許金用

The Life Promotion of Local Dialect in Education Scene

Hsu, Chin-Yung

Things have changed as time passes by, which makes people sigh, filled with emotions. The once forbidden local dialect is now the subject to be preserved. Apart from the comprehensive promotion of local culture education and thanks to the joint efforts from individuals like Principal Hsu, Chin-Yung, authentic Minnan dialect can be heard once again in the education field.

Hsu, Chin-Yung was born in a sharecropping family. After graduating from the Taiwan Provincial Taipei Normal School, he took a teaching position at Da Yuan Elementary School until his retirement in 1992. In a span of 42 years in education, he had been the principal for 30 years. In the 1960s, the government advocated the Mandarin Movement, and dialects were prohibited on campus. Seeing the mother tongue gradually disappearing, he aspired to save these dialects. In 1981, the government started to put emphasis on local culture education. Based on his years of experience, Hsu, Chin-Yung compiled textbooks, such as Hoklo Language Textbook and Dictionary of Common Language of Taiwanese in Mandarin Phonetic Alphabet. Later on, he completed Taiwan Folk Culture Compilation based to his engagement in folk custom investigation.

After the retirement, he established a senior citizen adult education program at the elderly’s society of Dayuan Township, while collecting folk proverbs. Having been promoted for 21 years, he kept working until 2010. During this period, he was the editor of 21 publications, and has cultivated talents for popularizing Minnan dialect, like Liu, Chuan-Ching. He has devoted himself to teaching and studying Taiwanese, and the education scene flourishes even more thanks to local dialects.

時代的變遷，滄海桑田總令人感慨不已，當年禁止的鄉音，現今成了挽救的對象。雖然鄉土教育開始上行下效地全面推動，但也還好有許多如許金用一樣的民間力量加入，才讓道地的閩南語得以重現在教育的現場。或許，走過一段艱難的歲月，才知道生活的橫逆，正是對於志向的打磨。對許金用來說，過去的畫荻學書，成就了今日的下自成蹊，只能說造化巧妙，自有天意。

 

走過動蕩，落腳杏壇的半生志業

許金用出身在內海的佃農家庭，小時候雖然困苦，讀起書卻頗得心應手。大園公學校畢業時，美軍空襲臺灣，在這樣的背景下，他選擇進入高等科就讀兩年。畢業後，由堂叔介紹到派出所應徵保甲書記，測驗是唸出四位保正的名字，這對於許金用並不困難，但是到了第四位鄒福，因為大家都習慣稱為梓福，所以他一不小心照著唸，就被刷了下來。後來找到了日語講習所的工作，卻在日本投降後被迫離職，這時他也深深感覺到所受的日本教育可能再無用武之地，必須要改學漢學。

許金用有一位堂伯父許泰山，是地方上有名的漢學家，也是幫許金用取名的長輩，走投無路的許金用不顧年齡較長，也加入了漢學堂學習。當時的課本是《昔時賢文》、《三字經》與名人尺牘，每天上午九點開始到校上課，中午回家用餐後，下午就要背誦驗收。過了八個月，堂哥的兒子捎來臺北師範學校招生的消息，因為是公費，所以許金用就決定一試。到了考場，只考一科命題作文：「我的家庭」，已有較好漢文基礎的許金用就被錄取了。

民國35年到38年，走過二二八事件與四萬元舊臺幣換一元新臺幣政策的動盪，許金用差點因為家裡經濟困窘而被迫退學，後來堂哥慷慨解囊借了一百五十元，才讓他順利度過難關至畢業。

畢業後，他分發到大園國校開始工作，除了教學，也協助草創成立了許多間國小，並參與大園地區第一間幼稚園的運作。在民國81年退休前，四十二年的教學生涯中，他總共當了十年的級任導師、兩年的分校主任，以及三十年的校長，可以說將一生奉獻給大園地區的基礎教育。