Education for Democratic Citizenship in Korea and the Development of the Concept of Civics: a focus on the middle school textbooks during the United States military administration and in the 1950s (2023.03)
- Author : Doo-Jin Kim
- Publication : Minjok Yeonku
- Publisher : Korea Research Center of Ethnology
- Volume : 81
- Date : March 2023
Abstract: We explore how the concept of “civics” (kongmin) has been formulated or perceived from the period of the US military administration through the 1950s. To do this, we focus on the middle school civics textbook during that time. Civic education during the Japanese colonial period was intended to instill the ‘public’ ideology into the people. Following the introduction of American ‘social studies’, the democratic citizenship education policy under the American military administration continued to have an impact on the indoctrination of Western citizenship in Korea. Afterwards civic education has to do with the abolition of values associated with Japanese colonial rule, the elimination of the status system (feudal class) in Korea (Joseon), and the abolition of discrimination between men and woman, free economy, popular sovereignty, and labor rights. Conceptual change in civic education has tended to pave the way for a radical change in perception that allows for the introduction of Western citizenship values in Korea. The civic textbooks of the wartime education system during the Korean War reinforced the anti-communist character of civic education. After the introduction of Western democracy, the concepts of “democracy” and “republic” was likely to be understood in the same sense.