One of the problems leading to ignorance about history is that the Korean school curriculum is too concentrated on only three specific subjects, Korean, English, and mathematics. Since a majority of middle and high schools give the most credits for these three subjects, and heavily emphasize them, students naturally study them the most and tend to view other subjects, including history, unimportant.

 

Underlying to above is the CSAT, which requires students to take Korean, English and mathematics. Today, many Korean high schools put a great amount of pressure on their students to enter one of the top universities. Due to such an atmosphere, students tend to have only one goal, which is to enroll in one of the prestigious universities.

 

Since it is not necessary for students to take the exam regarding history, believing that studying for the main three subjects and not choosing history is the easiest way to university entrance, students ignore history.

 

Further causes of why students today do not have much historical can be discovered in the current Korean history education system. Looking through contemporary Korean high school history textbooks, one sees that they contain only endless lists of words and historical events. The Korean history tests designed by high school teachers also ask very minor and unimportant details about history. History is thus taught without a context of meaning, making students lose interest, since the answer of why they have to learn history is not provided.

 

That Korean society holds negative views about studying and majoring in history also contributes to the general apathy towards history. Today, many believe that having history or Korean history as a major can be a disadvantage when it comes to getting a job. As such thought spreads, many students, even those who have some interest in history, give up studying history further marginalizes the subject.

 

Even some students who study history in Korea University (KU) agree with this stance. “When I first entered school, I felt that many people around me did not think very positively about majoring in Korean history,” said Seo Min Ju (’13, Korean History). “Actually, I myself also agree that you cannot get a job easily after majoring in the field of history. Therefore, at the moment I am researching more about the second major programs offered in KU.”

 

Some might ask why we need to learn about history. The most basic answer would be to prevent the possible problems that can arise from the lack of knowledge about the subject.

 

Today, Korea is facing many conflicts with its neighboring countries of Japan and China regarding history. In the discord with Japan, the two countries are arguing about Dokdo, a small islet in the East Sea next to Ulleung Island. Korea claims that it is their territory based on geographical distance and evidence from historical official documents such as “The Chronicles of the Three States.” On the other hand, Japan claims that it is theirs, relying on many ancient maps that states that it is in their ownership.

 

There is also a historical dispute between Korea and China regarding whose history Goguryeo is, a territory in the period from 37 B.C. to 668 A.D. China argue that Goguryeo is a part of their history, as it was one of their regional districts which paid tributes to China. However, Korea refutes this by stating that such tribute was based on sinocentrism and that even the Joseon Dynasty, which is definitely considered as Korean history, paid tributes to China.

 

If we, as citizens, do not know about the details of such discords and do not know the specific evidence of why Dokdo or Goguryeo is considered our land and history, then we and even the country cannot defend nor protect it ourselves. “Knowing one’s history is knowing how to introduce oneself. If you have deep historical knowledge, it prevents other nations from distorting facts,” said Yi Tae Jin, the chairperson of the National Institute of Korean History (NIKH). When people lack convincing arguments it makes it look as if their claims are based in nationalism.

 

Another reason why many countries emphasize the importance of history is that by learning it, people, including students, can know more deeply about their roots and traditions. This leads to them knowing more about their true identities, and deciding upon their ideologies and thoughts, or even plans about their future. Thus, if students do not learn about their past roots, they may have difficulties discovering about themselves.

 

One of the positive aspects about learning about history is to learn from past events. As an extremely famous proverb claims, history repeats itself. By studying what sorts of causes lead to what kinds of problems, people can apply such knowledge to everyday life. This is especially true for the governments of countries, as much of history is related to international relationships, diplomacy and the rise and downfall of dynasties or figures. Therefore, if people do not learn from previous events and crises, they may repeat the same mistakes.

 

In order to overcome such problems, the government and schools should educate the students with better curriculums for history education. In fact, they can learn from other countries, including Germany, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (U.S.), which appear to be leading countries in this area.

 

Germany heavily emphasizes the education of history. Although the number and hours of history classes differ from school to school, it is required by law for the German schools to teach history. All students must take and pass history classes starting with the fifth grade in order to move on to the next grade or graduate from their school.

