World History Teaching in Asia: A Comparative Survey [1 ed.] 9781614728214, 9781614728290

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A Comparative Survey

“World History Teaching in Asia is a timely and illuminating volume that explains how roughly forty percent of humankind learns ­history. Every teacher of world history can learn something useful from this book.” —J. R. McNeill, Georgetown University “Eye opening, engaging, salutary, inspiring. Welcome to the global story of world history teaching, in which Asia quite rightly plays a significant part.” —Marnie Hughes-Warrington, Australian National University

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BERKSHIRE

BERKSHIRE PUBLISHING

WORLD HISTORY TEACHING IN ASIA A Comparative Survey

MINAMIZUKA MANNING

“The ongoing transition away from histories of the world seen from a parochial angle—and that includes continental positions— is a d ­ ifficult and exciting one that scholars of today and tomorrow must embark upon. World History Teaching in Asia, in timely fashion, ­provides inspiration in that direction.” —Ooi Kee Beng, Penang Institute, Malaysia

WORLD HISTORY TEACHING IN ASIA

WORLD HISTORY TEACHING IN ASIA

Edited by Minamizuka Shingo Foreword by Patrick Manning BERKSHIRE

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Praise for World History Teaching in Asia “World History Teaching in Asia is a timely and illuminating volume that explains how roughly forty percent of humankind learns history. The eight countries represented here all teach, learn, and understand history differently, which goes a long way towards accounting for why people in them see the world today as they do. Every teacher of world history can learn something useful from this book.” —J. R. McNeill, Georgetown University   “Eye opening, engaging, salutary, inspiring. Welcome to the global story of world history teaching, in which Asia quite rightly plays a significant part. World History Teaching in Asia is a must read for anyone who wishes to see and to extend curriculum, teaching and textbook approaches in a global light.” —Marnie Hughes-Warrington, Australian National University   “A wonderful collection of essays that examine the recent past and present of world history teaching in eight countries of East and Southeast Asia. Young people meet the wider world on the screens in their hands, but also in the classroom, and this book will provide readers with insights into what this means for millions of young people.” —Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, president, World History Association   “How fascinating it is to know a new challenging trend of World History education in Asian Countries through this book—by overcoming national-history boundaries and Eurocentrism, and more transregional approaches in Asia. We can identify an intimate collaboration between historians and excellent school-teachers for the creation of World/Global histories from Asian perspectives.” —Shigeru AKITA, Osaka University, president of the Asian Association of World Historians   “This fascinating volume looks at the teaching of world history – a topic of significance and sensitivity for intra-Asian relations - in schools in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, and India. It will enable readers to understand how Asian countries are educating the younger generation through their distinctive interpretations of world history as against a long dominant Euro-centric version of world history. This will shape the citizens of a rising Asia and their future engagement in global governance.” —Ruth Hayhoe, University of Toronto and Education University of Hong Kong  

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“Books on world history may have been appearing for centuries, but as a seriously scientific subject, the study of human history as a whole is a very recent one. The ongoing transition away from histories of the world seen from a parochial angle—and that includes continental positions—is a difficult and exciting one that scholars of today and tomorrow must embark upon. World History Teaching in Asia, in timely fashion, provides inspiration in that direction, and reading in one handy volume how official perspectives on humanity’s history vary from culture to culture, nation to nation, and people to people, should be a humbling experience for everyone, Asians and non-Asians alike.” —Ooi Kee Beng, Penang Institute, Malaysia

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WORLD HISTORY TEACHING IN ASIA

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WORLD HISTORY TEACHING IN ASIA A Comparative Survey Edited by MINAMIZUKA Shingo Hosei University, Japan Foreword by Patrick MANNING University of Pittsburgh, USA

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© 2019 by Berkshire Publishing Group All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission from the publishers. Teachers at institutions that own a print copy or license a digital edition of World History Teaching in Asia may use at no charge up to ten copies of no more than two articles (per course or program). Permissions may also be obtained via Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA, telephone +1 978 750 8400, fax +1 978 646 8600, [email protected]. Digital editions: World History Teaching in Asia is available through most major e-book and database services (please check with them for pricing). For information, contact: Berkshire Publishing Group 122 Castle Street Great Barrington, Massachusetts 01230-1506 USA Email: [email protected] Tel: +1 413 528 0206 Fax: +1 413 541 0076 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Minamizuka, Shingo, 1942- author. Title: World history teaching in Asia : a comparative survey / edited by MINAMIZUKA Shingo, Hosei University, Japan ; foreword by Patrick Manning, University of Pittsburgh, USA. Description: Great Barrington, MA : Berkshire Publishing, [2018] | Series: World history teaching in Asia | Appendices describe history curriculum, syllabi, and textbooks in various Asian countries. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018058479 | ISBN 9781614728290 (Hardcover) | ISBN 9781614728221 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781614728214 (Ebook) Subjects: LCSH: World history—-Study and teaching (Secondary)—-Asia. | World history—Study and teaching (Higher)—Asia. Classification: LCC D21 .M636 2018 | DDC 907.1/05—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018058479

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Table of Contents

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii Patrick MANNING Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shingo MINAMIZUKA

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World History Teaching in China: Past, Present, and Future . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 ZHANG Weiwei Teaching World History in China: Shanghai’s History Curriculum and Textbook Reforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 YANG Biao Restoring and Celebrating the Contributions of Diverse Peoples to the History of Humankind: Changes and Issues of the Middle School World History Curriculum in the Republic of Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Sun Joo KANG The Evolution of World History Education in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Satoshi IBARAKI World History Teaching in Japanese Secondary Education . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Shigeki YOSHIMINE Teaching World History in Vietnam: Innovation and the Real Situation . . . . . 91 TA Thi Thuy and DANG Xuan Khang Teaching World History in the Philippines: History, Contents, Contexts, and Textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Francis A. GEALOGO Diffusionism in World History Teaching in Indonesia, 1950–2006 . . . . . . . . 124 Agus SUWIGNYO World History Education in Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 SIM Yong Huei and Chelva RAJAH S. N. Teaching World History in Secondary Schools: The Indian Model . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Satyanarayana ADAPA

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World History Teaching in Asia Addendum: How the Opium Wars are Described in World History Textbooks in Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Shingo Minamizuka Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

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Appendices

1.1.

Contents of the 2004 Modern and Contemporary World History Textbook for High Schools in China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 2.1. Contents of Shanghai’s Reformed Senior High School History Textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.1. Contents of World History Units in the First Middle School Curriculum (1954), South Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 3.2. Contents of World History Units in the 2007 Curriculum (South Korea, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, 2007). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 3.3. The Contents of World History Units in the 2011 Curriculum (South Korea, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, 2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 4.1. Contents of Jitsuzo Kuwabara’s New Textbook of Oriental History (1912)�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 70 4.2. Contents of Senroku Uehara’s World History for High Schools (1956). . . . 72 4.3. Contents of Kentaro Murakawa’s Detailed History of the World (1966) . . . . 73 5.1. Contents of the world history textbook: Sekaishi B, published by Tokyo Shoseki Publisher in 2009. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 6.1. Contents of World History Curricula in High Schools and Universities of Vietnam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 7.1. Philippines: Grade Eight History of the World Curriculum Guide . . . . 121 7.2. Philippines: Sample Contents of World History Texts. . . . . . . . . . . 122 9.1. Singapore: Detailed Lower Secondary School Syllabi . . . . . . . . . . . 161 9.2. Singapore: Detailed Upper Secondary Syllabus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 10.1. Contents of Bhattacharya, Themes in World History (2006). . . . . . . . . 183 10.2. Social Studies: Class IX (Hyderabad: Government of Andhra Pradesh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

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Tables

3.1. 4.1. 5.1. 5.2. 6.1. 7.1. 7.2. 8.1. 8.2. 9.1.

The Status of Korean History and World History in the National Social Studies Curriculum (KH=Korean History, WH=World History) 1954–2011. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 World History Content in 1978 Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Current Goals for Teachers of Junior High Social Studies, set by Japan, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Contents of Arashiro’s, The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa. . . . . . . . . 87 World History Curriculum Content for Grades Six through Twelve (Vietnam Ministry of Education). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 World History Textbooks in the Philippines According to Periods Covered. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 World History Textbooks in the Philippines According to Geographic Coverage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Titles, Status, and Time Allocation of World History in the Indonesian High School Curriculum, 1950–2006. . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Proportion of Islam-related topics in some textbooks published between 1930 and 2006 in Indonesia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Scope and orientation of Singapore history curriculum for primary, secondary, and higher school certificates, 1959–65. . . . . . . 146

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Foreword Patrick MANNING University of Pittsburgh

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orld History Teaching In Asia: A Comparative Survey has been prepared through the collaboration of history teachers and professional historians across Asia. The chapters show the important new advances in teaching world history—what the authors have called a “new wave” of teaching—though they also give background going back seventy years. They show how classroom teaching can convey to students how national events and global interactions combine to form the changing patterns of world history. The eight Asian countries represented in this volume are central in global education. Taken together, these countries account for 40% of the world’s population. Through the efforts of their teachers, the young people of Asia are introduced to the history of their own country as it fits into the changes worldwide. Indeed, the students need the best possible knowledge of past and present changes in the world. Readers will see the advances that have been brought so far by dedicated educators. Nevertheless, since history is often controversial, there remain problems and choices in teaching history. The authors are positive but critical, addressing the real problems of overcoming colonial views and the remnants of Eurocentric history, and identifying the best mix and interaction of national and foreign history. As an important example, the book focuses attention on the Opium War of 1840-42, in which Britain defeated China and expanded the sale of opium in China. This is one of many issues that students will learn to evaluate and interpret. Professor Shingo Minamizuka, an outstanding figure in research and teaching of world history, led this enterprise from the first. With strong support from the authors, he circulated invitations, convened two conferences, and facilitated discussions that resulted in chapters that are parallel yet clear in distinguishing each country’s specific approach to teaching world history. World History Teaching In Asia is an important step forward in international education: it will be of great value to teachers of history in Asia and to all who share interest in learning about the history of our world.

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Introduction Shingo MINAMIZUKA Hosei University

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ow much do we, the people of Asia, know about the kinds of education we have received in world history? As it turns out, we know very little about world history education in our own countries. One of the most important reasons for this is found in our modern pasts, when the Asian peoples were divided by the colonial rule of the West as well as that of Japan in some cases. As a result, we do not have common systems, concepts, and ways of thinking about world history; and the tendency has been such that we still formulate our world images and our images of our nations under the strong influence of world history education imposed by each country’s earlier colonizer or occupier. Without knowing the approaches to world history education in other countries, we may not be able to understand the issues about which we share common interests. It is for this reason that we came to believe it important to investigate and compare the histories and the present teaching of world history in Asian countries. In this volume, we will compare the evolution of world history education; the institutions, systems, textbooks, and teachers; the role of governments in relation to world history teaching; and finally, the definition of what we mean by world history. There are many ways of understanding world history in Asian countries, and the definitions change according to the times. Generally speaking, in most Asian countries, world history teaching is equated with the teaching of foreign history, as opposed to national history. With the development of historical investigation that tries to establish unified world histories, however, attempts are being made to teach these integrated world histories in some places, including Shanghai, Korea, and India.

The History of World History Teaching In general, Asian countries started to teach world history after the Second World War, between the end of the 1940s and the first half of the 1950s. At first, world history teaching, as well as the educational systems in general, were influenced by the new post-war political realities, as well as pre-war colonial legacies. At that time, roughly speaking, India and Singapore were under British influence, Indonesia was under Dutch influence, the Philippines was under both US and earlier Spanish ­(European) influence, South Korea was under US influence, and China, North ­Korea, and Vietnam were under Soviet influence. While Japan was under the political influence of the United States, ideologically it was influenced by Marxism. xv

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Most world history education in Asian countries was strongly Eurocentric (Marxism also was Eurocentric) and consisted of presenting students with a collection of national histories. Although there were some early reforms starting in the 1960s, for example in Korea, Japan, and Indonesia (starting in 1975), the post-war characteristics of world history teaching were not fundamentally challenged. (Singapore started teaching world history only in 1965 and was, therefore, a little late in reforming it). It was in the 1990s that a new wave appeared in world history teaching in many Asian countries. In Korea and Japan, efforts were made to overcome Eurocentrism in world history education; in Shanghai, the thematic approach was introduced; India started to find a way to teach integrated world history some years later, starting in 2005; and a variety of efforts were made to find new relationships between their own histories and the broader world in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore. The details will be explored in the following chapters. In this book, we have not dealt with the teaching of world history in the region prior to World War II, when most Asian countries were under the direct colonial influence of European powers or imperial Japan. Nor have we investigated the views of world history before modern world history was introduced into our countries. These are topics for future investigations.

Governmental Leadership: Guidelines and Textbooks It is a common characteristic in Asian countries that the role of government is decisive in history education, including the teaching of world history. The governments set guidelines or standards for teaching history, which should be reflected in the history textbooks. In Indonesia, even national history textbooks are censored. Governments play important roles in preparing world history textbooks. In China and India, textbooks are written by special teams organized by the government; in Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan, textbooks are written by teachers and researchers who are invited to do so by the publishers, but the textbooks must be written following governmental guidelines and they must then be approved by the government. In Singapore, secondary school textbooks are governmental, while at the junior college level, no official textbooks are required. The Philippines is exceptional in that all of its textbooks are commercial rather than governmental. In most Asian countries, the central government administers nationwide tests of history or world history. Some Asian countries suffer from the lack of qualified world history teachers. Usually, teachers are trained at the universities, and they must pass governmental examinations. But the teachers of world history are not necessarily specialists in that field and may have studied geography, linguistics, or national history.

The Composition of World History as It Is Taught Now In order to clarify the differences in the composition or structure of world history as it is presently taught in Asian countries, we compared the contents of the world history textbooks currently used in each country. In Vietnam, world history is structured according to Marxist concepts, with the focus starting with primitive communal society, then continuing through feudal xvi

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Introduction

society and capitalist society to arrive at socialism. This maintains a Eurocentric view and is based on the stages of development of each nation-state. Nevertheless, it can be said that an effort has begun to develop a new approach to world history in Vietnam. China has two curricula for world history; one takes an orthodox approach (China A), and the other, a Shanghai approach (China B). China A maintains some Marxist concepts: it follows the progression from feudal society, through the bourgeois revolution and the Industrial Revolution, and then to capitalism and monopoly capitalism, leading finally to socialism. In this sense, it follows the Marxist stages of development, while it adds several peculiarities of Asian developments to that basically Eurocentric approach. Japan, which was strongly affected by Marxism, has been trying to remove that influence, and the present world history texts adopt a mixture of Marxist and Western concepts. At the same time, educators are also trying to eliminate the Eurocentric view of world history. They do not apply the three stages of ancient, middle, and modern development, nor those of ancient, feudal, and capitalist development. They put more emphasis on Asian histories, sometimes starting the discussion of an age from the perspective of Asia. But the entire structure is based on the histories of nation-states that are separate from Japanese history. Korea is more advanced in overcoming Eurocentrism and spanning the division into national and world histories. The present curriculum adopts such nonnational notions as civilization and the regional world, and it inserts Korean history into worldwide history. The world history concept in the Philippines roughly follows the Western concept, dividing history into ancient, medieval (transition), and modern, and starting

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from events in Europe. Almost the same could be said of the model of world history in Singapore. But both countries are trying hard to find ways to integrate their nation’s history into broader world history that is based on the Western pattern. Indonesians are trying to deal with world history starting with their own national past. They put the history of Indonesia first and then try to expand the scope of history as widely as possible toward Asia and Europe. Unlike these approaches, an interesting experiment commenced in Shanghai in the early 2000s. A world history program proposed in 2002 adopted the civilization and humanity approach, which, while relying on the thematic approach, eschewed the national history approach for longer waves of human history, rejecting divisions of ancient, medieval, and modern periods. Asian countries are therefore advancing toward world history education along their own paths, and by varied methods overcoming both Eurocentrism and the national history approach. If we identify the tendencies in world history teaching in each Asian country participating in this project, progress can be seen in the following diagram that shows the degree of Eurocentrism and the weight of national histories.

The Opium War In order to see the extent to which our understanding of world history is shared, we thought it would be useful to compare the descriptions of important historical events in the world history textbooks used in Asian countries. For example, if we were to focus on the nineteenth century, the events could include French Revolution of 1789, the Opium War, the American Civil War, the Indian Mutiny, the Meiji Restoration, the Boxer Rebellion, and so on. We decided on the Opium War (1840–42) and chose to compare the descriptions of this event in middle-school textbooks. We found that the war is described in detail, along with its background, in the textbooks of China and India, countries that were directly involved. It is also described rather extensively in Korean textbooks that stress the impending Western impact upon Asia. Japanese texts, too, describe the war in detail, since Japan learned many lessons from that conflict, while textbooks in the Philippines focus serious attention on the war from the viewpoint of the Catholic Church. In contrast, textbooks in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore either disregard or show little interest in that war. The question is why the Opium War is not discussed in the textbooks of all the Asian countries. Of course, it is understandable that the war would not be described in the same way and with the same content, but we should be able to investigate the effects of the war on each of the countries in Asia from various perspectives, not only that of political relations, but also effects on the economy, culture, etc. In any case, the Opium War is but one example. We can compare the descriptions of other historical events to further our understanding of the present state of world history teaching in Asian countries. The following chapters describe and analyze the evolution and the present status of world history education, principally as it is taught in the middle schools of each country. And, as an addendum, we compared the descriptions of the Opium War in the textbooks used in those Asian countries that include the war in their curriculums. xviii

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World History Teaching in China: Past, Present, and Future ZHANG Weiwei Nankai University, Tianjin, The People’s Republic of China

World history education in China developed under the influence of foreign educators and then Soviet ideology until 1949. Communism brought political and ideological movements that led to the complete revision of history curricula, which persisted until the beginning of reforms in 1976. Since then, world historians have sought to come out from under Eurocentrism, and today a new global history is being developed, which will synthesize and transform history education.

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orld history education in China has gone through many changes since it was first introduced as a topic of study for students from middle school to university, changes that reflect the course of the country itself beginning in the early twentieth century. Recently, this topic has been expanded to include the history of the whole planet, due to globalization and global trends in history education across the world.

The Concept of World History in China In China, the concept of world history arrived from the West in the course of cultural exchange during modern times. China’s tradition of Sinocentric historiography, dating to the times of Sima Qian (c. 145 bce–c. 87 bce), historian at the Han court, treated the rest of the world both near and far as barbarians or tribute-payers to the Middle Kingdom. “World history,” when translated into Chinese, has several meanings. Thus “world” means: (1) foreign, (2) regional, or (3) the planet as a whole, depending on when and where the term is used, as well as who uses it and how it is used in a particular context. “History” has two meanings: (1) what happened in the past (facts of the past), which have objective contingency and (2) the description or study of what happened in the past (historiography, or his/her story), which have subjective contingency in Chinese. That world history has often been treated within China as a synonym for foreign history can also be seen from the fact that there are two volumes of foreign history (Waiguo shijuan, 外国史卷) and three volumes of Chinese 1

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history (Zhongguo shijuan, 中国史卷) in the thirty-two-volume Encyclopedia of China (Zhongguo da baike quanshu, 中国大百科全书).1 In China, world history, in the sense of a disciplinary subfield parallel to Chinese history, has generally been seen as Eurocentric simply because it was created in and introduced from the West. Furthermore, in modern times, Chinese world historians have been trained in the arguable Eurocentric literature and scholarship of world history, which has resulted in “world history” being seen not as “ours/ Chinese,” but as “theirs/foreign.” Therefore, the reasoning goes, “we/Chinese” do not have our own firsthand resource to study world history even though China, of course, has always been part of the world and its history. Since the middle and late years of the twentieth century, however, world history has been treated more and more as the history of the whole planet, both because of globalization and through the development of global history in the West. Thus, in this chapter, world history as foreign histories is treated as distinct from Chinese history and also different from whole-world, “global history”(including China in some cases).2 In addition and for the future, I argue for developing a “3-D global history” in the light of a holistic perspective in China.3 I argue that a global identity is badly needed for a global history for all “globers.”4 That is, in contrast to a national history of a nationalized world history from a national perspective, “3-D global history” is a noncentric, 3-D whole. Furthermore, a 3-D global history of the glober, by the glober, for the glober can only be constructed with a noncentric and holistic perspective. Global Historians of All Countries Unite!5 This chapter describes, in three sections, the past, present, and future of world and global history in China. First, it begins with the past of world history education up to 1976. Second, it presents world and global history for the years since 1976. Third, I propose the future of 3-D global history in China and the world. In March 2011, according to a document issued by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, global history was declared to be a primary discipline, on par with archeology and Chinese history.6 Since then, global history gained a new academic standing in China.7

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中国大百科全书 (Encyclopedia of China), Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2009. I use the terms “world” and “global” as consistently as possible. As we will see, there are variations in approach within each of these categories of interpretation and teaching. 3 Zhang Weiwei, “A 3-D Global History from a Glober Identity in a Noncentric and Holistic Perspective,” World History Studies, vol. 1 (December 2014). 4 A “glober” is a person with a self-conscious, global identity. 5 Zhang Weiwei, “A Holistic Approach to Global History,” Studies of Modern World History (2004): 1; “Teaching Modern Global History at Nankai: A Noncentric and Holistic Approach,” in Global Practice in World History: Advances Worldwide, ed. Patrick Manning (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2008); and “The World from China: A Noncentric and Holistic Perspective,” in A Companion to World History, ed. Douglas Northrop (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012). 6 Zhang Chunnian, 世界史建设问题 (“Problems of Construction of Global History),” 中国 社会科学 (Journal of Historical Science 2), (2011): 5. 7 Liu Wenming, 全球史：一个新的历史二级学科 (“Global History: A New Sub-discipline of History”), 人民日报 (People’s Daily) (March 1, 2012).

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World History Teaching in China: Past, Present, and Future

World History Education in China: The Past Initially, the subject of world history was introduced by foreign missionaries and merchants who came to China for religion and business purposes. They informed the Chinese people, especially in the missionary church schools, about their home countries, their customs, their histories, their geography, their climate, etc. The first world historians in China were mostly those who had studied abroad in the West (Europe and the United States) and Japan, and then returned to offer history courses under the heading History of the West (Xiyang shi, 西洋史) or History of the East (Dongyang shi, 东洋史), meaning the history of Japan and other Asian countries. They also prepared translations of some world history books, in full or in part, as references for their teaching. At first, world history served mostly as a brief introduction to history outside China, divided into major regions such as Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, or highlighting particularly important countries such as Great Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Japan, India, and Egypt (or others, according to individual teacher’s specialties and expertise). History, like geography and physical education, was only a minor course, and Sinocentric Chinese history was dominant within history. So, foreign history was new to our scholars and students, providing a channel for learning about the outside world. Teachers often taught world history as an extra course, in addition to their normal teaching load in Chinese history or foreign languages. In the early twentieth century, especially after the Xinhai Revolution (the Revolution of 1911), increasing numbers of Chinese scholars and students traveled to the West, where some of them received professional training in world history. They returned to offer world history courses in terms of a Eurocentric history of the West focused on European powers and the United States. In addition, there were students who went to Japan to find out why that country had taken such a different road from China. Some of them studied Japanese history, especially the years before and after the Meiji Restoration, in order to compare it with Chinese history in the period of the Opium Wars as a means to find out how Japan had become a new power in East Asia. Unlike Chinese history, world history was divided into general, area, and national studies. General world history, including a brief overview of Chinese history, was taught systematically by periods and regions as well as a whole. Area studies were the bases for general history in terms of Asian, European, African, North American, and Latin American histories. Foreign national histories were taught within the discipline of world history. Those world history classes were, in most cases, brief introductions to basic knowledge of the past, since time allotted for history classes was very limited: one to three teaching periods of forty-five minutes per week. History teachers only had time to give a general picture of an area or a nation, linking its development to a few big events and a few great historical figures. After the Opium Wars, the European and American missionaries, merchants, businessmen, and numerous adventurers flocked to the treaty ports, many to make their fortunes. Missionary schools and foreign public schools were built for foreign or Chinese children both within and outside of the concessions in treaty posts. Brian Power, an English writer, was born in Tianjin (Tientsin) in 1918, and left that city in 1936. In his book, The Ford of Heaven: A Childhood in Tianjin, China, he recalled his childhood and youth at schools in the English Concession in 3

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Tianjin.8 He later returned to China and was met by Premier Zhou Enlai in 1973. Frances Wood, a writer and former curator of Chinese collections at the British Library, explored the schooling of foreign children and some Chinese children from bourgeois homes in the treaty port cities in No Dogs and Not Many Chinese: Treaty Port Life in China 1843–1943. “Children attended school every day and the curriculum included French, Latin, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, history, geography, science (with an emphasis on botany due to the lack of equipment), English composition, dictation and literature”9 Many influential Chinese specialists in world history were trained in Europe and the United States at that time, including the professors Lei Haizong (1902–1962), Yang Shengmao (1917–2010), Wu Yujin (1913–1993), and Zhang Zhilian (1918–2008), just to name a few. These historians offered world history classes before 1949 and laid the foundations for world and foreign history teaching in China before and after 1949. Together they became the first generation of world history teachers, with most Chinese world history teachers as their former students.

Who Taught World History in China before 1949? In the past, world historians and teachers in China were not as numerous as other historians and teachers in both schools and universities. In some cases, teaching world history was only a part-time job for historians and teachers. There were only a few teaching hours allotted to world history, usually one to four class-hours per week at both the school and university level, according to their curricula. Most world history specialists did not have academic experience abroad, although they were trained by foreign teachers at church schools and universities, or in local universities by Chinese world historians who had returned from study overseas. Sections in university departments of history for the specialized training of world historians or world history teachers were rare. World history was taught as a new field of history before 1949. The past was divided into antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, according to the Western framework of the development of civilization. Students were expected to become familiar with prehistoric developments and famous ancient civilizations of Afro-Eurasia in order to know how nomads and agricultural peoples developed independently and interactively through expansion, division, and unification. Teachers introduced the concepts of means of production, modes of production, and relations of production, in order to explore the social lives of different cultures and their characteristics. Important events and notable figures were introduced to give an impression of how the world had changed. In courses on the history of the West, more emphasis was placed on GrecoRoman tradition and Christianity, especially in church schools and universities, in

8 Brian Power, The Ford of Heaven: A Childhood in Tianjin, China (Oxford: Signal Books Limited, 2005). 9 Frances Wood, No Dogs and Not Many Chinese: Treaty Port Life in China 1843–1943 (London: John Murray, 1998), 216–218, 265–266, and 291.

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order to explain why modern Europe was unique and how it became the center of the world. Major European events were credited for planetary exploration and modernization. Teachers might compare a Western power with China or another Asian country to show the advantages of the West and the disadvantages of the East. Generally speaking, world history teaching put particular emphasis on historical facts and processes at the school level, and analyses and explorations at the university level. Textbooks, both in foreign languages and in Chinese (or Chinese versions of foreign textbooks), were used in the schools and universities. Church schools and universities were able to bring foreign books into China and have them translated into Chinese. Chinese schools and universities, on the other hand, had to source references and information as they could. In courses on the history of the East, which were often offered by a teacher trained in Japan (or the student of such a teacher), Japan was presented as the center of East Asia. Other nations of East and Southeast Asia were addressed through their relations with China, Japan, and the Western powers. Of course, China’s influence in East Asia through the spread of Confucian civilization was taken for granted in regards to ancient times. But Japan became the center of Asia in modern times after the Meiji Restoration. The aim of these courses was to find out how and why Japan was successful in its reform, social transformation, and modernization, in order to compare it with China and other Asian countries. Jitsuzo Kuwabara’s Outline of East Asian History (Dongya shiyao, 东亚史要) was the first Chinese version of a modern history book translated from Japanese.10 Published in several Chinese versions, it became a major textbook for Asian history. Wu Tingqiu (1910–2003), recognized for his studies of the Meiji Restoration and Asian history, was one of the founders of the field of East Asian history (Dongya shi, 东亚史) in China. It is not a surprise that Chinese world historians were Eurocentric from the very beginning. Burdened with a sense of cultural inferiority, they easily adopted the Western and Japanese approaches to world history, especially since their training and sources were all from the West and Japan. The traditional Sinocentric sense of superiority disappeared when history of the West and history of the East were taught in schools and universities. Nevertheless, there were still some influential historians in China who tried to work out a world history that combined local history and world history without Eurocentrism. For example, Lei Haizong, teaching at Tsinghua University, devoted himself to putting China into world history and strongly criticized Eurocentrism. Zhou Gucheng (1898–1996), who began teaching at Fudan University in 1942, published A General World History (Shijie tongsi, 世界通史) in 1949, and became the only historian who on his own produced both a general Chinese history and a general world history. In his three-volume general world history, Zhou tried to eliminate both Eurocentrism and the framework of nationalism so as to visualize the planet as an interactive system.

10 Jistuzo Kuwabara, 东亚史要 (Outline of East Asian History), trans. Fan Binging (Peking: 东文学社 [East Literature Study], 1899).

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World History Education: 1949 to 1966 With the advent of Communist China, known as “New China,” world history became an independent discipline that changed tremendously between 1949 and 1966 due to ideological revolution and Soviet-influenced world history in China and elsewhere. Ideological phobias on both sides were intensified by the fact that neither capitalist nor socialist countries could afford the risk of the internal diffusion of hostile ideas. In China, world history as foreign history was regarded as a source of capitalistic ideology and Western ideas whose diffusion should not allowed in a socialist country. In the 1950s, notions of wider world history through a social evolutionary lens were introduced from the Soviet Union, both by Soviet scholars—who came to China to teach short, intensive courses in world history framed by Marxism and Leninism—and by Chinese scholars who had gone to the Soviet Union to be trained in this revolutionary scholarship. For example, Lin Zhichun (1910–2007), who arrived at Northeast Normal University in 1950 to teach world history, especially ancient world history, became one of the distinguished Chinese historians trained by Soviet experts in world history. He conveyed Marxist-Leninist theories and world history to young Chinese scholars from top universities all over the country. At the same time, young academics and students of world history were sent to top universities in the Soviet Union, including Moscow State University and the University of Leningrad, to study world history within the Soviet framework. Russian language study became very popular. Russian world history books were translated into Chinese. A multi-volume general world history, edited by the Soviet Academy of Social Sciences, was also translated and provided Chinese world historians with a major source of socialist world history. Chinese world historians, trained at home and abroad in revolutionary world history, became pioneers of teaching world history in China. The essence of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is historical materialism and dialectical materialism. Revolutions were regarded as the beginnings of social changes. For example, the English Revolution (1640–1649), known outside of China as the English Civil Wars and Commonwealth period, was defined as the beginning of modern world history because it was seen as the first capitalist revolution. Other revolutionary turning points in modern history included the American Revolution (1775–1783), the French Revolution (1787–1799), the Latin American independence movements of the early nineteenth century, the European Revolutions of 1848, and the Russian Revolution (1917). Modern world history was presented as a history full of revolutions in the light of political struggles between feudalism and capitalism. According to the theory of class struggle, the engine of social development has been class struggles between the rich and the poor. World historians were expected to use historical evidence to explain how class struggle changed society and why class struggle always results in revolutions, according to Marxist revolutionary theory. Marx’s surplus-value theory formed the basis for analyzing exploitation in capitalist society. Most credit for social development was given to the oppressed peoples for their struggle against the ruling classes and their great contributions to productivity in any mode of production.

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What was significant was that this revolutionary world history provided a general picture of planetary history acceptable to a socialist country that was hungry for knowledge about the wider world in terms of ideological confrontation. Cultural and academic exchanges with the West were cut off both due to fear of capitalist influence and the containment policy of the West applied to China during the Cold War. Revolutionary world history was doubtless a significant step in the development of world history in China at that time. The four-volume world history was compiled as the official textbook for students of higher education. It was for Chinese who were not very good at foreign languages, whether they were world history teachers or students. Moreover, this work established the new framework for school textbooks, which were actually abridged editions or summaries of the four-volume official world history.

World History Teaching in Middle Schools and High Schools For the “new society” of China, the government wanted to establish a socialist educational system to replace the bourgeois system from earlier years. In the new system, the elementary schools accepted pupils from six to twelve years of age, who would receive five or six years of basic education, in which some introductory knowledge of Chinese history and world history was presented briefly but not systematically. There were schools in some areas (provinces or cities) providing a special course of general history for one or two periods a week for a semester, as a minor subject in the fifth or sixth grade. Pupils at this age enjoyed history lessons because they included interesting stories and historic figures from both home and abroad. Pupils also respected history teachers for their broad knowledge. In some areas, history classes were offered again starting in 1981, and several history teachers and pupils wrote about their experiences teaching and learning history in sixth grade at some elementary schools. In China, the junior high/middle school period lasts for two or three years. At that age, thirteen to fifteen, students seem to be more interested in history, both Chinese and foreign, because of their strong desire to know about the past, especially when information is provided in the form of stories and exotic wonders. In some cases, history classes were combined with geography classes, but they still offered a brief outline of general history focused on great events and figures in major historical periods. Generally speaking, history, like geography, had only one or two class periods a week as a minor subject. In many cases, only very knowledgeable teachers were certified to teach geography at middle school. I had an excellent teacher who taught history and geography classes at my high school in Tianjin. He impressed us with his knowledge and eloquence, and helped me to develop my own interest in both disciplines. In those years, high school history courses continued for two or three years depending on which history was taught. Generally speaking, two to four class periods a week were dedicated to history for one or two semesters in the first year of high school. Then students were divided into two majors, liberal arts or natural science, according to their interests and abilities. At this point, only those students majoring in liberal arts took history and geography. History became a closed knowledge system structured by a fixed outline and standardized correct answers to most 8

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questions. Some high school students still enjoyed history because they found it interesting, and they were motivated to study because the subject was included in the national matriculation test for university. Others hated the subject because it was boring, repetitive, and included too much to memorize—especially dates, names, places, events, etc.

World History Teaching in the Universities Before 1966, higher education lasted from three to four years in colleges and universities. Only students majoring in history were required to take history courses systematically. All history majors studied Chinese history and world history, and took other courses on national or area histories. Students in other majors could take introductory courses in Chinese history or world history as electives. In most colleges and universities, history majors took general courses on Chinese history and global history for one or two years as required by their major. In most history departments, world history was divided into four periods: ancient, middle, modern, and contemporary—usually dedicating one semester to each. These courses were offered by professors who had specialized in the relevant period. Generally speaking, a professor/teacher who specialized in a specific period in world history was also an expert on the history of one or another area or foreign country. In most cases, different periods of world history were taught by professors/teachers who specialized in the history of a European country or area during the same era. In addition to general world history, there were other courses on specific countries or areas for students interested in world history. These courses provided details on aspects of world history, and focused on Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa, all of which were offered by experts in those areas. Generally speaking, universities, and especially the normal universities, were the main sources of world history teachers for schools and for those teaching and carrying out research at universities and other academic institutes. Specialists in world history trained outside of China were welcome in the universities, even though few scholars had the chance to go abroad to study world history except for those who went to the Soviet Union in the 1950s.

World History Education: 1966 to 1976 Beginning in the mid-60s, China experienced enormous turmoil and radical changes that affected how people came to view history, both in China and in the world.

Education During the Cultural Revolution During the years of the Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1976, China witnessed and weathered unexpected and dramatic political and ideological storms. The Cultural Revolution was the result of a series of political and ideological movements caused by fear of the continuing influence of traditional feudal culture and the 9

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infiltration of capitalism from other countries, and by revisionism that occurred during the ideological confrontations of the Cold War. It is not surprising that, from the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, education bore the brunt of the blame for the country’s problems. The so-called Seventeen Years of Bourgeois Education System (1949–1965) was rejected completely, not only for its capitalist bias but also for the revisionism caused by the deteriorating China-Soviet relationship in the early 1960s. It was believed that the proletariat had been under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie in that education system. And it was also argued that all the old elements and alien factors should be eliminated thoroughly, until a solid socialist education system could be built in socialist China. The bourgeois education system was to be criticized, bourgeois intellectuals were to be reeducated and reformed, the curriculum was to be reviewed, and the textbooks were to be re-examined and revolutionized. All those revolutionary tasks were to be completed by students (the Red Guards), peasants, workers, and soldiers under the tenets of Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought in the so-called Education Revolution. Schools and universities were closed for years to “carry out revolution.”

