Textbook battles

The Chosun Ilbo yesterday published an editorial titled "Kanto Massacre Is Textbook Case of Japan's Historic Disease," which has some interesting lines:

The Kanto massacre stands in the same line of atrocities as the Holocaust, involving the systematic murder of an ethnic group by or at the instigation of a state obsessed with notions of racial superiority.

But while the Holocaust is widely documented and discussed, few have heard of the Kanto massacre, and only two out of six Korean high school texts mention it.

Japan generally prefers to cover up the massacre and massage the facts. Education officials in Yokohama recently deleted a section in a middle school history text that said the Japanese military and police "persecuted and massacred" Koreans. Now only one out of seven Japanese middle school history texts uses the expression "massacre."

So we're complaining about there not being enough coverage in Japanese textbooks of an event Korean textbooks mostly don't cover? Am I getting that right?

Oh, and, "Hello, comparison stating Korean suffering was 'just like the Holocaust'. It's been awhile." (The most egregious example is here, and indifference to using Nazi imagery in Korea is mentioned here.)

I've mentioned the Kanto Earthquake before (scroll down), and horrible, horrible things happened at that time, but I just have to wonder, what with all the complaints about the omissions of Japanese textbooks, if Korean textbooks mention the anti-Chinese riots which took place in Korea in the wake of the 1931 Wanpaoshan Incident (more information here). "Over 100 Chinese were killed and over 500 were wounded. The worst rioting occurred in Pyongyang on July 5, and considerable property damage was inflicted on Chinese businesses and residences." Since the Japanese government (in Korea) responded slowly and punished the Korean rioters lightly (anti-Japanese riots would have been punished much more harshly) one wonders if the blame would simply be put on Japan, and the rioters described as 'victims of Japan.'

At any rate, I'm glad the Chosun Ilbo inadvertently reminded me of this incident; I thought to search the National Assembly Library online and found "Race problems: racial disturbance-their suppression, massacre, 1931/ American Consulate General in Mukden; Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to internal affairs of Korea, 1930-1939," which is a veritable treasure trove of information, including eyewitness accounts, clippings of accounts in the Seoul Press (the Japanese English language paper), translations of the Korean-language editorials which observers said set off the riots, and a reprint of a lengthy Chinese report on the incident.(Anyone who is a member of the library (and anyone can sign up) can access it over the internet.) Just for fun, here's the translation of the opening paragraph of the July 4, 1931 'extra' editorial published by the - yes - Chosun Ilbo:

Blood is thicker than water. Brethren are my Brethren. […] [I]f people are persecuted or subject to maltreatment in a foreign land, it is only those who are related in blood or of the same race who understand and feel their hardship. In connection with the 1,000,000 Koreans in Manchuria who are exhausted and tottering in repeated persecutions, it is only the 20,000,000 Koreans in Chosen who have the greatest sympathy with them, feel for them, and are eager to render assistance to them. Just look! […] [I]n all Manchuria, are not the Chinese officials and people carrying out the expulsion and oppression of Koreans in designed, systematic and permanent way? Korean people are full of racial love! What are you feeling about this? Is there no way to protect their right of existence?

Well, I guess the Chosun Ilbo comes by the feeling that it displayed above of being especially victimized honestly. I imagine I'll post more on this at some point.

Such a nationalist point of view brought to mind a post at Waygook.org I saw the other day about what happened when a foreign teacher presented a power point titled "Why are we learning English?" which mentioned where Korean falls on the 'most spoken language' scale:

After 4 periods, my CT [co-teacher] just called me to tell me that we need to change the lesson. He told me that the students were "very sensitive" about the fact that Korean is the 22nd most spoken language in the world. And they're mad that Chinese is first and that Japanese is 10th. And so, "you can't tell students that part that Korean is the 22nd language. You must explain that Korean and Japanese and Chinese are all from the same language, so when you say that Korean is 22nd, it's really the same as Japanese and Chinese which are much higher." [...]

He continued on to tell me that Korea used to be "10 times as large" and that it used to contain "most of China". He told me that Korea and Japan used to fight, and that Korea and China used to fight. I told him I understood the history, but that doesn't change reality today. As 10 year old kids, the students shouldn't have any understanding of the fact that Korea is a very small place in a very big world, but a foreign language class is exactly where they should be exposed to that reality.

He countered by saying that the history taught in Korean schools "by all of the teachers in all of the classes" makes the kids, again, "very sensitive" to this information and I should change the lesson. My final statement was that, yes, exactly, they're learning the same thing everywhere else, and they can stand to learn these very simple facts in my classroom.

Then he mentioned that Korean students hate Chinese people and they don't like to see that China is good. I lost it, then, and said that it was tough luck, I'm teaching the lesson and I hope they're upset enough to investigate the facts for themselves.