 

One thing that is unique about German high schools is that unlike Korea, they do not have textbooks with a list of all events, that students must memorize for tests. Rather, schools focus only on the most important events and use a collection of primary sources and pictures rather than textbooks with hundreds of pages filled with words.

 

The reason for using primary sources is that German schools believe that many students would get bored with history if they require of them to simply memorize. Therefore, by looking at primary sources such as texts, letters, and pictures and interpreting them, the German schools believe that students will not only be able to develop their own insights regarding specific historical events, but also be delighted by learning about history.

 

German schools also encourage students to gain more interest in history by going on many field trips to historical places. Each year, the German students visit at least one historical place that is related to their curriculum. Students even visit places such as the Nazi Germany concentration camps, so that they can feel by heart about what happened there. As a result of such methods, Germany is considered a leader in history education.

 

Although history has been regarded an independent subject since the 19th century, there was not a specific curriculum about English history instituted by the British government. History classes, therefore, were run autonomously, which led to a lot of confusion. However, there was a move towards educational reformation in 1960s and people started to call the new history curriculum that had been forwarded in that period the “New History.”

 

Realizing the importance of knowing its national history, England has classified English history and geography as a “foundation” subject that every student has to learn obligatorily. Even though the amount of time for history class per week differs between schools, most schools in the country require their students to take English history and geography for 10 hours a week. This is equal to the time that English, which is their native language, and ,mathematics classes take place.

 

The English government also has divided the national purpose of history education into three separate parts which are knowledge and understanding of history, interpretation of history, and the use of historical sources. From this, it can be inferred that unlike Korea, England focuses on understanding and interpretation of history more than simply the knowledge of the subject.

 

Through such aims, the students are able to apply what they have learned in history classes to their everyday lives much more easily. Such specific curriculum specified by the government also helps English schools organize their history classes as students in any schools would be able to learn similar topics of history with similar methods.

 

Although the U.S. is considered as one of the most developed countries in the world today, it is not very recognized for its educational systems. This is because the U.S. has a short history compared to other European or Asian countries. The country’s government, however, is still concentrating a lot in developing history education to make sure the students know about their identity and roots.

 

One of the ways the U.S. is attempting in order to advance the history education within the country is by investing in educational experts to develop a good curriculum. It has been also known that the American government affords about 50 to 200 billion dollars a year to carry on projects related to strengthening the current history education system and making it effective. This shows how the American government considers this crucially and how they are fully engaged in the reinforcement of it.

 

The various states within the U.S. also contribute to the development of historical education by making American history mandatory for students during their entire school life from kindergarten straight up to 12th grade. This makes sure that the American students have reasonable knowledge about their country’s history before they graduate and move on in their lives.

 

Many state governments in the U.S. also spend great amount of money to make better textbooks and hire or even educate acknowledged history professors and teachers. The U.S., therefore, is trying to make sure that the students learn from talented teachers with great knowledge about U.S. history.

 

When we hear the statistics that over half of the students under 18 in Korea do not know a basic fact about the Korean War, many tilt their heads and sigh. Some blame it on the lack of emphasis on Korean history education and the majority, others go back to the extreme adoration of private education and most of them believe the story.

 

The lack of emphasis on history in Korea definitely exists with not many students choosing to learn it during their schooldays. In order to fully understand the truth of th problem, it is important to understand the very underlying causes excluding the exaggerations that are often shown in the media.

 

According to the recent statistics, over half of the students in Korea are not aware that the Korean War started with the attack of the North. However, according to Choi Tae Sung, a renowned teacher in the Educational Broadcasting System (EBS); this statistics is just a sly way of enticing the viewers. “Everyone knows that the North caused it, what they are not aware of is the easily confused terms,” said Choi.

 

One important fact that was missed is the mandatory Korean history education hours that are given to public middle and high schools. By law, every public school provides students with four mandatory history hours that are relatively more than other subjects such as music and art. “As a history teacher, more the better but the hours given are enough. It’s the same exact hours as the most emphasized subjects like math and English,” Lee beamed.

