Is Korea underrepresented in our currriculum?

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

What is Korea?
I think so, is Korea even in the standards?
Yes, Korea represents the an important part of national history and global future .

[Anonymous]

The last class we attended left me thinking, literally, about Korea.

Why, in my world history class are we only dedicating one lesson of one chapter to the history and people of Korea? Why do we treat it like a simple intermediary between China and Japan and not an important and legitimate example of nation building and cohesiveness? As I was pondering these questions and starting to reflect upon my unit plan I began to research sources available to me so I can learn more and integrate Korea into the curriculum of my classroom.

By the by, I was blown away by the knowledge that Korea has been an area of cultural unity for more than 1200 years., was anyone else? I just did not know that. Why then is the Treaty of Westfalia so much more in the foreground of my understanding?

Back to the point...I found a pretty good resource surrounding these topics and questions on pbs, dedicated to the students in my range, middle school age. The interesting part, is that the developed lesson plans are focused upon the divergence or separation and conflict instead of the historical cohesiveness.

The lesson plan is here

[Anonymous]

One of my best friends growing up was Danny Park. When we were in 6th grade we started our own company selling mazes and books that we had created. Danny was Korean, and I have to say that when I met him I knew nothing of his culture.

I think as educators that we all recognize that our textbooks are culturally biased. In my American Literature textbook we have 1 Langston Hughes poem. 20 Emily Dickinson poems. Without undermining the significance of Emily Dickinson, this is a travesty.

As I grew older, my friendship with Danny Park opened my eyes to how Eurocentric our school curriculums are. This is why I have African and Asian Literature components built into my Humanities curriculum. I also spend 3 weeks on the Harlem Reniassance to make sure that my juniors have more exposure to Langston Hughes and the other men and women who helped to build the black consciousness that fueled the Civil Rights Movement.

I just want to say thank you to the USC US-China Institute for putting this program together. The lecture on Korea went a long way to further open my eyes to my good friend's culture. It is now our job to use this information in our classrooms. It is great to see that you are incoporating more into your classes.

[Anonymous]

Great question. Too bad I am the only reply so far. I am so looking forward to spending this last month of school on my Asian Literature section of my Humanities classes.

I feel so better equipped to talk about Korea since our last readings and meeting.

[Anonymous]

My simple answer is yes. The more troublesome part is where to fit sufficient time and information into the curriculum to foster an appreciation for Korean geography, culture and history among our students. There is a local resource for those teachers wishing to gain more knowledge about Korea. From July 7th-11th, 2008, the Korea Academy for Educators sponsors a week-long low-cost seminar on Korean History and Culture for teachers. It is extremely well presented and well worth attending. Details are at http://www.koreaacademy.org.

[Anonymous]

We just got new world history texts last year. There is a chapter on Korea and Southeast Asia. I taught it last year, but to be honest did not have the time this year. If the kids can pick Korea out of a map, and know that Buddhism jumped to Japan from Korea, I am relatively happy. I know that sounds awful but time is really getting to be a problem for teachers. I personally find Korea fasinating and my father fought in the Korean War, but the State gives us too much to cover. It's a shame and I feel badly, but it's the truth. Hopefully, since North Korea is sucha popular discussion now, kids in high school will learn more.

[Anonymous]

We have a Korean teacher at my school. I know, if asked, the teacher would be happy to visit a history class during Conference Period. Talking, sharing, and answering students' questions for one class period would touch a lot of young minds.

We have teachers who represent other Asian cultures who could be classroom resources if they were asked to be a guest speaker for an hour. Over the course of a year, most of the classes could have a guest speaker at some time during the year.

Many of our students have these teachers during the day or perhaps had them in a previous year. The teachers are not strangers to our students, and this might go a long way to building respect within the school.

[Anonymous]

PBS.org/teachers is a resource you should check out.

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/socialstudies/inventory/culturalstudiesasianstudies-68.html

"Conflict: Divided Peninsula: Six Decades of Military and Political Tension in Korea"

Leson plans are included and links to videos . . . depending on the lesson.

