And if you thought US history education was bad take a look at Korea!

And not the north which Im betting you all thought! No this comes from the south!

BBC news

South Korea's government has announced controversial plans to control the history textbooks used in secondary schools.

Currently, secondary schools can choose from textbooks published by eight different publishing companies.

However, the government says that from 2017, all secondary schools must only use history textbooks issued by the state.

Talk about governments over reach and history being controlled!

Still probably better than the North korean history books!

Still end of the day history is not about learning dates and memoriseing goverment approved "facts" its about research and drawing from as many sources as possible. Soon as you confine learning to one book its not history any more but propaganda class.

Do they plan to restrict internet access as well?

When I look back at what I was taught in 'O' Level History lessons, it was taught within guidelines of the Curriculum of the day. It was very pro British and we were only given one text book. We had to sit an exam based on what we were taught and straying away from any of the accepted responses to the set questions would cost you marks.

I must admit that I have learned more from the internet about History than I ever did in school. Also from watching some great documentaries.

I am no fan of these types of decisions by the way, but it has been common place in most countries for decades.

a reply to: crazyewok

Whats in the current text books? Do the history books contradict each other?

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: crazyewok

Whats in the current text books? Do the history books contradict each other?

Actually you want the books to contradict in some respects.

That way you get the kids to cross reference everything and draw there own conclusions.

Thats how I was taught.

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978
Do they plan to restrict internet access as well?

When I look back at what I was taught in 'O' Level History lessons, it was taught within guidelines of the Curriculum of the day. It was very pro British and we were only given one text book. We had to sit an exam based on what we were taught and straying away from any of the accepted responses to the set questions would cost you marks.

I must admit that I have learned more from the internet about History than I ever did in school. Also from watching some great documentaries.

I am no fan of these types of decisions by the way, but it has been common place in most countries for decades.

Wow really?

My GSCE and A level were the opposite.
Things must have changed.

a reply to: crazyewok

A teacher friend of mine told me a story a year or two ago about a colleague of his.

His colleague had asked his students to answer a question, in accordance with the National Curriculum, which began with the phrase "What do you think.......?"

One of his pupils apparently wrote an excellent essay on exactly what he thought on the subject.
The teacher showed my friend the piece of work and said that he would have liked to have given near maximum marks as it was a very well written essay that presented the pupils opinions in a clear, balanced and reasoned manner.

Unfortunately the teacher had to give the pupils work the lowest possible mark as it contradicted the answer that the National Curriculum said was correct.

I can't remember the exact nature of the question or even the subject involved.
I'm not that up to date with the National Curriculum and I'm sure it must have its benefits but I'm equally sure that this won't be an isolated instance.

It's an example of how our current education system is actively discouraging students to think for themselves and possibly even controlling just what information is reaching them.

It would be nice if grade school level history were taught similar to how it's done in college. My grade school history and geography classes were largely worthless. Things like how many died and how many cannons were used at each Civil War battle. The most useful thing I was taught in history came from my 11th grade history/geography class where we had to memorize every country in the world, pinpoint it on a map, name their capital, and pinpoint the capital on a map. That makes me one of the few Americans out there who can accurately identify where Iraq is or even place every country in Europe fairly accurately.

Unfortunately it's not until the college level where you really get into any fun aspects of history talking about things like political alliances that bring about actions, geopolitical strategy, historical rivalries, and so on. Grade school teaches a bunch of useless dry names and dates when real history is taught by looking at the politics of that time and determining motivations and outcomes.

originally posted by: Freeborn
A teacher friend of mine told me a story a year or two ago about a colleague of his.

His colleague had asked his students to answer a question, in accordance with the National Curriculum, which began with the phrase "What do you think.......?"

That's a sad story. Asking a student to come to their own conclusion and support it is precisely what schools should be doing. You have the historical facts over what happened but that's just what a lot of people agree on as the points that can be mass marketed. It's when you can look beyond those into underlying issues and make an opinion on them with the benefit of hindsight that you're actually learning.

When I went to grade school there weren't many opportunities to write like that, but what few there were I never saw anyone get punished for.