Left-leaning textbooks

Nearly half of the writers of Korean history textbooks are left-leaning professors and teachers, including members of the progressive Korean Teachers and Education Workers` Union. Chogabje.com said its analysis of 37 writers of six textbooks found that 17, or 46 percent of them, were left-leaning, including members of the teachers’ union. The contents of new textbooks that passed review last year and whose use began this year have reportedly been corrected to a significant degree than with that of previous textbooks. Critics, however, blast the new textbooks as still being biased toward leftist ideology. Analysts say the left-leaning textbooks view the history of the Republic of Korea from the perspective of a “failed history,” and show positive views of North Korea`s communist regime.

Civic organizations are moving to question these problematic “Korean history” textbooks. The National Action Campaign for Freedom and Democracy in Korea said, “Korean history textbooks published by Mirae & Culture Group and Chunjae Education use the expression ‘dictatorship’ against the Republic of Korea government 21 times, but use the same expression against North Korea only five times.” The Education, Science and Technology Ministry announced last week that Korean history will be a required subject in college admission tests starting with students who enter high school next year. The civic groups, however, oppose what they call an “unprepared move,” saying inaccurate contents should be corrected first before Korean history is made a required subject.

The ministry should not hurriedly designate Korean history as a required subject for college admission. After contemporary and modern history textbooks caused a stir due to their anti-South Korea perspective under the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration, the new textbooks are also embroiled in the same line of controversy. As such, a comprehensive review of the new textbooks should come first. Objective and in-depth analysis of textbooks will be possible only when conducted with not only academics of Korean history but also by experts from diverse fields, including those who majored in the history of the West and Asia, politics and economics. This is because contemporary and modern Korean history is a complex tapestry of various fields, including politics, economy, society and culture.

Guidelines on history textbook authoring, which suggest the system of authorized textbooks and technical contents, should be significantly reinforced. The current guidelines were prepared under the incumbent Lee Myung-bak administration, but the repeated publication of left-leaning textbooks illustrates that the guidelines still have serious loopholes. Instilling future generations with the correct view of the nation and balanced perception of history is an important obligation of this generation. By publicly displaying key contents written by teachers of the progressive teachers’ union, authorities need to ask parents if teaching their children such knowledge is OK. It will not be too late to designate Korean history as a required subject for college admissions after properly written textbooks are made available.