The implications of ‘May 4, 1970 and its aftermath’ for citizenship education in the United States and Korea: “The constitutional rights against national security ideology”

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the influence of the ‘May 4, 1970 Kent State Shootings and its aftermath’(Ma4a) on citizenship education in American high schools and to identify implications for the institutionalization of movement-oriented citizenship education in Korea. The data were analyzed using the methodology of ‘qualitative content analysis.' The data on Ma4a was collected by visiting the ‘May 4 Site,’ ‘May 4 Visitors Center,’ and ‘May 4 Digital Archive’ at KSU in 2021 and 2022. It was also useful to refer to the undergraduate course on Ma4a. The data on high school citizenship education in the United States were collected from Ohio Curriculum Standards of social studies, history textbooks, and teachers’ lesson plans. ‘May 4, 1970’ was described as “civil disobedience” rather than “riot” in social studies curricula, history textbooks, and lesson plans after its institutionalization from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. The constitutional right of ‘freedom of speech and assembly’ was not undermined by the ‘national security ideology.’ However, after the events of September 11, 2001, and the 2008 economic crisis, the Ohio Department of Education described the people's right to protect themselves from only “undue” governmental interference. The paradigm of citizenship education in U.S. schools changed due to the contest between state-centric citizenship and participatory citizenship. Social movements influenced citizenship education through the institutionalization of movement knowledges by movement intellectuals, which took a lot of time. This study has implications for the institutionalization of movement-oriented citizenship education, such as ‘Jeju 4·3 education for peace and human rights’ in Korean schools.