Many Paths, Not One: The Rise of Experimental Education in Taiwan - A Conversation with Tang Guang-Hua
In January 2025, my brilliant friend Manda Scott interviewed Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s incredible and youngest ever Minister of State and its first Digital Minister (2016–2024). I was fascinated to hear Audrey talk about how education in Taiwan has evolved, and ever since I’ve wanted to make an episode about the history of experimental education that led to these developments.
My wonderful guest this week is Mr Tang Guang-Hua. Mr Tang and his wife, Li Yaqing, have been instrumental in Taiwan’s education reform movement for the last 40 years, including homeschooling their own children, Audrey and Tsung-hao.
Mr Tang spent twenty-five years as a journalist and editor at the China Times during Taiwan’s transition to democracy. Since the 1990s, he has been closely involved in Taiwan’s experimental education movement. He helped establish its first community college and supported the founding of democratic schools. In 2010, he founded Optimism Academy, which teaches philosophy to teenagers through Socratic dialogue.
His family has contributed in many significant ways to building a democratic Taiwan, and it was an absolute privilege to hear what he has learned from this experience.
In this conversation, we discuss:
Growing up by the sea, and how a happy childhood shaped his educational ideals
The community college movement and deepening civil society
Self-directed learning and raising children who didn’t fit the school system
Multiple pathways for young people, and the “inverted pyramid” of learning
Teaching Plato and Confucius to teenagers through Socratic dialogue
How experimental ideas reached mainstream schools through the 2014 Experimental Education Acts and the 108 Curriculum Guidelines
What AI means for education
Why optimism is essential for anyone working in education
Mr Tang speaks in Mandarin Chinese, with English subtitles throughout.
You can find the full episode here on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/PupEeq_PeVg
I would also highly recommend the brilliant documentary about the Tang family, Good Enough Ancestor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idudNrLy8ek
Link to Manda’s full interview with Audrey Tang: https://accidentalgods.life/democracy-rising-making-2025-the-year-we-recover-from-peak-polarisation-with-audrey-tang/