I don't expect to have a huge impact on my students' English ability. What I really want to accomplish is to spark a sense of wonder about the wider world. I want them to know that if they want to leave Korea, ever, to go anywhere, they need to learn a second language. I want them to understand that being proud of their nation is absolutely in order- Korea has a lot to be proud of and can celebrate many successes- but I also want them to start to see that Korea is just Korea and there's so much out there to explore, understand and consider.

I just like the part where he says that "You must explain that Korean and Japanese and Chinese are all from the same language, so when you say that Korean is 22nd, it's really the same as Japanese and Chinese which are much higher" and then later says "Korean students hate Chinese people and they don't like to see that China is good." If that's the case, why make the case for the Korean language being the same as Chinese?

At any rate, I'm not sure outright challenging one's co-teacher is the best idea, but to each their own.

New crime stats for teachers, both Korean and foreign

Yesterday Yonhap published the following report:

In 3 years 15 native speaking English teachers commit crimes...drugs most common

Among native speaking assistant English teachers placed in elementary, middle and high schools nationwide, 15 have committed crimes over the past 3 years.

According to material submitted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to National Assembly Education, Science and Technology committee member  Rep. Lee Hak-jae (Saenuri party) during the parliamentary audit, from 2010 to June 2012 15 native speaking assistant English teachers were punished for various crimes, it was announced on October 4.

By year, 11 were caught in 2010, two in 2011, and two in the first half of this year.

Native speaking assistant English teacher crime involved drugs the most, with 5 caught for drug crimes; 2 were arrested and charged, while 3 were charged but not detained. One teacher was caught for assault, another for theft, and another for a sex crime, while 6 others [SIC] committed other crimes.

13 teachers had their contracts canceled by their schools, while two got warnings.

I would imagine that single sex crime to be the teacher who fled from Daegu in 2010 and was extradited back to Korea in April before being sentenced to 4 years in prison in September. This story was reported by three other outlets, with SBS adding this cute little photo:

The reason for these statistics coming out is because 'tis the season for parliamentary audits of government ministries. Here's another article from Yonhap, also published yesterday:

Rep. Kim Sang-hui: "65% of teachers with sex crimes on record continue to work"

It's come to light that more than 6 out of 10 teachers who have committed sex crimes are still in classrooms.

According to material submitted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to National Assembly Education, Science and Technology committee member Rep. Kim Sang-hui (Democratic United Party), from 2008 to June 2012 135 teachers were punished for sex crimes, it was announced on October 4.

The number of crimes continuously increased from 21 in 2008 to 31 in in 2009, 33 in 2010, and 42 in 2011, and then decreased with only 8 crimes punished in the first half of this year.

Out of the 135 teachers punished for sex crimes, 41 were dismissed and removed from the classroom, while the remaining 81 (65%) faced demotions, suspensions, pay cuts, reprimands or cautions and are still working.

In particular, of 56 teachers who committed sex crimes against minors such as students, 20 faced disciplinary action such as suspensions, pay cuts or reprimands.

It was also found that among those who faced disciplinary action, 9 received pay cuts or reprimands when, in the case of those who commit sex crimes against minors, the lowest punishment is "suspension," in violation of regulations regarding displinary action against public education personnel.

Of 18 teachers caught for prostitution, they all received disciplinary action such as reprimands or pay cuts except for one who was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

Rep. Kim insisted that, "In order to protect our children, we should strip soul-destroying, inhumane criminals who commit sexual violence against minors of their teaching qualifications, not wink at the problem with disciplinary measures."

That article is only talking about Korean teachers. The stats in the above article are a little different from those in a Chosun Ilbo article from October 2, in which Rep. Elisa Lee puts the number of sex crimes by teachers at 145 in total, with 22 in 2008, 31 in in 2009, and 33 in 2010, to 42 in 2011, and 17 crimes in the first half of this year.

It says that by region, Seoul had the most sex crimes committed by teachers (25), Gyeonggi-do and Incheon each had 15, Jeollabuk-do, 13, Jeollanam-do, 12, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gyeongsangnam-do and Gangwon-do each had  9, Gwangju, 8, Chungcheongnam-do and Daegu each had 7, Daejeon and Busan each had 4, Chungcheongbuk-do and Ulsan each had 3, and Jeju had 2. While this is not a lot compared to other occupations, the article said that, considering their mandate to educate children, something needs to be done to deal with this growing trend of sex crimes.

By type of crime, there were many cases of sexual harassment of other teachers and parents as well as molestation and sexual assault of underage students. One teacher in Jeollabuk-do sexually assaulted an elementary school student with an intellectual disability. There were also teachers caught buying sex in illegal massage parlors. A high school teacher in Seoul was fired for raping his relative, and an elementary school teacher in Gwangju was caught red-handed secretly photographing women's private parts with his cell phone camera while on the subway. Even worse, there was also a high school teacher who indecently assaulted a female police officer but was only charged with unlawful interference with an officer on duty.

