During the 1960s, Taiwan began a smooth transformation from an agricultural to a light-industrial society. In 1968, to cultivate the high-quality personnel that modernization demanded, Taiwan, with a per capita income of less than US $ 300, grit its teeth and implemented compulsory education through ninth grade.
民國五十年代開始，台灣順利從農業社會轉入輕工業社會；為了培養現代化國家所需的高品質人力，民國五十七年，平均國民所得不過三百美金的台灣，咬著牙開始實施九年國民義務教育。