537 in Science (4th globally), and 515 in Reading (8th globally) — far above OECD averages.
Notably, Taiwan's most socioeconomically disadvantaged students (approximately 3.8%) scored 471 in mathematical literacy, comparable to the OECD average performance of 472. The Ministry of Education attributes this to "learning support" measures and digital learning initiatives that have effectively narrowed the urban-rural gap.
But PISA results also revealed another side of Taiwanese education: insufficient learning motivation, weaker creative thinking, and elevated learning anxiety. Although Taiwanese students achieve high academic results, their happiness index is comparatively low.
📊 Data Source
The PISA 2022 report shows Taiwan's 15-year-olds rated their "life satisfaction" at 6.7 out of 10 — below the OECD average of 7.3. Outstanding scores, but the cost is adolescent happiness.
This contradiction presents Taiwan's fundamental educational challenge: how to maintain learning outcomes while allowing students to learn more happily?
The Two Faces of Vocational Education
Taiwan's vocational education system is well-developed, spanning senior vocational high schools, junior colleges, and universities of science and technology; vocational track students account for 60% of all senior high school students. In WorldSkills competitions, Taiwan performs impressively — at the 2024 WorldSkills Competition in Lyon, France, Taiwan won 6 gold, 13 silver, and 6 bronze medals, ranking 3rd among 57 competing nations.
✦ "The hallmark of Taiwan's vocational education is 'learning by doing' and 'industry-academia cooperation' — beyond theoretical coursework, students participate in internships, capstone projects, and skills certification. Many universities of science and technology have close ties with industry; graduates enter the workforce directly."
Yet vocational education still faces the challenge of social perception. The deep-rooted attitude of "all occupations are inferior except scholarship" means vocational education is often seen as a "second-tier option" relative to academic pathways. The government has pushed "Vocational Education Reinvigoration" policies to reverse this stereotype, but shifting social values takes time.
Teacher Certification: Why Everyone Wants to Be a Teacher
Teachers enjoy high social status in Taiwan, with stable salaries — a career many young people aspire to. In 2024, the Teacher Qualification Examination attracted 10,377 registrants; 5,022 passed, a pass rate of 52.2% — meaning roughly one in two teacher-training students does not obtain a teaching qualification.
This intense competition reflects society's esteem for the teaching profession, but it also exposes structural problems: declining birth rates reduce demand for teachers; education reform increases workload; rising parental expectations intensify professional pressure.
Taiwan has 46 universities with teacher training centers, collectively preparing about 10,000 student teachers per year, but fewer than 30% are actually appointed as full-time teachers. Many trained teachers cycle between substitute teaching, internships, and exam preparation for several years before securing a permanent position.
Parental Involvement — A Double-Edged Sword
Taiwanese parents' engagement with their children's education is exceptional by global standards, from parent-teacher associations and school volunteers to parental education programs and study accompaniment. But this "high involvement" can shade into "excessive intervention."
Educational choice is the issue Taiwanese parents care most about. School district rules cause real estate prices near top schools to surge; private schools offer differentiated education; experimental education programs meet individual needs — each choice reflects parental anxiety in pursuit of quality education.
But educational choice also deepens educational inequality. Families with greater economic resources can choose private schools or relocate to top school districts; disadvantaged families can only accept available resources. How to guarantee freedom of choice while ensuring educational equity remains an eternal policy dilemma.
COVID's Digital Education Lessons
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan's online teaching capability attracted international attention. The Ministry of Education had invested heavily in building digital learning environments over the years; every school had computer labs and wireless networks, and this infrastructure proved critical during the pandemic.
The 2019 new curriculum made "technology" a compulsory subject for secondary students. Coding education spans from Scratch visual programming to Python text-based programming, cultivating computational thinking. AI education has also become a new priority; the Ministry has promoted an "AI Education Grassroots Plan" to prepare students for the AI era.
But digital learning also exposed the digital divide: students in remote areas lack devices; disadvantaged families lack stable internet access; in the digital era, the urban-rural gap may actually widen.
Experimental Education: An Alternative
Taiwan's experimental education sector is thriving. As of 2023, there are 150 experimental schools and 8,000 home-schooled students. Waldorf education, Montessori education, and home-school collectives offer multi-dimensional alternatives to mainstream schooling.
But experimental education faces challenges: uneven quality, insufficient teacher training, and difficulties connecting to mainstream university admission. The government enacted the "Three Acts on Experimental Education" to establish regulatory mechanisms and ensure quality, but how to balance innovation with quality standards remains an ongoing question.
📝 Curator's Note
A principal at an experimental school put it this way: "Experimental education is not about escaping mainstream education — it's about exploring better educational possibilities. We want to cultivate happy and capable children." This remark points to the core dilemma of Taiwanese education: can academic achievement and happiness truly coexist?
Lifelong Learning and Adult Education
Taiwan has a strong lifelong learning culture. Community colleges, senior learning centers, vocational training programs, and online courses allow citizens to keep growing. All 90 community colleges across Taiwan serve 400,000 students annually, with curricula ranging from academic knowledge to life skills.
Digital learning platforms have also grown rapidly. Pandemic-era demand for online courses accelerated the digital education industry. Taiwanese platforms such as Hahow and PressPlay Academy offer diverse learning content, turning "learning until old age" from a slogan into a practical reality.
From Exam Hell to the Maze of Diversity: What Have We Learned?
Back to the opening question: why, after 30 years of education reform, are students once again gripped by re-take panic?
The answer is that we underestimated how complex the definition of "fairness" really is. The fairness of the joint exam era was "equal opportunity" — everyone sat the same test paper. The fairness of the multiple-pathway era is "aptitude-based development" — giving every talent a chance. But in practice, multiple-pathway admission may actually widen class gaps: wealthier families can invest more resources to prepare for various pathways; families without means can only compete on raw scores.
From the 100,000-strong re-sit army on Nanyang Street, to today's 2,500, to the 2022 re-sit revival — this cycle tells us that education reform is not only a problem of system design. It is a fundamental challenge to social values. As long as the myths of "good universities" and "popular departments" persist, and as long as society's definition of success remains narrow, any education system can become a new kind of "competition arena."
✦ "True educational equity may not be giving every child the same starting line, but letting every child find the track suited to them — even if that track leads to a different destination than everyone else's."
Taiwan's education experiment continues. Each reform is a social debate; each generation of students is a participant in this experiment. We are still searching for the education system that balances fairness, efficiency, and well-being — if such a system truly exists.