History Teaching and Textbooks: Anti-Revisionism and Anti-Imperialism Under these circumstances, world history could not be left untouched just because it was alien or not native. World history textbooks (like much other prior scholarship) were criticized, and these first publications were reexamined in the light of new ideas about anti-revisionism and anti-imperialism. World history textbooks, especially the four-volume history published in the early 1960s, were criticized and labeled as revisionist. This theoretical reconceptualization and discussion in world history overlapped Sino-Soviet debates in political and ideological fields. The critique of imperialism was also focused on the world history textbooks. It was believed that capitalist and imperialist policies and ideas were not sufficiently exposed and criticized in these textbooks. Because of this, the world history textbooks were regarded as a major source of capitalist ideas and imperialist superiority. The proletarian tasks of anti-revisionism and anti-imperialism were assigned to a group of revolutionary students (the Red Guards), peasants, workers, and soldiers as well as a few world historians who were reeducated and revolutionized during the education revolution.

“Carrying Out Revolution” in Schools During the Cultural Revolution, all universities and colleges were periodically closed to “carry out revolution,” and schools devoted more time to this than to traditional academic classes. In “carrying out revolution,” world historians and teachers had to criticize “capitalist roaders” in leadership, study Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought by workers, peasants, and soldiers, and criticize and revolutionize world history textbooks. It was assumed that the world outlook of the vast majority of intellectuals was basically bourgeois. So, world historians were criticized and mistreated for their 10

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supposedly bourgeois ideology and revisionism. Most professors and teachers were sent to factories or the countryside, where they were to be reeducated and revolutionized for several years. World history specialists and teachers were expected to rewrite and compile new revolutionary world history textbooks according to Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought, which would replace the old ones that were full of capitalism, revisionism, and imperialism. The revolutionary world history textbooks were full of quotations from the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Zedong. World history teaching during this time was cut off from the outside world, and academic exchange was halted.

World History Education in China: The Present After the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution, China began to revisit its education curriculum, with history textbooks especially in need of review and revision.

Reforms, Changes, and Their Causes, 1976 to the Present Because of changes in state policy after 1976, particularly the move to implement a Reform and Opening policy, the teaching of world history has changed dramatically under the pressure of modernization and globalization.

The Effects of Reform and Opening In the 1970s, China badly needed to restore order to cope with the changing balance of power in the world. A new policy of Reform and Opening was put in practice after the change of leadership in 1976. Schools returned to normal, universities and normal schools reopened, and a national college entrance examination system was formally established in 1977. Starting in 1978, world history was again taught in high schools for two or three class periods every week. Of course, world historians were initially cautious about teaching such a sensitive topic as world history and still jittery after the painful experiences of the Cultural Revolution. World history was taught with different perspectives on class struggles and national conflicts based on Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought. Chinese world historians were more familiar with the third world, and so they focused on undeveloped and developing countries in history. It was also again possible for world historians to exchange academic information, especially with economic exchanges under way. Having been cut off from international academic circles for such a long time, world history specialists were thirsty for new scholarship and wanted to know what had developed in the field of world history research and teaching. After 1976, world historians and students traveled abroad with governmental support to do research and study; and foreign specialists in world history, mainly from Europe and the United States, were invited to give lectures and exchange their experiences with Chinese historians. Chinese specialists also gained access to new world history scholarship and literature. Western world history textbooks and monographs were introduced and translated into Chinese. 11

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Modernization and Eurocentrism The four modernizations in agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology had been national goals in China since 1978. It is safe to say that much academic writing about world history, as well as contemporary social science research in China, have developed in an effort to understand why it was the West not China, that first achieved modernization, especially if “much of modern social science originated in efforts by late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europeans to understand what made the economic development path of western Europe unique,” a comparison sometimes treated by Chinese writers as reflecting a presumption of Western superiority.12 Scholars in world history focused on what made the West unique and different from China in its socioeconomic development and modernization in order to identify Western “advantages” in comparison to Chinese “disadvantages.” Therefore, it was easy for world historians to adopt Eurocentrism as the mainstream theory or dominant paradigm and to overemphasize Western advantages, even though a trend counter to Eurocentrism has been developing in the West, especially in the United States since the 1980s, led by forerunners such as historians Peter Gran and Andre Gunder Frank.

Continuing Efforts from 1976 to the Present Along with reforms in the economy and an emphasis on modernization and “catching up” to the West, China embarked on educational reforms that involved academic exchange with other countries.

Educational Reforms After 1976, educational reform was carried out with an emphasis on modernization. World history teaching was also an important part of the systemic changes in history teaching, as greater importance was laid on planetary history because of modernization and globalization. The government’s opening also provided world historians with opportunities to reform world history through international academic exchange. This effort resulted in the introduction of much influential Western scholarship, helping Chinese scholars to reconceptualize world history and foreign national histories according to the new literature. Books written by L. S. Stavrianos, William H. McNeill, Geoffrey Barraclough, Immanuel Wallerstein, Andre Gunder Frank, Jerry H. Bentley, Kenneth Pomeranz, David Christian, and many others were introduced and some of them were published in Chinese translations. Many new world history textbooks were produced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, written and edited by influential Chinese world history specialists such as Wu Yujin, Qi Shirong, and Zhou Gucheng, as well as a series on modernization edited by Luo Rongqu. 12 Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence: Europe, China, and the Making of the Modern World Economy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000), 3.

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National struggle was regarded as the second key line of revolutionary world history. Theoretically, these conflicts resulted from clashing interests, especially economic interests, but also political and religious struggles for influence. Most kingdoms, empires, and nation-states were born in the pain of national conflicts and wars, so these were treated as a cause of social change and historical development. The third key line of revolutionary world history was ideological confrontation, which traditional world history had hardly touched upon. According to historical materialism, ideological confrontation in the social superstructure is only the reflection of class struggle in the economic base. In other words, the economic base determines the superstructure. These and other “isms” became important criteria for historical events, figures, and development in world history. Revolutionary world historians tried to label almost everything in history with an “ism” to emphasize the ideological dimension of each historical process. Marx’s critiques of feudalism, capitalism, and utopian socialism were emphasized to show how ideological confrontation had changed history in terms of ideological struggle. As a result, national labor movements and the international communist movement were included as very important aspects of revolutionary world history, and were categorized as ideological confrontation.

The First Official General World History The new Chinese government also wanted to establish a socialist educational system after the official redesign of higher education in 1952. World history became a section or a sub-discipline parallel to Chinese history. Leading world historians all over China were assigned the compilation of a multivolume textbook in world history from a Chinese perspective. In the early 1960s, A General History of the World (Shijie tongshi, 世界通史) was published in four volumes (ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary times).11 This new official history was based mainly on Soviet world history in terms of the theoretical and historical frameworks under the guidance of Marxism-Leninism. But the curriculum also included some evidence and historical data from Western literature, since most of the chief editors and compilers had their training both from the West and then from the Soviet Union. The pillars of new world history were the three above-mentioned key lines of revolutionary world history. Eurocentrism had still not disappeared from the Chinese version, even though more emphasis was put on Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and their interactions with Europe and the United States. China was included in the new world history and treated briefly as a distinct element. That is, China’s interactions with other regions at various times were introduced but not fully explored from a global perspective, since world history specialists were confident about Chinese history, and Chinese history specialists did not understand national history in a global context. These were the consequences of the separation of world history from Chinese history.

11 Zhou Yiliang and Wu Yujin, 世界通史 (A General History of the World) (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1962).

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Comparative studies of China and the West in general, or of the “big powers” around the globe, grew to be very popular as a result of this concern about modernization, as Chinese writers worked to find out what China could learn from Western countries in their experiences of modernization—ideally to enable short-cuts that would avoid the mistakes of the developed countries. Even a book and a major twelve-part TV series The Rise of the Great Powers (Daguo jueqi, 大国崛起) was produced by CCTV in 2006 to explain why and how those “big countries”—Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, the United States, and Japan—came to be “modernized.”13 Most writers followed Western ideas, exploring Western advantages as explained by Western scholars, but they seemed to forget that China had functioned differently in that same global context, and therefore some local advantages could be disadvantages in global interactions and vice versa. In the twenty-first century, more and more scholars of world history are traveling abroad to study and do research, and increasing numbers of academic exchanges are underway. Many foreign specialists in world history and other fields are coming to China to teach and give lectures. International and academic conferences on world history have been held every year at different levels throughout China. More Chinese world historians, too, have traveled abroad to attend international conferences and workshops. In short, global history in China is being Westernized in both resources and scholarship.

New Textbooks and a Eurocentric Curriculum The efforts mentioned above resulted in new textbooks and a Eurocentric curriculum despite the aftereffects of the Cultural Revolution. According to a document issued by the Ministry of Education in 2002, world history, especially modern world history, should be stressed in the high school curriculum. In a recent high school textbook on the modern and contemporary world, about 60 to 70 percent of the content is about Europe and the United States, while only 30 to 40 percent is about the rest of the world (Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Australia). In the 2004 reform of high school history textbooks, an effort was made to link Chinese history and world history. There are twenty-five required special topics, in which fourteen (56 percent) are about China and its relations with the rest of the world, while eleven (4 percent) focus on the West (Europe and the United States, and their influence on the rest of the world, including China). There are also forty-one elective special topics, with nine (22 percent) about China, eighteen (44 percent) about Europe and the United States, seven (17 percent) about Asia, Africa, and the Latin America, and another seven (17 percent) on general topics in world history. As an example, the contents of the 2004 Modern and Contemporary World History textbook for high schools are as shown in Appendix 1.1. Generally speaking, world history textbooks are written by special teams organized by the Ministry of Education. World history specialists from high schools and universities are selected to participate on these teams on a regular basis.

13 Tang Jin, 大国崛起 (The Rise of the Big Powers) (Beijing: Beijing Publishing House, 2006).

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World History Teaching in Middle School and High School World history teaching in middle school and high school provides fundamental knowledge of world history. World history, about one third of the content in history classes, offers basic information in middle school. In high school, detailed world history in general, and segments on some important countries in particular, are offered with more analyses. But high school students are expected to choose their majors at the end of the first year, and are separated in their second year into the two tracks of liberal arts and natural science. After this, only those who major in liberal arts continue to study history and geography, with the chance to continue with world history. In middle and high school, world history teachers are recruited principally from colleges and universities, and most are educated in the faculty of letters as well as in education, especially those in normal universities or colleges. They are recruited from graduates with an MA or PhD degree in history and social sciences. All teachers in China have to have governmental certification.

World History Teaching in the Universities The most important world history research and teaching occurs in the universities; world history teaching in middle and high schools changes to reflect what is happening at the university level, where both textbooks and world history teachers are produced. The Reform and Opening policy called for economic development under the label of modernization, and it emphasized world history through the comparison of historical developments of China and the West, still relying on a Eurocentric interpretation. In addition, new textbooks and curricula in world history have been prepared which reflect new orientations in the theories and frameworks of world history, as a result of international academic exchanges. Most universities and colleges in China have a department or a college of history which offer world history courses for undergraduates and graduates majoring in world and Chinese history, as well as introductory courses for students in other majors, to provide them with background knowledge. So world history teaching is very challenging at the university level, in terms of both the expectations of students and the pressures of academic research at home and abroad. Since 1976, world history teaching has been growing in importance throughout China. Some top universities even have departments of world history within their colleges of history. The Department of World History at Nankai University (established in 2002 within the College of History that also includes the Department of Chinese History) may be the first department of world history in China that was separated from a department of history. Currently, there are more than ten departments of world history at top universities in China. General World History, which includes Chinese history, has always been regarded as the most important required course for students majoring in history, especially those specializing in world history. (General world history courses may vary in their time frame and thematic emphasis.) Furthermore, there are many other courses offering discrete histories of specific foreign nations and area studies, and courses in economic, cultural, and political history. 14

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Most students majoring in world history are not interested in world history taken as a whole. They prefer to focus on a specific regional history for their major because world history is too broad to master. Also, a course of study focusing on one country, especially a developed country, is thought to aid them in finding a better job. The case is similar for both graduates and candidates for MA and PhD degrees. Because of this, the faculty in world history is not balanced in terms of national and regional focus.

Global History Education in China: The Future The future of history education in China will depend on a more global perspective in line with trends in history education in other parts of the world, incorporating new media and integrating scholarship from historians worldwide.

Global History: A Glober Identity The following five sections describing 3-D global history address the what, why, and how of global history, followed by discussions of integration, cooperation, holism, and innovation.

What? Global or World History History has two meanings: objective processes and events that occurred in the past, and the subjective explanation and description of what happened. The job of the historian is to make this subjective approach yield understanding that is closer to the objective developments of the past. Global history takes a subjective approach intended to establish as objectively as possible what happened across the globe as a whole. In this sense, global history is different from world history. In order to develop an objective global history subjectively, I believe a glober identity or perspective is needed to sustain global history for all “globers”—my name for all people living on the globe.14 I argue that 3-D global history of the glober, by the glober, and for the glober can only be constructed by using a noncentric and holistic perspective based on global cooperation among global historians with a glober identity. Global disequilibrium has shaped global history in general and national/partial histories in particular in the light of “social physics” (defined below) according to the ancient philosopher Zhuangzi’s (c. 369 bce–c. 286 bce) idea of interdependence or contingence (Youdai er ran, 有待而然), and Friedrich Engels’s concept of the resultant (or resultant force, 合力) meaning the force of the amalgamation of various forces that disturb, check, collide and offset each other. 14 Globers can be defined as everyone on the earth or, more specifically, as all those with global consciousness. I choose not to use “global citizens” because citizen is a modern concept intertwined with ideas of nationalism, and there are still many globers who do not have citizenship in a specific nation on the globe.

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Why? Nationalism or Globlism? Global history has been understood, written, and taught from either a national point of view or a regional/cultural/ideological one, using a perspective of centrism such as Sinocentrism, Eurocentrism, or another centrism. History, both national and global, has often highlighted rulers, elites, the rich, the strong, winners, celebrities, the center, and that which is unique from a patriotic or national perspective. It is time for global historians to more fully incorporate the ruled, the poor, the weak, the so-called losers, the marginalized, and the masses; without these social forces, the image of 3-D global history is not complete.

How? Centrism or Noncentrism? I challenged centrism in global history with the question: “Is global history centered?” when I wrote to Andre Gunder Frank to criticize his substitution of Eurocentrism with Sinocentrism in his famous work ReOrient.15 Instead, I have argued for “a noncentric and holistic approach to global history,” initially in a presentation at Northeastern University’s World History Center in December 2002.16 I later developed this idea into a chapter, “Teaching Modern Global History at Nankai: A Noncentric and Holistic Approach,” with the assistance of Frank, and also Patrick Manning, Alfred Andrea, Andrea McElderry, Jerry Bentley, and Peter Gran. In my view, there has been no globally acknowledged single center for most of global history, but instead many “centers” of civilizations to be found scattered or distributed here and there all over the globe.

Integration Global history has become a way of viewing the world as a whole, and for China this means integrating its version of Chinese history with new discoveries in world history scholarship.

Combining Chinese History and World History Global history in China should integrate both domestic and world history so that a 3-D global history can be written by specialists taking a global perspective. More and more Chinese historians are finding that it is difficult to understand and explain Chinese history without using a global perspective. Increasing numbers of Chinese historians and students have opportunities to go abroad to exchange ideas with 15 Andre Gunder Frank, ReORIENT, Global Economy in the Asian Age (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998). 16 Zhang Weiwei, “Teaching Modern Global History at Nankai: A Noncentric and Holistic Approach,” Global Practice in World History: Advances Worldwide, ed. Patrick Manning (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2008), 69.

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foreign experts on Chinese history and to read historical literature on China. Foreign historians are also invited to China to give lectures and attend conferences on Chinese history. In short, Chinese history has been globalized since there is more interest in Chinese history in international academic circles. Chinese publications on Chinese history are also being read all over the world.

The Globalization of Global History In China, global history is at a crossroads which provides us with possibilities for development and improvement. History needs to be globalized for the glober to share a glober identity rather than a national one. In December 2014, World History Studies was published as the first English-language journal on world history in China. This biannual journal was issued by the Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It is a milestone in the development of global history in China, and provides a new platform of academic exchange for both local global historians and their foreign counterparts and colleagues. Chinese global historians will take part actively in the globalization of global history.

Cooperation In a world in which globalization affects media, economies, and scholarship, global historians are beginning to cooperate with others across the world, consolidating organizations.

Global Historians of All Countries Unite! Producing global history is not the job of one scholar or one nation, but one of global cooperation. Chinese global historians should learn from and cooperate with foreign global historians to develop a globalized global history for all globers, as well as for the Chinese people. The newly formed Network of Global and World History Organization (NOGWHISTO), uniting the World History Association (WHA),17 the European Network in Universal and Global History (ENIUGH),18 the Asian Association of World Historians (AAWH, founded in 2008), and the African Network in Global History (ANGH, founded in 2009), the Red Latinoamericana de Historia Global (RLHG, founded in 2013), and the International Big History Association (IBHA, founded in 2012), realizes our dream of unifying of global historians from all countries, and it is a great motivator of globalization and cooperation in global history. NOGWHISTO was formally admitted as an affiliate by the International Committee of Historical Sciences (CISH) in Amsterdam in August 2010. As a part of this momentous progress, I, myself, as a glober, have had the honor of experiencing and witnessing all of these historical developments in the globalization of global history. 17 http://www.thewha.org 18 https://research.uni-leipzig.de/eniugh

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The Teamwork of 3-D Global History Global history is a huge project for all global historians who have to find proper approaches and methods, and who have to cooperate with and learn from scholars from other fields in both the social and natural sciences. It seems that scholars in all the relevant fields hold pieces of the global history puzzle, which could form a 3-D global history by putting them all together in their proper places. In early 2013, the first issue of The Asian Review of World Histories, the journal of the AAWH, was published, providing a new platform for global historians to share.19 The third congress of AAWH was held in Singapore in May 2015.

Holism With this integrative approach to history, other realms of the arts and sciences can be brought to bear on how global history is understood and explained to students.

Holism and Social Physics My holistic approach to global history involves “social physics,” similar to physics for the study of nature, to identify and investigate the forces and functions that generate social change in particular and global history in general. All the forces in social physics work together to create a global disequilibrium that changes global history. The ensuing “social quake,” as I call it, is a resultant of all the social forces because what caused it is much more than the central events, just like an earthquake is caused by the interaction of physical forces from other places.20

Holism and Global Disequilibrium The noncentric and holistic approach argues that global history has been determined by an all-inclusive global disequilibrium caused by the resultant of social forces. Global disequilibrium is disorder or a crisis caused by the resultant of all forces. The word “crisis” in Chinese combines two characters: one that means “chaos” and another that means “chance,” indicating that chaos provides a chance for change. It is global disequilibrium that has forced development and shaped global history, as well as national histories, respectively. For instance, the Pax Mongolica, the period of brief semi-unification of Central Europe under the Mongols; the westward expansion of the Islamic Ottoman Empire; Europe’s trade imbalance with the East; and socioeconomic problems cause by natural and man-made disasters, led to global disequilibrium: a combination of mutual attraction and exclusion

19 http://www.thearwh.org 20 Here I was inspired by Zhuangi’s idea of 有待而然 (contingence/interdependence), Engels’ concept of resultant, Nash’s game theory, and Hawking’s theory of the universe, as well as chaos theory, fuzziology, holism, and physics.

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(racial, cultural, religious, economic, political, military, etc.) among various civilizations due to the struggle for survival.

Innovation New media is where the future of global history lies and will be an important means of teaching and conveying the disparate elements of global history.

Theory and Terminology As we all know, originally the liberal arts were not divided; scholars in both the West and the East approached them comprehensively in ancient times. It was modern scholars who divided and subdivided them in such a way that they each have “their own” fields and theoretic systems that separate and isolate them from each other. Taking the holistic approach is a challenge to global historians, as well as to modern scholars. Cooperation among specialists from various fields is very important in the project of constructing 3-D global history. So, global history demands not only teamwork, but also theoretical innovation.

Methodology and Media Methodology is another problem for 3-D global history. It seems that traditional methods of doing history are not enough to develop 3-D global history. New methods and tools are needed to handle complex global history as a whole. Traditionally, history was usually written down on paper. With the development of modern technology, new carriers and media should be found and used to convey 3-D global history. Audio-video images and other digital carriers can be used to create a 3-D vision of global history because, to a great extent, written languages are sometimes biased and don’t tell the whole story. Global historians have to keep up with technological developments in order to upgrade the presentation of global history. There is still a long way to go for Chinese global historians to catch up with the developments and trends in international academic circles of global history. Nevertheless, Chinese global historians are beginning the process and are ready for the challenge, both at home and abroad.

Further Reading Bentley, J. H. (2000). Traditions and encounters: A global perspective on the past. Vol. I, II. New York: McGraw Hill. Frank, A. G. (1998). ReORIENT: Global economy in the Asian age. Berkeley: University of California Press. Frank, A. G. & and Gills, B. K. (Eds.). (1993). The world system: Five hundred years or five thousand? London and New York: Routledge. Christian, D. (2005). Maps of time: An introduction to Big History. London: University California Press. Encyclopedia of China. (2009). (中国大百科全书). Beijing: People’s Publishing House. Gran, P. (1996). Beyond Eurocentrism: A new view of modern world history. New York: Syracuse University Press. Gran, P. (2009). The rise of the rich: A new view of modern world history. New York: Syracuse University Press.

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World History Teaching in Asia Hobson, J. M. (2004). The Eastern origins of Western civilization. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. Huntington, S. P. (1996). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. New York: Simon and Schuster. Journal of World History. Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press. Journal of Historical Science. (2011). (中国社会科学). Kaifeng: Henan University Press. Kuwabara, J. (1899). 东亚史要 (Outline of East Asian History) (Fan Binging, Trans.). Peking: 东文学社 (East Literature Study). Manning, P. (Ed.). (2008). Global practice in world history: Advances worldwide. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers. Marks, R. B. (2002, 2006). The origins of the modern world: A global and ecological narrative from the fifteenth to the twenty-first century. New York: Rowman & Littlefield. McNeill, W. H. 1963. The rise of the West. Chicago: Chicago University Press. McNeill, W. H. (1999). A world history. William H. McNeill, New York: Chicago University Press. Northrop, D. (Ed.). (2012). A companion to world history. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. People’s Daily. (2012). (人民日报). Beijing: People’s Daily Press. Pomeranz, K. (2000). The great divergence: Europe, China, and the making of the modern world economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Power, B. (2005). The Ford of heaven: A childhood in Tianjin, China. Oxford, UK: Signal Books. Sachsenmaier, D. (2011). Global perspectives on global history: Theories and approaches in a connected world. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Stavrianos, L. S. (1971). The world since 1500: A global history. London: Prentice Hall. Wood, F. (1998). No dogs and not many Chinese: Treaty port life in China, 1843–1943. London: John Murray. Tang Jin. (2006). 大国崛起 (The rise of the big powers). Beijing: Beijing Publishing House. Wallerstein, I. (1974). The modern world-system. Vol. I, II, III. New York: Academic Press. World History Studies. (2014). Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press. Zhou Yiliang & Wu Yujin. (1962). 世界通史 (A general history of the world). Beijing: People’s Publishing House.

Appendix 1.1. Contents of the 2004 Modern and Contemporary World History Textbook for High Schools in China. Modern World History (one semester) Chapter One: The Rise of Capitalism in Europe 1. 2. 3. 4.

The Emergence of Capitalist Industry and Commerce in Europe Discovery and Early Colonialism The Renaissance The Reformation

Chapter Two: The East and the West in an Age of Capitalist Revolutions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

The English Revolution The Reforms in European Feudal States The Enlightenment in Western Europe The Enlightenment in Europe The French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire The Establishment of the United States of America Independence Movements in Latin America Asia in the 16th to 18th Centuries 20

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Chapter Three: The Early Formation of the Capitalist World System and the Development of the Socialist Movement 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The Industrial Revolution and Development of the Capitalist Economy Europe before 1850 and the 1848 Revolution The Birth of Marxism and the Development of the Socialist Movement Capitalist Revolutions and Reforms in the 1860s and 1870s The Early Formation of the Capitalist World Market Revolutionary Storms in Asia

Chapter Four: Formation of Monopoly Capitalism 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

The Second Industrial Revolution Transformation of Main Capitalist Countries into Imperialism Nationalist and Democratic Movements in Asia, Africa, and Latin America New Development of the Socialist Movement and the Birth of Leninism The First World War

Chapter Five: Natural Sciences and Literature and Arts in the 17th to 20th Centuries 1. Natural Sciences 2. Literature and Arts

Contemporary World History (one semester) Chapter One: The Russian October Socialist Revolution and the Rise of Nationalist Liberation Movements 1. Victory of the Russian October Revolution 2. Nationalist Liberation Movements in Asia and Africa 3. Socialist Contraction in the Soviet Union

Chapter Two: The Capitalist World after the First World War 1. 2. 3. 4.

Establishment of the “Versailles-Washington System” Main Capitalist Countries in the 1920s The Economic Crisis in Capitalist World from 1929 to 1933 Expansion of Fascistic Nations and Anti-Fascistic Struggles

Chapter Three: The Second World War 1. The Breakout and Expansion of the Second World War 2. Battles and Victory in the World Anti-Fascistic War 21

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Chapter Four: A Bipolar World Order 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

International Relations after WWII and the Formation of a Bipolar Order Main Capitalist Countries after WWII Socialist Countries after WWII Hegemony Struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union Collapse of the Colonial System and the Rise of the Third World Economic Development in Asia

Chapter Five: Change of the World Order 1. Radical Change in Eastern Europe and the Collapse of the Soviet Union 2. Development in World Politics 3. Development of the World Economy

Chapter Six: Modern Science and Technology, and Culture 1. Science and Technology 2. Academic Thought and Education 3. Literature and Arts

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Teaching World History in China: Shanghai’s History Curriculum and Textbook Reforms YANG Biao East China Normal University, Shanghai, The People’s Republic of China

World history instruction in China has experienced many changes since 1990, when three different sets of teaching programs replaced a formerly uniform curriculum. Shanghai has led the way in transforming the textbooks and curricula of history instruction with a more global perspective, reflecting trends in history scholarship worldwide, leading to national debate, reflection, and changes.

T

he People’s Republic of China contains approximately one-fifth of the world’s population. In terms of the sheer numbers of students taught, history teaching in Chinese schools has the most extensive effects in the world. It can be argued, therefore, that the members of international history education circles should be extremely interested in the reform and development of history education in this vast country. This chapter will survey the transformation of the history curriculum and textbooks in Shanghai.

The Evolution of the 1990s History teaching programs prior to the 1990s had a common basic framework underlying history education in China. The main features of history teaching in China were as follows: • The curricula were uniform nationwide, which means that the history curriculum in every part of the country was standardized. • All courses were compulsory, and marked by uniformity. • The structure of the course was fixed. A system of general history was adopted which emphasized the systematic nature of historical research and the integrity of historical knowledge. The teaching of world history, especially, proceeded in an orderly way, step by step from ancient times to modern times 23

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and then to the contemporary period, including Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa—every part of the world was covered. This mode of history education helped to popularize historical knowledge, but in such a rapidly developing society, it gradually failed to satisfy the needs of the modernization process. Therefore, additional reforms in history teaching were introduced in the 1990s. Great changes have taken place in history teaching in China since 1990. Three different sets of teaching programs have replaced the uniform curriculum that was formerly implemented nationwide. One of these new programs, the teaching program for nine-year compulsory education schools and senior high schools in China, which was designed by the National Education Committee, guides history teaching in most areas of the country.21 The second program, the reform program for curricula in primary and secondary schools in Shanghai, developed by the local authority of Shanghai, guides history teaching in Shanghai and other economically developed regions. A third program, the provisional teaching program for compulsory education designed in Zhejiang Province, guides history teaching in local rural and mountainous areas. The curricula for history teaching in these three programs embody the results of recent developments in history courses. They also show concern for the differing requirements of schools at different levels and in different regions. In addition, they possess features that allow students to explore their own interests The new national curriculum in history teaching for primary, junior high, and senior high schools in most regions of China differs from the old curriculum in a number of ways. In the new nationwide curriculum, both classroom teaching and extra-curricular activities are included. The extra-curricular activities—including group activities, social investigation, and visits to historical sites—aim at promoting students’ interest and ability in historical learning. A second major change is that a course called Basic Social Knowledge has been included in the primary school curriculum. This course, integrating fundamental knowledge of history, geography, and society, enables students to gain overall understanding of important historical and geographical factors and social customs of the local area, the whole country, and the world. Another change is that an optional history course, generally offered in the last year of senior high school, has been introduced for the first time. This course is available to those students who are interested in studying history or who are considering relevant majors in colleges and universities. A fourth change is that the content of all the courses relevant to historical knowledge is no longer repeated only for repetition’s sake but for sound educational reasons. Thus, in the primary school years, students are taught necessary and comprehensive knowledge in the Basic Social Knowledge course. During the junior high school years, systematic history teaching provides students with the necessary knowledge that each citizen should acquire. After that, in the senior high schools, history teachers no longer repeat what students have been taught earlier, 21 For details, see National Ministry of Education, The Curricula Standards for Full-Time Nine-Year Compulsory Education: History Teaching (Beijing: National Ministry of Education, 1996); National Ministry of Education, The Curricula Standards for Full-Time Senior High Schools: History Teaching (Beijing: National Ministry of Education, 1996).

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but instead teach the modem history and contemporary events of China and the world, which are of great relevance to the world today. In China’s history education circles, it is believed that the normal pattern of cognitive ability development of young people is reflected in the following sequence: usually, primary school students are at a perceptual stage of cognition and engage in intuitive thinking; junior high school students are at an aesthetic stage of cognition, often thinking in terms of images; and senior high school students are at a rational stage of cognition and capable of logical thinking. The new curriculum, it is thought, complies better with young people’s cognitive development stages through the arrangement of teaching basic knowledge in primary schools, general history in junior high schools, and important modern historic events of the world and in China in the senior high schools.22 In 1990, Shanghai put into effect a reform program for curricula in primary and secondary schools in Shanghai. This was the first local teaching program in the educational history of China. The curriculum has been adopted mainly in Shanghai, as an economically and culturally developed region. The history curriculum designed and implemented in Shanghai has three outstanding features. First, a combined mode of curriculum has been established. History teaching in junior and senior high school consists of three parts: a compulsory course, an optional course, and extra-curricular activities. The compulsory course equips students with essential historical knowledge and theory, while the optional course emphasizes the formation of students’ own interests, with students gaining some necessary historical abilities and skills through activities. A second distinctive feature is that the various elements of the history curriculum (the general history introduction, the comprehensive social knowledge course, the cultural history course on specific topics, and the history course combining Chinese and world history) all contribute to the variety of the curriculum structure. This new structure better satisfies the students’ need to enhance their knowledge, skills, and personal development. A third feature is that the content has been enriched at each level. In the past, the contents of history teaching were simply repeated three times—in primary schools, in junior high schools, and again in senior high schools. This led to unnecessary repetition of content and some waste of time. According to the new Shanghai teaching program, junior high school students learn the basic facts of Chinese and world history, while modern Chinese history and contemporary events are combined with contemporary modern world history at the senior high school level, abandoning the older style that separated Chinese history and world history. In addition, the new history textbook for Shanghai’s senior high schools has been edited to support this approach to teaching. Starting with world history in the fifteenth century as the leading thread, the textbook combines Chinese history with the history of other nations, introducing Chinese history against the background of world events. This enables students to grasp changes in the relationship between China and other countries and promotes students’ understanding of multiple cultures in the world, as well as of future tendencies in world development. The 22 For further details, see The Methodology of History Teaching in High Schools (Beijing: Higher Education Publishing House, 1998); The Methodology of History Teaching: An Introduction (Hefei, China: Anhui Education Publishing House, 1988).

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curriculum strengthens the comparative study of Chinese history with world history and the ways of teaching by which students can be enabled to analyze domestic and world historical events from a global point of view. Students are expected to understand and accept multiple cultural phenomena, and to gain understanding of the developments and changes that China has experienced against a macro-background of the world situation.23 Similarly, a history curriculum was designed in China’s Zhejiang Province for the local rural and mountainous areas in 1991. Considering the large number of students and the current situation of schools and teaching staff in rural areas, this curriculum moved away from specific history courses. Instead, courses in basic knowledge and social knowledge were adopted. Historical knowledge was merged into the basic knowledge course in primary schools and the social knowledge course in junior high schools. In this way, the hours of teaching have been reduced, the burden on students relaxed, and, at the same time, students’ skills and abilities nurtured. With the interrelationship between individual human beings and society as the theme, the essential knowledge of politics, economy, culture, populations, and folk customs are blended into the content of the social knowledge course. Students are enabled to take the first step towards understanding the social environment in which human beings exist. In addition, students gain knowledge of human history and society. The three new curricula of the 1990s embodied the tendency of curriculum development in China. The design process of the three programs saw a departure from the traditional program structure for history teaching. The new structure of curricula was built upon the consideration of three factors. The first was recognition of the regular pattern of the development of students’ cognition, assuming that, generally, students of primary schools, junior high schools, and senior high schools are respectively in the perceptual, the aesthetic, and the rational stages of cognition. The new curricula are, therefore, designed to comply with this pattern, and, correspondingly, teaching focuses on basic knowledge, general history, and important events for the different stages. A second factor is the rational structure of the course. It is thought that the earlier, unified structure of history courses should be changed. The structures of the new curricula try to coordinate compulsory courses, optional courses, and extra-curricular activities, aimed at promoting students’ interest and ability in historical learning. A third factor concerns the needs of the developing society. Having ceased to be an agro-centered society in the late 1980s and having experienced an industrialization phase until the beginning of the 1990s, China is undergoing a dramatic transformation toward a new society that will share more common interests with the world. Therefore, there is an attempt in the curricula to combine Chinese history with world history, in order to enable students to grasp historical knowledge from a global point of view, and so to meet the needs of the development of society. 23 For further details and other aspects of history education in the People’s Republic of China, see Bai Yuqiao, ed., The Study of History Teaching (Beijing: Education Science Publishing House, 1997); Yu Youxi, ed., History Education (Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 2000); Nie Youli, ed., History Teaching in Secondary Schools (Shanghai: Xuelin Publishing House, 2000).

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Transformation in the New Century Since the eve of the new century, China has been undergoing a new reformation of history education. Some new programs have been implemented in recent years, and their effects have yet to be examined. With the new reformation, history education in China has changed its focus from one of expertise to one of common knowledge. Since the teaching of two general histories (world history and Chinese history) have been emphasized in China for a long time, there had been a tendency to condense the college history course into the high school one, with professionalized and adult characteristics. So the reform of the history curriculum in high school breaks with the traditional framework and constructs a new system for history learning, catering to students’ perceptions, accentuating history’s significance in helping them to learn other subjects, and offering in itself the historical knowledge necessary for students’ lifetime development. This trend has been reflected in the latest curriculum reform. For example, history textbooks for senior high school developed by the People’s Education Press have adopted the form of “matrix-topics.” During the high school years, the history course consists of both required and selective matrices, which contain diverse topics. The history textbooks for senior high schools are no longer composed in a generally chronological way, but are instead organized into three main themes: economy, politics, and culture. This new approach integrating students’ interests, needs, social experiences, and lives is substituted for the traditional chronicle style of textbooks. Thus the teaching and learning of world history are both establishing new patterns.24 Another new pattern is seen in the second-round reform of history education in Shanghai. Directed by an historical perspective of civilization approach and centered on “human beings seeking to survive and develop,” the senior high school history textbook constructs the course in a multi-dimensional way within a framework of thematic narration. The idea of this project is to carry out history education reform with moral education as the core, talent development as the basis, and creativity as the priority. Students are not required to remember an excessive amount of historical details, but rather, with their teachers’ help, to choose to remember some important events and historical figures. Students’ creativity receives more emphasis. The student will thus play a more important role in history classes. The principle of “talent development as the basis” means that textbooks should be able to arouse students’ interest in the study of history and to provide knowledge that will benefit students throughout their lives. Hence, knowledge grouping has become an important measure in the reform. The framework of the history of civilization in the textbooks for junior high school students (grade six to grade nine) follows the track of the survival and development process of human beings. The framework of the textbook for senior high school students (grade ten to grade 24 For details of this new program, see National Ministry of Education, The Curricula Standards for Senior High Schools: History Teaching (Beijing: National Ministry of Education, 2003); Zhao Keli, ed., History Teaching Methodology (Xian: Shanxi Normal University Press, 2005); Zhu Hanguo, ed., New Edition of History Teaching Methodology (Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2008).

