Just last week the MOE announced a NT$1.2 billion budget for a morality education campaign that was supposed to inspire Taiwan's residents, particularly children, to improve their character and lead more ethical and moral lives.

Minister Cheng has now cut the funds that were specifically allotted for "moral education" and reduced the budget to NT$970 million.

A general governmental campaign to teach manners and encourage ethical behavior is laudable. Taiwan has long lacked effective public service announcements (PSAs). The PSAs the public does see -- often before a movie at a theater or on cable television -- are weak, often cartoon-like simplistic attempts unworthy of today's sophisticated audiences.

If a portion of the proposed "morality education" budget were to go to PSAs that taught road safety rules, respect for the elderly, proper public manners or even some anti-drug ads with substance, the money will not be a waste of public funds. But when it comes to teaching schoolchildren morality, the situation gets much more complicated.

What is morality? One definition from the American Heritage dictionary is: "Conforming to established standards of good behavior." Of course, established standards have changed throughout the eras and are continuing to evolve today.

In short, when teaching children morality, who decides what's moral?

Children are by nature selfish. They exhibit selfishness in its purest form: The world doesn't revolve around me -- I am the world. As people age they slowly grasp that there is more to existence than ourselves, and the awakenings of empathy begin.

Empathy is the road out of self. Some scientists believe that empathy evolved from something called "mirror neurons," meaning the ability to understand that what you feel, others also feel.

In her article "Empathy, Mirror-Neurons, Technology and War," Jeannie Carlisle explores how mirror neurons might have evolved: "The prehistoric warrior met his foe in a direct struggle of sinew, muscle, and spirit."If flesh was torn or bone broken he felt it give way under his hand.

"He also had to live his days remembering the man's eyes whose skull he crushed.

"These brain cells respond the same way if someone is performing an action or watching the action performed by another. In this way, empathy occurs."

Though adults have come a long way from caveman roots when empathy first evolved, children can be said to be mini-cavemen. Children must come to understand that what they experience is similar to or identical to what others experience. After this revelation dawns, a new enlightenment begins that generally leads to a reduction in selfishness.

Most researchers believe that by the time a kid hits pre-school, a basic understanding of empathy has begun and usually evolves forward into complexity.

Those who do not evolve in this way become what doctors term "psychopaths" -- the total deprivation of empathy causing a complete failure to understand the emotions, including pain, of others.

In both the west and Taiwan, society often rages about the lack of moral education in schools. The problems with this line of reasoning are many.

A math teacher is hired to teach numbers. He could be a highly moral individual or he could be a scoundrel, but as long as the teacher teaches mathematics effectively, he is doing his job and nothing else is required of him. An ethics teacher might play a useful role in a student's life, but honestly, an ethics teacher's lessons probably boil down to the simple creed of: Be nice.

Arguably, parents impart the greatest moral education to their children. Parents have the primary role. Having a set of caring, empathic parents means a youngster is significantly more likely to develop a strong sense of empathy at a younger age. And the best way to teach empathy is through effective demonstrations.

There is truism in the ancient golden rule of treating others the way you'd like to be treated, condensing the entire school of morality into one powerful sentence.

If Taiwan's kids need greater moral instruction, a good start would be to re-emphasize this simple rule. But as parents are the primary moral instructors, parents should perhaps re-examine their own moral behavior rather than demand that schools shoulder the burden of bringing up moral young people.

The dad who litters, the mom who doesn't wear a motorcycle helmet, the parent who parks his car illegally -- these are the real teachers of morality.