Concluding Remarks

fect of personal characteristics and family background factors on educa chie

the Nine-year Compulso ca lic me that personal

characteristics and family rou important facto t a in l’s educational achiev

t-time jo ing scholarships during their school years tend to receive more education, while people rooted in the traditional valu s of fili duty mily glory are incli ss educ ion. This result m y imply that people with a independent or

sel l cha acter an more a

ac education h a signi cant and positive effect on their children’s education fect of the father’s edu eater than that of mother’s.

T ’s occupation is also signifi ant. A father who works as an administrator or executive ha ct on hi children’s educational achieve ents and the effect is also

cation achievement as the mother spends fewer hours in child

ffects of the number of siblings and birth order are posit

Using data from Taiwan’s Panel Study of Family Dynamics, this paper investigates the ef tional a vement and evaluates ry Edu tion po y imple nted in 1968. We find

backg nd are rs tha ffect an dividua ement.

People with par bs or receiv

e al and fa

ned to r ceive lee at a more

f-motivated persona r d ble people have an advantage in educational

hievement. Parents’ as fi

al achievements and the ef cation is gr

he effect of the father c

s the highest effe s m

higher if one’s father works in the public sector rather than in the private sector. Working mother has an adverse effect on children edu

-raising and nurturing due to time constraint. Talent training, after-school supplementary education, and parents’ reward for academic performance also leads to greater educational achievements.

The results of family background factors suggest that family financial constraints influence children’s education and more wealthy families usually provide more resources and a better study environment for their children, and hence children from wealthy family have better opportunities to gain higher education. Furthermore, the e

ive and significant. Constraints on the family budget show older siblings (especially girls) tend to sacrifice themselves to gain less education and go to work early to support the family and

the educational development of their younger siblings. As the economy developed, we also find that, other factors being equal, younger people have received more education than older people.

ant educational gap remains between gender, region, and ethnicity.

arisons by allowing interactions between different groups shows that the effect of the Nine

enter junior high school right after they graduate from primary school. Thus, the m

Other things equal, signific

As for the evaluation of the Nine-year Compulsory Education policy implemented in 1968, after controlling for personal characteristics and family background, we find that the implementation of Nine-year Compulsory Education policy has significantly closed the education gap between genders, regions, and ethnic groups, respectively. However, careful examination of multiple comp

-year Compulsory Education policy has mainly been to close the educational gap between Taiwanese and mainland Chinese. Most mainland Chinese are political refugees who followed the retreat of the KMT government from China to Taiwan during the civil war. Therefore, they pay more attention to and value “human capital”, which is embodied in people and can be easily transported in times of political turmoil. This helps explain why mainland Chinese immigrants had higher overall educational achievements than native Taiwanese, who stressed agricultural production rather than education, especially during the early stages of development when Taiwan’s economy was focused upon agriculture.

The data show that before the Nine-year Compulsory Education Policy was implemented, the education gap between mainland Chinese and Taiwanese was 5.1 years, following by gender (4.44 years) and region (2.13 years) (see Table 4). As the Nine-year Compulsory Education Policy is a country-wide policy and did not target any specific group, children at age six must enroll in the primary school and

ain effect of the Nine-year Compulsory Education Policy has been upon ethnicity, an identity which cannot be changed by external factors. In contrast, the education gap between gender and region may be affected by the larger environment. For example, economic development accompanied by an increase in income and a decline in the fertility rate will effectively close the educational gap between both gender and rural and urban areas. These may explain why the effect of Nine-year Compulsory Education policy on gender and region’s educational achievement is

relatively limited.

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