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twelve) is thematic history that expresses the essence of human civilization. According to the pattern now used in Shanghai, the non-chronological course for teaching world history in senior high schools includes six subjects:25 (1) human civilizations at the early stage, (2) human life, (3) human culture, (4) diffusion and conflicts of civilization, (5) civilization moving toward the globalization period, and (6) the reality and future of civilization. The detailed contents of Shanghai’s senior high school history textbook issued in the beginning years of the twenty-first century are listed in Appendix 2.1. Covering a wide range of politics, economics, culture, religion, and social customs which reflect the development of human civilization and its achievements, the new textbooks focus on human beings for teaching world history, the transformation of social structures with productivity as their core, and the important role that cross-cultural communications have played in the development of civilization. There are both specifically portrayed historical stages in the evolution of civilization and selected historical events. From specific to general, the two interwoven tracks illustrate the features of civilization in such a way as to enable students to have a broad view of global history and to enlarge their scope of knowledge through the study of history. Shanghai’s new secondary school history textbooks, which were composed and issued in the early years of the twenty-first century, discarded the traditional chronological order of historical events and adopted a thematic arrangement, highlighting the progress made by human civilizations. The compilers believed that history textbooks for the new era should be based on historical timelines, but adopt the histories of civilizations as primary themes. Civilizations are the accumulative material and spiritual outcome of human beings’ efforts at improving their natural and social environments, and the mark of social progress. History is laden with strenuous but at times glorious efforts for survival and progress, and it is inherently progressive where it develops in line with positive social and historical values. The history of civilizations provides a record of such efforts and processes. This new version of textbooks for secondary schools aimed to provide students with an academic framework of civilizations. An article in the New York Times published on 1 September 2006, entitled “Where’s Mao? Chinese Revise History Textbooks,” was quickly translated, reprinted, and excerpted by Chinese media, with exaggerations added. In the Chinese media, its title became “Shanghai’s New History Textbooks Play Down Revolution and War” and “Mao is Replaced by Bill Gates.” Chinese internet forums also buzzed with discussions and references to a “soft coup” or “colour revolution,” brewing a storm of criticism. Shanghai’s new history textbooks became a focal point of contention. Although the textbooks, with modifications carried out in response to criticism, might still have had a chance for continued use in Shanghai, things later took a sudden downward turn. In October 2006, the Social Sciences Development Research Centre of the Ministry of Education issued six circulars (Situational Report on Social Sciences) with the same heading, “Comments by Well-known History Scholars on Shanghai’s

25 History (Shanghai: Shanghai Education Publishing House, 2003).

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New Edition of High School History Textbooks.” These commentaries were provided by several senior historians and contained criticism of the Shanghai secondary school history textbooks. After citing examples, they concluded that “the compilers were confused in their thinking, which caused the textbooks to be uprooted from the realities of Chinese society and the development of historical studies in China. [The textbooks] are full of attempts to play down ideology or get rid of ideology altogether.” These scholars further proposed an immediate ban on the textbooks. In addition to the circulars issued, containing the minutes of their discussions, the scholars also organised a meeting in the name of the Chinese History Society and sent a formal petition to the authorities. The use of these textbooks was ultimately suspended. Although the new version of the history textbooks had been in use in Shanghai for only a very brief period, the format and focus on the history of civilizations undoubtedly had a far-reaching impact on the community of school history teachers. Furthermore, this version was also the most concise of all the secondary school history texts published in China in recent decades. While most other history textbooks increased in length, the compilers of Shanghai’s reduced the bulky volume of the history text, allowing more class time for in-depth interactive discussions on case studies.

Prospects for the Future In the new era of globalization, history education in China is faced with new situations and tasks. First, and especially since the 1980s, China has gradually shaken off its agriculture-based society, and in the 1990s, industrialization spread across the entire nation; at the beginning of the new century, the information age began to take shape. The quality demanded of human resources in future Chinese society will be quite different from that of our former society. Correspondingly, history education, as an important part of civics education, has to change and develop. Second, the developing tendency of Chinese society in this new era is internationalization and informatization. Information and knowledge will be the main driving forces for social development. The main task of education will be to improve students’ creativity and personalities. Education in world history shoulders more importance than it did in the past. Third, with the development of Chinese society, there will no longer be a unanimous and centralized educational policy and criteria. Education in China will increasingly focus on self-management, rather than centralization. Local districts and institutions will have more rights to make policy that meets local demands, thereby providing more room for the further development of history education. Confronted with new situations and tasks, by reviewing the past experience of history education, China should have a new orientation for the future. First, mutual understanding among different nations and countries plays a decisive role in the process of globalization and cultural plurality, and world history education serves as the basis for mutual understanding and respect. It must strengthen this function and eliminate the stereotypes and biases that can be found in past teaching. In this way, history education can serve as an important

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means for deepening understanding and cooperation among nations and areas for a new kind of citizenship. Second, human beings should become the center of world history education. As there is an increasing appeal for personal individuality in China, history courses would meet this demand. Traditional history teaching put more emphasis on the correct choice of content, the completeness of scientific principles, and the academic system of the discipline itself, rather than on the important theme of people. The core of world history education theory in the future should be about finding ways to combine the development of the students’ own interests with the content of study. Learners would be put at the center of the theory and thus become qualified citizens. Third, the trend of world history education in China is toward guiding students away from memorizing information and towards creating something new. Education should develop not only the students’ capacity for memorization, but also their independent thinking, analysis, and self-evaluation. Last but not least, world history education should reflect urgent regional issues and peoples’ demands, so that students will be able to foresee future tasks and understand current situations through historical analysis. World history education should reveal the past experience as well as the prospects for the future, rather than avoiding current problems and the dangers we face. Students should be encouraged to use historical knowledge and interpretation for solving future problems. They should understand different kinds of possibilities and undertake their responsibilities for a shared culture through the study of world history. In a word, world history education should change from its current pattern of teaching “how” to the pattern of teaching “why.”

Further Reading Anhui Education Publishing House. (1988). The methodology of history teaching: An introduction. Hefei, PRC: Anhui Education Publishing House. Bai Yuqiao. (Ed.). (1997). The study of history teaching. Beijing: Education Science Publishing House. Cheng Jian. (2000). Are history textbooks by the People’s Education Press really the best?—The criteria for evaluating history textbooks. History Teaching in Middle Schools, 12. Feng Yixia. (2009). Theoretical discussions and empirical research on processes as an objective. History Teaching and Research, 4. Higher Education Publishing House. (1998). The methodology of history teaching in high schools. Beijing: Higher Education Publishing House. National Ministry of Education. (2003). The curricula standards for senior high schools: History teaching. Beijing: National Ministry of Education. National Ministry of Education. (1996). The curricula standards for full-time nine-year compulsory education: History teaching. Beijing: National Ministry of Education. National Ministry of Education. (1996). The curricula standards for full-time senior high schools: History teaching. Beijing: National Ministry of Education. Nie Youli. (Ed.). (2000). History teaching in secondary schools. Shanghai: Xuelin Publishing House. Sun Jingguo, & He Chenggang. (2000). Reflections on the great debate on history textbooks: How should it be reviewed. History Teaching in Middle Schools, 12. Yu Yichuan. (2009). A preliminary discussion on the methodology of historical studies as goals in the secondary school history curriculum. History Teaching and Research, 5. Yu Youxi. (Ed.). (2000). History education. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press. Zhao Keli. (Ed.). (2005). History teaching methodology. Xian: Shanxi Normal University Press. Zhou Yuming. (2009). On Shanghai’s history textbook issue. Open Times, 1. Zhu Hanguo. (Ed.). (2008). New edition of history teaching methodology. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press.

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Appendix 2.1. Contents of Shanghai’s Reformed Senior High School History Textbooks Vol. 1: Subject One: Human Civilizations of the Early Stage Unit 1: Symbols of Civilized Societies: Lesson 1: Metal Tools Lesson 2: Written Languages Lesson 3: Nations

Unit 2: Civilization and the Geographic Environment: Lesson 4: The Great River Civilizations Lesson 5: The Ocean Civilizations Lesson 6: The Grassland Civilizations

Subject Two: Human Life Unit 1: Social Structure: Lesson 7: Marriage and Clan Lesson 8: Races and Population Lesson 9: Grade and Rank

Unit 2: Social Life Lesson 10: Dress Lesson 11: Diet Lesson 12: Habitation Lesson 13: Transportation

Unit 3: Customs Lesson 14: Festivals Lesson 15: Ceremonies Lesson 16: Social Contacts

Subject Three: Human Culture Unit 1: Law Lesson 17: The Origin of Laws Lesson 18: Legal Systems Lesson 19: Judicial Systems 31

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Unit 2: Humanities Lesson 20: Literature Lesson 21: History Lesson 22: Philosophy Lesson 23: The Arts

Unit 3: Religion Lesson 24: The Origin of Religions Lesson 25: Religious Transmission Lesson 26: The Characteristics of Religion

Vol.2: Subject Four: Diffusion and Conflicts of Civilization Unit 1: Three Waves and Inheritance of Civilization Lesson 1: The Agricultural Age Lesson 2: The Industrial Age Lesson 3: The Information Age Lesson 4: Higher Education Lesson 5: Museums and Libraries

Unit 2: Extension of Civilized Space Lesson 6: Regional Exploration Lesson 7: World-Wide Exploration Lesson 8: Cosmic Exploration

Unit 3: Sword and Fire in the Process of Civilization Lesson 9: Military Technology Lesson 10: Strategy and Tactics Lesson 11: The Rules of War

Subject Five: Civilization toward the Globalization Period Unit 1: Modern and Contemporary State Systems Lesson 12: Nations Lesson 13: The “Tripartite” Political System Lesson 14: Civilian society 32

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Unit 2: Modern Economic Systems Lesson 15: The Market Economy Lesson 16: International Economic Relations

Unit 3: International Political Order in the Process of Civilization Conflicts Lesson 17: International Law Lesson 18: International Organizations Lesson 19: International Order after World War II

Subject Six: The Reality and Future of Civilization Unit 1: Social Ideal and Reality Lesson 20: Human Rights Lesson 21: Social Security Lesson 22: Ideal of Socialism and its Practice

Unit 2: Common Hazards Lesson 23: Epidemics Lesson 24: Drugs Lesson 25: Evil Cults Lesson 26: Gangs

Unit 3: Nature and Society in Historical Perspective Practice class (1) Humans and Nature Practice class (2) Humans and Society

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Restoring and Celebrating the Contributions of Diverse Peoplesto the History of Humankind: Changes and Issues of the Middle School World History Curriculum in the Republic of Korea26 Sun Joo KANG Gyeongin National University of Education, Incheon, Korea

In the Republic of Korea, the curriculum of world history, taught together with Korean history, has been criticized for Eurocentrism and has undergone several revisions in the last several decades. Recent amendments moved toward restoring and celebrating diverse people’s contribution to the history of humankind, thereby attenuating Eurocentrism. Currently, interconnectedness as an organizational theme has been adopted to narrate the emergence of “modern civilization.”

T

he Republic of Korea introduced world history into its school curriculum beginning in the 1950s. Taught together with Korean history, world history was meant to help students gain insight into the cultural traditions and historical development of diverse peoples across the globe and to provide an integrated and dynamic understanding of how today’s world came to be as it is. Criticized for reinforcing Westernization while attenuating Korean tradition, values, and culture, the content of world history courses has been revised since the 1970s. 26 In writing this essay, I adapted two previously published journal articles: Sun Joo Kang, “Conceptions of Modernity in the Middle School World History Curriculum in the Republic of Korea: Adopting Theories of European Inherited Modernity and Modernization,” Journal of Northeast Asian History 9, no. 2 (2012): 157–179; and Sun Joo Kang, “Transcending Eurocentric and Sino-centric Perspectives in the Middle School World History Curriculum in the Republic of Korea since 1945,” in Yearbook of the International Society for History Didactics (Germany: Gesellschaft für Geschichtsdidaktik, 2012), 145–163.

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The Status of World History in the National Curriculum Since the first national curriculum was developed in 1954, it has regularly been revised, as shown in Table 3.1. An amended national curriculum was released in 2011 and implemented nationwide in 2013. The 2011 national curriculum is composed of a ten-year common curriculum and a two-year elective curriculum. World history is taught as a compulsory course called History in middle school and as an elective in the humanities and social science track in high school. High school students in the humanities and social science track choose two elective courses from among several in history, geography, and social science. Many high school students avoid the world history course because they believe it has too many facts for them to memorize. Therefore, many students study world history only once throughout their school years, during middle school. Prior to the 1973 middle school curriculum, world history was taught either as a discrete course called World History or, together with Korean history, in a course called History. As the country underwent rapid industrialization that inevitably accompanied Westernization in the 1960s and 1970s, however, World History was attacked as a course reinforcing Westernization while attenuating Korean tradition, values, and culture. Finally, in the 1973 middle school curriculum, the discourse of “national subjectivity” promoted by the government established Korean History as an independent course, separating world history from the course called History. World history was grouped with geography and civics in the social studies course. In the 2007 revised curriculum, the middle school curriculum witnessed the dramatic rebirth of the course called History, in which world history was combined with Korean history. This transformation was the result of historians’ and educators’ criticism that Korean history taught without any connection with world history was parochial, and world history without any relation with Korean history was not relevant to Korean experiences. Both the 2007 and 2011 history curricula emphasized the interconnectedness of Korean history with world history, but units of Korean history and world history were structured in juxtaposition, without any units or topics dealing directly with the interconnected development of Korea and other parts of the world. In one history textbook, students read two narratives organized with independent themes and in different scopes, the nation and the world: “How the Korean people developed cultural traditions and maintained their unity throughout history” (units 1, 2–6, and 10–11); “How peoples in the different regions developed their unique cultural traditions in pre-modern times” (units 1 and 7–9), and “How modern civilization was created in Europe and spread around the world” (units 12–14).

Middle School World History Curricula: Structural Changes Since its introduction, middle school world history has witnessed several sweeping changes in terms of its unit structure. The first national curriculum (1954) organized middle school world history prior to modern times as a collection of histories of ancient China, India, Greece, and Rome in the unit called “the ancient world”; and the Islamic world, China under the Tang, Song, and Mongol dynasties, Japan, and Europe in the unit called “the medieval world.” Modern times began 35

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Table 3.1. The Status of Korean History and World History in the National Social Studies Curriculum (KH=Korean History, WH=World History) 1954–2011. Curriculum Revision

Primary School Middle School KH compulsory KH/WH compulsory

High School

1954 The first curriculum

KH required

KH and WH both taught KH- required in an independent WH- elective required course, Korean History and World History

1963 The second curriculum 1968

KH required

WH taught together with KH- required KH in the course, History WH- required in humanities and social science track; elective for science and the other tracks

1973 The third curriculum

KH required

KH- required KH- required WH- taught with WH- elective geography and civics in the course, Social Studies

1981 The fourth curriculum

KH required

KH- required WH taught with geography and civics in the course, Social Studies

KH- required WH- required for humanities and social science track

1988 The fifth curriculum

KH required

KH- required WH taught with geography and civics in the course, Social Studies

KH- required WH- required for humanities and social science track

1992 The sixth curriculum

KH required

KH- required WH taught with geography and civics in the course, Social Studies

KH- required WH- required for humanities and social science track

1997 KH required The seventh curriculum

KH- required KH- required WH taught with WH- elective for all geography and civics in the course, Social Studies

2007 The 2007 curriculum

KH required

WH and KH taught in the compulsory course, History

KH and WHelective for humanities and social science track

The 2009 KH required and the 2011 curricula

WH and KH taught in the compulsory course, History

KH- compulsory WH- elective for humanities and social science track

with the Renaissance and Reformation. Industrialization and political revolutions were the key events that explained modern transformation. The Western history units displayed a consistent story of modern European transformation, while the Eastern history units demonstrated no clear organizational themes or principles. From the time world history was introduced, historians and educators criticized it as Eurocentric. 36

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In the fourth curriculum (1981), a critical change occurred with the structuring of world history units under “Asia versus Europe.” Asian and European history became separate units. The first three units were assigned to Asian history prior to modern times and the following two units to ancient and medieval history of Europe. Modern history was structured as modern European history (one unit), the modernization of Asia (one unit), and the contemporary World (one unit). Asian history constituted Chinese history and other Asian regional histories. An independent unit was assigned to Chinese history from “Wei, Qin, the Age of Division” to the Qing. Chinese culture and history became prominent in Asian history because of its relevance to Korean culture and history. The histories of other regions in Asia including North Asia, Southeast Asia and India, and the Islamic World were grouped together in one unit. These changes to the fourth curriculum resulted in the beginning of middle school world history focusing on China and Europe. The fifth curriculum (1988) adopted the concept of cultural regions to give balanced treatment to each region, and it also sought to emphasize the autonomous development of non-European regions within “Asia versus Europe.” The seventh curriculum (1997), calling for the incorporation of a global perspective into world history, added more non-European histories, such as those of Africa and Australia. The 2007 revised curriculum adopted an inter-regional approach, together with the regional approach (Appendix 3.2). Theories of “new world history” or “global history” have had an impact on both content selection and organization.

The Beginning of Teaching World History as a Collection of Histories in the First Curriculum (1954) Prior to the development of the first national curriculum (1954), the National Syllabus (1946) offered two separate courses called “Neighboring Countries (History of the East)” and “Distant Countries (History of the West)” in middle school. High schools offered a course called “The Cultural History of Humankind.” The National Syllabus stated that the purpose of history as a whole was “having students understand the cultural life of the East and the West from a Korean perspective, history courses are to develop students’ attitudes to contribute to progressive, self-sustaining Korean development and to develop international friendship.”27 According to Jin-Dong Park, Neighboring Countries focused mostly on Chinese history but included, comparatively, many more discussions of India, Southeast Asia, and South Asia than the Eastern history course taught during the Japanese colonial period, in order to transcend the Chinese history-centered approach to Eastern history.28 This way, educators acknowledged and attempted to resolve the problem of too much attention having been given to Chinese history since the introduction of world history education. Starting with the first national curriculum, world history was taught in the middle schools. The world history course conceptualized the history of humankind as a collection of stories about the Orient, China and India, the Islamic world, the Tang 27 Bong-Ho Yoo, The History of the Korean Curriculum (Seoul, South Korea: Gyohakyungusa, 1992), 322. 28 Jin-Dong Park, “A Study of the Syllabus and Textbook of Oriental History in Korea from 1948 to 1954,” Yoksa Kyoyuk 106 (2008).

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and Song dynasties, the Mongols, Japan, the Ming and Qing dynasties, and European modern history, without any specific organizational themes or principles of periodization. Units 1 and 2 addressed Chinese history, Indian history, the Orient and Islamic history, and Western European history from ancient to medieval times without any differentiation between the East and the West (Appendix 3.1). The first world history curriculum developed units on early modern history in the West and in the East. While early modern history of the West included clear-cut modern history themes such as the nation-state, political revolution, and industrialization, the unit on the early modern period in the East presented no specific transformative dynamics toward modernity. For the beginning of modern times, European history gained an independent unit representing modern development. European history demonstrated historical continuity and change from ancient Greece through medieval Europe to early modern times. The Europeanization of the world was proclaimed. Although Chinese history from ancient to modern times was presented in Units 2, 3, and 4, it consisted of nothing more than the simple dynastic changes from Tang, Song, and Ming to Qing. Islamic history and Japanese history were treated as footnotes to the main story. World history was virtually equated with European history and Chinese history, with some additional notes including stories about several empires in Asia. In the 1950s, Dong-Youn Lee, an historian, insisted, “The world history curriculum that was Europe-oriented should be transformed into an Eastern-oriented one, so that Chinese, Central Asian, and Southeast Asian histories could be understood in close relation with Korean history.”29 Or else, “Eastern history and Western history,” he continued, “should be taught with two separate textbooks.” In Lee’s view, world history was overly dominated by European events. Transcending Eurocentrism, to Lee, meant expanding histories other than the history of Europe. From the fourth curriculum, Asian history, in particular Chinese history, was presented first, before European history. It was an attempt to counter the Eurocentric image of world history and to take an East Asian perspective. In the 1960s and 1970s, history scholarship in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Korea shifted dramatically towards the investigation of the internal histories and domestic cultures of Asian regions. Critical of Westernization, which was inevitably accompanied by rapid economic growth, Korean historians gave increasing attention to Korean history, emphasizing Korean national identity to studying and teaching history. Less interest was paid to world history than had been previously. Although historians attempted to overcome Eurocentrism by expanding non-European histories and describing advanced features of Asian societies, they were preoccupied with the theory of modernization, which reinforced the image of progressive Europeans versus undeveloped non-Europeans endeavoring to catch up with Europe.

Reorganizing World History: Expanding Asian Histories in the Fourth Curriculum (1981) During the 1970s, historians and educators increasingly complained that Asian history was neglected in the world history that was taught in schools. As a result, the 29 Dong-Youn Lee, “Problems of World History Education,” Yoksa Kyoyuk 2 (1957): 123.

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fourth curriculum (1981) was expanded in scope to encompass various non-European regions. Sei-Chul Yun, one of the developers of the fourth world history curriculum, commended this version because it emphasized the importance of teaching Asian history, assigning a separate unit to both the medieval and the modern periods in Asia.30 When the fourth curriculum was about to be prepared, the developers confronted two problems.31 One was how to diminish the centrality of European history in world history, in order to make space for non-European histories. To resolve this problem, Asian history was expanded. Chinese history from the post-Han dynasty to the Qing dynasty was given a separate unit and became the center of Asian history. Treatment of other regions in Asia also increased. The other problem was how to reduce the centrality of Chinese history in organizing Asian history while, at the same time, revising Asian history in order to explore cultural traditions in different Asian cultural regions. To resolve this problem, the curriculum developers adopted the concept of cultural regions, which was developed in the 1970s as research units of area studies in the United States. China, India, and the Islamic world were replaced with East Asia, West Asia, and South Asia. North Asian nomadic peoples were also included. And by centering another region, East Asia, the fourth curriculum (1981) developers attempted to counter Eurocentrism. Chinese history was still presented as if it merely consisted of dynastic change, without any epoch-making transformations. Southeast Asia, India, and the Islamic world were included, but they were portrayed as inert and isolated. Meanwhile, units on European history in this curriculum were expanded and structured in a way that underlined a logical progress from ancient to modern times. The curriculum also displayed a clear organizational theme, modernity, which was structured around events such as the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, political revolutions, and liberalism and nationalism in the nineteenth century. These events allowed the construction of a coherent narrative on the modern transformation of Europe as the logical realization of unique European cultural traits without any external influences. Modernity was defined with European features and events, and served as a standard measure for evaluating historical development in other regions. The space allocated to European history in the textbook, as compared to Asian history in school world history, Yang-Ho Choi complained, was greatly exaggerated.32 In particular, for world history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, an organizing concept of European impact and Asian response and a modernization approach were used as the theoretical foundation. The modernization approach was based on the assumption that less developed countries could adopt and follow toward modernity policies similar to those of Western nations. The modernization approach, with its premise of linear progress, did not allow Korean students to gain an adequate understanding of the modern development of non-Western societies. Students were frequently presented with descriptions of non-Western societies as static cultures and of Western societies as dynamic. 30 Sei-Chul Yun, “Asiatic Contents in the World History,” Yoksa Kyoyuk 32 (1982): 2. 31 Sun Joo Kang, Interview with Professor Sae-Chul Yoon, 2002. 32 Yang-Ho Choi, “A Regional Approach to High School World History: Focusing on East Asian History,” Yoksa Kyoyuk 19 (1976): 13.

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European history determined the periodization and organizational themes of world history. Within its Asia versus Europe approach, the world was divided into these two broad cultural regions. Only Europe was pictured as an integrated region of cultural and historical development, while Asia was divided into three sub-cultural and historical regions: East Asia, India and Southeast Asia, and West Asia. In this framework, students may perceive Europe as a large region that made significantly greater historical contributions than did the sub-cultural regions of Asia. Eurocentrism dominated world history, obscuring the participation and creativity of diverse peoples in other parts of the world throughout history. The effort to broaden the treatment of Asian history, however, was superficially carried out by the early 1980s. Revisions to the world history curriculum were the result of the evolution of historical scholarship at the end of the 1970s and in the early 1980s. Around this time, there were few Korean historians who studied Southeast Asian, Indian, Central Asian, and Japanese history, and it became easier for them to gain access to the academic works of other countries in Europe and the United States than had before been the case.33 Expanding the treatments of Asian countries seemed an appropriate response to the collapse of bipolar world politics and the growth of the developing or third world in the 1980s. Furthermore, the concept of East Asia seemed to encompass the cultural traditions of China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Therefore, it was believed that such an approach should also be useful for constructing world history relevant to Korean culture. Although the national curriculum for world history required teachers to teach more about non-European regions, in reality, however, there were still important gaps in Koreans’ knowledge of the history of Africa and large parts of Asia.34

Towards a Balanced Treatment of Major Cultural-Regions in the Fifth Curriculum (1988) The developers of the fifth world history curriculum in 1988 and the sixth world history curriculum in 1992 continued to adopt and justify world history structured around histories of cultural regions—the region-based approach—as the best way to expose students to the various cultural traditions and histories of Asia, the Americas, and Africa, thereby transcending Eurocentrism.35 They believed that this approach could successfully organize world history so as to provide a balanced treatment of each major cultural region. Thus, the fifth and the sixth curricula provided essentials for the structure of world history as it was taught until the 2000s. Asian history up to the fifteenth century was separated into three regional histories of East Asia, India and Southeast Asia, and Islamic West Asia. European history included the Byzantine world during the medieval period. 33 The Korean History Education Society, “The Conference on Problems of World History Education,” Yoksa Kyoyuk 29 (1981): 162–186. 34 Min-Ho Lee, “Some Curricular Problems of Teaching Foreign History in the Secondary School,” Yoksa Kyoyuk 40 (1986): 141. 35 Department of Education, Guidelines for the Middle School Social Studies Curriculum (Seoul, South Korea, 1997), 284.

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The developers of the fifth world history curriculum endeavored to discuss dynamic developments in Asian regions before the European invasions. In order to overcome the limits of modernization theory, the curriculum developers focused on the transformative processes of Asian societies which differed from those of the West. By doing so, they attempted to replace the Western image of Asia as static and passive with an image of a dynamic and active region. Asian history expanded gradually, and finally, in the seventh curriculum (1997), the treatment of non-European history surpassed that of European history in the textbooks. The conceptual framework of Asia versus Europe with a region-based structure, however, was retained. This Eurocentric view continued to distort students’ ideas of the past, despite the pressures to achieve a more balanced interpretation regarding other non-European regions.

Regional and Inter-Regional Approaches in the 2007 Curriculum Globalization justified Korean scholars’ and educators’ aggressive position regarding Eurocentrism in historiography and history education. They attempted to attenuate the centrality of Europe while restoring non-European peoples’ identities and recognizing their roles and contributions to world civilization. New scholarship in world history emerging in the United States was introduced in Korea in the late 1990s. Min-Ho Lee, an historian specializing in Western history, criticized the way that the history of the Islamic Empire had been marginalized and described from a biased, Western perspective, demanding that its crucial role in cultural exchange across Eurasia and its significant impact on the European creation of modernity be reinterpreted.36 Other scholars in history education, adopting the theories of the new world history, emphasized that no state or civilization has evolved in isolation and that trans-cultural and inter-regional encounters had been one of the significant factors spurring historical change in most parts of the world.37 New world history scholarship suggested that, “as a whole, Asian civilization developed earlier, was more advanced and varied than that of Europe, which was attracted to the riches of the Orient.”38 Many parts of Asia—West Asia and Southeast Asia, India, Central and East Asia—had developed in continuing contact with each other from pre-historic times. Via the Silk Roads and the Indian Ocean route, Central and East Asia maintained extensive trade with West Asia and India, which in turn had unbroken contact with Europe and even with some parts of Africa. Ideas also flowed westward, to influence Afro-Eurasian peoples, sometimes through commercial trade and mass migration, and sometimes during large-scale military campaigns.39 36 Min-Ho Lee, “How Should We Read World History: Overcoming Eurocentrism,” Yoksa Beepyung 60 (2002): 190–196. 37 Sun Joo Kang, “High School World History at Risk?” Sawhegwa Kyoyuk 42, no. 1 (2003); SungYoung Jeong, “Teaching World History from a Global Perspective,” Yoksa Kyoyuk 85 (2003). 38 Rhoads Murphey, “The Shape of the World: Eurasia,” in Ainslie T. Embree and Carol Gluck, eds., Asia in Western and World History: A Guide for Teaching (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1997), 9. 39 Sun Joo Kang, “Cross-Regional Interaction as an Organizing Principle of World History,” Yoksa Kyoyuk 32 (2002): 61.

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New world history scholarship has also made it clear that the creation of modernity must be understood as a contingency, or as an outcome, of cross-cultural interactions in hemispheric and global contexts. This new scholarship envisions sophisticated and reliable alternatives to the Eurocentric theory of the internal European development of modernity. Serious flaws in the Korean schools’ world history curricula which gave sole credit to European civilization in creating modernity were pointed out. World history structured with only a regional approach within the Asia versus Europe framework had isolated regional or national history, paying little attention to the large-scale and long-lasting impacts brought by inter-regional contacts and exchanges.40 In particular, the Asia versus Europe structure in world history continued to exaggerate the role of Europe in the world historical process. It rarely paid attention to cultural diffusion from Asian societies toward Europe, as compared to the exhaustive description of the European creation of modernity and its diffusion across the rest of the world. As a result, it reinforced an inward-looking Eurocentric theory of Europe’s development of modernity by blinding students to the dynamic interactions with the Afro-Eurasian peoples which drove European historical change. This obscured the active historical participation of diverse agents in non-European regions in world history. Thus, students were given the impression that world history was the outcome of exclusively European events.41 During the early 2000s, many history educators demanded a restructuring of world history to make it more relevant to global change.42 Seeking alternative organizing approaches and structures, they argued that it was time to focus on the interconnected growth of global civilization, so that students could gain a more integrated and dynamic understanding of the past. Using interconnectedness as an organizing theme, modernity should be presented as a result of the cross-cultural interactions of many peoples in the world. In this way, not just Europeans but also other peoples would share the credit for creating modernity. Responding to criticism of the Asia versus Europe framework and the theory of Europe’s development of modernity in isolation and addressing new trends in world history scholarship, the 2007 revision of the middle school world history curriculum (Appendix 3.2) abandoned the Asia versus European approach. World history up to the eighteenth century was restructured to deal with East Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia, and Europe as equally important and culturally creative regions, assigning each a sub-unit within one major unit. Interconnectedness also emerged as one of the organizational themes in world history, placing more emphasis on cultural exchange. The 2007 curriculum reflected research that constructed a new historical context for the global economy, reaching as far back as the tenth through the eighteenth centuries. Prior to this curriculum, historical topics for those centuries had emphasized political systems and cultural changes, with little attention to economic history. In the 2007 history curriculum, however, Unit 3 focused mainly on the economic development of the Asian states, including Song China, the Mongol, Ottoman, and 40 Kang, “Cross-Regional Interaction,” (2002): 55–60. 41 Kang, “Cross-Regional Interaction,” (2002): 61. 42 Kang, “Cross-Regional Interaction” (2002); Han-Keuk Bae, “Global History and Global Education,” Seoyangsahak Yeongu 8 (2003); Ji-Hyung Cho, “World History, Global History, and Postmodernism,” Yoksa Hakbo 173 (2002); Ha-Soon Cha, “New History in a New Age,” Seoyangsaron 92 (2007).

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Mughal empires, the Ming and Qing dynasties in China, and Europe in the period of Absolutism, as well as the expansion of Afro-Eurasian trade and the silver trade on a global scale. This unit was designed to present students with the idea that the economic prosperity of Asian societies from about the tenth century onward increasingly stimulated inter-regional economic and cultural exchanges in Afro-Eurasia. Specifically, economic growth during the Song dynasty was to be presented in textbooks as unprecedented, spurring the economic development of Eurasia as a whole, through the Indian Ocean and the Silk Road trade routes. It also highlighted the critical role of the Mongol Empire in bringing direct economic and ecological contacts across Afro-Eurasia. European maritime exploration in the fifteenth century, which prior to the 2007 curriculum had been taught as European discovery of a “new continent” and pioneering of the new trade routes, was put in the context of the Eurasian people’s continuing interest and efforts at expanding economic and cultural exchange through trade networks. The development of capitalism and the industrialization of Europe were also to be explained in closer relationship with expanding economic trade on a global level in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Adhering to the standards set out in the 2007 curriculum, middle school history textbooks focused greater attention on the economic growth of the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties in China than they had previously. They failed, however, to construct a sophisticated story of how the inter-regional economic growth of Eurasia had impacted Europe’s transformation into a modern civilization. Furthermore, many history teachers did not understand why the theme of interconnectedness was important for transcending Eurocentrism, or why economic topics were added to the conventional view of world history. Teachers complained that world history had too much to teach. Finally, when the 2011 world history curriculum (Appendix 3.3) was being written, its developers were asked to reduce the number of topics that students were required to study. In response, they decreased the topics with the theme of interconnectedness and went back to the regional approach, expecting that it would make teaching and studying world history easier. As a result, the 2011 world history curriculum returned to the theory of Europe’s development of modernity in isolation, which attributed the creation and spread of modernity to Europe alone. The curriculum developers suggested that the hemispheric and global trade and exchange be taught in the high school world history course rather than the middles school history course.

Issues in Teaching World History As the teaching of world history was developed and explored, issues arose concerning the dichotomy between Asia and Europe, the effects of Eurocentrism, and an inadvertent lapse in world history content as Korean history rose to the forefront.

The Asia-Europe Dichotomy The Asia-Europe dichotomy in Korea’s world history curriculum originated in Japanese historical scholarship and was finally resolved in the 2007 curriculum. Japan, 43

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in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, found itself overwhelmed by Western history scholarship, and in response asserted that the world was divided into two regions: the East (Dong-yan) and the West (Seo-gyang). These terms, the East and the West, were frequently utilized as regional units for understanding and analyzing issues and problems of the world. The East connoted the civilization of “the yellow race,” distinguished from the civilization of “the white race,” the West.43 In order to catch up with the West, which had created modern civilization and was playing the leading role in world affairs, Japanese intellectuals attempted to create an Asian identity, calling for the unification the of Asian nations. While the West was portrayed as an other that was threatening the survival and prosperity of the East, the East was defined as us, as all the nations in East Asia, trying to preserve our own cultures and, at the same time, to modernize our nations.44 Japanese colonialist scholars used the idea of the East as an ideology to legitimate Japanese aggression toward Asian nations. Meanwhile, Western historians with a Eurocentric view also referenced the dichotomy of West and East in explaining the progress of human civilization. For example, Ronald D. Kagan, an advocate of teaching Western civilization, asserted that all early civilizations shared the following common experiences: cultural uniformity and stability, the lack of reason in intellectual and political ideas and practices, monarchy as the standard form of government, and a mutually supportive unified structure of religious and political institutions and beliefs.45 Kagan perceived that, although other cultures shared those same characteristics while standing still, in a stable form, throughout their historical development, Western civilization (Western Europe and North America) discovered the ideas of liberty and, later, science or reason.”46 As a result, Western civilization did not share common experiences. From the time of the Greek city-states to the present, Western civilization perpetuated and nourished its liberal and rational traditions, and, as a result, it established unique and independent cultures. This Eurocentric perspective distinguishes the West from the East and perpetuates the ideas that European civilization was the only one that made progress and that Europeanization was the best path for modern development in non-European nations. By the end of the twentieth century, the discourse of the East and the West had an impact on the conceptualization of world history. Recently, however, many Korean historians have, from a global, inter-regional approach, increasingly explored the discussions, conflicts, exchanges, and cultural mixtures stimulated by encounters transcending cultural or regional national boundaries.47 They have discussed and attempted to construct the history of East Asia as processes of cultural mixture and transfiguration, transcending the Japanese colonialist and Eurocentric images that distinguished us East Asians from the 43 Yungseo Baik, The Return of East Asia (Seoul, South Korea: Changzack Gwa Beepyung, 2000), 148–153. 44 Baik, The Return (2000), 148–153. 45 Ronald D. Kagan, “From Ancient Greece to Modern America,” Current 371 (1994): 37–39. 46 Ronald D. Kagan, “The Role of the West,” Commentary (January 1991):182–185. 47 Eun-Sook Yoon, “The Search for New Directions toward the Reorganization of World History: Trends in the Studies of Central Asian History,” Yoksa Hakbo 215 (2012): 311–328.