 

What the media has been covering is the results of the CSAT or the one exam that determines many students’ future. Last year, about 12.8 percent of the students chose Korean history as their selective subjects for the CSAT which is around 7.1 percent lower than last year. Considering this fact, it is understandable why the people and the media focus on the emphasis of Korean history education.

 

However, the core of the problem is that the students do not understand ‘why’ they are learning history. “Many assume that history is done only by memorizing the facts but the truth is, history is all about flow and reflecting it into our own lives,” Choi said. Reflecting history and applying it into our own lives cannot be done without keen interest and realization of value of history itself.

 

This entails that the problem in Korean history education does not only include the lack of emphasis in history education in schools but also in the attitudes in students who only try to absorb the large amount for a single purpose of going to college and forgetting it as soon as their goal has been reached.

 

Besides observing other nations’ model in teaching national history, in order to practically change the status quo, there must be a model that follows the Korean educational systems and values. In such areas, teachers who are currently engaged in public schools in Korea believe that history education should go beyond words and be taught more interactively between the teacher and the students.

 

“Students need to understand why they are learning history. History is something that is beyond knowing thedate and the people involved. It needs to teach the students who they are, where they came from and what path they must take as the predecessor of our ancestors,” said Choi.

 

In order to achieve such goal in students, Choi believes that history education should be taught by class discussions and multiple field trips. The current education system still has not changed which makes the teacher the sole instructor with students simply consuming the facts. Such learning environment makes history, a subject that rings boredom and not important. Instead, by observing the artifacts and learning them outside of history books, this allows the students to become interactive with the past.

 

Choi also believes that history must be discussed and be linked to the lives of people today. “By asking the questions like why the ancestors behaved in a certain way at that time and how such attitudes are reflected in the people today, students are able to learn history by personally relating with their own issues,” said Choi.

 

“History is always debatable. Although many are considered facts, some are still disputed even within the nation. In order to prepare the students with the contradictions in the issues, history should be taught through discussions and learning different perspectives,” said Choi.

“A thousand hearings are not worth one seeing” is a ubiquitous proverb that also can be applied to education. In order for the students to get an idea of what they are learning, seeing the historical monuments guide students in understanding the materials. Korea has numerous artifacts that are often overlooked but are very helpful for students to create an image in their heads and connect it with the facts acquired from class.

 

Instead of focusing on the words that often change with the continued research, history would benefit more with an interactive educational atmosphere. By pinpointing facts and moving them to discussions and debates, it would help students to not only know the facts but understand the living and by witnessing the relics with their own eyes, students are given a chance to gaze at the wonder of 5,000 long history.

 

“History is my least favorite subject because I have to know every little detail that does not really matter,” said Kim Jung Hwan (17, Seoul), a student from Daechong high school. Just like what Kim said, many students do not feel eager to study Korean history because the CSAT often deal with petty problems that are often only done with the results of complete memorization of 5,000 years of history.

 

The purpose of learning history is to know oneself in the eyes of one’s ancestors and to understand where his or her roots came from. Learning history is more than just memorization. Unfortunately, with today’s Korean educational system where complete memorization is necessary for students to get into a prestigious university, understanding the value of history is not an automatic step that students take.

 

According to the NIKH, Korean history must mainly serve the purpose of allowing citizens to understand the nation and the pride it has. However, as the world faced globalization, history must also alter in its purpose. “Historical education and research must work its way in allowing global citizens to peacefully coexist,” said Yi.

 

The abrupt change in the CSAT system that would make history mandatory for students to take from the year 2017 did bring overall positive feedback from the public. The fact that the people now know that learning history is important, the next step to take may be is to prevent detrimental side effects such as complete indifference and possible hatred of history from the younger generation that can actually defy the purpose of educating history. Hoping that one day students would be able to stare at Goryeo celadon with awe and learn deep rooted meanings of single stroke of the ceramics, progress in Korean history education will continue.

▲ West Gate of Seoul in 1904 showing American electrictramway taken by Underwood.Provided by koreanhistory.info