I’m shocked, I tell ya! Shocked!

by Robert Koehler on July 26, 2006

The Korean Teachers Union? Quoting North Korean history textbooks? Tell me it ain’t so!

{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Gray Hat July 26, 2006 at 10:27 am: The article implies, but does not explicitly say, that the “quotations” contained in the teaching materials were made without attribution. Apart from the political aspect — to which I gather much of South Korean society has been, well, de-sensitized — doesn’t anybody there have a problem with educators plagiarizing?
2 michael July 26, 2006 at 10:35 am: “Doesn’t anybody there have a problem with educators plagiarizing?”

Education Minister Refutes Plagiarism Allegations
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200607/kt2006072419123110510.htm
3 Gray Hat July 26, 2006 at 10:54 am: Thanks, Michael, I hadn’t heard about the story involving the Education Minister. The newspaper account seems a confusing, though: for example, the reference to a 1985 paper is unexplained. But what strikes me is that one of the arguments which the Education Minister’s spokesman offers in his defense is that the student was actually using the minister’s work, with his consent (instead of vice versa). However, the student’s paper didn’t say so! I interpret that to mean that the Education Minister’s defense is: “I didn’t plagiarize; I encouraged my student to plagiarize.”
4 ul July 26, 2006 at 10:56 am: About the whole plagiarism thing. It is crazy the amount that happens in the level of academia, at least within Korea. I suppose one could say that it is a natural progression of what happens in secondary, and university level education, where copying is rampant. Academics also plagiarize. They don’t really enforce/teach the concept of referencing. Academics who have worked more internationally are aware of this and are careful about referencing when it comes to international publications, etc. (I guess to protect the image of Korea – [shrug] ).
5 Gray Hat July 26, 2006 at 11:01 am: One other observation: the headline of the Korea Times article. Not many people I know would characterize this rather muddled set of assertions and excuses, put out through a spokesman, as a “refutation.” Was this a poor translation into English or did the newspaper really judge that the Education Minister had laid the matter to rest?
6 michael July 26, 2006 at 11:20 am: Don’t take the KT too seriously Gray Hat, it’s considered a joke here. I just posted it for the rich inherent irony of the education minister being accused of plagiarism….
7 Robert Koehler July 26, 2006 at 11:54 am: I wouldn’t necessarily say the KTU is considered a “joke” in Korea…
8 montclaire July 26, 2006 at 12:08 pm: We shouldn’t underestimate the extent to which SK people swallow NK history simply because it tastes better. It’s much nicer to believe that a Korean Revolutionary Army was giving the Japanese hell during the colonial era than to believe the truth, i.e. almost unanimous collaboration to the nth degree. Even the fact that the Norks themselves didn’t claim most of that nonsense until the mid-1960s doesn’t seem to faze any of those “teachers”.
9 R. Elgin July 26, 2006 at 12:19 pm: I simply wonder why instead of attempting to publish a list of people who collaborated with the Japanese way back when, why doesn’t the government disband and fire every alleged educator connected to the KTU since they are so clearly promoting a policital agenda that is at the expense of South Korean democracy. The fact that they are allowed to do as they have done is disgraceful since it is clearly subversion of fact with an alterior motive.