The punishment of teachers who committed sex crimes varied, however. An elementary school teacher in Gangwon-do who molested a student was fired, while a private middle school teacher in Gyeongsangnam-do who committed the same crime only had his pay cut for two months. Rep. Lee said that "It's a terrible thing that a teacher who committed a sex crime is teaching children." "There should be strong disciplinary action for teachers who commit sex crimes so that they cannot return to school."

I doubt few people would argue with that.

And yet in the fall of 2009 Rep. Choi Young hee (who authored a bill which was incorporated into the Hagwon law amendment last year) complained that teachers were being let off too easily for sex crimes, with nearly 60% getting only reprimands.

A total of 124 sexual crimes involving elementary and secondary school teachers were reported to the education authorities between 2006 and 2009. Among them, 47 involved prostitution, 43 were sexual harassment and five were rape cases. However, only eight teachers (6 percent) were given prison sentences, while 31 were not indicted and 28 received suspended sentences.

"It seems that teachers were exempt from punishment through out-of-court settlements with the parents of the victims," Rep Choi said. "Moreover, each city and provincial education offices, which were supposed to strictly punish those teachers, gave only verbal warnings. Only 21 teachers were fired for sexual violence."[...]


"We expect higher levels of ethics from teachers, but courts and education authorities are too merciful to problematic ones," Choi said.

Rep. Choi's comments in 2009 took place in the aftermath of the 'Nayoung incident,' which caused outrage at the lax sentence given to a man in his 50s  for brutally raping an 8 year old girl, so it's not like there wasn't a great deal of interest at the time (a time made more interesting by certain national assembly representatives who described foreign teachers as "especially potential child molesters"). And yet here we are, 3 years later, with still the same problem, with the majority of teachers who commit sex crimes still in classrooms. In fact, the statistics suggest it is a growing problem. A post about that problem in particular with have to wait for another day.

Video of the day

As noted at the Marmot's Hole earlier this week, Yang Rui, a well-known Chinese TV host on state-sponsored CCTV posted a scathing attack on foreigners on his blog which mentioned Japan, Korea and the West, though ChinaSMACK notes that it wasn't so popular. This seems to be a part of a xenophobic 'gust' which was influenced in part by the video described here. At any rate, here's the (probably NSFW) Taiwanese take on Yang Rui's rant:



There was a case in China six years ago which might sound rather similar to the English Spectrum incident in Korea, and drew similar responses:

Chinabounder, an anonymous British expat and self-confessed wastrel in his early 30s, likes to boast on his weblog of his sexual conquests of Chinese women, including some of his students. This has so outraged Shanghai's web citizens that they have resolved to track him down and "kick the foreign trash out of China".

In racy language suggesting a Terry-Thomas-like rogue cutting a dash in the seedy bars of Shanghai, Chinabounder describes seducing a different girl every night of the week.

The postings are also critical of Chinese male sexual prowess and contain occasional snipes at Chairman Mao Tse-tung's womanising and the frustrations of Chinese housewives.

The collection of juvenile if provocative musings on sexual mores in contemporary China may even be a hoax cooked up by artists to gauge the reaction in China to such unsavoury comments from a foreigner.

Access to his "Sex and Shanghai" blog - which attracted millions of readers - is currently denied as the author hides from a wave of contempt. Cyber-vigilantes, furious at his claimed seductions of married women and teenagers, have threatened him with a beating if they track him down and some comments are couched in dangerously xenophobic language.

[...]Zhang Jiehai, a professor of psychology at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, describes the blogger as a "piece of garbage" and "an immoral foreigner". "Netizens and compatriots, if you are a Chinese man with guts and if you respect Chinese women, please join this 'internet hunt for the immoral foreigner'," he wrote. Other postings have called for Chinabounder's head and described his girlfriends as "national scum".

Jeremy Goldkorn, the publisher of the influential Danwei website, believes that most people have been measured in their response.

"A lot of the comments about Chinabounder have been fairly moderate - people saying how Chinese men are far worse than Chinabounder, for example, or pointing out that there was no question of rape or anything like that," he said. And there have even been imitators. An overseas-born ethnic Chinese woman has set up a site, ABC Chick in Shanghai, describes herself as Chinabounderess and defends Chinabounder. She then goes on to describe her own flirtations in Shanghai.

Some more descriptions are here, and in 2008 the writer outed himself in order to promote a book he wrote describing why China would never be great, which I'm sure helped make him even more popular in China. The number of visitors to the online campaign against him - 17,000 - is the same number AES would eventually draw, but goes to show that, comparatively, not that many people were interested, considering the number of internet users in China.