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others, the Westerners.48 Adopting this changed approach, the history of East Asia began to be reconceptualized and developed as an elective course for high school after the implementation of the 2007 revised curriculum. Yong-Tae Yu, a historian in Chinese history, suggested that the East Asian history course should transcend ethnocentrism and teach common values that the civil societies of all East Asian countries could share.49

Eurocentrism Eurocentrism has greatly impacted people’s ideas and various academic disciplines, leading people unconsciously to accept the contemporary European way of life as superior, as the standard of civilized life, and blinding them to other measures for recognizing that which is advanced or valuable. Many Western scholars have elaborated on what the term Eurocentrism means and how it is perpetuated in history scholarship. The anthropologist James M. Blaut defined Eurocentrism as “a label for all the beliefs that postulate past or present superiority of Europeans over non-Europeans (and over minority people of non-European descent),” an ideology that justified imperialism and colonialism.50 Korean academics generally understand that Eurocentrism has worked as a belief or ideology that justified the European creation of modernity and its diffusion across the rest of the world. Beginning in the early 1990s, influenced by postmodernism and postcolonialism, Korean historians have increasingly problematized history constructs such as national history and modernity. Sang-Woo Lim has stated that “a Eurocentric view in history regards European history, which mainly refers to the Roman and German tradition, as the general direction of historical progress.”51 He added that modernization and “a linear path of progress” have been central Eurocentric concepts that East Asian scholars adopted. Historical generality and modernity conceptualized from a Eurocentric perspective have been breaking apart in the face of recent global challenges. Korean scholars are concerned with finding a way to reconstruct an alternative modern history or a variation of Korean modernity produced by interactions between Korean tradition and European modernity, attenuating the Eurocentric idea of modernity. The Eurocentrism that was problematized by Korean history scholarship in the 1990s and the 2000s is profoundly different from the Eurocentric world history criticized by historians and educators in the early years of teaching world history. 48 Byong-Han Cho, “Discourses on East Asia in the 1990s,” 143–161; Min-Yeop Seong, “The Same and the Difference: East Asia as a Methodology,” 232–245; Kwang-Ok Kim, “The Substance of East Asian Discourse: Analysis and Interpretation,” 162–176, all in Jae-Seo Jeong, ed., The Study of East Asia: From Writing to Discourse (Seoul, South Korea: Salim, 1999). 49 Yong-Tae Yu, “Narrating the Regional History of East Asia in Korea’s Recent Textbooks: The Present Situation and Tasks,” DongbuKa Yeoksa Nonchong 40 (2013): 203. 50 James M. Blaut, The Colonizer’s Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History (New York: Guilford Press, 1993): 8. 51 Sang-Woo Lim, “Beyond the Eurocentric Conception of History in East Asia,” Seo-Gang-InMoon Non-Chong 24 (2008): 32.

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From the beginning of world history education, history teachers had believed that it would be wrong to minimize or to fail to assign to Europe the place it deserved in world history, because it was the center of modern history and the source of democratic education.52 It seemed logical to construct modern history as a narrative of the major political and diplomatic events that affected European societies, because the European impact on the modern world seemed to be huge, and because the West seemed to be the most influential power in world politics. In the 1970s and 1980s, the rise of the third world encouraged broadening of the scope of the world history curriculum to encompass various non-European regions. The emergence of many independent nations in Africa and Asia and their increasing roles in world affairs made it imperative to understand those countries. Identifying Korea with the third world, Jie-Hyun Lim, an historian, argued: “Western history is emphasized as much as it is in American and British school curricula. Korea belonged to the Third World. Considering its status in the world relations, Koreans should know more about African and Central and South American histories.”53 This view of Korea’s place in world politics has also challenged the centrality of Chinese history in non-European histories and demanded the expansion of the horizon of Asian history.54 The Eurocentrism that history educators continued to criticize until the end of the twentieth century meant that there was too much European history in world history, and their remedies for this were creating an East Asian perspective and expanding non-European history. The 2007 curriculum, influenced by the theories of contingency and inter-regional interactions in explaining Europe’s modern transformation, emphasized the economic and technological contributions of the Song, Yuan (Mongol), Ming, and Qing dynasties in China to the growth of the Afro-Eurasian or global economy, and leading to the transformation of Europe into a modern society. This resulted, however, in the expansion of China’s role in the 2007 world history curriculum. Postcolonial and postmodern theorists argued that, although the 2007 world history curriculum partially adopted the new world history or global history approach that emerged in the 1990s, it was no different from previous approaches in that it propagated Eurocentrism, which has legitimated capitalism and colonialism.55 From a postcolonial perspective, historical analysis based on European concepts of the academic discipline of history is inevitably Eurocentric, and, therefore, without a fundamental reconceptualization of the discipline, it is not likely that we will transcend Eurocentrism. The deconstruction of the discipline, however, cannot address any of the real problems of the contemporary world, including those of capitalism.

52 Myung-Sik No, “Problems in Teaching Western History and Its Future Direction, Yoksa Kyoyuk 14 (1972): 171; Sei-Chul Yoon, “Teaching World History and International Education,” Sadae Nochong 20 (1979): 10; Young-Han Kim, “The Status of World History,” Deahak Kyoyuk 6 (1983): 103. 53 Jie-Hyun Lim, “The Teaching of Western History: Its Past and Present,” Yoksa Kyoyuk 40 (1986): 30. 54 Choi, “A Regional Approach” (1976): 235. 55 Taek-Hyeon Kim, “Rethinking Critiques of Eurocentrism,” Seoyangsaron 114 (2012): 325–351.

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Today, the construction of a new approach for narrating the history of humankind without marginalizing any group of people, while at the same time constructing alternative modernities that appreciate the multiple and overlapping processes of history, has emerged as a crucial research agenda in teaching world history in Korea. At the same time, embracing national issues is also necessary for developing a new approach to history courses. Therefore, the development of a multi-layered narrative of humankind’s history that addresses global, regional, national, and local issues has become a substantial task in history education.56

Undermining World History in the Middle School History Classroom Many historians and educators have asserted that knowledge of world history is vital for developing students’ insights into a globalizing and pluralizing world. The compulsory middle school course in world history has played a critical role in expanding students’ horizons beyond the nation. Currently, however, teachers say that world history is not being taught as much as it had been in the past. World history textbooks for middle and high school have been developed by commercial publishers and have never been public or political issues in terms of content, perspective, or system of publication. In the past, before the creation of the course called History in the 2007 revised curriculum, middle school world history had frequently been taught by teachers who were not educated as history specialists but in geography and social science. This was because world history was taught together with geography and social science in the course called Social Studies. Since the development of the course called History, world history came to be taught by the teachers who had specialized in history With the introduction of History, however, a new, critical problem emerged: many middle school history teachers say that they focus principally on Korean history, omitting many topics of world history because of the limitations of time. History educators, in an effort to find a solution to this problem, are currently attempting to promote the importance of teaching world history through world history teacher training programs.

Further Reading Baik, Yungseo. (2000). The return of East Asia. Seoul, South Korea: Changzack Gwa Beepyung. Blaut, J. M. The colonizer’s model of the world: Geographical diffusionism and Eurocentric history. New York: The Guilford Press, 1993. Cha, Ha-Soon. (2007). New history in a new age. Seoyangsa Ron, 92, 255–269. Cho, Byong-Han. (1999). Discourses on East Asia in the 1990s. In Jae-Seo Jong, (Ed.), The study of East Asia: From writing to discourse (pp. 143–161). Seoul, South Korea: Salim. Cho, Ji-Hyung. (2002). World history, global history and postmodernism. Yoksa Hakbo, 173, 335–369. Choi, Yang-Ho. (1976). A regional approach to high school world history: Focusing on East Asian history. Yoksa Kyoyuk, 19, 1–53. Department of Education. (1981). Curriculum: Social studies and Korean history (1946–1981). Seoul, South Korea. ———. 1988. Guidelines for the middle school social studies curriculum. Seoul, South Korea.

56 Sun Joo Kang, “Conceptual Frameworks for Structuring ‘History’ in the Middle School Curriculum: Possible Approaches to a Course to Incorporate World History and Korean History,” Yoksa Kyoyuk 110 (2011): 50.

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Department of Education and Human Resources. (1997). Guidelines for the middle school social studies curriculum. Seoul, South Korea. Jeong, Sun-Young. (2003). Teaching world history from a global perspective. Yoksa Kyoyuk, 85, 1–39. Kagan, R. D. (1991, January). The role of the West. Commentary, 182–185. ———. (1994). From ancient Greece to modern America. Current, 37, 37–39. Kang, Sun Joo. (2002). Interview with Professor Sae-Chul Yoon. ———. (2002). Cross-regional interaction as an organizing principle of world history. Yoksa Kyoyuk, 82, 41–68. ———. (2003). High school world history at risk? Sawhegwa Kyoyuk, 42(1), 57–86. ———. (2011). Conceptual frameworks for structuring “History” in the middle school curriculum: Possible approaches to a course to incorporate world history and Korean history. Yoksa Kyoyuk, 110, 33–59. Kim, Kwang-Ok. (1999). The substance of East Asian discourse: Analysis and interpretation. In Jae-Seo Jeong (Ed.), The study of East Asia: From writing to discourse (pp. 162–176.). Seoul, South Korea: Salim. Kim, Taek-Hyeon. (2012). Rethinking critiques of Eurocentrism. Seoyangsaron, 114, 325–351. Kim, Yong-Han. (1983). The status of teaching Western history. Deahak Kgyoyuk, 6, 102–105. Korean History Education Society. (1981). The conference on problems of world history education. Yoksa Kyoyuk, 29, 162–186. Lee, Dong-Youn. (1957). Problems of world history education. Yoksa Kyoyuk, 2, 122–130. Lee, Min-Ho. (1986). Some curricular problems of teaching foreign history in the secondary school. Yoksa Kyoyuk, 40, 137–142. ———. (2002). How should we read world history: Overcoming Eurocentrism. Yoksa Beepyung, 60, 174–203. Lim, Jie-Hyun. (1986). The teaching of Western history: Its past and present. Yoksa Kyoyuk, 40, 1–34. Lim, Sang-Woo. (2008). Beyond the Eurocentric conception of history in East Asia. Seogang-Inmoon Nonchong, 24, 29–56. Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. (2007). Guidelines for the middle school social studies curriculum. Seoul, South Korea. ———. (2011). Guidelines for the middle school social studies curriculum. Seoul, South Korea. Murphey, R. (1997). The shape of the world: Eurasia. In A. T. Embree and C. Gluck (Eds.), Asia in Western and world history: A guide for teaching. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 7–13. Park, Jin-Dong. (2008). A study of the syllabus and textbook of Oriental history in Korea from 1948 to 1954. Yoksa Kyoyuk, 106, 1–45. Seong, Min-Yeop. (1999). The same and the difference: East Asia as a methodology. In Jae-Seo Jeong, (Ed.), The study of East Asia: From writing to discourse (pp. 232–245). Seoul, South Korea: Salim. Yoo, Bong-Ho. (1992). The history of the Korean curriculum. Seoul, South Korea: Gyohakyungusa. Yoon, Eun-Sook. (2012). The search for new directions toward the reorganization of world history: Trends in the studies of Central Asian history. Yoksa Hakbo, 215, 311–328. Yu, Yong-Tae. (2013). Narrating the regional history of East Asia in Korea’s recent textbooks: The present situation and tasks. DongbuKa Nonchong, 40, 177–214. Yun, Sei-Chul. (1979). Teaching world history and international understanding. Sadae Nonchong, 20, 1–28. ———. (1982). Asiatic contents in the world history. Yoksa Kyoyuk, 32, 1–18.

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Appendix 3.1. Contents of World History Units in the First Middle School Curriculum (1954), South Korea East and West units

East units

West units

1. Culture 2. Ancient East and West: China India The Orient Greece Rome Change in the Ancient West Change in Ancient China 3. The Expansion of Asian Powers and Formation of Europe: How was the Islamic world formed? What was it like in the Tang-Song period? How did Mongol Empire and Japan develop? How was Europe formed? What was the medieval culture of Europe like? What was the relationship between Eastern and Western cultures? 4. The Development of Western Power and Early Modern Civilization: How did early modern civilization emerge? How did the modern nation-state develop? How did modern political revolution happen and democracy develop? How did the Industrial Revolution happen and spread around the world? What was early modern (pre-19th century) civilization like? (Continued)

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Appendix 3.1. (Continued) East and West units

East units

West units

What Was the Early Modern East Like? Ming-Qing What changed in Southwest Asia? How did the Western powers invade? What changed in Japan? What were relations among Eastern countries like? The Contemporary World: What is imperialism? Two World Wars How did democracy and internationalism develop? Contemporary civilization

Appendix 3.2. Contents of World History Units in the 2007 Curriculum (South Korea, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, 2007). Major Units

Sub-Units

Treatment of Regions

The formation of civilization and the First State in Korea

Mesopotamian civilization Egyptian civilization Indian civilization Chinese civilization The First State in Korea Korean history

Korean history

The emergence of South Asia, Persia unified empires India to Mauryan and Qusan States and world East Asia to Chin and Han Dynasties religions Greek city-states, Hellenism, Roman Empire Diffusion of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity

East Asia South Asia and India Europe Interregional interaction (Silk Roads) (Continued)

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Major Units

Sub-Units

Treatment of Regions

The formation of diverse cultural regions

Formation of Islamic world and cultural commonalities of Islamic cultural regions Formation of the European world Feudal societies in Western Europe and the Byzantine world Transformation of medieval European societies and Renaissance Political change of Gupta and Southeast Asia Su, Tang dynasties Cultural unification of East Asia and Japan’s ancient state

East Asia South Asia and India Europe Interregional trade (Indian Ocean trade)

Expansion of trade and development of traditional society

Economic development of Song Dynasty and the sea trade network Mongol Empire Development of traditional society in West Asia Mughal Empire and Southeast Asia New sea route and Absolutism in Europe Ming-Qing China and trade with other regions

East Asia South Asia and India Europe Interregional trade (Indian Ocean trade, Atlantic Ocean trade)

Korean history Industrialization and nation-states

Industrial Revolution Europe Political revolutions, development of civil America society and culture in the 19th century. Africa Independence of America from European countries Civil War in North America and industrialization Emergence of imperialism and colonization of the world

The modern nation-building movement in Asia and Africa

Imperialist aggression in Asia and Africa Modern nation-building movement in South Asia and Africa Modern nation-building movement in India and Southeast Asia Modern growth of East Asian countries Japanese imperialist aggression and Chosen and Qing’s response

The contemporary World War I world Russian Revolution Anti-imperialism movement in Asia and Africa after World War I World War II Independence of colonies and Cold War collapse of socialism

Asia Africa America

Europe Asia Africa

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Appendix 3.3. The Contents of World History Units in the 2011 Curriculum (South Korea, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, 2011) Major Units

Sub-Units

Treatment of Regions

1. Formation of civilization and the First State in Korea

Mesopotamian civilization Egyptian civilization Indian civilization Chinese civilization The First State in Korea

World civilization Korean history

2- 6. Korean history

From the Three Kingdom period to the first Korean history half of the Chosen dynasty

7. Emergence of unified empires

East Asia to Qin and Han dynasties India to Mauryan and Qusan states South Asia, Persia Greek city-states, Hellenism, Roman Empire

East Asia South Asia and India Europe Interregional trade (Silk Roads)

8. Formation of regional world and development

Sui, Tang dynasties Cultural unification of East Asia and Japan’s ancient state Political change of Gupta and Southeast Asia and immigration of Indo-Europeans Islamic world, its formation and expansion Formation of the Western Europe and Byzantine world

East Asia South Asia and India Europe

9. Transformation of Political change of Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing traditional societies dynasties and East-West exchange Samurai regime in Japan and transformation of East Asian countries’ relations Development of Islamic States in West and South Asia Expansion of the Atlantic Ocean trade Absolutism in Europe 10-12. Korean History

East Asia South Asia and India Europe Interregional trade (Atlantic Ocean trade)

From second half of the Chosen dynasty to contemporary Korea (Continued)

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Major Units

Sub-Units

Treatment of Regions

13. The growth and expansion of modern European societies

Development of the Industrial Revolution French Revolution and Napoleonic wars American Independence War and building nation states Independence of South American states Literalism, nationalism, development of nation-state system Concept of imperialism

Europe America

14. Changes of Asian and African world and national movement

China: Transformation movement and nationalist movement Japan: the Emperor’s state India and Southeast Asian anti-imperialism West and North African transformation movement and nationalist movement

Asia Africa America

15. Contemporary world

World War I and the Russian Revolution The inter-war period World War II and efforts to create world peace Birth of independent states since 1945 and the Cold War Growth of capitalism and regional conflicts

Europe Asia Africa America

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The Evolution of World History Education in Japan Satoshi IBARAKI Joetsu University of Education, Joetsu, Japan

World history education in Japan began for the purposes of learning from foreign countries. During the years of World War II, however, the curriculum was revised and replaced with an emphasis on national history. After the war, history teachers and researchers in universities worked to develop a world history curriculum, with the government playing a heavy role both in terms of content and in how world history was presented in relation to the history of Japan.

T

his chapter describes and analyzes the evolution of world history education in the modern Japanese school system. Although the history of China was taught as early as the eighth century, when studying its history was required in an institute for the education of bureaucrats, this chapter will not deal with the teaching of world history in the pre-modern period. Nor will the present state of world history education be discussed in detail, since Shigeki Yoshimine will deal with that topic in the next chapter. Japanese history is divided into modern history and contemporary history by Japan’s defeat in August of 1945, ending World War II; the period before 1945 is called the pre-war period and after the post-war period. In terms of the history of education, the pre-war period can be characterized as an age when Japan aimed at education based on the Imperial Rescript on Education which was issued in 1890, and the post-war period as an age when education was based on the Fundamental Law of Education, issued in 1947. For more than a century, through both the prewar and post-war periods, Japan continued to teach world history, but one can find differences in the approach to world history between the these periods. Broadly speaking, histories of individual foreign countries were taught in the pre-war period, while world history has been taught in the post-war period. Let us follow the evolution of teaching world history, separating it into the two periods.

Teaching World History in the Pre-War Period I will divide the pre-war period into three phases: (1)1870s–1898, (2) 1898–1930s, and (3) 1930s–1945. Japan’s modern age began with the “opening” of the nation 54

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in 1854, followed by the breakdown of the last feudal government, the Edo-Bakuhu (also known as the Tokugawa shogunate), in 1868, after some ten years of turmoil. After 1868, Japan strove to develop as a modern state on the Western model, leading to the introduction, around 1898, of teaching the histories of foreign countries, divided into Oriental (Asian) and Western histories. This teaching of the histories of foreign countries was reorganized to reflect wartime needs in the 1930s, and the system would remain in force until 1945.

From the 1870s to 1898 The Meiji government announced the educational system (学制) in 1872, marking the beginning of modern education in Japan. Thereafter and through several revisions of education laws, the system was divided into elementary, secondary, and higher education. The four years of elementary education (six years after 1907) were compulsory, and the government endeavored to raise school enrollment rates as one of its modernization policies. For Japanese intellectuals before the Meiji Restoration (1868), learning the history of China using Chinese classical texts was an indispensable part of their basic education. This was, however, mostly an education in Chinese classical literature, or a kind of ethical training. Although learning Chinese history through the classics continued after the Meiji Restoration, new Chinese history textbooks, taking the European approach to history, also started to be used in the schools. Learning about European and American history also flourished after the opening of Japan; world history (Bankokushi, 万国史) textbooks, written in English, French, and German, as well as translations of these books, were used in the schools, but with the aim of teaching languages. It was not long before world history textbooks written by Japanese authors appeared. These textbooks about China were mainly used in secondary education. During the “civilization and enlightenment” movement (文明開化) following the Meiji Restoration, the history of foreign countries was also taught in the primary schools. In 1872, the Ministry of Education published Concise History (Shiryaku, 史略), a history textbook for use in primary schools.57 It consisted of four volumes dealing with the histories of imperial Japan, China, the “West I,” and the “West II.” But after 1881, when the Platform of Education in Primary Schools (小学校教則綱領) was issued by the Ministry of Education,58 history education in the primary schools was limited to the history of Japan. The government eliminated teaching the history of foreign countries in order to suppress the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement (自由民権運動) for democracy that was gaining momentum at that time. The reason for this change was partly because European history, which included the development of the concepts of freedom and equality, was thought unsuitable for teaching in primary schools. It was also because the history of foreign countries was supposed to be taught only through the primary school students’ study of the history of Japan. It should be noted that, after this, history education in

57 Shiryaku would be issued, together with a revised Shiryaku, throughout Japan. 58 Platform of Education in Primary Schools, 4 May 1881, Notification of the Ministry of Education, 12.

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primary schools was limited to the history of Japan, while foreign history was taught mainly to secondary and higher education students. It is true that in modern Japanese education, the textbooks used in the schools have played a very important role. But the role played by the textbooks changed according to the times. At first, there was no state control and publishers were free to produce textbooks as they liked, with schools free to adopt them at no cost. Later, textbooks had to be approved by the Ministry of Education, which had begun to review them in order to determine which were suitable for use as school texts. Finally, in 1886, the authorized textbook system was introduced, after which the texts for ethics, language, history, and other general subjects could be only those that were authorized by the Ministry of Education. Meanwhile, the world history textbooks were edited by Japanese authors, often based on a number of history textbooks written in Europe and the United States. The contents of these texts gradually came to be primarily a description of the entire history of the West, as follows: ancient history of the Orient, ancient history of Greece and Rome, medieval European history, the discovery of new maritime routes, the Renaissance, the Reformation, European and American nations from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, the Industrial Revolution, the bourgeois revolution, and European and American nations in the nineteenth century. In this manner, the Western history textbook took the place of the world history (Bankokushi) textbook.

From 1898 to the 1930s While both primary education and higher education had been established by the 1890s, education of secondary schools (middle schools, vocational schools, teachers’ schools etc.) was still to be determined. The standard of education in the secondary schools, including history education, was quite low. When the teaching of history in the middle schools was discussed in 1894, noted historian Michiyo Naka (1851–1908) proposed the establishment and teaching of Oriental history (Toyo-shi, 東洋史). In sum, he insisted that middle school students should learn world history. He noted, however, that although the world history and Western history textbooks used in Europe were suitable for studying the histories of European countries, they were not useful for teaching the history of Asian states and nations. Therefore, he argued, a new subject, Oriental History, should be introduced, discussing not only Chinese history, but a more inclusive history of Asian countries.59 In 1898, after a period of examination, “Detailed Instructions for Teaching History in the Secondary Schools”60 was issued, and textbooks for Oriental history were published. Thus,

59 Yonekichi Miyake, “Biography of Litt. D. Michiyo Naka,” in Memorial Board in Honor of the Achievements of Litt. D. Naka, ed., Testament of Michiyo Naka (Tokyo: Dainihontosho, 1915). On Michiyo Naka, see also Koichi Kubodera, The Beginning of Oriental Studies: Michiyo Naka and His Era (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 2009). 60 “Detailed Instruction for Teaching History in the Secondary Schools,” in Higher Education Bureau of the Ministry of Education, Report of Research on the Detailed Subject of Education in the Middle Schools (Tokyo: Teikoku-kyouiku-kai, 1898).

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history teaching divided the history of the world into three spheres: Japanese, Oriental, and Western histories. The decade when Oriental history was proposed and accepted coincided with the time when nationalism in Japan was enhanced by its victory in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. History education using this division of Japanese, Oriental, and Western histories reflected the Japanese worldview that was developing in this historical situation. It should be noted that a threefold structure of this worldview was formulated: Western history was that of the West, which was what Japan should learn from and overcome; Oriental history was that of Asia, from which Japanese culture originated and into which Japan should advance to guide; and Japanese history was that of Japan, which was to crown the Asian world.61 While the history textbooks used in primary schools had been those compiled by the government, namely by the Ministry of Education since 1904, those used in the secondary schools continued to be authorized textbooks. For several years after 1898, many authorized textbooks of Oriental and Western history were published. At first, a variety of textbooks appeared, written by young authors who had just graduated from universities and other institutions of learning.62 In 1902, however, the aims and contents of history education for the middle school were formally determined in the Curriculum Standard for Education (教授要目) for middle schools. Gradually, history textbooks came to be written by historians who were associated with institutes of higher education such as universities and higher normal schools, leading to fixed contents for the teaching of foreign history. One textbook on Oriental history, used in many middle schools and based on the revised Curriculum Standard for Education of 1911 (Appendix 4.1), constructed the pre-modern period of Oriental history around the history of successive Chinese dynasties, adding the ancient history of India in connection with Buddhism, the history of the Timurid Empire, and that of the Mughal Empire.63 In discussing Chinese history, not only is political history included, but also social, economic, and cultural history. The modern history of the Orient, from the entrance by the European powers to the beginning of the twentieth century, consists of a detailed description of each European country, as well as of Japan. This kind of Oriental history, along with Western history, became popular in those years. The discussion of Western history in a 1913 textbook starts with the ancient Orient, Greece, and Rome, then deals with medieval Europe, the Renaissance, Geographical Exploration, and the Reformation, followed by the birth and development of the European and American powers; finally it describes the development of European nations and regions and the non-European world, from the French 61 Goro Yoshida, “National History, Western History, and Oriental History,” in Study Association of Comparative History and History Education, ed., National History and World History (Tokyo: Mirai-sha, 1985); and Goro Yoshida, World History Research for Independence and Symbiosis: National History and World History (Tokyo: Aoki-shoten, 1990). 62 Satoshi Ibaraki, “A Study of the Authors of Pre-War Textbooks of Foreign History for Secondary Schools, Especially Notable Authors and Early Authors,” Comprehensive Study of History Education 35 (Association for the Comprehensive Study of History Education, 1999). 63 Jitsuzo Kuwabara, New Textbook of Oriental History, Kaiseikan, revised 11th ed. (published 24 February 1912 and approved 1 March 1912).

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Revolution to the beginning of the twentieth century.64 This is not only a political history, but one that emphasizes the role of culture as well. World history education was proposed as a response to the division of history into East and West. In 1914, the First Conference of Teachers of Geography and History in Secondary Schools was held in Tokyo,65 with about 270 teachers coming from various parts of Japan. This conference adopted a resolution that world history, instead of individual Oriental and Western history courses, should be taught in the secondary schools, because dividing history into two separate courses had led to the duplication of teaching matters and the lack of connections between Oriental and Western histories. The merging of the two into world history would make history teaching efficient and the unified understanding of history easier. Though there were some who opposed the proposal, most of the teachers in attendance gave their approval to the resolution. The conference made a report to the Minister of Education regarding the decision, with suggestions for the topics to be included in world history as a reference. The ministry, however, did not accept this proposal. Hisho Saito (1867–1944), a teacher at Tokyo Higher Normal School, was the leading figure of the group of teachers that drafted the resolution for world history. Saito, after several experiments in the middle schools, together with Kazuo Nakagawa (1893–1948), published Concise World History for Secondary Schools (Dainihon-tosho) in 1924.66 In the vocational schools, which were suffering from a lack of class hours for general subjects, there was a keen need for history textbooks that were not divided into Oriental and Western history. For this reason, textbooks of foreign history or of world history which combined both histories into one book were produced and adopted in those schools.67 But after 1933, when general education textbooks for the vocational schools were required to obtain the authorization of the Ministry of Education, history textbooks with “world history” in their titles disappeared from the textbooks used in the vocational schools then; only textbooks using the term foreign history remained. Thus, Saito’s World History for Vocational Schools (1930) was not authorized by the ministry. So it could be said that world history teaching at the secondary level was rejected by the government in the pre-war period; nevertheless, the proposal for world history combining both Oriental and Western histories was of great significance in the evolution of history education.

64 Kengo Murakawa, Second Revision of Western History for Secondary Schools, Hobunkan, revised 6th ed. (published 5 January 1913 and approved 16 January 1913). 65 Stenographic Record of the Proceedings and Lectures of the Teachers’ Council on Geography and History in Secondary Schools, Study Group of Secondary Education (Tokyo Higher Normal School), edited and published, 1914. In this case, secondary school referred to various schools rated as secondary-level, such as boys’ middle schools, girls’ high schools, vocational schools, and normal schools. 66 Kou Sato, “A Study of the ‘World History Plan’ in the Middle School Attached to the Tokyo Higher Normal School: The Case of ‘Practice’ by Hisho Saito,” Collection of Studies of Pedagogy at Tsukuba University 22 (1998). 67 For example, two that included the term world history were Hobunkan Editorial Board, ed., World History (Tokyo: Hobunkan, 1923), and Meijishoin Editorial Board, ed., Basic World History (Tokyo: Meiji-shoin, 1923).

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From the 1930s to Defeat in 1945 A series of wars, beginning with the Mukden Incident (1931) during which Japan seized a Manchurian city, and continuing with the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) that overlapped with the Pacific War (1941–1945), ended with the defeat of Japan in 1945. During these years, Japan, including its educational system, was put on a footing in line with war. From about 1930 onward, discussions that emphasized the significance of education in foreign history appeared. In accordance with the intensification of Japanese history education, some argued that it was necessary to teach foreign history carefully, in order to also achieve the aims of education in Japanese history. Others maintained that education in Oriental history should be reformed in order for Japan to fulfill its responsibility as the leader of the Orient.68 There was also the contention that foreign history should be taught in the primary schools, specifically to cultivate patriotism.69 On the other hand, Goro Hani (1901–1983), radically critical of the history education that was offered under the Empire of Japan, pointed out that the textbook on Japanese history used in primary education was completely devoid of an attitude of learning from the history of other nations or of the world.70 The standard that determined the aims and contents of history taught in the middle schools was revised successively in February 1931, March 1937, and March 1943. The March 1937 revision dealt with “subjects concerning the national polity,” such as morals, civics, Japanese and Chinese, history, geography, etc.71 In the background of this 1937 revision lay the fascist movement that called for “proof of the national polity” (Kokutai-meichou, 国体明徴) and “renovation of education and scholarship” (Kyogaku-sasshin, 教学刷新). The 1937 curriculum standard required that history teach that Japan was a state unparalleled in the world, by showing the spirit that ran through its history, and strengthen student belief in the nation, awakening Japan in its mission to the world. Foreign history was situated in a subsidiary position so that students learned national history while viewing foreign history from Japan’s standpoint. For example, the standard directed that, when teaching the history of ancient China, teachers should emphasize the difference between China, with many dynasties following one after the other, and Japan, which had been ruled 68 See, for example, Kazuo Nakagawa, The Essence of History and History Education (Tokyo: Shikai-shobo, 1929), 252–258; Kyushiro Nakayama, History and History Education, (Tokyo: Kyoritsusha-shoten, 1930), 155–162; Iwao Aridaka, The Renovation of Education in Oriental History (Tokyo: Toko-shoin, 1936); and Kengo Murakawa, National History and Foreign History in General Education (Tokyo: Nihonbunka-kyokai, 1936). 69 Kichiji Shinmi, “How to Add Materials on Foreign History to the History Class in Elementary Schools?” Study Review of History Education, Society for History Education, 5, no. 9 (November 1930). 70 Goro Hani, “Historical Views of Children and Their Expressions,” parts 1, 2, and 3, Kyoiku (Education), 4 (5, 7, and 8) (Tokyo: Iwanami-shoten, May, September, August 1936). This was to be published as Criticism against History Education: Historical Views of Children and Their Expressions, (Tokyo: Iwanami-shoten, 1946). 71 The Essential Points of Education in Middle Schools, The Official Instruction of the Ministry of Education, 9 (27 March 1937). At the same time, the Essential Points of Education for normal schools, girls’ high schools, and vocational schools were also revised or reissued.

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by an unbroken line of emperors without dynastic changes. In teaching the history of ancient Rome, attention should also be paid to the fact that the rise and fall of the empire depended on the resolve of the nation. By the same token, one textbook described the execution of Louis XVI during the French Revolution as follows: “Such an unprecedented scandal could happen only in a foreign country that had a very different national political system and state of affairs from those of Japan.”72 During the war, another reform of the educational system was carried out in conformity with a report by the Deliberative Council on Education to the Ministry of Education, which was prepared in 1937. As of April 1941, primary schools, with the exception of the private ones, were renamed national schools, and in 1943 the textbook National History for the Elementary Course for the fifth and sixth grade students in the national schools was published.73 This textbook described how Japan had been active since ancient times on the stage of greater East Asia, in order to make pupils understand the significance of the Japanese war against the United States and Great Britain, who were invading Asia. In March 1943, the “The Compendium of Guidance of Subject Teaching and Discipline Training” was enacted to regulate the teaching of all subjects in the middle schools and others.74 The secondary school textbooks were for the first time to be compiled by the government; in 1944, the Ministry of Education published History for Secondary Schools, I.75 This was the foreign history textbook, the first part dealing with Oriental history and the second with Western history. The preface, beginning with “Our Empire of Great Japan is God’s state (Shin-koku, 神国) and the Emperor’s state (Kou-koku, 皇国),” stressed the mission of building greater East Asia. As for dating Oriental history, the Jinmu era was basically used with imperial era names in the modern ages, while the dating of Western history was that of the Christian era combined with the Jinmu era; it was intended that students study the history of the world using the Japanese standard of the Jinmu era. Oriental history dealt with the history of greater East Asia, including ancient Egypt and West Asia, i.e., Mesopotamia, which had previously been covered in Western history. In contrast to the modern situation of Asian nations, suffering from the incursion into East Asia by the Western nations, it described the ancient history of Asia as one of vibrant, proactive nations, which was an interesting reconceptualization from that of the Oriental history textbooks that had been used until then. Thus the 1944 textbook glorified “Greater East Asia,” and was the embodiment of the foreign history textbook controlled by the government. The year after the publication of this textbook, Japan lost the war.

72 Kazuo Nakagawa, The Newest History of the West (for Middle School), (Tokyo: Tokyo-Kaiseikan, rev. ed., 26 December 1937; approved 21 February 1938), 129. 73 Ministry of Education, ed., National History for the Elementary Course, I, Ministry of Education, 17 February 1943 (Tokyo: Tokyo-shoseki, 31 March 1943); and National History for the Elementary Course, II, Ministry of Education, 3 March 1943 (Tokyo: Tokyo-shoseki, 31 March 1943). 74 The Compendium of Guidance of Subject Teaching and Discipline Training for Middle School, The Official Instruction of the Ministry of Education 2 (25 March 1943). 75 Ministry of Education, ed., History for Secondary Schools, I, Ministry of Education, 7 May 1944 (Tokyo: Chutougakko-Kyokasho, 15 May 1944).

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The Evolution of World History Education after the War When we survey the evolution of world history education in Japan from 1945 to the present, we can roughly distinguish three periods. The defeat in August 1945 was the starting point, when Japan began to change itself drastically. Under the occupation, educational reforms were carried out. In pursuit of a new educational system, education in world history was introduced so as to establish world history as a part of social studies education. In 1955, social studies education was reformed as a result of the revision of the Government Course Guidelines (学習指導要領). High school social studies were reformed by being divided into two subjects, civics and the combination geography and history, following the 1989 revision of the Government Course Guidelines, and this system remains in place. The year 1989 thus marks another turning point. It is worth noting that following 1945, high school history had been divided into Japanese history and world history and that this format of teaching history in two sections has been firmly retained, distinct from the other social studies subjects that experienced name changes, combinations of materials, or new topics of study.

