What to Teach about Historical Minorities? - Analysis of the Case of Japanese American Internment in the U.S. History Curriculum Materials -

Abstract

This study analyzed changes in textbook accounts, state content standards, and six lesson plans on the topic of Japanese American Internment with a purpose to shed light on historical minorities instruction in Korea. Textbook accounts of major publishers and state content standards, overall, demonstrated more similarities than differences. The six lesson plans also bore similarities in that they all utilized primary sources; however, there was a sharp difference in the number and kinds of primary sources each lesson used. The analysis of essential questions of each lesson plan revealed a huge difference in what the lessons intended to teach. Such difference, in part, originated from who developed lessons and why. Yet, the most notable difference was shown how directly the lesson made connection between the Japanese American Internment and students’ present lives. The reasons that brought differences in lesson plans in contrast to similarities demonstrated in textbooks and content standards were traced to “history wars” from the 1990s and current education reform efforts. The implications for Korean history education are discussed.