hankyoreh

After Kim Do-yeon, the Minister of Education, Science and Technology, said, “The nation’s history textbooks and education lean to the left,” discussions about revising the textbooks are underway. The main targets are textbooks about the country’s modern history, which have been under intense attack by scholars from the new-right, and sections on the economy in elementary school social studies books, which the business community wants to see revised.

Minister Kim’s remarks reveal that the ministry has been carrying out textbook revisions on its own and is just now making their actions public. As he is the person responsible for approving the textbooks, however, it is absurd for him to suggest that they be revised. Textbook writers and publishers will inevitably be influenced by his remarks. Kim has violated the strict academic standards and neutrality that should serve as the foundation for any reliable textbook.

Moreover, Kim has suggested that revisions be made not on an academic level, but an ideological one. He has revealed his desire to place education in the realm of ideology, a situation that can frequently be seen in totalitarian states. Korea experienced the same situation under dictators like Rhee Syng-man, Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan. Even for a government without its own philosophy, it is pity to see the current administration attempt to link academic facts and theories with ideology.

The Education Ministry’s approach is even more absurd. If there were problems with the textbooks, it would be natural for the ministry to let them be reviewed by the academic community. However, the ministry, which is under the administration of President Lee Myung-bak, seems to be accepting as a golden rule the opinions of organizations composed of companies for which maximum profit is the goal, such as the Federation of Korean Industries and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. That wouldn’t be possible without the current administration’s desire to promote a rightist ideology. Furthermore, the views proposed by these organizations are anachronistic. According to one proposal from the KCCI, land surveys executed by the Japanese colonialists were aimed at “establishing modern land ownership,” not plundering land, and the idea that Hollywood movies are attacking Korea with giant mountains of capital should be eliminated for being against the United States.

It sees that the current administration wants to teach the children of Korea to be loyal to money and to obey power and the powerful. This is a dream that must fail, and it would be wise for the government to abandon it as soon as possible. The writing of textbooks should be done in the strictest and the most scientific way and, for that purpose, should be left to the academics. Political power should not be anywhere near this important task.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]