0134 Korean Confusion

American educators, take heart: US students are not the only ones in the world with a shaky grasp of their own country’s history. Students in South Korea are alarmingly in the dark about circumstances of the Korean War. A poll taken by a monthly magazine revealed that over half the students had no idea when the war began – 14th century? 12th? 10th? – while about 20 percent believed that the Americans or, possibly, the Japanese started the whole thing. Fewer than 50% correctly identified North Korea as the aggressor making a move to unify the peninsula by force. Educators blame the confusion on unification-oriented textbooks. In striving not to encourage hostile feelings against the North, feelings about the West and East have gone south. #ceas #greene #hacker #SouthKorea