From 1945 to 1955 On 15 August 1945, World War II came to an end with the defeat of Japan. The country was then occupied by the United States, which actually ruled Japan in the name of the Allied Powers. Among post-war reforms that were energetically carried out to democratize Japan was the reform of education. The first reform policies were directed primarily at the elimination of militarism and ultra-nationalism. The occupation authority expelled from the schools those teachers who had promoted the war, and in December 1945 ordered the suspension of the classes on ethics, Japanese history, and geography until newly written textbooks were completed. Oriental history and Western history, however, were not suspended; the classes continued although materials that had been added during the war were deleted from the textbooks. Among the educational reforms was the enactment of the Fundamental Law of Education (教育基本法) in 1947, which was based upon the new Constitution of ­Japan of 1946. This law determined the standards and policies of post-war education, replacing the Imperial Rescript of Education of the pre-war period. The new school system was organized into six years of elementary school, three years of junior high school, three years of high school, and four years of university, with elementary and junior high school being compulsory. This system was implemented in 1947. The reorganization was characterized by the simplification of the secondary education system that had become overly complicated in the pre-war period, and the prolongation of compulsory education through junior high school. In spite of many difficulties, including destroyed school buildings, the lack of financial resources, and the shortage of school teachers, post-war education was started. The most notable subject in the reformed curriculum was the newly introduced subject of social studies, to be taught from the elementary through high school levels. In high school education, all the students in the first year study General Social Studies, and the second and third year students select one subject from among 61

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Asian History, Western History, Human Geography and Current Problems to study. Thus in the high schools, after April 1948, Asian and Western histories were studied. At the same time, the high schools had a serious problem with their curriculum, one that originated from the fact that the newly organized high schools were products of the amalgamation of pre-war secondary schools of various kinds; not surprisingly, the curricula of technical high schools and business high schools were organized differently from that of general high schools. In order to correct this problem, in April 1948, the Ministry of Education named a special committee to examine the curriculum of the new high schools.76 The committee looked at the major subjects of the vocational high schools, as well as common subjects for all high school students, to determine a course of study that would promote a common culture in the nation. During this review, it was decided that Asian and Western histories as social studies subjects should be replaced with Japanese history and world history.77 By October, the new curriculum including world history was published,78 to be implemented in April 1949. This was the beginning of world history education in the post-war period. It should be noted that world history education started suddenly. Even the Ministry of Education that had decided to introduce it was not at all prepared. Although it was 1947 when the ministry began to issue its Official Guidelines for School Teaching that informed teachers of the ideas, aims, contents, and methods of every subject, including Asian history and Western history, there were no guidelines for teaching world history. The textbooks were not ready. Although the new system of school textbook screening had been implemented in 1947, only one of the two textbooks for Western history had been published, after having successfully passed through the screening procedures.79 Not even the historical studies were prepared; there were texts for Japanese history, Asian history, and Western history, but not for world history. To sum up, world history education started hastily when we had no textbooks, no official guidelines, and no academic preparation. Because of this, the discussions about how to implement world history started after world history teaching had actually begun. Upon the April 1949 implementation of both Japanese and world history education, the Ministry of Education issued a circular, which asked for the preparation of new guidelines for history education that would utilize the social studies teaching methodology instead of the conventional history teaching style of lecturing.80 76 Ichiro Sumita, Theory and Practice of the High School Curriculum (Tokyo: Kobunsha, 1948). 77 Satoshi Ibaraki, “A Study of the Characteristics of ‘World History’ Emerging as a Subject of Social Studies in High Schools: How Was It Introduced and How Was the Ministry of Education Involved?” Journal of Educational Research on Social Studies 72, Japanese Educational Research Association for the Social Studies (March 2010). There are still many issues concerning the detailed process of the introduction of world history that remain to be clarified. 78 “On the Amendments to the Curriculum of Newly Established High Schools,” Instruction from the Chief of the School Education Bureau 448 (Ministry of Education, 11 October 1948). 79 Chutougakko-Kyokasho, Western History I (Tokyo: Chutougakko-Kyokasho, 3 August 1947). The description of Christianity in this book was criticized, and so publication of Western History II and Asian History I and II were suspended. 80 “On the Curriculum of Japanese History and World History in High Schools,” Instruction from the Chief of Textbook Bureau 247 (Ministry of Education, 11 April 1949).

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Although brief, the circular is thought to have introduced the model of history as a social studies subject. The problem was that it lacked concrete contents, leaving everything to the teachers, since there were neither textbooks nor official guidelines, as mentioned above. Academic historians, stimulated by the world history teaching in high schools, began to discuss the possibilities of world history education.81 Accordingly, teachers in high schools did their best to teach world history. Here are two examples. Takanobu Tachibana (b. 1918), who taught world history at Tokyo Metropolitan Bunkyo High School, criticized the tendency of many teachers and scholars to define world history in terms of a ratio for mixing Asian history and Western history. He focused on the way he believed world history should be approached, starting not from the state of the academic field, but from the current conditions of Japan and Japanese education and scholarship, since world history as a social studies subject was born from acute educational need. From this point of view, he led a unique learning (unit learning) of world history by encouraging students to study history according to their own motivations.82 Another educator, Saneyoshi Ueno (1910–1987), who taught at Hiroshima University’s attached High School, drafted a study plan for world history that was a comprehensive plan for teaching world history as unit learning. It was based on his own practice of teaching for the purpose of developing a new textbook.83 After examining the characteristics of the time periods that he identified, Ueno designed study units around the most representative matters of each period, thus aiming at teaching in a way that would encourage students to study world history by focusing on their own interests. This was intended to satisfy the methodology of both social studies and history learning. These approaches to teaching world history had been introduced in 1949. It should also be noted that both Tachibana and Ueno expressed concern about the history questions on the university entrance examinations; the tests were being rewritten as multiple choice tests, true-false questions, or simple questions, excluding the essay questions that had been criticized by the ministry as impossible to evaluate objectively. Both Tachibana and Ueno worried that this new kind of examination would hinder the teaching of world history as one of the social studies subjects in the high schools; this concern proved to be the case before long. In April 1952, world history textbooks authorized by the ministry were introduced. Until then, there had been no regular textbooks but, instead, teachers used materials they put together to form “semi-textbooks” that were distributed to the students. Since 1949, various kinds of semi-textbooks for world history had been published, trying to produce a suitable textbook for world history. While some were Western history texts that had been expanded to include selected Asian history contents, most of the textbooks tried to blend Asian and Western histories. But blended world history was characteristic of a way in which modern Western European civil 81 For example, see Teruhiko Onabe, ed., The Possibilities of World History: Theory and Education, (Tokyo: Tokyo University Coop. Publishing, 1950). 82 Takanobu Tachibana, “The Theory of World History in Social Studies and Guidance for Learning World History,” in The Possibilities. 83 Saneyoshi Ueno, “World History as a Course of Study, I.” The Monthly Bulletin for the Study of the World History 1, Historical Association in Hiroshima, (Kyoto: Yanagihara-shoten, November 1949); and “World History as a Course of Study, II” (December 1949).

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society after the French Revolution was presented to students as the model for Japanese development. In contrast, there were also world history textbooks that insisted on the importance of Asian history. While some of these new textbooks were outlines for teaching world history, there were also some that used unit learning. As for the authors, they included academic historians, representatives of the teachers’ union, and high school teachers. In addition, there were world history textbooks for Catholic high schools, Protestant high schools, and private high schools such as those in Nagano Prefecture.84 But, when the authorized textbooks were finally introduced, only those that offered an outline of world history and were mainly written by academic historians came to be used for all high school students. It should be noted, however, that even those authorized world history textbooks had questions that students had to answer and tasks that they had to carry out, as well as lists of readings to which students had to refer. In this sense, those textbooks presumed independent learning by students, and thus were at the forefront of world history education. It was in March 1952, that the Government Course Guidelines for World History were first published.85 It had been three years since world history teaching had been undertaken. The guidelines established the development of modern civil society and democracy in Western Europe as the main stream, dividing world history into pre-modern society, modern society, and contemporary society. Characteristically, it listed many historical examples so that students could study independently by unit learning in addition to their lectures. Although it included various kinds of problems that reflected the preceding years, it may safely be said that the ministry showed how to deal with world history as a social studies subject. But its realization had not been easy.

From 1955 to 1989 The Cold War influenced education in Japan. In the latter half of the period between 1945 and 1952, when Japan was occupied by the American forces, there were movements to restore the educational reforms that had been implemented after the war. The government policy to discontinue social studies education was withdrawn, due to the fierce opposition of teachers and university academics. But the Government Course Guidelines published in 1955, suspending the problem-solving method of learning that had been the basis of social studies, introduced the systematic method of learning.86 In 1958 and 1960, Government Course Guidelines were

84 Satoshi Ibaraki, “The Early Efforts of World History as Seen in the Semi-textbooks: Some Cases of Using Semi-textbooks in the Study of the History of History Education,” Bulletin of the Japanese Educational Research Association for the Social Studies 47 (Japanese Educational Research Association for the Social Studies, November 2010). 85 Ministry of Education, Official Guidelines for Teaching in Secondary and High Schools: Social Studies III (a) Japanese History (b), World History (draft), 1951 rev. (Tokyo: Meijitoshoshuppan, 20 March 1952). 86 Ministry of Education, Official Guidelines for Teaching in High Schools: Social Studies, 1956 rev. (Tokyo: Shimizu-shoin, 26 December 1955).

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issued as Notifications of the Ministry of Education,87 which meant that the guidelines that had previously been a publication of the ministry, and which suggested guidelines for teaching, were enhanced and now could be legally enforced under the same name. This way, the format of world history textbooks was consolidated by the textbook authorization system, after a period when various overviews of world history were utilized due to the semi-textbook system. At the same time, however, there were continued attempts to develop an acceptable approach to world history. One of the efforts was the textbook World History for High Schools (Jikkyo Shuppan) written by seven authors and led by Senroku Uehara (1899–1975), which was used from 1956 to 1958. Usually when writing a textbook, the authors meet several times to consult about articles that deal with the designated part(s) of the textbook, but this textbook was the product of a series of seminars. The editorial conference that first met in the summer of 1952 was said to have begun with Uehara’s remark, “Let’s start with the analysis of the crisis that Japan is currently faced with.”88 Thus, starting from the essential problem of history, the editorial conference met more than twenty times a year, on occasion for more than ten hours at a time. One of the authors, Sadao Nishijima (1919–1998) called the conference “eight years of seminars.” Contents of World History for High Schools are listed in Appendix 4.2. Uehara wrote an introduction to the textbook entitled “How to Learn World History,” running sixteen pages and directed to high school students. Stressing the difference between this textbook and those used up to that time in that it began with the national consciousness of the Japanese people regarding the problems around them and the lives they lived, he asked high school students to look for the causes and conditions of the numerous problems in world history and to develop their own picture of the world, following the example of this textbook. Taking this point of view, the textbook omitted a description of human history, starting world history with Chinese civilization. It also put a summary explanation and tasks to be undertaken by the students at the end of every chapter, and listed at the end of the book many books for further reference. Thus his textbook asked students not simply to memorize a history of the world that someone else had written, but to build an image of world history of their own by studying world history through their own understanding of the problems and issues of contemporary times.89 As the Government Course Guidelines were revised in 1955 to require that all textbooks obtain the authorization of the ministry, Uehara’s textbook, with far-reaching revisions, also had to obtain this authorization beginning in 1957. But the book was not authorized, nor was it again in 1958. This was a time when the ruling party was expanding governmental intervention into education and was beginning to slander some textbooks, saying they were biased. Under these political 87 Official Guidelines for Teaching in Elementary Schools, Notification 80 of the Ministry of Education, 1 October 1958; Official Guidelines for Teaching in Secondary Schools, Notification 81 of the Ministry of Education, 1 October 1955; Official Guidelines for Teaching in High Schools, Notification 94 of the Ministry of Education, 15 October 1960. 88 Sadao Nishijima, “Eight Years of Seminars,” Tosho 133 (Tokyo: Iwanami-shoten, 1960): 10. 89 Senroku Uehara, “How to Learn World History,” in Uehara, ed., World History for High Schools, 1956, 1–16.

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circumstances, the Ministry of Education tightened its authorization policy for textbooks, refusing to authorize many social studies textbooks including Uehara’s. Consequently, Uehara published the rejected textbook as a public, commercial book in 1960.90 It is fair to introduce another textbook that was widely used in the high schools in the 1960s because it was better suited for preparing students for the university entrance examination: Detailed History of the World (1966) edited by Kentaro Murakawa and others,91 the contents of which are listed in Appendix 4.3. Divided into pre-modern, modern, and contemporary periods, this textbook describes the history of the world by chronologically ordering Asian and Western histories. Although it used some terms that are not used nowadays, these contents became the standard for world history textbooks written after the war. In other words, it became the orthodox world history. In addition, world history textbooks had fewer and fewer questions for students, assigned fewer learning tasks, and listed fewer additional references. This meant that world textbooks became not the entranceway for students to learn world history, but increasingly a series of right answers about world history for students to learn by heart. The Government Course Guidelines were further revised in 1970 and 1978.92 The guidelines of 1970 introduced culture area studies into world history, an approach that was continued by the guidelines of 1978. The 1978 guidelines divided the pre-modern period running from the third to the seventh century and then to the end of the eighteenth century into three culture areas developing side by side: the East Asian, West Asian, and European. It also located the age of the beginnings of civilization before the pre-modern period, and after that, history from the nineteenth century onward. The content of world history presented by the 1978 Guidelines are shown in Table 4.1.93 This was not merely a combination of Asian and Western histories. It introduced larger divisions of time and space, distinguishing three cultural spheres prior to the nineteenth century, divided into three periods since the nineteenth century, thereby making the study of world history easier and overcoming its Eurocentric perspective. Following the publication of these guidelines, textbooks were prepared to implement them, and the reorganization of world history teaching started in the classroom. But the guidelines were still criticized for failing to eliminate Eurocentrism because they identified nineteenth-century Europe as a terminal point.94 90 Senroku Uehara, ed., World History for the Japanese Nation (Tokyo: Iwanami-shoten, 1960). 91 Kentaro Murakawa, Namio Egami, and Kentaro Hayashi, Detailed History of the World (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppan-sha, 5 March 1965). This textbook was authorized on 20 April 1963 and used from 1964 to 1969. 92 “Government Course Guidelines for High Schools,” The Notification of the Ministry of Education 281 (15 October 1970); “Government Course Guidelines for High Schools,” The Notification of the Ministry of Education 163 (30 August 1978). 93 “Government Course Guidelines.” The detailed explanation is found in Ministry of Education, Government Course Guidelines for High Schools: Social Studies (Tokyo: Hitotsubashi-shuppan, 1979). 94 See, for example, Sadao Nitani, “On Some Problems in the Composition of ‘World History’ (1): How to Get Ourselves out of Nineteenth-Century Euro-Centric History,” Research Bulletin, High School Attached Tokyo University of Education 14 (1972); Sadao Nitani, “On the Composition of World History,” The Monthly Journal of History Education,

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Table 4.1. World History Content of 1978 Guidelines. 1. The Beginning of Civilization 1. The Establishment of Oriental Civilization, Persian Civilization, Mediterranean Civilization, and Chinese Civilization 2. The Formation and Development of the East Asian Culture Area 2. Activities of Nomads and Chinese Society and Culture; Changes in Chinese Society and Culture and the Development of Neighboring Peoples; the Prosperity of the Chinese Empire 3. The Formation and Development of the West Asian Culture Area 3. Emergence of the Islamic World; India, Southeast Asia, and the Expanding Islamic World; Islamic Culture and Exchanges between Eastern and Western Cultures 4. The Formation and Development of the European Culture Area 4. The Formation of European Society and Culture; Changes in European Society and Culture; the Formation of Nation States and International Relations 5. The Nineteenth-century World 5. The Establishment of European Civil Society and Its Culture; the ­Development of the Industrial Revolution and Asia, Revolutions in Europe and the A ­ merican Continent; Imperialism and Asia and Africa 6. The World in the Inter-War Period 6. The First World War and the Establishment of the Soviet Union; Post-War ­Europe and National Movements in Asia and Africa; the State of Affairs in the United States and the World Crisis; the Rise of Totalitarianism and the Second World War 7. The Contemporary World and Japan 7. International Society after the Second World War; Changes in International Affairs and Japan; the Development of Science and Technology and Human Culture in the Present Day

One of the characteristics of the evolution of world history teaching in post-war Japan was that it constantly questioned what real world history was. One of those who pursued the question as a teacher of history was Ryo Suzuki (1924–2000). He became a teacher in a junior high school in October 1948, and from 1949 onward was in charge of the world history being taught in high school. Before long he joined the History Educationalist Conference of Japan (歴史教育者協議会), a nongovernmental association of history teachers, and he came to be involved in editing Teaching History and Geography, where he published his own experiences teaching world history. His writings included “Why Are There So Many Koreans in Japan?” “How Did I Deal with Modern History in the Class? How Did We Make ‘Our History’?” “There Are Footprints of Human Beings Even Where There Are No Lights”; “The Association of History Education, 1, no. 1 (Tokyo: Tokyo-horei-shuppan, April 1979). These articles were included in some of the amendments in Sadao Nitani, Studies of Education in World History (Tokyo: Kosei-shorin, 1988).

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History of Old Africa—Introduction and Discovery”; “The Second World War and ­Okinawa”; and “The History of the Weak.”95 These were written as he sought to find his way to world history. When these articles were collected into his book, Methods of Learning World History (Iwasaki Shoten) in 1977, he proposed that the aim of studying world history should be to “look for, find, and feel, together with your students, the right way of reading and thinking about world (history), thus training one another how to understand world history.” He suggested that history education should ask questions. He proposed four goals of world history: (1) to grasp Japanese history and world history in a unified way, (2) to grasp the history of the whole world with each region participating as an equal partner, (3) to grasp “ancient,” “medieval,” and modern histories in a unified way, and (4) to grasp history from the viewpoint of common people, local inhabitants, and nations. He also published Big Lies and Small Lies—The Recognition of World History by the Japanese Teaching World History in the Classroom to Improve Students and World History from Japan, thus continuing to question world history and to propose the reorganization of world history concepts. Involving himself in world history teaching from the very introduction of the high school world history curriculum and searching for ways to improve world history education, Suzuki opposed the standardization of world history by the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education and the textbooks, also authorized by the ministry, as well as the lack of balance in the recognition of the world by Japanese society, including himself. In these ways, he tried to look anew at the world, Japan, other geographical regions, and himself from various points of view in order to find a better way of seeing world history and explaining its importance.

From 1989 to the Present (2015) In March 1989, the Government Course Guidelines were revised.96 This version of the guidelines was epoch-making, since some of the revised items were maintained in the 1998–1999 version and also the present 2008–2009 version of the guidelines. As for social studies education, while this topic used to be taught from the first grade of elementary school through the third year of high school, it was now to be taught only from the third grade of elementary school to the third year of junior high school. During the first and second grades of elementary school, social studies was combined with natural science to become the subject Socio-Environmental Studies, while for high school, it was divided into geography, history, and civics. Within geography and history (composed of world history, Japanese history, and 95 Ryo Suzuki, “Why are There Many Koreans in Japan?” Teaching History and Geography 1 (1954); “How Did I Deal with Modern History in the Class? —How Did We Make ‘Our History’?” Teaching History and Geography 9 (1955); “There are Footprints of Human Beings Even Where There Are No Lights,” Teaching History and Geography 51 (1960); “History of Old Africa—Introduction and Discovery,” Teaching History and Geography 62 (1961); “The Second World War and Okinawa,” Teaching History and Geography 125 (1966); “The History of ‘the Weak,’” Teaching History and Geography (1973): 211–212 and 214–216. 96 This edition of Government Course Guidelines was publicized on 15 March 1989 as the “Notification of the Ministry,” 24, for elementary schools; 25, for junior high schools; and 26, for high schools.

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geography), world history was designated as an obligatory subject, while all three subjects were divided into two sections, A and B, with A being an easier course worth two credits, and B worth four credits. Within civics, the section called Modern Society that used to be obligatory was made an elective. In addition, the guidelines listed forty-two names of important persons to be taught in the sixth grade elementary school history class. This was in response to one of the requests from the governing party. In general, the 1989 version of the guidelines was characterized by the embodiment of many modifications requested by the ruling party. Its preparation began with the discussions at the Educational Council on the curriculum in 1985, which published the Conclusion of the Discussions in 1987, and the new guidelines were elaborated in 1988, to be issued in March 1989, after the publication of the interim report in February 1989. The entire process reflects how the ruling party typically intervened in the contents of education. In spite of the opposition to breaking up high school social studies, which was widespread in the mass media, as well as among those academic circles, researchers, and teachers engaged in history, the ruling party forced the whole process through. During these years, following the changes in Japanese society regarding students in junior high and high schools, the transformation of the whole world, the development of historical studies, the changes in the public opinion regarding education, and so on, those who are involved in world history continue to search for better education in world history, constantly asking what it means to study world history and what world history itself is. Shigeki Yoshimine will deal with these topics in the following chapter.

Lessons From History Education in Japan In general, there is a somewhat tense relationship between education about our own nation’s history and world history. In pre-war Japan, foreign history was at first taught for the purpose of learning from foreign countries, but before long, education about our own nation’s history became dominant, with foreign history subordinated to national history. Although there were endeavors to propose and practice world history teaching, as well as to criticize the way that history was taught, all history education was subsumed in the climate of war. Japan’s pre-war experience could serve as a reference for other Asian countries, when they examine the relationship between their own nation’s history and world history. Post-war education in history began as a reaction to pre-war history education. It was an important step when world history was introduced into high school social studies education, which was also newly established. But nobody knew what world history was and how to teach it. This was the starting point from which an approach to teaching world history slowly formed. On the one hand, the official formulation of world history expanded and gained power, while on the other hand there were efforts to teach world history in a real sense of the word and to take a new look at our own nation’s history. These movements were played out in the classrooms by the world history teachers. The experiences of these teachers can also be studied as lessons for other Asian countries when they examine the relationship between their own nation’s history and world history. 69

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Further Reading Editorial Committee of Historical Sources of Educational System in Modern Japan. (Eds.). (1956). Historical sources of the educational system in modern Japan (vols. 2, 3). Tokyo: Dainihon-Yubenkai-Kodansha (近 代日本教育制度史料編纂会編『近代日本教育制度史料』第2–3巻、大日本雄弁会講談 社、1956 年). Editorial Committee of Education History. (Ed.). (1964–1965). History of the development of the education system since the Meiji Era (2nd ed., vols. 2–7). Tokyo: Kyouiku-shiryou Chosakai (教育史編纂会編『明治以 降教育制度発達史』第2～7巻、教育資料調査会、1964–1965 年重版). History Educationalist Conference of Japan. (Ed.). (1997). Fifty years of history education and its tasks. Tokyo: Miraisha (歴史教育者協議会編『歴史教育五〇年のあゆみと課題』未来社、1997 年). History Educationalist Conference of Japan. (Ed.). (1993). How was historical consciousness formed. Series—New education of history (vol. 3). Tokyo: Otsuki-shoten, (歴史教育者協議会編『あたらしい 歴史教育　第 3 巻　歴史意識はどうつくられてきたのか』大月書店、1993 年). Kaigo, Tokiomi. (1969). The history of education in history. Tokyo: Tokyo University Press ( 海後宗臣『歴史教育の歴史』東京大学出版会、1969 年). Karasawa, Tomitaro. (1956). The history of textbooks: Textbooks and the formation of the Japanese. Tokyo: Sobunsha, (唐澤富太郎『教科書の歴史―教科書と日本人の形成―』創文社、1956 年). Kato, Akira, et al. (Eds.). History of history education. Series—History Education (vol. 1). Tokyo: Kobundo, 1982 (加藤章ほか編著『講座・歴史教育１　歴史教育の歴史』弘文堂、1982 年) Kinoshita, Yasuhiko. (2004, August). Changes in the government course guidelines and textbooks of world history. Studies of World History, No. 200. Tokyo: Yamakawa-shuppansha (木下康彦「学習指導要領 と世界史教科書の変遷」『世界史の研究』第 200 号、山川出版社、2004 年 8 月). Mitsui, Takayuki. (1966). Education in foreign history: A study of its history. Kyoto: Aoishobou, ( 満井隆行『外 国史の教育―その史的研究―』葵書房、1966 年). Nakamura, Kikuji. (1992). Social history of textbooks: From the Meiji Restoration to the End of WWII. Tokyo: Iwanami-shoten (中村紀久二『教科書の社会史―明治維新から敗戦まで―』岩波書店、 1992 年). Naruse, Osamu. (1977 ). The sense of world history and its theory. Tokyo: Iwanami-shoten (成瀬治『世界史の 意識と理論』岩波書店、1977 年). Ueda, Kaoru, et al. (Eds.). (1974). Historical sources of the history of social studies, 1–4. Tokyo: Tokyo-Horei-Shuppan (上田薫ほか編『社会科教育史資料』1–4, 東京法令出版、1974 年). Usui, Yoshikazu (Ed.). (2013). Educational practices in post-War Japan: For the reconstruction of the image of the post-War history of education. Nagoya: Sankeisha (臼井嘉一監修『戦後日本の教育実 践―戦後教育史像の再構築をめざして―』三恵社、2013 年). Yoshida, Tora. Studies and practices of world history education. Tokushima: Kyoiku-shuppan Center, 1986 (吉田 寅『世界史教育の研究と実践』教育出版センター、1986 年).

Appendix 4.1. Contents of Jitsuzo Kuwabara’s New Textbook of Oriental History (1912) Part I: Ancient Times 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Chapter 1. The Ancient History of China Chapter 2. Politics and Institutions of Early Zhou Chapter 3. The Chun-qiu Period Chapter 4. The Warring States Period Chapter 5. The Rise of Learning and the Evolution of the Han people

Part II: Medieval Times 13. Chapter 1. The Rise and Fall of the Qin Dynasty 14. Chapter 2. The Struggle of Han and Chu; the Early Period of the Western (Earlier) Han Dynasty 70

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15. Chapter 3. The Achievements of the Wudi Emperor 16. Chapter 4. The Decline of the Western (Earlier) Han Dynasty and the Rise of the Eastern (Later) Han Dynasty 17. Chapter 5. The Spread of Buddhism 18. Chapter 6. The Golden Age of the Eastern (Later) Han Dynasty 19. Chapter 7. The Decline of the Eastern (Later) Han Dynasty 20. Chapter 8. The Three Kingdoms and the Western Jin Dynasty 21. Chapter 9. The Five Hu Peoples and the Eastern Jin Dynasty 22. Chapter 10. The Rivalry between the Northern and Southern Dynasties 23. Chapter 11. The Rise and Fall of the Sui Dynasty and the Early Years of the Tang Dynasty 24. Chapter 12. The Institutions of the Tang Dynasty 25. Chapter 13. The Foreign Policies of the Tang Dynasty 26. Chapter 14. Contacts between the East and the West in the Tang Period 27. Chapter 15. The Medieval Age of the Tang Dynasty 28. Chapter 16. The Decline of the Tang Dynasty

Part III: Late-Medieval Times 29. Chapter 1. The Rise of the Qidan People and the Conflicts of the Five Dynasties 30. Chapter 2. The Early Years of the Song Dynasty and the Golden Age of the Liao Dynasty 31. Chapter 3. Reforms of the Shenzong Emperor 32. Chapter 4. The Rise of the Jurchen People and Relations between the Jin and Song Dynasties 33. Chapter 5. The Rise of the Mongol People 34. Chapter 6. The Undertakings of the Taizong and Xianzong Emperors of the Song Dynasty 35. Chapter 7. The Foreign Expeditions of the Shizu Emperor (Khublai Khan) 36. Chapter 8. The Golden Age of the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty 37. Chapter 9. The Decline of the Yuan Dynasty 38. Chapter 10. The Early Years of the Ming Dynasty 39. Chapter 11. The Rise and Fall of the Timur Empire 40. Chapter 12. The Decline of Ming Dynasty 41. Chapter 13. The Eastern Advance of the Europeans

Part IV: Early Modern Times 42. 43. 44. 45.

Chapter 1. The Rise of the Qing Dynasty Chapter 2. The Foreign Policy of the Qing Dynasty Chapter 3. Institutions and Education in the Qing Dynasty Chapter 4. The Rise and Decline of the Mughal Empire; the Invasion of India by the English 46. Chapter 5. The Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion 47. Chapter 6. The Russian Invasion of the East and Middle Asia 71

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48. Chapter 7. The French Invasion of Indochina 49. Chapter 8. Relations between Japan and China in Korea; the Sino-Japanese War 50. Chapter 9. The Qing Empire after the Sino-Japanese War; the Russo-Japanese War 51. Chapter 10. East Asia after the Russo-Japanese War

Appendix 4.2. Contents of Senroku Uehara’s World History for High Schools (1956).97 Introduction: How to Learn World History 52. 1. What is “learning world history?” 53. 2. How is world history written?

Part I: The Formation and Development of Oriental Civilization 54. Part IA: The Formation of Chinese Civilization and the Development of East Asian History around China 55. Chapter 1. The Formation of Chinese Civilization and the Establishment of a Civilized Area around China 56. Chapter 2. The Development of the Chinese Civilization and Movements in Neighboring States 57. Part IB: The Formation and Development of Indian and Islamic Civilizations 58. Chapter 1. The Ancient Civilization of India 59. Chapter 2. The Expansion of Islamic Civilization 60. Chapter 3. Exchanges between Indian and Islamic Civilizations

Part II: The Formation and Development of Western Civilization 61. Chapter 1. Historical Background of the Formation of Western Civilization 62. Chapter 2. Classic Civilization and the Establishment of Christianity 63. Chapter 3. The Formation and Development of the European World

Part III: Modernization of the West and the World 64. Chapter 1. Movements toward Modernization in Europe 65. Chapter 2. The Development of the European States and Their Advances Overseas 97 Senroku Uehara, ed., World History for High Schools (Tokyo: Jikkyo Shuppan, 1956). This was approved on 13 September 1955 and published on 25 January 1956.

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66. 67. 68. 69.

Chapter 3. The Establishment of Modern Society Chapter 4. Reactionary Forces and Revolutionary Movements of Nations Chapter 5. The State of Affairs in Backward Regions Chapter 6. The Age of Imperialism

Part IV: The Contemporary World 70. 71. 72. 73. 74.

Chapter 1. The First World War Chapter 2. The State of Affairs in the World after the First World War Chapter 3. The Great Depression and Fascism Chapter 4. World Affairs after the Second World War Chapter 5. World Peace and Contemporary Culture

Appendix 4.3. Contents of Kentaro Murakawa’s Detailed History of the World (1966). Part I: 75. Chapter 1. The Prehistoric World 76. Section 1. The Emergence of Mankind 77. Section 2. Process of Civilization 78. Section 3. Races and Linguistic Families 79. Section 4. Societies and Cultures of Uncivilized Peoples 80. Chapter 2. The Appearance of Civilizations 81. Section 1. Oriental Civilization 82. Section 2. The Early Civilization of India 83. Section 3. The Beginning of Chinese Civilization 84. Section 4. The American Continent 85. Chapter 3. The Formation of the West 86. Section 1. The Development of the Greek World 87. Section 2. Greek Culture 88. Section 3. The Roman Empire 89. Section 4. The Development of Christianity 90. Chapter 4. The Ancient Civilizations of India and China 91. Section 1. The Development of Indian Civilization 92. Section 2. The Ancient Civilization of China 93. Chapter 5. The Formation of the East Asian Culture Area 94. Section 1. Movements of Asian Peoples 95. Section 2. Invasion of Northern Peoples into China 96. Section 3. The Formation of the East Asian Culture Area 97. Chapter 6. The Establishment of Feudal Society in Europe 98. Section 1. The Great Migration of the Germanic Peoples 99. Section 2. The Frankish Kingdom and the Establishment of Roman Catholicism

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100. Section 3. Feudal Society in Western Europe 101. Section 4. The Byzantine Empire 102. Chapter 7. The Formation of the Islamic Culture Area 103. Section 1. The Emergence of Islam 104. Section 2. Islamic Culture and the Activities of the Turkish People 105. Chapter 8. Changing Chinese Society and the Development of the Mongol Peoples 106. Section 1. Changes in Chinese Society 107. Section 2. The Invasion of Northern Peoples into China 108. Section 3. The Development of the Mongol Peoples 109. Chapter 9. Changes in the European Medieval World 110. Section 1. The Crusades and Their Effects 111. Section 2. The Development of Cities 112. Section 3. The Decline of Ecclesiastic Authority 113. Section 4. Centralization in the West European States 114. Section 5. The Cultures of Medieval Europe

Part II: 115. Chapter 10. The Birth of Modern Europe 116. Section 1. The Renaissance 117. Section 2. European Expansion 118. Section 3. The Reformation 119. Chapter 11. The Development of Modern States in Europe 120. Section 1. The Rise and Fall of Absolutist States 121. Section 2. The Development of Constitutional Government in England 122. Section 3. Colonization by West European Countries 123. Section 4. European Cultures in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 124. Chapter 12. The Revival of the Chinese and the Re-domination of the Northern Peoples 125. Section 1. The Unification by the Ming Dynasty 126. Section 2. The Unification by the Qing Dynasty 127. Section 3. Timur and Ottoman-Turkey 128. Section 4. The Mughal Empire 129. Chapter 13. The Growth of Civil Society 130. Section 1. The Independence of the United States 131. Section 2. The French Revolution and Napoleon 132. Section 3. The Industrial Revolution 133. Chapter 14. Liberalism and Nationalism 134. Section1. The Struggle for Freedom 135. Section 2. The Development of Liberalism and Nationalism 136. Section 3. Nineteenth-century Culture 137. Chapter 15. The Advance into Asia by European Powers 138. Section 1. Asian Policies of the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, and Russia 139. Section 2. “Trembling” China and “Emerging” Japan 74

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Part III: 140. Chapter 16. Imperialism and the First World War 141. Section 1. The State of Affairs in the European Countries before the First World War 142. Section 2. World Politics of the Powers 143. Section 3. The Establishment of the Republic of China 144. Section 4. The First World War 145. Section 5. The Russian Revolution 146. Chapter 17. The World after the First and Second World Wars 147. Section 1. Europe and America after the First World War 148. Section 2. The State of Affairs in Asia 149. Section 3. The Emergence of Totalitarianism 150. Section 4. The Second World War 151. Chapter 18. The Contemporary World 152. Section1. The World after the Second World War 153. Section 2. Developments in the Major Countries after the War 154. Section 3. Efforts in Pursuit of Peace 155. Section 4. The Cultures of the Contemporary World 156.

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World History Teaching in Japanese Secondary Education Shigeki YOSHIMINE Hokkaido Yuho High School, Sapporo, Japan

World history teaching in Japanese secondary education has faced challenges since the end of World War II in curriculum design, teaching methods, and the publication of its textbooks. While the relationship between Japanese history and world history has been emphasized since the war, different historical perspectives from peripheral regions of the nation such as Hokkaido and Okinawa have been excluded almost totally.

W

orld history as a subject in the secondary schools of Japan has changed immensely, both in how it has been taught and how it has been presented in relation to the history of Japan, especially since the standardization of education in the years after World War II. Before addressing these changes, it will be useful to describe contemporary Japan’s educational system and the organization of history teaching introduced after the war.

Basic Information about History Teaching in Contemporary Japan Education in elementary school (six years) and junior high school (three years) is compulsory in Japan. Junior high school and high school (three years) together comprise secondary education. Almost all graduates of junior high schools enter high schools (98.2 percent, according to official statistics in 2011). And 54.5 percent of the graduates of high schools enter junior colleges (two years) or universities (four years).

Academic Subjects The educational system that was established after World War II, under the influence of the United States, introduced social studies (consisting of geography, history, and civics) as one of the academic fields of secondary education. In the high schools, a combination of geography and history became an established subject within the 76

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field of social studies. But since 1989, geography and history has been separated into six subjects, namely Japanese History A, Japanese History B, World History A, World History B, Geography A, and Geography B. Students study modern history, primarily from the nineteenth century onward, in Japanese History A and in World History A, while they are taught history from ancient times to the present in Japanese History B and World History B. Among these six subjects, either World History A or World History B is mandatory for graduation from high schools. In addition to that, students are required to study one of the other four subjects before graduation. In elementary schools, sixth grade students study Japanese history focused on important figures and aspects of their historical and cultural heritage. In comparison, students in secondary schools learn Japanese history more sequentially from ancient times to the present. Thus, students study Japanese history three times, if they choose Japanese History A or B in high school.

Government Course Guidelines The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) determines everything that students should study at the secondary level with its Government Course Guidelines (指導要領)98 that are valid for about ten years. (The MEXT claims that Government Course Guidelines are legally binding.) The Government Course Guidelines for junior high schools were first issued in 1947 and revised in 1951, 1955, 1958, 1969, 1977, 1989, 1998, 2003, and 2008. The Government Course Guidelines for high schools were also first published in 1947, with revisions in 1951, 1956, 1960, 1970, 1978, 1989, 1999, 2003, and 2009. The latest Government Course Guidelines have been in effect since 2012 for junior high schools and 2013 for high schools. History textbooks for junior high schools and high schools must be written and edited in accordance with the most recent Government Course Guidelines. Whenever Government Course Guidelines are revised, textbooks have to be thoroughly reworked in accordance with the new guidelines. And even though the guidelines are valid for about ten years, textbooks are partially revised about every three years.

