South Korean scholars boycott state-issued textbook project

Before leaving for her current trip to the United States, Park defended the move toward state-issued textbooks by saying history classes must inspire “pride” in students for being South Korean citizens.

The problem with history is that a lot things happen that are not much to be proud of. But the people of a nation should have an accurate account of what happened to their own people in the past.

Let students decide on what they are and aren't proud of. From there they can make better and well-informed decisions about their future and follow a path that's better for their people and nation.

I see: so it's OK to whitewash the brutal activities of Park Ching-hee, but any attempt whatsoever to play down the issue of Japanese sex slaves is an outrage and cannot be tolerated.

I think Ms Park has some explaining to do.

While it is not a law, there are some situations where a publisher must change something in a textbook because the government suggests it. That is censorship because, although the authors can publish their books without making the changes, they (the books) will not be used. Textbooks should be published freely, and the choice of which textbooks should be used must be left up to teachers and parents. The basic issue is of whether a nation can be honest with itself.

Good on these people for standing up. The country already has its fair share of bias in textbooks, so this is welcome. If only Japan could take a page from South Korea and do the same.

Wow, I don't say this enough but...Go South Korean scholars.

As long as you're doing it for all of your history and not just what the President's father did.

scrote:

I see: so it's OK to whitewash the brutal activities of Park Ching-hee, but any attempt whatsoever to play down the issue of Japanese sex slaves is an outrage and cannot be tolerated.

Yes, but there are Korean scholars on the warpath. How are the Japanese standing up to their own facist government when it comes to textbooks?