History textbooks should not change as administration changes

The government has made a final decision to nationalize Korean history textbooks and is reportedly to make an announcement next week. Although the Blue House said yesterday it was "to be decided from the educational view of the Ministry of Education and Saenuri Party," it implied that the president had a say in it by repeatedly quoting President Park that "It is important to promote the right view of the country and unbiased historical awareness."

The reason why President Park is pushing forward with the decision despite the tough criticism from the opposition party and the academic community is probably that she concluded that with the current certification system, the situation of left-leaning tendencies of Korean history textbooks cannot be corrected. During the national inspection of the Ministry of Education last month, Seo Yong-Gyo, a Saenuri member, revealed that except for Gyohaksa, 36 of 56 writers of seven high school Korean history textbooks that attained certification in 2013 are involved in a left-leaning history research society, Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities, or the Korean Teachers & Educational Workers` Union (KTU).

Jihaksa Wariber School textbooks are considered to be relatively unbiased but the choice rate is less than 10 percent. Gyohaksa textbooks written by right-leaning scholars were not chosen by any school due to pressure from KTU teachers and leftist civic groups. It is not an exaggeration to say that the government`s consideration to nationalize history textbooks is a headwind against the dominant leftist influence over the textbook market.

President Park pointed out last year that "The textbooks that passed the national certification should not contain factual fallacy and biased ideologies." Moreover, Korean history textbooks unlike other textbooks cannot be written without following the `standard`. If the standard was flawless, it would not allow fallacy in textbooks. But the standard manual that the Ministry of Education published in 2011 has only 12 pages. There was no standard that prohibits denial of Korea`s traditions or positive portray of the North Korean government.

There are only a few countries that nationalize history textbooks; North Korea, Vietnam, Greece, Turkey, and Iceland. Even if President Park keeps pushing for nationalization of history textbooks, it is possible that the contents will change again or the certification system will come back in the next administration. The leftist history academia should not be the only textbook writers. The only way to make it right is to have experts in politics, economy, and society write quality textbooks and give them enough time to do so. Patriotism promotion is important but a government having a control over writing history textbooks is not right.