Textbooks New textbooks cannot be used until the MEXT authorizes them. In junior high schools, students get textbooks free of charge, while in high schools students must pay for them, although the cost is modest—the textbook for Japanese history or world history, for example, costs only 800 Japanese Yen (about US $10). The ministry asks publishers to sell textbooks inexpensively, in order to make them easily obtainable for students, but low prices also imply limits to the number of pages in the texts. So teachers recommend that students use a historical atlas or a source book as additional materials in many classrooms.

98 This has no definitive translation, having alternatives such as Government Course Guidelines and National Curriculum Standards.

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The textbooks that will be used in the schools are chosen almost a year ahead of time. For example, it was in July 2012 that teachers in high schools finished selecting textbooks for use in their schools starting in April 2013. The authority to choose a textbook from among many possible textbooks is given to each school, but individual teachers have no authority to choose a particular text for use in their classes. The choice is made in July of the year prior to the actual usage. Since it takes textbook publishers four years to prepare new texts for selection by the schools, they must start the work far in advance. Textbook publishers organize an editorial board composed of history researchers and teachers of world history recruited from universities and high schools. There are no official regulations for this board, which is put together according to the policies of the publishers. This board edits and writes the textbook in accordance with the Government Course Guidelines. First, a draft text that has only passages and diagrams, called the white-list, is prepared by the publishers and presented to the MEXT for textbook authorization. The MEXT checks to confirm that the white-list draft is in accordance with the Government Course Guidelines. When they find problems, they make comments, and the publisher revises the white-list. After several modifications, the white-list is given official approval. Then the publisher can prepare and distribute sample textbooks to all the high schools so that they can be reviewed for adoption for the next fiscal year in each school. When distributing these sample textbooks, the company’s editorial staff and sales staff pay attention to the opinions of the teachers. In reviewing these samples, each school considers which should be adopted. At this stage, the editorial staff of the textbook publishers, taking into account the opinions of the teachers, sometimes change passages, diagrams, illustrations, and so on, of the original sample textbooks; typographical errors and spelling mistakes of personal names, geographic terms, etc., are also corrected. At the same time, the teacher’s manual, called the directory-textbook, is edited and written, giving practical suggestions to the teachers on, for example, how to use the blackboards and explain the historical terms in the classes. It should be noted that this manual is not checked or authorized by any governmental institution within the MEXT. The textbooks that will be used beginning in April are published by the end of December of the previous year. Textbooks are delivered to every school starting in January; as the high schools have their entrance examinations in March, students receive the list of textbooks that will be used at the school where they may enter. This way, all students have their textbooks in hand when they prepare for the classes that begin in April, although there are some texts that students have to buy at specified bookstores.99 It takes almost two years for a text to evolve from the white-list to the final textbooks that reach the students. As can be seen, a tremendous amount of work is required on the part of the publishers to issue textbooks and to be successful in getting them selected by the schools. It is for this reason that textbook publishing has such a high status in the publishing industry. Despite this, there are not many companies that are successful in this enormous undertaking. Many companies undertake textbook publishing but 99 Regarding the process mentioned above, see my article in Transformation and Cultural Exchanges in the Northern Territory in Japan (Tokyo: Yamakawa-shuppansha, 2006).

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eventually give it up, thereby potentially limiting the variety of textbooks available for use in the classrooms. There are about ten different history textbooks for junior high schools and about twenty textbooks each for Japanese history and world history in high schools. Although teachers at private junior high schools and all the high schools are free to choose textbooks, each district school board chooses textbooks for its public junior high schools. The MEXT allows only one textbook. Now we will examine how the Government Course Guidelines direct education in world history, looking specifically at the guidelines that have been in effect since 2012. They are divided into two guidelines, for junior high schools and for high schools.

The Aims of Teaching in Junior High Schools According to the current Government Course Guidelines, the aims of social studies, including history, for junior high schools are defined as follows: Teachers educate students so that they will become citizens who have a wide perspective on issues, a profound concern for society, an ability to analyze issues Table 5.1. Current Goals for Teachers of Junior High Social Studies, set by Japan, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). 157. Teachers should guide students to • be concerned about historical affairs and understanding the course of our nation’s history and of features of each era of its history in relation to world history; • think about our nation’s culture and traditions with a wide perspective; • deepen their appreciation of our nation’s history and nurture self-consciousness as Japanese citizens. 158. Teachers should guide students to

• understand the cultural heritage which has contributed to the development of our state, society, and culture, as well as to the rise of living standards of the people, in relation to the era and the region; • cultivate an attitude of respect for such heritage and people. 159. Teachers should guide students to

• understand the course of the evolution of international relations and cultural exchanges, • consider how our history and culture have had deep connections with those of foreign nations; • be concerned about other nations’ cultures and living, and nurture a spirit of international partnership. 160. Teachers should guide students to

• foster concern about and interest in history, by studying the history of familiar regions and concrete historical issues; • nurture the ability to analyze historical issues from a variety of perspectives using several kinds of documents, as well as to make fair judgments about the past.

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using documents from many perspectives, a profound understanding and affection for our land and history, and a capacity for living in a globalized society and building a democratic and peaceful nation and society. Especially for the subject of history within social studies, the MEXT designates four goals, as shown in Table 5.1. As can be seen, the guidelines stress the importance of national consciousness and national history in relation to regional and world history. They strive to find connections between Japanese and world history.

The Aims of Teaching in High Schools The general aims of the subjects of geography and history, as taught in high schools, are described by the Government Course Guidelines as follows: Teachers should make students understand and deepen their recognition of the processes of our nation’s history and world history, and of features of lives and cultures in the world, and nurture awareness and abilities that are necessary for a citizen of a democratic and peaceful nation and society and for living actively in the globalized society. As for the specific classes within the subjects of geography and history, the aims of Japanese History B are formulated as follows: Teachers should educate students to analyze synthetically the course of our nation’s history with relation to world history, inform their way of thinking historically by deepening their understanding unique features of our culture and tradition, and nurture their consciousness as Japanese citizens and their ability to live as active Japanese citizens in the globalized society. On the other hand, the aims of World History B are stated as follows: Teachers should educate students to understand the course of world history with relation to our nation’s history, inform their way of thinking historically by analyzing cultural diversity and features of modern world with wider perspectives, and nurture their consciousness of being Japanese citizens and their ability to live as active Japanese citizens in the globalized society. Even when history is divided into Japanese history and world (foreign) history, the importance of making connections between Japanese and world (foreign) histories is stressed. It is worth noting that world history actually means, without question, foreign history—that is to say, Western history combined with Asian history.

The National Center Test There is no unified national examination for graduation from secondary school in Japan, but applicants for admission to national and public (partly private) 80

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universities are obliged to take the National Center Test as a first-stage entrance examination. There are two kinds of world history exam for this unified test: World History A and World History B, with applicants choosing one or the other. Most applicants choose World History B, because the universities administer only the B exam in the following round, which is given independently by each university. This is in spite of the fact that World History A, consisting mainly of modern and contemporary history, is one of the compulsory subjects in Japanese secondary schools.

The Teachers’ License There are two types of teachers’ licenses in social studies for Japanese secondary schools: the license for teaching history as well as geography, and the license for teaching civics. Candidates for each license must acquire necessary university credits, which are divided roughly into two categories: credits for specific subjects (e.g. Japanese history, the history of foreign countries) and credits for subjects concerning the teaching profession (e.g. educational psychology, educational methods, etc.). The latter are pursued more than the former in the current system. Therefore, the lack of specialized knowledge on the part of candidates or inexperienced teachers is often viewed as a serious problem.

Post-War History Curriculum and Features of World History With the end of World War II, Japan had to change the way that history was taught across all of its schools. The subject of world history, as it was taught to high schools students, was a particularly important aspect of education in light of Japan’s new role in the world and the importance of civic education for its citizens.

History Teaching in Post-War Japan After World War II, the Japanese government introduced social studies for elementary schools, as well as junior high schools and high (also called senior high) schools, in order to prepare students to be members of a democratic society. History was supposed to be taught together with geography and civics as part of the broader subject of social studies. According to the first Government Course Guidelines that were put into effect in 1947, comprehensive learning and issue-focused or problem-solving learning were considered important in all the social studies sub-fields for junior and senior high schools. Why were comprehensive learning and issue-focused or problem-solving studies considered so important? The reason is that it was believed by many that social studies would contribute to the establishment of a democratic society. Just after WWII, the Japanese people were determined to never again launch a war. People thought that war would never occur if they could succeed in abolishing the emperor’s rule and in establishing democratic society. Because of this, it was considered to be important to study social studies and history. 81

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As just mentioned, just after WWII, history education was considered important for the establishment of a democratic society. For this reason, the titles of every unit in the Government Course Guidelines were written in the form of a question; educators thought students must learn actively by themselves. For example, the Government Course Guidelines of 1947 for Western history in senior high school put forward questions such as “What is imperialism? Why was it formed?” and “What sorts of results has it effected?” But many teachers were critical of such issue-focused learning. Some protested that it took so much time that they could not teach enough content material to their students within the limited class hours. Others complained that these problems were actually too difficult to be solved by students. So, issue-focused or problem-solving learning did not prove to be realistic. In addition, increasing numbers of educators criticized issue-focused learning, because students were obliged to memorize definitions of so many key words in history in order to pass the examinations. Since the Japanese economic development of the 1960s and 1970s had led to an increase in the number of students who wanted to enter and study in high schools and universities, many students and teachers asked for history education that would enable students to pass high school and university entrance examinations that demanded the memorization of extensive, detailed historical items. Thus, history teaching in Japanese junior and senior high schools has gradually been changed from issue-focused learning to memorization. At the same time, changes in the contents of history teaching strongly affected how students learn history. Many professors and teachers thought that history must be studied from a worldwide perspective. So world history had to include not only the history of Europe and China as had been the case, but also the history of South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, and the American continent. In junior high schools, students had to study Japanese history in relation to world history. This led to an increase in subject matter that students had to learn in history classes. This is another reason why so many teachers claimed that they didn’t have enough time for issue-focused education in their classrooms. The subject matter in world history textbooks and supplementary materials in Japan is wide and inclusive. Textbooks are not basically Eurocentric, nor do they see world history only in relation to our own national history. World history textbooks deal with world history by equally evaluating the history of every country and each area in the world, as much as possible, without putting special value on particular countries. At the same time, world history textbooks in Japan are not merely historical narratives but include achievements in cultural anthropology, art history, etc. In the 1990s, there was a dramatic change in history teaching in Japan. The high school subject of social studies was divided into geography, history, and civics. The geography and history class was intended to be useful for educating students to be prepared for a globalized society. The MEXT considered it very important for students to learn history in order to improve international understanding, because the Japanese position in global society was gaining importance in the 1990s. In this context, world history was designated a compulsory subject in 1994. It must be very rare for world history to be designated a compulsory subject rather than the history of the students’ own nation. At the same time, however, in junior high schools, history teaching began to focus on Japanese history itself, not on Japanese history in relation to world history as had been the case until the 1990s. This change was due 82

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to the following: first, students in junior high schools did not need to study world history, since all students had to do so in high school; and, second, teachers wanted to save time and eliminate repetition of content of material.

Features of World History as Taught in High Schools As already mentioned, after World War II world history was introduced as a subject in high schools. Before the end of the war, we had taught Western history and Oriental history in secondary education. The world history education introduced after the war was to play a more important role than simply integrating the previous two subjects. In fact, high school teachers and university professors were obliged to discuss how world history should be constituted when they were writing the textbooks for use in the new world history classes. We tried over and over to write world histories that were neither Eurocentric nor Sino-centric world history. As a result of these efforts, the recent world history textbooks describe without difficulty the histories of Eastern Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Southern Asia, Western Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Looking at the contents of the world history textbook Sekaishi B, published by Tokyo Shoseki Publisher in 2009, as listed in Appendix 5.1, it’s easy to see how world history in Japan includes many regions on the world. Importantly, one of the main features is that students learn world history by dividing the globe into several regions in the pre-modern age, such as the Oriental World, the Mediterranean World, the West Asian World, the South Asian World, the Inland Asian World, the Southeast Asian World, the American World, the Islamic World, the East Asian World, and the European World. By analyzing all the history texts for junior high and high schools, this author has identified several disheartening characteristics of the world history textbooks. 161. Key words in the textbooks are emphasized in black boldface type (Gothic) so that students know which to learn by heart. 162. There are few questions or tasks in the textbooks; this is especially true in high school textbooks. Students are not asked to think for themselves. 163. There are many graphs, statistics, maps, and pictures in the textbooks, but these are included only to help students to understand the text. Unlike European textbooks, these are not intended as materials to be used for analyzing history.

The Centralized Educational System and New Challenges from Regional Peripheries The educational system in Japan is centralized. We have a common curriculum and common textbooks for all the Japanese schools. Unlike the United States or Canada, we do not have a variety of textbooks, reflecting regional differences. But in exceptional cases, we do allow some kinds of additional materials, known as semi-textbooks, concerning local history for high schools. Here are two cases from Hokkaido and Okinawa. 83

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World History As Seen from Hokkaido Hokkaido is located in the northern part of Japan and has a history that is distinct from other parts of the country. It is, however, very difficult for teachers working in Hokkaido to address Hokkaido’s history within the ordinary class hours of history, because there is already so much that the students have to memorize, leaving little room for the history of the island. Hokkaido, where the author works as a teacher, is on the periphery of Japan, not only in a geographical sense, but also in a historical one. It is far from the present capital, Tokyo, and farther still from ancient cities like Kyoto or Nara, regarded as the historical centers of Japan in national history. For students in Hokkaido, historical topics described in textbooks have almost no relation to the history or the environment surrounding them. This is why even national history seems to tell an unfamiliar story of other places to the students in Hokkaido. Students living in Hokkaido visit Kyoto and Nara on the school trips that are required of all schools in Japan, so that students can “experience Japanese tradition.” This is not a recent requirement. Even in the middle of the Meiji period, Sapporo Junior High School (Hokkaido’s first middle school, established by the Government of Hokkaido), organized school trips. Their destinations were the Ise Shrine, Kyoto’s Imperial Palace, and Tokyo’s Imperial Palace. Something similar happens in world history teaching. For example, the Edo shogunate opened the ports in 1850s, ushering in a time when Japan came to be linked directly to world markets. Textbooks, however, refer only to the port of Yokohama. They don’t mention the Hakodate port in Hokkaido, which was opened along with Yokohama. Thus students tend to be unaware of the historical importance of the port of Hakodate. In the world history class, it would be appropriate to teach the kinds of commerce which were carried out in the port of Hakodate, how Hakodate’s trade and that of Yokohama were combined, and how the opening of the port affected Hokkaido. That would be a suitable theme for students living in Hokkaido, helping them to relate to world history more closely. This does not mean that it is not necessary to teach national history. It means that seeing national history or world history from the perspective of the local district where students live will help them in studying these histories. To know how their district and the world are related in history and the position that the district has had in the wider world helps students approach world history that is more familiar, more structural, and more significant.

Some Experiments to Look at World History from Hokkaido Here are a few examples of ways to look at world history from the perspective of the Hokkaido district, based on the author’s experiences. I start the first class in world history by introducing the history of the island of Rebun, located to the northwest of Hokkaido and known as an area of fisheries and rich nature. There is an archaeological shell midden site called Hamanaka 2 on the island. It contains important remains where vestiges of human life from the Jomon period (10,000–300 bce) have been preserved. 84

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In 2014, I took my students to the site to participate in the archaeological excavation being carried out by an international team. After the excavation exercise, students wrote reports on this experience, and I gave the class a lesson on world history making use of these reports. The remains represent the southernmost extension of the Okhotsk culture, which surrounded the Sea of Okhotsk and spread throughout Russia’s Sakhalin and the Maritime Province of Siberia. By experiencing the excavation of the vestiges at the site, students held the Okhotsk culture in their hands. They realized that interactions among people traveling beyond their borders have existed since ancient times. Let me give a second example. After the Japanese opening of the ports in the nineteenth century, many kinds of goods were brought to Hakodate. Though the quantities were not so large as to change the lifestyle of the Ainu people completely, those goods linked Hokkaido to the world market. Coffee is one of the most interesting examples among them. At that time, Hokkaido was under the direct control of the shogunate. Conflicts of varying intensities over borders had occurred between the shogunate and Russia, and the shogunate ordered some of the clans from the northeastern area of Honshu (the mainland) to defend Hokkaido. For example, samurais of the Aizu clan (from present Fukushima Prefecture) were dispatched to Monbetsu on the Sea of Okhotsk. But Hokkaido had a cold climate and was short of vegetables in the winter. Many of the soldiers sent there died because of a strain of scurvy. In response, the shogunate decided to distribute coffee as a remedy. There is preserved in Hokkaido a recipe for making coffee used at that time. It was coffee that had been produced in plantations on the island of Java, colonized by the Dutch. First, the coffee was unloaded in Nagasaki in southern Japan, where the shogunate had been trading with Holland since the seventeenth century, and then it was sent to Hakodate following a trade route across the Sea of Japan. The Hakodate magistrate’s office of the shogunate ultimately ordered that it be taken to Monbetsu. Primary sources that recorded this process remain in Hokkaido, and I am now carrying on research using these documents. I advise students to think about the historical meanings of the relationship between the world market in the nineteenth century and the opening of the ports in the final years of the shogunate, and to also think about why and how the trade route from Java to Monbetsu via Nagasaki and Hakodate existed, by reading documents preserved in the region. It is necessary to add that the Ainu culture was forced to change by the policy of the shogunate at that time. The rule of the shogunate over the Ainu people was strengthened, not only at political levels, but also more broadly and systematically at economic levels. Ainu culture had been manipulated in such a way that it could not maintain itself without access to the Japanese market during the Edo period. The Japanese provided various goods, ranging from daily necessities to luxuries, in exchange for fishery products, furs, and so on. These policies of the shogunate prepared the base for the domestic colonization of Hokkaido mentioned below. These are only a few examples, but I believe that this way of teaching world history will refocus history classes from memorization to creative thinking. Historical documents of their local region will help students appreciate world history closer to them. Needless to say, the viewpoint of relating a local district to a world history did not originate with me. For example, Shingo Minamizuka, of the Research Institute for World History (RIWH), reported experiments of looking at world history from 85

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the perspective of Nagano Prefecture and Niigata Prefecture through a RIWH project called the world history caravan. Hokkaido, where the Ainu lived for many centuries, was turned into a domestic colony fostered by the Meiji government in Tokyo after the Meiji Restoration. At present, there is no teacher of native Ainu in Hokkaido. There are no textbooks that deal with the history of Hokkaido. Although some illustrations inspired by the history of Hokkaido are placed on the beginning pages of the sub-textbooks used in the junior high schools, they are merely supplements to the texts. The same thing happens with the history of Riyukyu and Okinawa. But in the case of Hokkaido, there are no sub-textbooks such as those prepared for the history of Ryukyu and Okinawa. At the research level, there is a difference between historical studies dealing with Hokkaido and those of Ryukyu and Okinawa, mainly because of the differences in the amount of research before World War II.

World History As Seen from Okinawa Now I would like to discuss a sub-textbook entitled Ryukyu Okinawa Shi, which means “The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa” (Ryukyu is an old name of Okinawa), and the possibilities and challenges of these so-called sub-textbooks, because I think that focusing on such publications can reveal some of the problems with Japanese history teaching. The Okinawa Islands are located in the southwest of Japan. Naha, the capital city of Okinawa, lies about 1600 km from Tokyo. In fact, Seoul, which is 1150 km from Tokyo, is closer than Naha. In addition, it is only about 640 km from Naha to Taipei, and about 850 km to Shanghai. Even though Okinawa had had extensive contacts with the Japanese mainland, Okinawa had its own unique history until 1872, when the Japanese government officially began to rule Okinawa. The Ryukyu kingdom, although somewhat influenced by the Satsuma clan (han) since the seventeenth century, was formally independent until 1872 and had been considered as one of satellite states of the Chinese empire. After the Meiji revolution, Okinawa faced challenges quite different from the rest of the country. Poverty forced many people from Okinawa to migrate to Hawaii, the United States, South America, and Oceania. During World War II, the US army landed on Okinawa and fought a long campaign against the Japanese army. Many Japanese soldiers and civilians on Okinawa were killed. (It is said that 180,000 people, of whom more than half were civilians, died.) After the war, Okinawa was occupied by the United States until 1972, while Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu had regained their independence in 1952. In addition, Okinawa has played an important role as a major base for the US Navy and Air Force in East Asia. Even now, many large US bases remain on Okinawa and have been hot issues in Japanese domestic and foreign policy.

Toshiaki Arashiro’s Work on Okinawa The above-mentioned sub-textbook on the history of Okinawa, the complete title of which is “The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa for Senior High School Students: 86

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Revised and Enlarged Edition,” was published in 2001 by Toyo-Kikaku Publishers. As already pointed out, this is not an official history textbook used in Japanese senior high schools, but a sub-textbook for Japanese history. It is said that this sub-textbook is used in many Okinawan senior high schools, but unfortunately, it is not as popular on the mainland of Japan, even among history teachers. The editor of this book, Toshiaki Arashiro, is a high school teacher who retired in March, 2011. He has already written many books on the history of Okinawa; for example, The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa for Junior High School Students (2008), The History and Culture of Ryukyu and Okinawa for Senior High School Students, revised version (2010), and Historical Scenery Seen from Okinawa (2010). Unusually, he has written, edited, and revised these books almost completely by himself; his passion and effort deserve much respect. When I met him with my colleagues in Okinawa, curious as to why he wanted to write a textbook on the history of Okinawa, I asked him this question. His answer was as follows: When I was a high school student, I was fortunate enough to have a chance to go to the mainland. Although few people in US-occupied Okinawa could go to the mainland at that time, I was able to attend an interscholastic athletic competition that was held in Hiroshima, because I was a sports champion in Okinawa. Students in Hiroshima were very kind and often asked me, “Could you tell me the history of Okinawa?” And one continued, “We were severely damaged by the atomic bomb, and we’ve heard Okinawa also was seriously damaged because of the battle between the Japanese and the US armies. So we would like to know about the battle in Okinawa and the history of Okinawa.” But I was not able to answer at all, because I had no idea of the history of Okinawa. In my classes, not the history of Okinawa but rather Japanese history was taught. At that moment, I decided to study the history of Okinawa in order to tell its history to the youth of Okinawa. That feeling drove me to write these books. It is true that in recent Japanese history textbooks, several passages on Okinawa can be found, but we must say that it is not enough. The problems have not been solved yet. Arashiro’s The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa, about 300 pages long, contains chapters as shown in Table 5.2. Table 5.2. Contents of Arashiro’s The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa. 164. The Pre-Historic Age: The Beginning of Ryukyu Okinawa’s Culture 165. Ancient Ryukyu: The Formation of the Ryukyu Kingdom 166. Ryukyu in the Great Trade Age in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries 167. Early Modern Ryukyu: From Shimazu’s Invasion to the End of the Ryukyu Kingdom100 168. Okinawa in the Modern Age: From the Beginning of Modern Rule by Japan to WWII 169. Contemporary Okinawa: From the US Occupation and the Movement to Return to the Homeland until Okinawa is again under Japanese Rule

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The contents show that this book deals systematically with the history of ­ kinawa, from the past to the present. The reader can easily understand many O things in its history which are not included in Japanese history textbooks, such as the prosperity of the Ryukyu Kingdom in the fifteenth century, Okinawa prefecture under Japanese rule during the Meiji period, the many emigrants from Okinawa, Okinawa’s suffering in World War II, and the origin of the problems with the US bases.

Challenges in Writing Okinawan History The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa offers challenging material and also gives us perspectives different from those included in Japanese national history. Students in my classroom often say that world history is very difficult to learn, because it includes many national histories, while Japanese history is easy to understand because it consists of only one history. Of course, this is a misunderstanding. Even Japanese history consists of several local or regional histories that are almost national histories. But I think this kind of misunderstanding is widespread in Japan. Accordingly, this sub-textbook should be used not only in Okinawa but also throughout Japan. The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa destroys the myth among the Japanese that Japan has been one integrated polity from ancient times to the present. It would also show us how Japan’s history was connected to other parts of the world thorough Ryukyu and Okinawa. I must say, however, that The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa also has many problems. I will discuss two of these problems, concerned with the conceptualization of world history, in the following paragraphs. First, this sub-textbook focuses only on the history of the main island of Okinawa. Okinawa consists of many islands, stretching about 1000 km from east to west. From south to north, it is about 400 km (in comparison, it is about 500 km from Kyoto to Tokyo). So, it is not necessarily easy to write the history of Okinawa as a whole. Unfortunately, the histories of Miyako Island and Ishigaki Island, both located in western Okinawa and very near Taiwan, do not receive sufficient attention, although their history is rather different from that of the main islands of Okinawa, with closer connections to Taiwan and China. Secondly, in the sub-textbook, the history of Okinawa is situated in relation to Japanese history in such a way that it is always considered peripheral to Japan. But in my opinion, Okinawa’s history must be written from a wider perspective, that is to say, within the perspectives of East Asian history, because Ryukyu played a central role in both East and Southeastern Asian trade for a long time. In this sense, Okinawa will regain its central position in history. Regional or local history is more useful only when it gives perspectives different from those of national history.100 For example, the history of Ryukyu in the Great Trade Age in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries could be written from a wider perspective. Ryukyu was the hub-state that connected trade from the south, which was related with India,

100 Shimazu is the name of the feudal clan that ruled southern Kyushu. From the early seventeenth century until 1872, they were a powerful political force in the Ryukyu Kingdom.

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West Asia, Africa and as far as Europe; trade from the Philippines which was related to the Americas; and trade with China and with Korea and Japan, leading to Siberia. The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa should have shown the sort of impact that the history of Okinawa would imply for the national history of Japan, if the history is not written from the East Asian perspective. In addition, The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa follows the conventional approach of history textbooks, asking students to memorize historical events, without putting questions to the students, asking them to consider historical processes critically, or showing materials and sources. So we can conclude that an examination of The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa shows how difficult it is to solve the problems we are now facing in teaching Japanese history. We are currently trying to prepare The History of Hokkaido as a sub-textbook for use in junior highs and high schools, reflecting the lessons learned from our analysis of The History of Ryukyu and Okinawa. It is no easy task to overcome the accepted national history in Japan, which has been built up systematically and in an integrated way since the Meiji era. One promising way to do so is to look at Japanese national history from other perspectives, such as those experienced in different regions.

Further Reading Morris-Suzuki, T. (2000). A view from the frontier. Tokyo: Misuzu Shobo. Siddle, R. (2014). Race, resistance and the Ainu of Japan. The University of Sheffield/Routledge. Takaki, R. (1993). A different mirror: A history of multicultural America. New York: Little Brown.

Appendix 5.1. Contents of the world history textbook: Sekaishi B, published by Tokyo Shoseki Publisher in 2009. 170. 171. 172. 173. 174. 175. 176. 177. 178. 179. 180. 181. 182. 183. 184. 185.

Human Beings Before Civilizations The Oriental World and the Eastern Mediterranean World The Mediterranean World and West Asia The South Asian World The Inland Asian World The Formation of the Southeast Asian World The Ancient American World The Islamic World Changes in the East Asian World Formation and Changes in the European World Prosperous Empires in Eurasia Development in the Coastal World The Chinese Empires and Asia The Age of Greater Trade Early Modern Europe The Formation of Nation-States in Europe 89

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186. 187. 188. 189. 190.

The Development of Industrial Capital and Imperialism Movements for Change in Asian Regions The Age of World Wars The Nation-State System and the Bipolar World Toward Your Age

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Teaching World History in Vietnam: Innovation and the Real Situation TA Thi Thuy and DANG Xuan Khang Institute of History, National Center of Social Science and Humanities, Hanoi, The Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Vietnam implemented changes in the teaching of history beginning in the 1990s, following changes in the relations of countries across the world that were once socialist. Historians and educators have had to find new ways to approach the presentation of history in textbooks and in the classroom, avoiding tendencies of the past that framed events in terms of ideology. Reforms are ongoing both in terms of textbook development and pedagogy.

A

s in many other countries, the history of Vietnam in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has affected and shaped national and world history education both in terms of content and presentation.

World History Education in Vietnam before 1986 Before 1945, world history education in Vietnam, taught in French-Vietnamese schools, consisted of Western history and civilization, and in particular French history and civilization. From 1945 to 1975, while Vietnam was politically divided into two parts, there were some distinctions in world history as it was taught between North Vietnam (socialism) and South Vietnam (occupied by France and then the United States). The syllabus in the schools of the South was based on the ten-year system (four-three-three), although it was actually an eleven-year system because a first year, when pupils learned Vietnamese and morality, was not counted. World history teaching in the South was similar to the programs in capitalist countries. World history teaching in the North was based on the program taught in socialist countries. The contents of ancient world history were similar to the program that we use now, but the contents of modern world history (from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century) had some differences. Modern world history mainly dealt with the bourgeois revolutions and colonization. Contemporary world history concentrated on three matters: (1) development of socialism in formerly capitalist countries; (2) labor movements in the 91

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capitalist countries; and (3) national liberation movements in Asian, African, and Latin American countries. The history of the capitalist countries was taught in a way that was one-sided and from a critical point of view. From 1975 to 1986, the South continued to use the ten-year system, but the contents had some changes, reflecting the point of view of the North. In the North, the program remained unchanged.

World History Education in the Context of Reforms from 1986 Within the context of a comprehensive reform (đổi mới) of the country that took place in 1986, the drafting and teaching of history curricula in general, and world history in particular, has gradually undergone significant innovation and reconceptualization. The syllabus has been unified, and we now use a twelve-year system. Similarly, the contents of instruction were also unified.

New Points of View on World History Education The greatest achievement of this change is that history, including Vietnamese history and world history, is now approached in a comprehensive way, replacing the one-dimensional approach of the past. Previously, writing and teaching history focused more on Vietnamese history. Now, world history is given a considerable amount of class time, almost equal to the hours given to Vietnamese history. Concerning the contents, there has been a shift from political events and movements (to be expected given Vietnam’s continuous wars with France and the United States), to a multi-dimensional breadth of focus on political, economic, cultural, and social processes. Scholastic works laden with doctrine have now been replaced with texts combining theoretical and practical methodologies and using various historical resources, thereby reducing speculation and increasing historical evidence. These reforms in Vietnam inspired a spirit of renewal among historians, who were asked to carry out new tasks in drafting and teaching history to support the reconstruction of the country in the new context. Moreover, in recent years, a new generation of historians has graduated from different institutions, including some in foreign countries, with a variety of approaches and access to a wider selection of historical sources, which has changed the academic landscape in Vietnam. In world history, we can say that the change started in the 1980s and has been implemented since the 1990s, following the collapse of the socialist system in the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, the end of Cold War, the current stability of modern capitalism, and the difficulties posed for communist and workers’ movements. Historians, specifically the professionals teaching world history, have faced the problem of finding a way to design textbooks and teaching activities aimed at “readjusting” the method of approach, changing the interpretation of many issues in world history that are now considered inappropriate, in order to avoid a tendency of “leftism” or “rightism” in identifying and explaining many questions in world history. This is essential because only by extending its outlook to the outside world can Vietnam implement its foreign policy under the mottos of 92

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“multilateralization,” “diversification,” and “making friends with all” for better integration into the wider community of nations. These reforms do not mean changing from white to black, but, rather, implementing gradual change on the basis of nation building, as envisioned by the Communist Party and the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and of learning experiences gained in the drafting and teaching of the history of other countries in the region and in the world. In 1993, the Journal of Historical Study published a special issue, No. 3, on “Innovation in Assembling and Teaching History,” which included some articles related to world history written by professors in the Faculty of History at Hanoi Teachers’ Training University. I now want to mention and discuss a few of these articles. The first is “Toward Innovating the Curriculum, Compiling Materials, and Teaching World History at Schools and Universities in Contemporary Vietnam,” by Nguyen Anh Thai. This article gives a general overview of the shortcomings in assembling and teaching world history in the past, and suggests contents necessary for innovation in new circumstances. The author begins by arguing that the study of world history had been overlooked both in teaching and in research. Based on this, he notes, “We have to be fully aware of the important position and function of the Department of World History in education and training.” The second point discussed by this author was the contents that should be revised in world history education, including the following recommendations: 1. To periodize world history, including a variety of viewpoints on this matter and the identification of historical milestones. Considering the tendency to shift from a socio-economic pattern-based periodization to a development of civilization-based periodization (used by most Western historians), the acceptance of the year 1640 as the beginning of modernity, and the significance of the period 1871–1917, the author recommended that Vietnamese curricula “keep the socio-economic pattern-based periodization and the year of 1917 as a landmark of the beginning of modernity, when a new socio-economic form—a new society in the history of mankind—began.” 2. To restructure the compilation of textbooks, teaching world history in order to provide a more comprehensive approach (covering all aspects of life: economic, political, cultural, social), by modifying the one-sided perspective (focused on political events, class struggle, and revolutionary struggle) which had distorted history, made it arid, and discouraged student interest in this subject. 3. To redesign the syllabus to make it more coherent and scientific. The author argued that the curriculum should be based on Vietnamese national interest, avoiding excessive generalization and choosing, as the subjects of research and teaching, the most prominent countries that have had excellent growth, highly developed civilizations, and good relationships with Vietnam in the past. In addition, after analyzing the shortcomings of curriculum based on praising the socio­political regime or the characteristics of revolutionary movements, the author pointed that historical continuity and cohesion of geographic regions was lost, and that the coercive molding of the histories of all countries into a common world revolutionary movement denied the specific characteristics of development of a particular region or part of the world in a certain period of history. 93

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4. To innovate thinking in historical methodology, and to identify the reasons that led to limitations and weakness on the part of Vietnamese historians in the past, such as: disregarding the economic foundation of development, disregarding the role of the masses and the role of the individual in history, and disregarding scientific objectivity in historical investigation. In short, textbook preparation and the teaching of world history need to be changed radically, according to this author. In addition to the “macro”-oriented suggestions above, a number of other articles focus on particular aspects of history education. One is “A Few Additional Comments on Compiling the History of European Feudalism,” by Lai Bich Ngoc. This author suggests modifying or supplementing content regarding the late medieval period, such as the consequences of geographic discoveries from the late fifteenth to the early sixteenth century (the moving of the commercial center from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic coast, the development of industrial and commercial economies in Western Europe, and the beginnings of colonialism), and the birth of capitalism in Western Europe (the rapid development of the economy and trade, and changes of production in rural areas). These topics had been neglected in previous textbooks, which gave little attention to economic factors in Western Europe’s development. The article “Renovating the Teaching of Modern Capitalism in Universities,” by Vu Oanh requests a proper awareness of modern capitalism in its tendency towards “adaptation,” as well as its inherent conflicts, in order to achieve a balanced picture of capitalism. Two other articles address factors regarding world history that had not been considered in previous textbooks and curricula. In “The Problem of the Relationship between History and Geography in History Curricula,” by Qui Bui and Vu Thi Hien Lo, the authors argue that there must be adequate appreciation of the impact of geographic factors on historical change, to avoid falling into geographical determinism or the rejection of this factor in studying the development of regions in the world. In “The Problem of the Impact of Natural Conditions on Developing Tendencies of Ancient and Medieval Nations in Research, Drafting, and Teaching World History,” by Dang Quang Minh, the author asks for attention to be paid to the effects of natural conditions when developing textbooks and teaching history in general, and ancient and medieval history in particular. Another aspect of history education that needs revisiting, according to some scholars, is the importance of the location of Vietnam in Southeast Asia. In “Teaching the History of Southeast Asia in the Modern World History Curriculum in Schools and Universities,” by Tran Thi Vinh, the author begins with the fact that in the preparation of textbooks and teaching of world history, the history of Southeast Asian nations was overlooked, and only a small section on Southeast Asian national liberation movements in the periods 1917–1945 and 1945–1975 was included in the curriculum. This regional history is especially important because Vietnam is part of Southeast Asia, has long-lasting ties with its neighbors, and is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Finally, other scholars and teachers are calling for a revision of the way that the political situation in Vietnam, and socialism in general, is presented. One such is “On Teaching about ‘Socialist Countries’ at Teachers’ Training Universities and 94

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Colleges,” by Nguyen Thanh Binh. In a changing world, the collapse of the socialist system has made the teaching of this topic challenging. Therefore, the author asks that educators have an attitude towards socialism which recognizes its achievements and its role in world history during the decades that socialism existed, and offers a thoughtful assessment of the reasons for its collapse.

