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The majority of Taiwanese people have had some experience of cram schooling while growing up. From an academic perspective, cram schooling in Taiwan is not only a unique educational issue, but also a social fact worthy of closer examination. In this paper, I first describe the history of the development of cram schooling in Taiwan and demonstrate the general characteristics of cram schooling for different levels of students. Secondly, based on the theoretical perspectives of credentialism, cultural capital, and employment in the labour market, I analyse the causes of the rise in demand for cram schooling. And I propose some possible directions for future research and decision making with regard to relevant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the interpretation of the castrated cock contest in a Hakka village in Northern Taiwan, this paper explores the ontology of the social process of local community in social structure. In this process, the physical body is the first realm in which the tension between the natural and the social plays out. The body carries our wild nature of instinct while living in the social environment--a fundamental contradiction for human beings that needs to be resolved. In raising and castrating the cocks, participating in the cock contest, and offering the cock to god as sacrifice, the Hakka villagers practice a hermeneutic circle to interpret the relations between nature, the self, and the other. With the body as the indispensable medium, culture is constructed through the community members' mutual "understanding" with each other. In conclusion, I argue that small scale and embodied communication is central to the lived experience of the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]