US Educators Warn Japans History Distortion
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Nationalism is something that teachers should be aware of for history education, two U.S. educators who came here to learn more about Korea, said in an interview with The Korea Times Tuesday.
``Korea is divided into North and South Korea; one part has been controlled by communist interests and the other by capital interests. This is the way Korea is presented during American classes,'' said Grigsby Reginald, 35, who is teaching world studies at John F. Kennedy High School in Chicago.
However, Reginald pointed out that American textbooks don't clearly present the involvement of the U.S. in Korea's division. ``You see involvement of China and Russia in North Korea in the textbooks, but U.S. involvement in South Korea is implied, like the U.S. came in to help and not really to make South Korea into a capital state.''
Candy Core, 33, magnet coordinator at Eisenhower Ninth Grade School in Houston, Texas, also supported Reginald's idea. ``All the kids know about the 38th Parallel, but they are not aware of how it came to that point. Yes, I think anytime when you have any kind of ethno-centric viewpoint being presented, the key to combating it is through communication,'' she said.
The two teachers came to Seoul July 12 to participate in the ``Korean Studies Workshop for American Educators,'' organized by the Korea Foundation. The foundation invited a total of 100 social studies teachers, education administrative officials and curriculum coordinators for the two-week program.
Reginald has worked for two years in the field of education and Core has organized school curricula for ``international baccalaureate'' for 11 years. The educators emphasized that history education should encourage students to debate based on correct facts.
``Teachers need to give students multiple questions and let them make their own judgments on historical facts,'' Core said.
``I became a teacher because when I was young I wondered why some people in the world have very little things but other people have so much. History could provide answers for my questions,'' Reginald said.
Regarding Japan's denial of ``comfort women," sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II, Core said, ``The Japanese government is very strong in controlling the messages that go out to public, especially children, to continue the power of the government over future generations.''
``I'm quite sure almost any country in the world has their own wall of shame. But to deny the problem is not going to help Japan,'' she added.
Lastly, Reginald said that the workshop in Korea has helped them to adapt themselves to diverse cultures at their schools that consist of ethnic students from around the world.