The Contents of World History Teaching From 1993 to the present, the need to reconceptualize both awareness and practical teaching of world history has maintained its topicality, and been the subject of workshops, conferences, and scientific journals. The renovation of textbook development and teaching of this subject was carried out in practice, resulting in world history now being taught in schools, colleges, and universities. In principle, world history (from ancient times to the modern era) is taught to all Vietnamese students attending middle school (culminating in what was formerly called the secondary degree) and high school, with the content, assessments, and even the number of classes designated by the Ministry of Education. Based on the class time stipulated by the ministry, schools can adjust the curriculum accordingly. In general, all schools have the same schedule, and the differences are small (a matter of one or two classes). The contents and classes are arranged at three different academic levels: 1. In lower high school (grades six to nine), the curriculum provides the basic information for teaching students the main points of the evolution of human history from ancient to contemporary times. 2. In high school (grades ten to twelve), teachers provide deeper knowledge of world history from ancient to modern times. The detailed contents of these two levels are found in Appendix 6.1 at the end of this chapter, while a brief summary of the classes and content are shown below in Table 6.1. 3. At the university level, world history is taught in all universities and teacher training colleges. This includes the national universities (in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City) and the regional universities (in Thai Nguyen, Hue, Da Nang, Can Tho, and Da Lat) and others in the provinces. At these universities, the world history curriculum is designed for 150 to 200 classes. Moreover, there are a number of students assigned for specialized study on this subject, who take an additional 150 to 300 classes. Universities also offer postgraduate (masters and PhD) programs specialized in world history. It is interesting to note that world history is taught in university faculties such as those of International Relations and Oriental Studies. (The foreign ministry also has its own academy to teach subjects related to international affairs.) The contents of the university curriculum are also found in the appendix. Overall, the program in world history is being enriched and now approximates the curriculum of world history in some other countries. World history is no longer 95

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Table 6.1. World History Curriculum Content for Grades Six through Twelve (Vietnam Ministry of Education). Grade

Classes

Contents

6

3

Primitive societies; ancient states in the East; ancient states in the West

7

9

World history of feudalism (in Asia and Europe)

8

23

Early modern world history (from mid-sixteenth century to 1917) Contemporary world history (from 1917 to 1945)

9

13

Contemporary world history (from 1945 to present)

10

18

History of primitive, ancient, and medieval societies

11

19

Early modern and modern world history

12

15

Contemporary world history (from 1945 to 2000)

seen unilaterally, in other words, focused only on political topics, the class struggle, revolution, and the revolutionary movement (as it used to be called), but rather it now deals with economic, political, cultural, and social problems from a more comprehensive perspective. History textbooks also mention cultural and social achievements from ancient to modern times. Moreover, the history of world civilizations is being taught in universities in general. The study and teaching of world history has now been expanded to include coverage of almost all continents and countries. Asian countries, especially those in Southeast Asia, have been given notably more attention. The new topics in need of inclusion, such as the relationship between the natural conditions and history, and between geography, demography, and history have also received significant attention. Despite these recent revisions, there are still many problems in terms of research, the compilation of texts, and the teaching of history in general, and world history in particular, which require further discussion and resolutions, such as the problem of periodization. Vietnam still relies on the theory of socio-economic patterns to periodize world history. Thus, in textbooks and college courses, world history has been divided according to the types of society: 1. The history of primitive societies in both the East and the West. 2. Ancient history: The ancient Oriental states (centralized totalitarian states with three classes: nobles, peasants, and slaves) and the ancient Western states (slavery states with two classes: aristocracy [the slave owners], and slaves). 3. The history of the Middle Ages, covering the history of feudalism with the existence of two basic classes: landlords and farmers in Asia, and feudal lords and serfs in Europe. In this section, world history is examined in three groups of countries: The feudal Asian countries, notably China and India; the feudal European countries, typically England, France, Spain, and Italy; and the feudal states in Southeast Asia. 96

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4. Modern history, defined as the period from the mid-sixteenth century (from the English bourgeois revolution of 1640, as it is known from the Marxist point of view) to 1917 (the Russian proletarian revolution) with extremely rich and complex contents: the birth and establishment of capitalism in the world including Europe, the Americas, and Asia; the formation of the colonial system globally; the communist and workers’ movement in the world; and the failure of capitalism at its “weakest link in the chain,” (i.e., in capitalist Russia in 1917). 5. Contemporary history, beginning in 1917 and divided into two periods: 1917 to 1945, and 1945 to the present. The focus here is on the following: • The formation, existence, and collapse of the socialist system • The national liberation struggles in the colonies and the developing world • The capitalist system, and its changes and difficulties • Developments in such fields as the social sciences, etc. With this periodization, the landmarks that identify the beginning of each historical period are the revolutions that result from major changes in given socio-economic patterns. For example, the moment when the Germanic peoples invaded the Roman Empire in the fifth century was considered to be the start of the medieval period, the year 1640 is seen as the start of the early modern history, and 1917 was the start of modern history, and also the beginning of the transition to socialism in the world. This periodization leads to different perceptions of history in different countries. For example, the French take the year of 1914 as the commencement of the modern world. This is not unusual, but it has also caused debates among Vietnamese historians regarding the criteria for periodizing world history. There is also an argument about whether or not a socio-economic pattern of historical periodization can be applied to the West but not to the East, because the West is characterized as highly homogeneous. In the East, we want to clarify the concept of the Asiatic mode of production that was developed by Karl Marx in the nineteenth century. During the 1960s, research on the Asiatic mode of production was an important trend, and Vietnamese historians participated in these discussions. The result is still unclear. Some studies continue to attempt to link the social characteristics of medieval Asian societies to the Asiatic mode of production as described by Marx. In addition to the above-mentioned periodization, other issues, events, and figures in world history have been under discussion. Moreover, in the process of working out the curriculum and organizing teaching and exam activities for history and world history, Vietnamese historians are trying to find ways to inspire interest in history among students in all grades, or at least to help them not to be afraid of this subject.

Teachers of World History Related to the teaching of world history is the role of the teacher of world history. History teachers are recruited from teachers of other subjects, which means that they must have governmental certification and graduate from teachers training 97

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colleges or colleges of social sciences. Only middle and high school teachers are recruited from among teachers of social studies or other majors, and they are not required to take extra courses. Instructors at colleges or universities should take special courses in world history, however.

Textbooks for and Examinations in World History Textbooks and examinations are important elements in the ongoing revision of world history curricula in Vietnam. These are all overseen by the Ministry of Education and the committees within it dedicated to such tasks.

Textbooks At present, the same textbooks for teaching both Vietnamese and world history are used throughout the country (one textbook for each grade). These are assembled by the Ministry of Education, based on a proposal prepared by experts and adopted by the committee of textbook compilation. This is also the agency that decides which compulsory textbooks will be used at schools. Textbooks are available for sale. But for students in some remote areas, textbooks are distributed for free. Textbooks are written by experts on Vietnamese and world history, who are either university professors or researchers. Regularly, a group of experts takes charge of textbook preparation. Then the committee examines the drafts, which are reviewed several times and, eventually, after the final revision, they are submitted for publication. In Vietnamese schools, there is usually one official textbook for each grade. For grade twelve, there are two: one for the general student population and the other for students who choose social sciences as a major. In addition to the compulsory textbooks, there are many reference books for students, and teachers’ books that give guidelines for teaching the subject, which are sold in book stores. World history textbooks are designed according to both chronological and geographical order. In world history, the proportion dedicated to Western history is much bigger than that of other regions (especially for the period between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries).

Examinations While there have been many innovations in the teaching of world history, exams are almost the same as before in regards to their structure and schedule. In middle school (grades six to nine), teachers of each class are responsible for the monthly and mid-term exams, assigning themes and giving marks. The exams at the end of the term and the year in grades six and seven are designed by the teachers at each school. Each teacher writes a question, and then the team leader will draw one for the exam. The number of questions on world history depends on the program for the entire year. The exams at the end of the term and the year for grades eight and nine are prepared by the district Department of Education. In the 98

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high schools, the organization and contents of the exams are similar to the program in middle school. For the graduation exam in grade twelve, history is an elective subject and the Ministry of Education is responsible for drawing up the exam question. At colleges and universities, history is a compulsory subject of Block C (Literature, History, and Geography). In the past, the Ministry of Education was responsible for the contents of the exam and one expert group assigned themes secretly. In the future, if the universities are given the right to organize their entrance exams, these universities will undertake assigning themes. In the case of the universities that have Block C but don’t have history teachers, they can hire professors from other universities. Across Vietnam, there are also provincial and national exams in history for gifted students. Each level assigns its own exam questions. Like most provinces, cities have special schools for training gifted students. There are also special history classes for gifted students in the high schools. About one-third of the questions on the exams at all levels are on world history. So, the grades are based on 7/10 points on Vietnamese history, and 3/10 points on world history.

Future Revisions to the Curriculum The rewriting of the curriculum, specifically of the syllabus for teaching world history in Vietnam, is a task to be achieved in the next few years. This will require the efforts of the Vietnamese historians themselves, and will draw on what they have learned from the experiences of historians in the region and worldwide.

Appendix 6.1. Contents of World History Curricula in High Schools and Universities of Vietnam. (All topics are covered in one class period unless otherwise noted.)

Grade 6: A Brief Introduction to the World’s Ancient History • Primitive Communal Societies • Ancient Eastern Societies • Ancient Western Societies

Grade 7: A Brief Introduction to the World’s Medieval History • The Beginning and Development of Feudal Society in Europe • The End of Feudalism and the Beginning of Capitalism in Europe • The Struggle of Capitalism against Feudalism in the Late Medieval Period in Europe • Feudalism in China (two classes) • Feudalism in India 99

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• Feudal Nations in Southeast Asia (two classes) • Overview of Feudal Societies

Grade 8: The World’s Early Modern History (Mid-Sixteenth Century to 1917) Chapter I. The Period of the Establishment of Capitalism (from the Sixteenth Century to the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century) • • • •

The Early Bourgeois Revolutions (two classes) The French Bourgeois Revolution (1789–1794) (two classes) The Expansion of Capitalism All over the World (two classes) The Workers’ Movement and the Birth of Marxism (two classes)

Chapter II. Western Countries: Late Nineteenth Century to Early Twentieth Century • The Paris Commune, 1871 • Britain, France, Germany, and the United States: Late Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Century (two classes) • International Workers’ Movement: Late Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Century (two classes) • The Development of Technology, Science, and the Arts in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Chapter III. Asia from the Mid-Eighteenth to the Early Nineteenth Century • India in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries • China in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries • The Southeast Asian countries from the Late Nineteenth to the Early Twentieth Century • Japan, from the Mid-Nineteenth to the Early Twentieth Century

Chapter IV. The First World War (1914–1918) • The First World War (1914–1918) (two classes)

Contemporary World History, 1917–1945 Chapter I. The October 1917 Revolution in Russia and the Construction of Socialism in the Soviet Union (1921–1941) • The October 1917 Revolution in Russia and the Struggle for Defending Revolutionary Achievements (1917–1921) (two classes) • The Construction of Socialism in the Soviet Union (1921–1941) 100

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Chapter II. Europe and the United States between the Two World Wars (1918–1939) • Europe between the Two World Wars (1918–1939) • The United States between the Two World Wars (1918–1939)

Chapter III. Asia between the Two World Wars (1918–1939) • Japan between the Two World Wars (1918–1939) • The Movements for National Independence in Asia (1918–1939) (two classes)

Chapter IV. The Second World War (1939–1945) • The Second World War (1939–1945) (two classes)

Chapter V. The Development of Science, Technology, and the Arts in the World in the First Half of the Twentieth Century • The Development of Science, Technology, and the Arts in the World in the First Half of the Twentieth Century • Review of Modern World History, 1917–1945

Grade 9: Contemporary World History, from 1945 to the Present Chapter I. The Soviet Union and the Eastern European Countries after the Second World War • The Soviet Union and the Eastern European Countries from 1945 to the Mid-1970s • The Soviet Union and the Eastern European Countries from the Mid-1970s to the Early 1990s

Chapter II. Asian, African, and Latin American Countries from 1945 to the Present • The Development of National Independence Movements and the Fall of the Colonial System • Asian Countries • Southeast Asian Countries • African Countries • Latin American Countries 101

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Chapter III. The United States, Japan, and Western Europe from 1945 to the Present • The United States • Japan • Western Europe

Chapter IV. International Relations from 1945 to the Present • World Order after the War

Chapter V. The Scientific and Technological Revolution from 1945 to the Present • The Main Achievements and Historical Meanings of the Scientific and Technological Revolutions after the Second World War

Grade 10: World History, Primitive Communal Groups, Ancient Societies, and the Medieval Period Chapter 1. Primitive Communal Groups • The Appearance of Human Beings and Primitive Communal Groups • Primitive Societies

Chapter II. Ancient Societies • Ancient Eastern Societies (two classes) • Ancient Western Societies (two classes)

Chapter III. Feudalism in China • China during the Feudal Period (two classes)

Chapter IV. Feudalism in India • Indian Nations and Indian Traditional Culture • Historical Development and the Diversity of Indian Cultures

102

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Chapter V. Feudalism in Southeast Asia • The Establishment and Development of the Main Kingdoms in Southeast Asia • The Kingdoms of Cambodia and Laos

Chapter VI. Western Europe in the Medieval Period • The Establishment and Development of Feudalism in Western Europe (the Fifth to Fourteenth Centuries) • Western Europe in the Medieval Period (two classes)

Grade 11: World History before the Second World War • Japan • India • China • Southeast Asian Countries (two classes) • African and Latin American Countries • The First World War (two classes) • Cultural Achievements in the Early Modern Period • The October 1917 Revolution in Russia and the Struggle for Defending the Revolution (1917–1921) • The Construction of Socialism in the Soviet Union (1921–1944) • Capitalist Countries between the Two World Wars (1918–1939) • Germany between the Two World Wars (1918–1939) • The United States between the Two World Wars (1918–1939) • Japan between the Two World Wars (1918–1939) • Revolutionary Movements in China and India (1918–1938) • Southeast Asian Countries between the Two World Wars (1918–1938) • The Second World War (1939–1945) (two classes)

Grade 12: World History after the Second World War • The Establishment of World Order after the Second World War (1945–1990) • The Soviet Union and Eastern European Countries (1945–1991); The Russian Federation (1991–2000) (two classes) • Northeastern Asian Countries • Southeastern Asian Countries and India (two classes) • African and Latin American Countries • The United States • Western Europe

103

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• Japan • International Relations during and after the Cold War (two classes) • The Scientific and Technological Revolutions and Trends of Globalization during the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

Programs of Faculties of History in Pedagogical and Other Colleges and Universities, and the Faculty of History at the University of Social Sciences • World History: Ancient and Medieval Times (from Primitive Societies to the Seventeenth Century) (120 classes) • Early Modern World History (from the Seventeenth Century to 1917) (120 classes) • Contemporary World History (from 1917 to the Present) (120 classes). (In addition, there are presentations and talks on international relations and on the history of the United States, Western Europe, Japan, and China.)

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Teaching World History in the Philippines: History, Contents, Contexts, and Textbooks Francis A. GEALOGO Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines

Occupied first by Spain from 1565 to 1898, and then by the United States until 1946, the Philippines has seen history education undergo several revisions in terms of emphases and content. Although today the curricula cover a wide spectrum of the world’s history, the textbooks used often reflect a Eurocentric point of view that separates the Philippines from neighbors and regions with which it has had strong historical and cultural ties.

T

he introduction and development of formal education in the Philippines was a prominent feature of its colonial experiences over the past four hundred years. From the establishment of a Spanish colony in the sixteenth century, through the onset of American imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century, the Japanese occupation during World War II, and the post-colonial period after the war, the Philippine educational system has had to contend with the intervening forces of imperialism, colonialism, and foreign domination which characterized the development of educational programs for its people. The structure of the educational system in general, as well as the development of courses and subject areas in particular, was conditioned by these external powers. Teaching world history was included in this, and most of these foreign influences used world history education to orient the way Filipinos regarded the world. In a way, the general education program, and the specific ways of teaching world history as part of this program, were components of the project for occupying the Filipino mind, so that the people would accept the colonial establishment. This study will review and assess the world history textbooks that are currently used in basic education curricular offerings in the Philippines. The periodization used, the geographical scope and coverage utilized, and the historical methodology applied in these texts will all form part of the evaluation of world history education. But more importantly, the ideological, theoretical, and philosophical underpinnings and frameworks that are manifest in the textbooks will be highlighted in the study. These will be evaluated by analyzing some of the extant textbooks and world history materials used in the formal educational system. It is hoped that such 105

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an assessment can help in the understanding of the contemporary conditions for teaching world history in the Philippine educational system. The objectives of this chapter are multiple and includes discussion of the current theoretical and conceptual issues that research on world history and global history have confronted in the past. In the context of the Philippine experience, the chapter also links the development of world history teaching to the long saga of colonial and neo-colonial domination in the archipelago. As mentioned above, foremost among the aims is the analysis of the contents of curricular offerings on world history in the contemporary period, by looking at the curricula as well as the textbooks used in the Philippine educational system.

The Study of World History: Issues and Trends The development of history as an academic discipline in the modern period has formalized the institutionalization of world history as part of most academic curricular offerings. The modernizing role of the formation of nation-states, the institutionalization of disciplinary boundaries in the social and human sciences, as well as the internal development of the discipline of history in various societies significantly impacted the growth, development, and even the orientation of world history teaching and textbook production in most countries. Moreover, this trend in disciplinary specialization has made the conventional study of world history even more confining. Most of the textbooks focus on a particular period or specific geographical location. These temporal and spatial considerations in shaping the discipline of history in general have configured most of the development of world history teaching and textbook writing in a number of societies. The issue of temporality and periodization has always been a concern for world history studies. Most of the periodization in world history reflects the conventional tripartite division of human experience, represented as the ancient, medieval, and modern periods. This presupposes that the human experience assumes a linear progression and that all human civilizations are bound to experience the three distinct periods of social and historical development. While these may apply in some societies, most non-Western, colonized societies would be characterized as ancient but overcome by modernity or the medieval, awaiting modernization by the West. The unidirectional orientation of this same periodization also presents some issues, as it also assumes that the direction experienced by Western societies, where the tripartite division was more evident, must be the model for the rest of the world to emulate. Related to the issue of the temporal representations of world periodization is the propensity to analyze world historical development from the perspective of the West. If the ancient, medieval, and modern periods characterize the historical development of societies, then the Western world—the region where the tripartite development was primarily experienced—was often projected as the geographical center of human societal developments. World history is often summarized by the dictum “the West and the rest,” with other societies being mentioned only as they come in contact with Western expansionism. Thus, as the West expanded, the geographical focus of world history still retained such geographical anomalies and reference points. Terms like the Far East, the New World, the continent down under, the dark continent, often resonate the Western point of view in geographical and 106

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historical perspectives. Spatially, world historical experience was the experience of the West, or that of its extensions elsewhere. Periodization, as the famous world historian William Green summarized, is “both the product and the begetter of theory.” In his view, periodization represents the historian’s organizing principles in his subject, the historian’s application of theories to historical change, and the priorities that historians assign to various aspects of human endeavor.101 In two of his articles, Green pointed out that periodization assumes the ideas of continuity and change in the historical narrative, and that the historian subsumes topical organization to the concept of continuity and change. 102 But even with such assertions, Green admitted that “all periodization is arbitrary and artificial,” depending upon which theories of change the historian applies. 103 He mentioned the religious orientation of the early periodization in history and the development of systems approaches, with their aggregative view of the many parts of the whole of human experience, and points to the direction of world systems theory and the impact of Western capitalism in shaping the orientations of world history writing. With the spatial and temporal foci determining the orientations of approaches to world history studies, a number of historians and social scientists have argued that, instead, it may be best to apply thematic approaches to the study of world history. This would have the positive outcome of de-emphasizing pro-Western orientations, if spatial and temporal categories are to be the sole determinant factors for understanding world history, while at the same time recognizing the expansion of the discipline of history and the potential of interdisciplinary studies as a tool for understanding universal human social experience. Thematic and interdisciplinary approaches lend credence to the evolving specializations, even within the historical community, whose members have recognized the limitations of political and military history which highlighted the role of the elite and white colonial masters in shaping world history. Studies on cultural history, social history, demographic history, economic history, the history of gender relations, and others have contributed significantly to this trend. While the recognition of the need to go beyond the confines of the political orientation of world history, with its attendant emphasis on the Western orientation of historiography, may be regarded as a recent phenomenon in the discipline, other works already clarified such issues and concerns over a generation ago. The economist and historian David Landes evaluated the role of population in the development of world history. While an analysis may be advanced regarding the universal experience of population change characterized by fluctuations in the levels of fertility, mortality, and migration on a global scale, he opined that it may also be imperative to look into a number of unique and exceptional demographic conditions of specific societies that exhibited different population trends and developments.104 Annales historians like Marc Bloch, Fernand Braudel, and Emmanuel Le 101 William Green, “Periodizing World History,” History and Theory 34, no. 2 (1995): 99. 102 William Green, “Periodization in European and World History,” Journal of World History 3, no. 1 (1992): 13–53. See also William Green, “Periodizing,” (1995): 99–111. 103 Green, “Periodization,” (1992): 36. 104 David S. Landes, “The Treatment of Population in History Textbooks,” Daedalus 97, no. 2 (1968): 363–384.

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Roy Ladurie created opportunities not only for an histoire totale to be written, but also for the subject of historical discourse to be written “from below,” that is, from the perspective of the masses, who are inarticulate and often unnamed in history. Oswald Spengler’s and Arnold Toynbee’s works were classic examples of how a theory-driven world history approach meant an interpretation of world history with an orientation of either the spiral pattern of organic historical development or the challenge-and-response theory, as a means of understanding world historical events. Among academics in Asia, leading Indian historians associated with the subaltern school like Ranajit Guha and Partha Chatterjee provided novel ways of looking at world history beyond the confines of the nation, in keeping with the development of the narratives “from below.”105 Among the most influential world historians of the recent generation was William H. McNeill, whose works created new opportunities for world historians to reflect on current issues such as those mentioned above. 106 In one of his more influential essays, he opined that cultural and technological borrowings, leading to what he termed the development of “ecumene” or an ecumenical world system integrating a plurality of civilizations, created possibilities for historians to project interpretations of world history beyond the usual colonial or national historiographies.107

Education in the Philippines: An Overview The evolution of world history teaching in the Philippines cannot be divorced from the history of the educational system in the country. Centuries of colonial occupation created avenues for the orientation and reorientation of education in the Philippines, with consequences for the handling of the ways that world history should be taught. A series of educational polices issued since the late nineteenth century has created trends and directions for how to deal with world history in the country. During the Spanish occupation of the Philippines (1565–1898), Spanish educational institutions were created, with the most pronounced influence coming from the Roman Catholic Church. Educational institutions like the Universidad de Santo 105 Marc Bloch, The Historian’s Craft (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953); Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, trans. Sian Reynolds (New York: Harper and Row, 1972); Fernand Braudel, A History of Civilizations (New York: Penguin, 1993); Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, The Peasants of Languedoc, trans. John Day (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980); Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, trans. Charles Francis Atkinson, 2 vols. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926, 1928); Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, 10 vols. (London: Oxford University Press, 1934-54); Ranajit Guha, History at the Limit of World-History (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002); and Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993). 106 See the following: William H. McNeill, “Human Migration in Historical Perspective,” Population and Development Review 10, no. 1 (1984): 1–18; “‘The Rise of the West’ after Twenty-five Years,” Journal of World History 1, no. 1 (1990): 1–21; “The Changing Shape of World History,” History and Theory 34, no. 2 (1995): 8–26; “History and the Scientific Worldview,” History and Theory 37, no. 1 (1998): 1–13; and “World History and the Rise and Fall of the West,” Journal of World History 9, no. 2 (1998): 215–236. 107 McNeill, “The Changing Shape,” (1995).

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Tomas, the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, and the Ateneo Municipal de Manila were established to offer secondary and university education to Spanish subjects and were run by religious personnel. In 1863, a new educational policy was created to reform Spanish colonial education in the Philippines.108 Foremost in this reform were the establishment of the Escuela Normal (teacher training school) for those who wanted to join the ranks of education professionals; education with Spanish as the medium of instruction at all levels; access of Filipino students to university-level education; and assurance of a primary school for girls and boys in every town (pueblo). World history became an integral part of the school curriculum, with emphasis on Spanish history and the history of Western Europe. Significant steps were taken to reform the educational system during the American occupation (1898–1946). Education was at the forefront of American colonial policy and was regarded as a crucial pillar of the occupation. Act 74 of the Philippine Commission, established by the Americans in 1901, laid the groundwork for the establishment of public instruction in the American-occupied Philippine Islands. It created a Department of Public Instruction to serve as the main pillar of colonial education, and normal, trade, and agricultural schools for training their colonial subjects. Moreover, it explicitly made English the medium of instruction, and reoriented the public educational system by divorcing it from the control of religious institutions. Catholic schools, together with the newly established schools of other Christian denominations, were allowed to operate as private schools. For history education, required textbooks on general history and the history of the United States became a regular feature of colonial world history education.109 The impact of American colonial education was assessed by the US authorities themselves during the occupation. The most important of these was the Philippines Board of Educational Survey under the leadership of Paul Monroe, more popularly known as the Monroe Survey, which provided an evaluation of American education in the Philippines and the impact of its various programs on Philippine society. Among the areas assessed were primary and secondary education, teacher training, health and physical education, general education, finance, and the role of the University of the Philippines in the educational system. The quality of instruction, the textbooks used, and the problem of language in instruction, were among the issues analyzed in the 1925 survey that highlighted the problems of colonial impositions in Philippine education. It concluded that these problems were significant enough to require additional educational reforms. Among the challenges faced by the educational system were the problems of language instruction based on English in a multi-lingual society; the level of teacher training; the development of an educational system that is relevant to the society; and the problem of funding and administration.110 The Monroe Survey was significant in the sense that some of the issues and concerns found in the 1920s have remained relevant up to the present. 108 Gaceta de Madrid, 23 December 1863. 109 Fred Atkinson, “The Present Educational Movement in the Philippine Islands, 1901,” in Bearers of Benevolence: The Thomasites and Public Education in the Philippines, ed. Mary Racelis and Judy Ick (Quezon City: Anvil Publishing, 2001), 316. 110 Lina Nepomuceno-van Heugten, “From the Baldwin Primer to the Monroe Survey: A Short History of Public Elementary School Textbooks, 1901–1932,” The Journal of History 48 (2002): 28–62.

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On the issue of textbooks used, Lina Nepomuceno-van Heugten emphasized the problem of authorship as well as content in the production of textbooks during the early twentieth century.111 She mentioned that the Americans were seemingly reluctant to give Filipinos the opportunity to write their own textbooks, which also pointed to the problem of perspective, orientation, and point of view adopted in the texts. She opined that while the Monroe Survey provided the basis for a critique of the Philippine educational system, only cosmetic changes were introduced into the system, while the problem of content remained. Several studies were made of the impact of American colonial education, offering either a critical perspective of the system. The nationalist writer Renato Constantino criticized the educational system under the Americans for creating a false sense of identity for the Filipinos, divorced from the historical reality of colonial occupation, who were desirous of becoming more like Americans than Filipinos.112 Disregard of the historical Filipino revolutionary tradition, the creation of a colonial mentality, the identity crisis of the Filipinos, and the language problem were among the points raised by Constantino in his classic critique of the Philippine educational system. Nevertheless, the system was maintained up to the period of Philippine independence in 1946. The impact of multilateral financial institutions affecting the orientation of the Philippine educational system in general, and world history teaching in particular, became subject of studies by some researchers. Letizia Constantino, for example, emphasized the non-neutral role played by the World Bank in giving funds for the development of Philippine textbooks, which led to a neo-colonial orientation in most of them, particularly those used in teaching world history and Philippine history.113 The current state of Philippine education was determined by the Education Act of 1982. It laid the groundwork for the administration, orientation, and management of educational institutions in the Philippines. Most notable in the changes in the school system was its exposure to capital and the financial sector, with the opening of the education institutions to private corporate funds and the deregulation in the collection of school tuition fees. The deregulation and liberalization of textbook publishing also resulted from this shift in policy. These changes in the evolution of Philippine education had significant impact on world history teaching. The colonial orientation of the educational system (under different colonial powers) meant that world history reflected the colonizer’s role in the presentation of world history. Spain’s role in world civilization and the role of the United States in the modern world were emphasized in the periods of colonial occupation of the Philippines under Spain and the United States, respectively. Even during the period of independence, foreign institutions and private capital have had significant roles in shaping the educational system. The present neo-liberal orientation of governmental policy regarding education has been the

111 Van Heugten, “The Present,” (2002). 112 Renato Constantino, The Miseducation of the Filipino (Quezon City: Foundation for Nationalist Studies, 1982). 113 Letizia Constantino, World Bank Textbooks: Scenario for Deception (Quezon City: Foundation for Nationalist Studies, 1982).

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subject of intense scrutiny and debate that would define future trends and directions of Philippine education in general, and world history education, in particular.114

Contents of the World History Curriculum and Sample Textbooks in the Philippines In order to appreciate the orientation and thrust of world history education in the Philippines, it is necessary to present the contents of the current world history curriculum as taught in secondary schools. Moreover, it is also important to examine the outlines of sample textbooks in use in a number of secondary schools, in order to understand world history as it is currently taught in the general secondary school curriculum in the country. Since the reconfiguration of basic education that resulted from the introduction of the new K-12 curriculum in 2016, world history has been taught in grade eight (after courses in Philippine history in grade six and Asian history in grade seven).115 This sequence gives the student some grounding in both Philippine and Asian history, and this knowledge will help them in their understanding of world history in the higher grade levels. The content outline for world history as provided by the Department of Education is found in Appendix 7.1. The current K-12 curriculum is still in its formative stage, and textbooks on world history have yet to be produced. The textbooks that are available often still reflect the pre-2014 orientation of the course, before the formulations set by the new K-12 curriculum design were implemented. The major contents of some of the sample textbooks in world history are shown in Appendix 7.2. These samples, as well as the curriculum guide for world history in the new K-12 curriculum, provide a glimpse of the current state of world history education in the country. The outlines used in the textbooks, as well as the recent curriculum guide, also reflect the inclinations and tendencies of world history education in the secondary schools of the country. The specific nature and orientation of world history studies and teaching necessitate a deeper examination of the contents of the textbooks being used in the Philippines.

An Exercise in Quantification: Philippine World History Textbooks The study of world history in the Philippines can be approached by assessing textbooks used in the educational system. From the Spanish colonial period up to the American colonial occupation, the study of history often took the form of world or imperial history. History texts by Bossuet, Ott, Cantù, Myers, and Elson were among those found in the archival collections of books used in the old universities in

114 Bienvenido L. Lumbera, Ramón Guillermo, and Arnold Alamon, eds., Mula Tore Patungong Palengke: Neoliberal Education in the Philippines (Quezon City: Ibon, 2007). 115 http://lrmds.deped.gov.ph/detail/5447

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Manila.116 Unfortunately, the extent to which they influenced world history teaching in Philippine schools during that period, their availability to Filipino students, and whether Filipino students actually used these books for their studies, are questions that were not easy to answer, leaving the analysis of the texts incomplete, lacking their proper contexts. For the purpose of this study, textbooks used in basic education in the Philippines since 2000 have been analyzed and assessed to highlight their trends, directions, and orientations, given the parameters discussed above. The study was limited to the evaluation of the coverage of world history textbooks for which the lead authors are Angelica Ariston, Christine L. Diaz, Andrew Gonzalez, Grace Estella Mateo, Michael Pante, Teofista Vivar, and Gregoriao Zaide and Sonia Zaide.117 The contents of the books were evaluated based on the treatment given to particular topics, periods, or considerations of geographical coverage. A simple quantification of the percentages of the periods and locales given were applied to all the textbooks, to give comparable consideration to the way topics were covered and emphasized by the author(s). All of the world history textbooks examined, except for one, were more than three hundred pages long. Four of them (Ariston, Mateo, Pante, and Zaide and Zaide) were more than four hundred pages. All of the textbooks were published after 2000 and were made available and actually utilized in either private or public schools. These are also available in major bookstores throughout the archipelago. Table 7.1 shows the temporal coverage of the textbooks analyzed. In the interest of consistency, the periods were determined according to the most traditional divisions used in Philippine historical studies, despite the obvious Eurocentric, Christian bias: to wit, before the Common Era (also called the Christian era or current era), 1 to 1000 ce; 1001 to 1500, 1501 to 1800, 1801 to 1900, and 1901 to the present, leaving some pages uncategorized in some textbooks. Diaz’s history is limited to the period 1500 to 2000 with no references to the periods before that. All the others covered time from the beginning up to the present. For the first period, almost 30 percent of the textbook by Vivar covered the early period; while Mateo devoted more than a quarter of their book to that period; Pante, a little over a quarter; Zaide and Zaide, 21 percent; and Gonzalez, 17 percent. Ariston had the least coverage for the period, devoting only around a tenth of the book.

116 Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, Discurso sobre la historia universal (Madrid: Andreo Ortega, 1767); Auguste Ott, Manual de historia universal (Madrid: Gabinete Literario, 1841); Cesare Cantù, Historia universal (Madrid: Establicimiento Tipográfico, 1847); Philip van Ness Myers, A General History for Colleges and High Schools (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1889); Henry William Elson, Modern Times and the Living Past (Philippine Islands: American Book Company, 1928). 117 Angelica Ariston, Lupang hangarin; Christine L. Diaz, World History: New Perspectives (The Renaissance to the Global Wars) (Pasig City: Anvil Publishing, 2011); Andrew Gonzalez, World History (translated); Grace Estella Mateo, Kasaysayan ng daigdig (Quezon City: Vibal Publishing, 2012); Michael Pante, Ang kasaysayan; Teofista Vivar, Kasaysayan ng daigdig (Quezon City: SD Publications, 2000); and Gregorio F. Zaide and Sofia Magbanua Zaide, World History for the Postmodern World, 6th ed. (Quezon City: All-nations Publishing, 2013).

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Table 7.1. World History Textbooks in the Philippines According to Periods Covered. Author

Title

Date of Total Before Publication No. of Common Era Pages

Ariston, et al.

Land of Aspiration: History of the World Lupang Hangarin: Kasaysayan ng Daigdig

2006

469

Diaz

World History: New Perspectives

2010

254

Gonzalez, Velez, and Bernardino

World History (Kasaysayan ng Mundo)

2002

391

66 pp. 16.88%

2012

405

Pante

World History 2011 (Ang kasaysayan ng daigdig)

Vivar, et al.

