EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on April 25

Better history education Korean history will return as a mandatory subject in high schools next year after being sidelined as an optional course. The change is none other than the government???s admission that it has taken a misguided policy of making Korean history a choice for students. It is fortunate that policymakers have come to realize how important it is for all school children to learn Korean history. South Korea cannot establish its true identify unless people feel proud of the national history and culture. For this reason, we cannot overemphasize the importance of history education. Learning history makes it possible for one to have dialogue with the past and the future. It is imperative to help students expand their knowledge about what happened to Korea in the context of world history, especially Asian history. History education should focus on extracting a common denominator from peculiar historical facts so that learners can have a national identity and broader historical perspective in this era of globalization. However, we have to admit that every government has been inclined to use history education as a means to propagate its political ideology to students or promote narrow-minded nationalism. Such an inclination was evident in the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration???s 2009 curriculum reform to exclude Korean history from the list of mandatory subjects. The exclusion was apparently in reaction to the previous liberal government???s bid to teach history from a left-leaning point of view. The direct motive for undoing the reform is to better cope with Japan???s authorization of school textbooks laying claims to Korea???s easternmost islets of Dokdo and its attempt to whitewash its imperialism and militarism in the first half of the 20th century. The move is also designed to tackle China???s claim that the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo was a vassal of the Chinese. In many respects, the re-designation of Korean history as a requirement in the high school curriculum is politically motivated. Of course, history education cannot ignore the stark reality and complex relations with Japan and China. But the school curriculum should not be swayed by politics. If history education is too much influenced by domestic political bickering or regional conflicts, it may stimulate students to have the wrong historic perception or develop nationalistic ideas. The government has also been criticized for changing the curriculum too frequently, causing confusion and trouble to students. It should no longer play with short-sighted education policies. Instead, policymakers must stress what the essential requirements in the curriculum are in the longer run. Requiring all high school students to take a Korean history course does not necessarily mean that they will develop positive and future-oriented views about the nation as intended by the government. More important is what should be learned during the obligatory class. It is also urgent to have new textbooks free of ideological bias and political influences.