Textbook authors make plans for own revisions
Authors of high school history textbooks accused of having leftist biases announced their plans to make revisions while rejecting some of the government’s recommendations for corrections.The Ministry of Education said on Oct. 21 that the publishers of eight Korean history textbooks should make a total of 829 revisions and modifications by yesterday.
Among them, 578 recommendations were made for the seven textbooks with leftist slants, while Kyohak Publishing Company, whose textbook was accused of containing conservative biases, was asked to make 251 corrections.
Following days of review, authors of the seven textbooks came up with their own plans for revision.
A group of authors who participated in writing the books announced Thursday a plan to make a total of 623 changes after a review of their contents. While their plan included making changes that were not suggested by the ministry, the authors said they decided to make modifications based on their review.
“If this wasteful controversy continues, students and teachers will eventually have to suffer,” said Chu Chin-oh, a professor of history at Sangmyung University and a textbook author. “In order to minimize damages in the classrooms, the authors agreed to show flexible attitudes.”
However, not all suggestions by the ministry were accepted. Sixty-four recommendations were turned down by some authors.
The ministry will review the authors’ plan with a team of experts and decide its next course of action. Following the review, the minister of education has the right to order the publishers to make changes if they are deemed necessary.
BY LEE HAN-GIL [myoja@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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