Flip-flops on history textbooks deepen confusion
This photo shows the final version of state-authored history textbooks unveiled at the government complex in Sejong, south of Seoul, Tuesdsay. The government has said that middle and high school students will learn Korean history through state-published textbooks starting in 2018, which critics call an attempt to stamp out diverse interpretations of history. / Yonhap
By Kim Bo-eun
The education ministry’s flip-flops on its plans for history textbooks are fueling confusion.
One of the most controversial parts of the state-authored history textbook, the draft of which was unveiled last November, was that it stated Aug. 15, 1948 — three years after Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 occupation — as the date for the “foundation of the nation.”
This part remained unchanged in the final version presented Tuesday. Liberal historians protest that this dismisses the importance of independence movements which took place under Japan’s colonial rule, as well as the establishment of a provisional government in Shanghai in 1919. They claim the date should be recognized as the day of the Korean government’s establishment instead.
Along with unveiling the final version of the state-authored textbook, the ministry said it would leave it to private publishers’ discretion to choose which view to adopt regarding the date.
This is a shift from an earlier stance that it would apply the same guidelines for private publishers’ textbooks as it did to the state-authored one.
“We revised the guidelines to allow the date to be interpreted as the establishment of the Korean government as a means to respect various opinions on the matter,” Education Vice Minister Lee Young said at a briefing held at the Sejong Government Complex.
The finalized state-authored textbook will be used at selected middle and high schools under a pilot project starting in March.
However, not many schools are expected to incorporate the books due to opposition from regional education offices.
The plan was criticized as an attempt by the Park Geun-hye administration to glorify the achievements of her father, former President Park Chung-hee, a controversial leader whose administration saw profound economic growth but committed many human rights abuses.
Out of 17 education offices, 13 have vowed not to cooperate with the ministry in introducing the state-authored books in schools.
Even after reflecting 760 proposals for revisions to the draft of the state-authored textbook, the part depicting Park Chung-hee’s rule remained mostly the same. The final version added that the movement pushed by the military strongman to develop the country’s economy “received criticism as an attempt to reform people’s minds as a means to maintain (Park’s) dictatorship.” But the number of pages dedicated to Park’s rule remained unchanged.
“It was difficult to reduce the section on Park’s rule because of the length of his 18-year term,” said Keum Yong-han, an assistant minister at the ministry’s school policy office.
In November 2015, the ministry had originally planned on changing the system by allowing history textbooks of multiple publishers to only having a single state-authored textbook starting in 2017.
However, due to a fierce backlash, the ministry said in December it would allow both state-authored and private publishers’ textbooks starting in 2018.
In the meantime, it is the ministry’s plan for schools to use the state-authored textbook on a voluntary basis, as a pilot project this year.
Because private publishers’ textbooks based on the revised curriculum are yet to be compiled, schools which do not adopt the state-authored textbook will use existing ones from the private sector.
Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers are pushing for a bill which will ban the use of state-authored textbooks.
There are also forecasts that the plan for schools to adopt state-authored textbooks, one of President Park’s key plans, may end up being discarded because Park is awaiting her impeachment ruling by the Constitutional Court.