[Anonymous]

Having teachers come in to talk about their own cultures and backgrounds is a wonderful idea. Every year, I think it would be wonderful to reach out to the community to invite in speakers from different backgrounds, too. However, as I'm sure everyone can relate to, I always seem to run out of time and have too many other things going on. Our students always enjoy visitors- whether it a different teacher from around school or someone from the greater community, they are often pleased with the change in routine and intrigued to learn more about a culture when they have someone there to help them make a more personal connection.

As far as Korea in the curriculum goes, it's a tough one. I mean, the seventh grade history standards are, too say the least, overwhelming. People had the job of narrowing down the most important concepts for teachers to focus on, but that means leaving other parts of history out. It is sad, and I think it's important to stress to our kids that pieces of history from all over the world are left out- but not because they are not important. It truly is a time issue....

Having a visitor in to speak for one day really is a great way to reach the kids.....and even if they take only one or two big ideas away, I think this can be a very meaningful activity....

[Anonymous]

I would say that Korea is a little underrepresented in our curriculum. The class I teach is World History and Korea is merely mentioned during the study of the Cold War. So the fact of the matter is we do not go into the deep history of Korea but we do look at Korea as it plays a role in the larger scope of world history.

In the U.S. History curriculum more time is spent on certain aspects of the Korean War and how it relates to U.S. foreign policy. However, having said that, not much time is spent on Korea other than looking at it's relatively recent history and relating those facts to current events involving Korea in world affairs.

[Anonymous]

Of course Korea is underrepresented in our curriculum. I teach literature and in none of the Williams approved literature books (that I've seen so far) is there a Korean story. Many things that I learned about Korea (simple things) I learned during this East Asia class. Every year at my school, Van Nuys High School, the Korean Parents/Teachers Association give a Teachers' Appreciation Luncheon. We get to eat Korean foods and watch Korean entertainment. It is their way of showing appreciation to the teachers at VNHS, especially the Magnet teachers, but I also think it expresses their desire to share their Korean culture through the educational system.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the section on Korea seems very short compared to the other parts of our book. Could the lack of information have something to do with the North being isolated from the South, or might if just be short for other reasons. I know that the Koreans have a very rich culture as I am privledged to the same Korean cultural celebration at VNHS. The music with the dominant drums, the beautiful dances and colorful clothing is beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Korea is definetly overlooked in the Middle School curriculum. I think our text book has 3 pages on Korea, and it is really ancient information, It's too bad as from what I learned in lecture Korea is a very interesting place!

[Anonymous]

I am currently taking a class on the culture of geography. One of the themes in this class is the study of maps. When our professor showed us a National Geographic Map of the world taken by satellite imagery, she pointed out a few things to us. This same map (I think) was shown by Professor Kyung Moon Hwong on our class on Korea. He pointed out all the lights that were on in South Korea and how dark it was (literally black) in North Korea, due to the lack of electricity in the north. That stuck with me and I shared my meek knowledge with the class and teacher. She didn't seem to know this fact and I must say I was quite proud with myself and happy that I had enrolled in this seminar!

[Anonymous]

I really enjoyed our last class in which Clayton was showing us photo's he had taken on his trip to South Korea. The pictures of the DMZ were especially interesting and brought back ancient memories of a 60 Minutes piece about the DMZ. This piece had a rather satirical side to it in that the commentator took you inside this little room where they held meetings between parties of interest between the North and South. Apparently the guards who were standing watch would get bored and literally saw the tables and chair legs so that when the guests sat down or tried to use the table the furniture would literally fall down about them. Apparently it seems laughter is good for the human spirit no matter what side of the fence you are on! No one took responsibility for it of course and how the culprit(s) didn't start laughing is beyond me, but the picture that was painted has stuck with me all these years. Hopefully, the trip that the New York Philharmonic took to North Korea this last spring will ease tensions even farther.

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