History of thw World Kasaysayan ng Daigdig

Zaide and Zaide

World History for the Postmodern World

Mateo, et al. History of the World Kasaysayan ng Daigdig

52 pp. 11.09%

1–1000 ce 1001–1500 1501–1800 1801–1900

1901–Present

88 pp. 18.76%

72 pp. 15.35%

76 pp. 16.2%

83 pp. 17.68%

94 pp. 37.01%

43 pp. 16.93%

54 pp. 21.26%

63 pp. 24.81%

80 pp. 20.46%

43 pp. 11% 27 pp. 6.91%

107 pp. 26.42% 27 pp. 6.67%

55 pp. 13.58%

54 pp. 13.33%

32 pp. 7.9%

98 pp. 24.2%

414

104 pp. 25.12% 38 pp. 9.18%

77 pp. 18.6%

57 pp. 13.77%

51 pp. 12.32%

88 pp. 21.26%

2000

327

96 pp. 29.36%

52 pp. 15.9%

28 pp. 8.56%

35 pp. 10.7%

17 pp. 5.2%

76 pp. 23.24%

2013

412

85 pp. 20.63%

35 pp. 8.5%

22 pp. 5.34%

62 pp. 15.05%

96 pp. 23.3%

106 pp. 25.73%

79 pp. 16.84%

40 pp. 10.23%

118 pp. 30.18%

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The second period, covering the first millennium ce, had Ariston with 17 percent; Vivar, 16 percent; and Gonzalez, 10 percent. The rest has less than 10 percent covering the one thousand years of this period. Most of the textbooks, therefore, would focus on the last millennium in their treatment of world history, with Diaz obviously having higher percentages than the rest. Outside of the Diaz textbook, Gonzalez had 20 percent, and Ariston 19 percent of their textbook devoted to the period 1001 to 1500. The years 1501 to 1800 had almost equal coverage, ranging from a low of 11 percent for Vivar, to a high of 15 percent for Ariston. The years 1801 to 1900, the period associated with high imperialism, also presented remarkable differences. Vivar only devoted 5 percent of its total pages, while Zaide and Zaide had 23 percent of its total number of pages devoted to the period. For the last period, all have general treatment of more than 20 percent, with Gonzalez having 31 percent; Mateo having 24 percent; Pante, 21 percent; Vivar, 23 percent; and Zaide and Zaide, 26 percent. The figures highlight the fact that despite the last two periods being the shortest in human history, on average, more than a third (sometimes almost half, as in the case of Zaide and Zaide) were devoted to the period closest to the present, indicating a relatively more “presentist” bias. Table 7.2 shows the amount of space given to specific regions of the world. The textbooks were analyzed according to the geographical location of the themes and topics they covered. Accordingly, they were classified as topics covering Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, or Australia and Oceania. Topics related to more than one region, or encompassing many regions, were classified as having world coverage, despite the obvious limitations of the term. One obvious characteristic of the world history textbooks under consideration is bias towards covering topics involving Europe and the Europeans in world history. For example, about 70 percent of the Ariston book was devoted to European events. Diaz had 75 percent; Gonzalez had 52 percent; Mateo, 49 percent; Pante, 67 percent; Vivar, 48 percent; and Zaide and Zaide, 47 percent. Given the coverage, even the book with the lowest coverage to European-related topics devoted almost half of its text to Europe, leaving the rest of the world to disproportionately be covered with what was left of the book. Asia, on the other hand, had very minimal coverage. Only ten pages or 2.1 percent of the book by Ariston was devoted to the region. Diaz had an even smaller figure, with six pages or 1.9 percent of the book. The others were relatively proportionately bigger with Gonzalez, 17 percent; Mateo, 13 percent; Pante, 18 percent; Vivar, 20 percent; and Zaide and Zaide, 15 percent. Africa was not even covered by Diaz, with the rest all having less than 10 percent of their text related to African topics: specifically, 6.6 percent for Gonzalez, 4 percent for Mateo, 2 percent for Pante, 5.5 percent for Vivar, and 3 percent for Zaide and Zaide. The Americas were covered by Ariston for a little over 8 percent; Diaz, less than 1 percent; Gonzalez, 12 percent; Mateo 4 percent; Pante, 11 percent; Vivar, 4.6 percent; and Zaide and Zaide, 8 percent. Australia and Oceania were not even part of the coverage of the world history textbooks for four of the textbooks analyzed, with a very small percentage of coverage by Gonzalez, 1 percent; Mateo 1 percent, and Vivar, 2 percent. In order to reflect the global connections and interregional interactions, almost all of the textbooks had topics devoted to more than one region of the world.

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Table. 7.2. World History Textbooks in the Philippines According to Geographic Coverage. Author

Title

Date of Total Europe Publication No. of Pages

Asia

Africa

Americas

Ariston, et al.

Land of Aspiration: History of the World Lupang Hangarin: Kasaysayan ng Daigdig

2006

469

328 pp. 69.94% 10 pp. 2.13%

Diaz

World History: New Perspectives

2010

254

Gonzalez, Velez, and Bernardino

World History (Kasaysayan ng Mundo)

2002

Mateo, et al.

Kasaysayan ng Daigdig

Pante

Australia & World Oceania Coverage

31 pp. 6.6%

40 pp. 8.53%

63 pp. 13.43%

193 pp. 75.98% 6 pp. 1.97%

2 pp. 0.79%

54 pp. 21.26%

391

202 pp. 51.66% 66 pp. 16.88% 26 pp. 6.65%

46 pp. 11.76% 5 pp. 1.28% 51 pp. 13.04%

2012

405

197 pp. 48.64% 53 pp. 13.09% 16 pp. 3.95%

15 pp. 3.7%

World History (Ang kasaysayan ng daigdig)

2011

414

277 pp. 66.91% 75 pp. 18.12% 9 pp. 2.17%

46 pp. 11.11%

Vivar, et al.

Kasaysayan ng Daigdig

2000

327

155 pp. 47.4%

65 pp. 19.88% 18 pp. 5.5%

15 pp. 4.59%

Zaide and Zaide

World History for the Postmodern World

2013

412

194 pp. 47.09% 62 pp. 15.05% 13 pp. 3.16%

32 pp. 7.77%

6 pp. 1.43% 117 pp. 28.89% 41 pp. 9.9%

7 pp. 2.14% 82 pp. 25.08% 96 pp. 23.3%

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Ariston had 13.4 percent; Diaz, 21 percent; Gonzalez, 13 percent; Mateo 29 percent; Pante, 10 percent; Vivar, 25 percent; and Zaide and Zaide, 23 percent. Several generalizations can be made based upon these data. The first is that there is an obvious slant in world history textbooks towards topics related to Europe and the Western world. Even topics related to interregional interactions (e. g., the Cold War, the world wars, the Age of Discovery, imperialism, etc.) all exhibited significant historical initiatives coming from the West, or include significant involvement by Western societies. It is also important to note that while the textbooks emphasize themes related to Europe and the West in general, there seemed to be reduced treatment of regions outside of the West. Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America were noticeably underrepresented in most of these world history textbooks. Oceania’s lack of coverage was noticeable, despite the fact that insular Southeast Asia and the islands of the Pacific are interrelated regions sharing history, linguistic families, ethnicities, and even maritime orientations. The more than two hundred years of the Philippines being governed by the Viceroyalty of Mexico, and therefore more related to Latin America than to other regions in the world from 1565 to 1820, were somewhat confused by the lack of attention given to Latin American historical developments. World history textbooks in the Philippines tend to overlook the old historical connections that they had as a society with other regions of the world. Regarding the temporal coverage, there appears to be a trend towards a truncated, U-shaped treatment for specific periods in world history. Emphases were mostly given to the periods before the Common Era, then waning and lessening in focus during the first millennium, and again peaking for the period after 1500. Most books no longer use the terms ancient, medieval, and modern in their periodization, giving credence to what the social theorist Ashis Nandy emphasized as the modernist approach to historical themes and periodization, without any recognition to its theoretical implications.118

Contents and Contexts: Qualitative Assessments of World History Textbooks The preceding discussions highlight the focus and emphasis of the themes, periods, and geographic coverage of most current world history textbooks in use in the Philippines. It is also necessary to look at the theoretical orientations and conceptual assumptions of the textbooks, in order to complete the picture of the nature and characteristics of world history in them. This can be done by looking at how the textbooks explain specific events, accounts, and historical interpretations in world history. This section focuses on three major themes that are common in the textbooks being analyzed: the theory or concept of the origin of humanity, the earth, and history (or its manifestations); imperialism as a world historical event; and contemporary issues and problems as both historical and contextual exercises in world history. Regarding the conceptual discussions on history, Pante was explicit in the introduction to his textbook when he stated that “history is a discipline or branch of knowledge about the systematic study of the past…it discusses the human past, the world that human society is involved in” (ang kasaysayan ay ang disiplina o sangay 118 Ashis Nandy, “History’s Forgotten Doubles,” History and Theory (1995): 44–66

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ng kaalaman tungkol sa sistematikong pag aaral ng nakaraan…tinatalakay nito ang nakaraan ng tao at lipunan, at ng daigdig na kanyang ginagalawan). Conscious of the systematic approach to history, his introductory chapters focus on contending traditional and scientific theories on the origins of the human species, the value of geography, archeology, and related disciplines, and the role of science in understanding human history. The Zaide and Zaide textbook, on the other hand, was explicitly Judeo-Christian in its orientation. It even began with a full-page, boxed inset of a passage from Genesis telling the story of creation, followed by a discussion of the study of world history. Interestingly, the second section of the introductory chapter highlighted beliefs about the origin of life, with the importance of creation, the controversy regarding evolution, and the replacement of creation with evolution as sub-themes. The section ended with another full-page, boxed inset telling the story of Adam and Eve. Mateo began their discussion of the “origin of civilization” (pinagmulan ng kabihasnan), contextualizing the intellectual and theoretical debates about the origin of the earth with religious beliefs, immediately followed by a discussion of the scientific theories. While these authors tried to offer a balanced presentation by including a section on creationism and religious beliefs, Vivar did not even bother to mention any religious explanation of the origins of the earth and humankind, choosing to highlight the big bang theory, nebular theory, continental drift, and the evolution of humankind, with little mention of any creation myth. In dealing with imperialism, Ariston began their discussion with the “Western age of discovery and navigation” (panahon ng kanluraning pagtuklas at paglalayag); “the birth and strengthening of the nation-states” (pagsilang at pagpapalakas ng mga bansang estado) with a focus on the experiences of Great Britain, France, Spain, Russia, and Austria, followed by the age of revolutions. Latin America and Europe are the foci of discussion in the section on nationalism, independence, and unity (kalayaan at pagkabuo: ang nasyonalismo sa America at Europa). Imperialism is tangentially discussed, with nation formation and revolution as the major conceptual framework in the section on European expansion. An entire section was devoted by Diaz to the phenomenon of imperialism. Entitled “Welcome to the World: Expansion and Colonization in the Early Modern Times,” the chapter discussed the age of discovery and exploration; the formation of the Portuguese and Spanish empires; the religious, political, and economic dimensions of expansion; and the negative consequences of European expansion. Interestingly, Diaz connected the discussion of the age of empire with the rise of the early experiences of globalization—discussing, for example, the impact of multilateral agencies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the elite and the poor in society. On a conceptual note, Pante notably devoted an entire section to the impact of imperialism (using the term to denote the phenomenon and not to obscure it with other concepts) on different regions of the world (e.g., India, China, Japan), and highlighting the role of capital and markets, and the political and military expansion of the West into the different markets of the world. Territorial growth, he said, was essential for “developing sources of natural resources, creating new markets, and getting cheap sources of labor for imperialist powers” (kinukuha ang mga likas yaman, at murang lakas paggawa, at naging merkado rin para sa imperyalistang bansa). In this sense, the book argued, “the hegemony of the strong states over the weak 117

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nations in the political, economic, and cultural aspects are realized, and providing the true meaning of imperialism” (nangibabaw ang malakas na bansa sa isang mahinang bansa sa mga aspeto ng pulitika, ekonomiya, at kultura. Ito ang kahulugan ng imperyalismo). World history textbooks also provide an opportunity to discuss contemporary concerns and issues confronting societies of the twenty-first century. It is necessary to mention the differing views on current developments as presented in these textbooks. Zaide and Zaide, for example, ended their book with a section on Christianity and postmodernity, highlighting answers to the questions “What is the importance of Christianity for the postmodern world?” and “Filipinos’ role in World Christianity?” ending with the statement, “Their Christian history makes Filipinos ideal to bring Christianity closer to other Asian peoples, and thus, to be the ‘light of Asia,’” further obfuscating the supposed secular positioning of textbooks and treating them as texts for the propagation of religious beliefs.119 Pante, on the other hand, was more oriented towards discussing contemporary concerns of humanity. In the last chapter, the book mentions “the multitude of problems faced by humanity, from global terrorism to poverty, highlighting parallels between the problems of the twenty-first century, and those of past societies, like the problem of the widening gap between the rich and the poor” (maraming suliraning kinakaharap ang sangkatauhan, mula sa pandaigdigang terorismo hanggang sa kahirapan…hindi mapapasubaliang malaki ang pagkakatulad ng mga problema natin ngayong ika-21 siglo sa mga problema ng nagdaang lipunan, tulad na lamang ng malaking agwat sa pagitan ng mayaman at mahirap). With this, the book focuses on the arms race, global terrorism, human rights, the issues attendant to globalization, population and development, and widespread poverty. Ariston ended their book with a discussion of the “advancement of democracy and the war against terrorism” (pagsulong ng demokrasya at ang digmaan laban sa terorismo) and the “challenges of the new millenium” (mga hamon sa bagong milenyo). Issues related to global hunger, education, gender equality, infant mortality, AIDS and other epidemics, the environment, and global cooperation are the major topics discussed in the last section. Finally, Vivar included six chapters that deal with contemporary issues and concerns, with topics including ideological struggles, the Cold War and neocolonialism, the arms race, population and development, technology and ecological conditions, and human rights, each with its own chapter discussing the intricacies of the issue being presented. From this discussion, it can be seen that a qualitative discussion of the major themes found in world history textbooks provides new interpretations of how the topics in world history are being treated. While trends in the coverage of particular issues may reveal specific emphasis on some periods and geographical locations, the perspectives, orientations, points of view, and major objectives of the textbooks are as varied as the themes that they cover. Obvious ideological, religious, conceptual, and political differences are revealed in the process of textbook production, as is manifest in the way topics and themes are treated in the textbooks being analyzed.

119 Zaide and Zaide, World History, (2013).

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Tendencies and Trends in World History Education The development of world history education in the Philippines can be considered as part and parcel of the global trend towards treating world history as a classroom subject for the advancement of some pedagogical, educational, even ideological and political concerns of societies. Based on the issues of temporal and spatial coverage, Philippine world history textbooks reflect the nature and orientation of most studies observed elsewhere: the notions of “the West and the rest”; of the tripartite division of historic eras (even though the terms ancient, medieval, and modern are not as noticeable as before); and the nature and scope of regional characteristics and interregional relations that shaped the contours of most historical developments. One remarkable feature of the textbooks was their potential to correct the lack of knowledge of Filipino students about world historical events in which their country participated. The lack of emphasis on the Austronesian and Pacific Island peoples and on Asian, Latin American, and African topics was an obvious characteristic of the textbooks, despite the fact that Philippine history has been marked by centuries, even millennia, of contact with these regions. This may further alienate Filipino students from regions and peoples with which they could discover solidarity, in terms of shared historical experiences and, even more pertinent, common historical struggles. The other dimension that was remarkable in the study was the degree to which the Eurocentric orientation defined and determined the nature and objectives of world history textbooks in the Philippines. Aside from the obvious over-emphasis on the topics related to European themes, even the events that were significant to Asian, Pacific, and Latin American societies (with which the Philippines were intimately linked historically) were almost always presented as somewhat associated, if not totally defined, by the issues attendant to European history. The neo-liberal orientation of the Philippine educational system was also a major point of consideration in the analysis of world history textbooks. As market forces were found to be the determinant factor in textbook production, there is open competition among publishers and textbook writers peddling their works to specific audiences in the education market. This is true not only for private schools that are given free rein to decide which textbooks to use for their thousands of students; even the public education system and the textbook producers are exposed to the movements of the market. The consequence of this has been the proliferation of textbooks published by private printers and textbook producers (and private publishers accredited by the government to handle textbook production for the public schools) for consideration by the school system, all competing to share in the lucrative textbook production market. Given this context, the proliferation of textbooks with a variety of orientations and perspectives became the norm in the Philippines—a phenomenon that has had significant impact not only on textbook production in particular, but on the educational system in general. Despite the pressures of the free market, however, it should be observed that the current trends and perhaps even the future orientation of world history textbook production in the Philippines will continue to be conditioned by the tradition of Eurocentric, Western-oriented historiography that has characterized the mode of teaching the course for centuries.

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Further Reading Act No. 74, Education Act of 1901, An act establishing a department of public instruction in the Philippine Islands, and appropriating forty thousand dollars ($40,000) for the organization and maintenance of a normal, and a trade school in Manila, and fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) for the organization and maintenance of an agricultural school in the island of Negros for the year 1901. Allardyce, G. (1990). Toward world history: American historians and the coming of the world history course. Journal of World History, 1(1), 23–76. Ariston, A., et al. (2006). Land of Aspiration: HIstory of the World [Lupang hangarin: kasaysayan ng daigdig]. Pasig City: Anvil Publishing. Atkinson, F. (2001). The present educational movement in the Philippine Islands, 1901. In M. Racelis and J. Ick, (Eds.), Bearers of benevolence: The Thomasites and public education in the Philippines. Quezon City: Anvil Publishing. Barnard, R. J. (1968). World history: Are textbooks needed? The Clearing House, 43(2), 117–120. Bentley, J. H. (2005). Myths, wagers, and some moral implications of world history.” Journal of World History, 16(1), 51–82 Bloch, M. (1953). The historian’s craft. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Bossuet, J. B. (1767). Discourses about Universal History Discurso sobre la historia universal. Madrid: Andreo Ortega. Braudel, F. (1972). The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (S. Reynolds, Trans.). New York: Harper and Row. ———. (1993). A history of civilizations. New York: Penguin. Brkljačić, M. (2003). What Past is Present? International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 17(1), 41–52. Board of educational survey. (1925). A survey of the educational system of the Philippine islands by the Board of educational survey, created under acts 3162 and 3196 of the Philippine Legislature, Philippines. Cantù, C. (1847). Universal History Historia universal. Madrid: Establicimiento Tipográfico. Chatterjee, P. (1993). The nation and its fragments: Colonial and postcolonial histories. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Christian, D. (2003). World history in context. Journal of World History, 14(4), 437–458. Cobble, D. S., & Kessler-Harris, A. (1993). The new labor history in American history textbooks. The Journal of American History, 79(4), 1534–1545. Constantino, L. (1982). World Bank textbooks: Scenario for deception. Quezon City: Foundation for Nationalist Studies. Constantino, R. (1982). The miseducation of the Filipino. Quezon City: Foundation for Nationalist Studies. Diaz, C. L. (2011). World history: New perspectives (The Renaissance to the global wars). Pasig City: Anvil Publishing. Donlan, D. (1980). Locating main ideas in history textbooks. Journal of Reading, 24(2), 135–140. Elson, H. W. (1928). Modern times and the living past. Philippine Islands: American Book Company. Gaceta de Madrid, 23 December 1863. Gonzalez, A., Velez, C. R., & Bernardino, E. C. (2002). History of the World [Kasaysayan ng mundo]. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing. Green, W. A. (1992). Periodization in European and world history. Journal of World History, 3(1), 13–53. ———. (1995). Periodizing world history. History and Theory, 34(2), 99–111. Guha, R. (2002). History at the limit of world-history. New York: Columbia University Press. Hendrick, C. W., Jr. (2005). The ethics of world history. Journal of World History, 16(1), 33–49. Johnston, R. (2006). The politics of changing human geography’s agenda: Textbooks and the representation of increasing diversity. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 31(3), 286–303. Keller, C. W. (1997). Comparing the original and revised standards for history. The History Teacher, 30(3), 306–338. Ladurie, E. L. R. (1980). The peasants of Languedoc (J. Day, Trans.). Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Landes, D. S. (1968). The treatment of population in history textbooks. Daedalus, 97(2), 363–384. Lucal, B. (1994). Class stratification in introductory textbooks: Relational or distributional models? Teaching Sociology, 22(2), 139–150. Lumbera, B. L., Guillermo, R., & Alamon, A. (Eds.). (2007). From the Tower to the Market (Mula Tore patungong Palengke): Neoliberal education in the Philippines. Quezon City: Ibon. Mateo, G. E., et al. (2012). History of the World [Kasaysayan ng daigdig]. Quezon City: Vibal Publishing. McClure, D. (1951). International agencies in history textbooks. The School Review, 59(5), 280–288. McNeill, W. H. (1978). Human Migration. Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 31(8), 8–17. ———. (1984). Human migration in historical perspective. Population and Development Review, 10(1), 1–18.

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Teaching World History in the Philippines ———. (1990). “The rise of the West” after twenty-five years. Journal of World History, 1(1), 1–21. ———. (1995). The changing shape of world history. History and Theory, 34(2), 8–26. ———. (1998). History and the scientific worldview. History and Theory, 37(1), 1–13. ———. (1998). World history and the rise and fall of the West. Journal of World History, 9(2), 215–236. Michnik, A. (2009). The trouble with history: Tradition, imprisonment or liberation? International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 22(4), 445–452. Myers, P. V. N. (1889). A general history for colleges and high schools. Boston: Ginn & Co. Nandy, A. (1995). History’s forgotten doubles. History and Theory, 44–66. Ott, A. (1841). Manual de historia universal. Madrid: Gabinete Literario. Pante, M. D. (2011). History of the World [Ang kasaysayan ng daigdig]. Quezon City: Ibon Books. Raat, W. D. (2004). Innovative ways to look at new world historical geography. The History Teacher, 37(3), 281–306. Sachsenmaier, D. (2007). World history as ecumenical history? Journal of World History, 18(4), 465–489. Spengler, O. (1926, 1928). The decline of the West (C. F. Atkinson, Trans.). 2 vols. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Stearns, P. N. (2007). Social history and world history: Prospects for collaboration. Journal of World History, 18(1), 43–52. Toynbee, A. (1934–1954). A study of history. 10 vols. London: Oxford University Press. van Heugten, L. N. (2002). From the Baldwin Primer to the Monroe Survey: A short history of the public elementary school textbooks, 1901–1932. The Journal of History, 48, 28–62. Vivar, T., et al. (2000). History of the World [Kasaysayan ng daigdig]. Quezon City: SD Publications. Wurgaft, L. D. (1995). Identity in world history: A postmodern perspective. History and Theory, 34(2), 67–85. Zaide, G. F., & Zaide, S. M. (2013). World history for the postmodern world, 6th ed. Quezon City: All-nations Publishing.

Appendix 7.1. Philippines: Grade Eight History of the World Curriculum Guide (N.B., this follows Grade Seven, History of Asia) Social Studies Curriculum (as of 2014). 192. Geography and the Early Civilizations of the World A. Geography of the world Physical Geography: five themes of geography, location, topography, physical characteristics of the earth Human Geography: unique cultures of regions, countries, and peoples of the world B. The beginnings of civilization—Prehistory up to 1000 bce Geographical conditions during the era of the first humans on earth, the way of life of early humans, stages in the development of culture during the prehistoric period 193. The World in the Classical and Transitional Age A. The emergence and development of classical societies of Europe Classical civilization in Europe: Minoan and Mycenaean Classical civilization in Greece Classical civilization in Rome The emergence and development of classical societies in Africa, A ­ merica, and the Pacific Islands Contributions of classical civilizations then and now B. The world in the transition period Middle Ages: the strength of the Catholic Church, the Holy Roman Empire, launching the crusades 121

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Life in the Middle Ages: feudalism and manorialism, the emergence of towns and cities Effects and contributions of the significant events in Europe in the diffusion of global ideologies 194. The Emergence of the Modern World: the Transformation towards World Consciousness A. The strengthening of Europe The emergence and contributions of the bourgeoisie, mercantilism, national monarchy, the Renaissance, the Catholic Church and the Reformation The spread of European power The first stage of imperialism and colonization The effects of enlightenment, the scientific and industrial revolutions 195. The Contemporary World: Twentieth Century up to the Present: Problems and Challenges to World Peace, Unity, Cooperation, and Development The First World War The Second World War Ideology, the Cold War, and neo-colonialism World organizations, groups, and alliances

Appendix 7.2. Philippines: Sample Contents of World History Texts. Textbook sample A: Michael Pante,120 World History (translated) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Origins of the earth and humans The first civilizations Greek civilization Roman civilization The beginning of the Middle Ages Feudalism in Europe The end of the Middle Ages Developments in Asia, Africa, and the Americas Modern Europe The state and colonies of Europe The two revolutions Conservatism and liberalism; capitalism and socialism Nationalism Imperialism The two world wars Socialist revolutions and the nationalist movements in Russia and Asia The Cold War Contemporary problems

120 Michael Pante, World History (Ang kasaysayan ng daigdig) (Quezon City: IBON Books, 2011).

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Textbook Sample B: Andrew Gonzalez, Cristina Velez, and Elyria Bernardino. 121 World History (translated) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

The beginnings of humans The first civilizations The Middle Ages The Enlightenment and reform Colonialism and imperialism Destruction and formation After the wars The environment and humanity

121 Andrew Gonzalez, Cristina R. Velez, and Elyria C. Bernardino, Kasaysayan ng mundo (Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing, 2002).

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Diffusionism in World History Teaching in Indonesia, 1950–2006 Agus SUWIGNYO Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Before Indonesian independence, the subject of world history was a colonial instrument used in the classroom to emphasize imperial centrality. After independence in 1945, the national government used a similar form of centrism to build and strengthen Indonesian identity. Domestic issues overshadowed the role of Indonesia in the world community until 1999, when the government revised the curriculum to provide more space for world history topics.

A

cross time, the teaching of world history in Indonesian schools has shown a particular characteristic that the historian J. M. Blaut calls “diffusionism,” namely the notion that “the world has a permanent geographical center and a permanent periphery.”122 The concept of world history as elaborated in school textbooks refers to a “history of different countries” and “the whole history of the whole world.”123 The concept presents a state-centric pattern that falls into two time-based categories: colonial and post-colonial. The colonial pattern follows a dependency mode of relationship between the imperial mother state, which was the Netherlands, and the colonial state. The colony’s access to different countries in the rest of the world and their knowledge of them, and vice versa, is depicted by the textbooks as being possible through and by courtesy of the imperial mother country. This pattern makes the latter a key connecting point of world interaction and puts it at the center of an image of the structure of the world, about which the colony’s school children were to be taught. Meanwhile, in the post-colonial period, the pattern of world history teaching suggests that a nationalist-driven state has taken the place of the colonial state, in the absence of the imperial mother state. In the spirit of sovereignty, the nationalist state is depicted by school textbooks as an imaginary center in the interaction of 122 J. M. Blaut, The Colonizer’s Model of the World: Geographical Diffusion and Eurocentric History (New York/London: Guildford Press, 1993), 1. 123 Luo Xu, “Reconstructing World History in the People’s Republic of China since the 1980s,” Journal of World History 18, no. 3 (2007): 325; and Bruce Mazliz, “Comparing Global History to World History,” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 28, no. 3 (1998): 385.

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different countries—intrinsically a copy of the imagined role of the colonial state— through which the nationalist state’s participation in determining the world’s dynamics is (ac)claimed. Thus, in post-colonial Indonesia, in order to bolster the people’s nationalism and self-confidence, nationalist leaders created an imaginary structure of the world on the basis of a right-wing model of self-glorification. Unlike in the colonial era, when world history was a complementary subject in elite secondary schools that were accessible only by high and middle class members of the society, with limited access to the outside world, in the post-colonial period the subject of world history has been compulsory in all secondary schools as an integral part of the cluster of subjects that is aimed at enhancing children’s shared sense of being Indonesian. In other words, it is an instrument of the nation-building project of the post-colonial state. All this confirms that, while Blaut’s diffusionism theory deconstructs the established account claiming Europe to be the permanent center of the world’s civilization and modernization—a concept he refers to as European diffusionism, in Indonesia the diffusionist characteristics in the teaching of world history have been embedded by the ideological undertones of different political regimes. In this way, “centrism” as a historiographic style is defined. The aim of this chapter is to examine the nature of diffusionism in world history education in Indonesia as depicted in school textbooks. With diffusionism as an underlining paradigm, the concept of world history diverged from the standard definitions that world historians have outlined. In the latter account, world history is understood as embodying the idea of interaction and dialogue, in which “peoples of diverse cultures” seek “to establish a historical context for the integrated and interdependent world of modern times.”124 Its aim is to set “a universal pattern of development of human society” and “to re-conceptualize the world’s past, emphasizing the process in which relatively isolated civilizations became increasingly interrelated and interactive.”125 Conversely, diffusionist world history overlooks the centrality of mutual interaction through which different cultures influence each other. Instead, it emphasizes unequal, hegemonic relations between the center and the periphery. In this sense, the diffusionist nature that I examine here is close in meaning to the historian Dipesh Chakrabarty’s concept of provincialized Europe. Chakrabarty argues that Europe has stood as “an imaginary figure that remains deeply embedded in some everyday habits of thought.” He writes, “Post-colonial scholarship is committed to engaging the universals that were forged in eighteenth century Europe.” The European legacy still dominates not only the existing body of knowledge but also the genealogy of knowledge and knowledge production.126 This means that the way scholars in the former European colonies create new knowledge of the world around them is not independent of the European model of epistemology. World history teaching in Indonesia, as perhaps in many other former European colonies, has inherited a characteristic of a provincialized Europe, in the sense that it carries the state-based paradigm of centrism. Because of the changing larger political milieu across different periods, actors change roles in the process of state formation. 124 Mazliz, “Comparing,” (1998): 386. 125 Luo Xu, “Reconstructing,” (2007): 326, 328. 126 Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), 4–5.

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But the state-centric frame of relationships between and among actors remains relatively unchanged. World history teaching in Indonesia thus brings with it a diffusionism that is characteristic of European provincialism, not so much in the topics it discusses as in the way the topics are examined and their meanings reproduced. This chapter analyzes a total of fourteen world history textbooks that were published between 1950 and 2006 in Indonesia, although some of these had originally been published in 1930. Authors developed the textbooks on the basis or with the guidance of the government’s curriculum. This means that the textbooks were reflections of the implementation of the government’s educational policy at a corresponding time. I first explore the trajectory of educational policy in independent Indonesia, in order to determine the position of world history teaching in the school curriculum. Then I examine the world history textbooks, in order to look at the materials of the subject in detail.

The Trajectory of Educational Policy in Independent Indonesia The Indonesian declaration of independence, made in August 1945, laid the foundation upon which the country’s national educational system was constructed. With independence, the Indonesian people took upon themselves the freedom and the right to build an educational system they considered to be Indonesian in nature. For many Indonesians in the early years of independence, an educational system that was supposed to bear Indonesian characteristics was one that accommodated their desire for fully accessible and equally standardized schooling. It was thus obviously opposite in nature to colonial education under the Netherlands East Indies government, which had discriminated against pupils according to their ethnic, linguistic, and social backgrounds. Thus political independence, which elite leaders like the country’s first president, Sukarno (1901–1970), referred to as a golden bridge, brought a new realm of hopes and opportunities for better educational provisions, facilities, and access. In practice, however, it also marked the beginning of a tumultuous process of state formation for decades to come.127 In the words of some of the Indonesians who had enjoyed colonial schooling, the independence of Indonesia was like the breaking of a dam, by which the structured colonial society was uprooted and a new, yet-to-be-defined socio-political structure was to be sought and developed.128 In this political setting, the construction of education in post-colonial Indonesia, presumably like that in other post-colonial nations, would be overshadowed by the socio-political dimensions of state formation. Generally speaking, the political dynamics that characterized the setting of educational policy in post-colonial Indonesia dealt with three major kinds of issues. They were (1) the relationship between the (nationalist) state and the citizens and citizenship during the 1950s; (2) the ideological struggle prior to and following 127 Agus Suwignyo, “Unifying Diversities: Early Institutional Formation of the Indonesian National Education System, c. December 1949–August 1950,” Jurnal Humaniora 24, no. 1 (2012): 4. 128 Interview with Imam Sajono, a student at the Dutch Indonesian Teacher School of Yogyakarta between 1940 and 1942, conducted in Jakarta in 2006.

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the 1965 Tragedy, a period of upheaval that eventually led to the fall of Sukarno; and (3) the line of Indonesia’s domestic and foreign policy during the New Order from the 1970s to the 1990s. Although these three major political issues strongly influenced educational policy-making, their impact on changing strategic school policies such as the curriculum does not require a parallel periodization. In other words, there were often a number of educational policy regimes during any one period of a political regime. The 1950s were crucial for the state formation of independent Indonesia. Although independence had been declared five years earlier, it was only in 1950 that the government and the people of Indonesia could begin to work on the aspirational promises of independence, because of the prolonged war against the return of Dutch control following the Japanese surrender in 1945. Now, in the 1950s, the challenges of achieving the goals of independence were recognized by the Indonesians themselves in such practical problems as bad infrastructure, an underfunded government budget, and under-prepared human resources. Above all, however, presumably the biggest challenge was lying at the shared paradigm of the people, namely whether and in how far the Indonesian people embraced the same state of mind about being citizens of an independent state. This held true, at least from the perspective of elite political leaders. Even though the idea of an independent Indonesia was crystal clear in the elite’s imagination as it is elaborated in the constitution, there was widespread doubt among the elite that the Indonesian masses shared the same vision. A government education official in 1953 stated that most Indonesians knew little about what it meant to be one nation and to be citizens of an independent modern state, simply because they had lived as different peoples in the archipelago for centuries.129 In the elite’s imagination, the independent state of Indonesia would consist of citizens who shared one standard of moral values and living, balanced by tight social cohesion. As stated in a publication of the Department of Mass Education in 1953, “every Indonesian citizen, as a member of the nation, should have the balance of inner and outer feelings.” According to the document, inner feelings include religious life and humanity; outer feelings cover nationality, sovereignty, and social prosperity. Indonesian citizens as a whole should live in cooperative collectivism so that together they would become a strong nation.130 With citizens embodying these ideal characteristics, the Indonesian elite of the 1950s expected the Indonesian state and nation to enter the international community—what the document calls the family of nations—as an independent and sovereign member, equal to other members.131 In order to achieve the aforementioned characteristics of citizenship, the elites’ conception of independence was translated into strategic policies aimed 129 Education Minister Muhammad Yamin probably made this statement, found in the Muhammad Yamin collection. See “Tugas Negara dalam Pendidikan Masjarakat,” Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia (ANRI), Arsip Muhammad Yamin 247:1. See also, Ministry of Education, Instruction and Culture (MEIC), Mass Education in Indonesia: A Contribution Based on Our Experience with Reference to Mass Education in Indonesia (Jakarta: MEIC, 1951), 6. 130 Department of Mass Education, Mass Education in Indonesia (Jakarta: Department of Mass Education, 1953), 4. 131 Department of Information, Rentjana Mass Education (Mass Education Plan) (Jakarta: Department of Information, 1950), 6–7.

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at stimulating the masses’ consciousness of their new status as citizens of the Indonesian state. The school was one of the most important sites for the dissemination of this concept of state and citizenship formation. While the major orientation of educational policy-making in the 1950s was to create an exemplary good citizen, the criteria for defining the ideal characteristics of a good citizen were prone to interruption because of changes in the larger political context. In the early 1960s, Indonesian society was sharply divided by political ideologies, which could be classified roughly into two groups, namely socialism/ communism and liberalism associated with the state ideology, Five Principles of Citizenship (Pancasila). This ideological dispute came to a peak with an unsuccessful army coup in 1965, which was followed by a massacre of those who were (allegedly) associated with the Indonesian Communist Party. One of the most crucial issues of 1960s Indonesia was that, although the bloody event was seemingly a domestic issue, studies show its roots were closely connected to the world’s Cold War confrontations. Educational policy in the 1960s reflected this political dynamic. The two ideologically opposing groups were identifiable in educational policy and practice at all levels and sectors, including teachers’ training and organizations, school curriculum, and in the officials of the Department of Education. The takeover by Suharto (1921–2008) and his New Order in the aftermath the 1965 Tragedy massacres marked the beginning of a new episode in Indonesian history in general, and in Indonesian education in particular. Learning from the lessons of the tumultuous 1950s and the impact of the ideological contestation of the 1960s, the New Order regime built its administration by giving high priority to the creation of political stability. To do so, the regime seemed to revive the exemplary citizen(ship) project of the early years of independence, that is, the formulation of a shared national identity for all Indonesian citizens. Nevertheless, the undertone of the New Order citizenship project was very different from that of the 1950s. While having a plurality of voices in public policy-making was a notion that characterized the citizenship project of the 1950s, the New Order’s citizenship project was heavily based on the doctrine of state ideology. The New Order enforced one single interpretation of state ideology and how to put it into practice by way of the then-popular program, a Course on the Guidelines for Internalizing and Practicing the Pancasila (Penataran P4/Pedoman Penghayatan dan Pengamalan Pancasila). Declaring itself to be anti-communist, the New Order regime made Pancasila the political instrument upon which all policies had to be based. As in the two previous political periods, the school was again used as a strategic arena for the dissemination of ideology. It was not possible to design educational policy free of the ideological undertones of the governing regime, and the New Order was fully aware of this. In all three periods, the overall framework for policy-making was that of state formation, but the trajectory of the policies depended very much on the ideological undertones of the governing regimes. In the 1950s, the concept of Indonesian citizenship and the relationship between the Indonesian nation-state and the world were depicted as an imaginary structure of a nationally self-centric mandala, although the notion of being an equal member in the family of nations was strongly emphasized. The mandala was a concept of nation building, and that is how the Indonesian citizenship would be shaped. It consists of imaginary arrays of political and social spaces that were centripetal in nature. In the 1960s, being a citizen was perceived as meaningful only when it was associated with one segment of the world’s 128

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dominant political ideologies of the time, namely socialism/communism and liberalism. While the notion of equality before the family of nations no longer seemed to be an issue in the 1960s, the image of the structure of the world was bipolar. Finally, from the 1970s to the 1990s under the New Order regime, the world outside of Indonesia was conceptualized as one, that is, as a world in which security, political stability, and social harmony were coercively created and enforced upon the people by any means necessary. Obviously the New Order concept of the “world” outside of Indonesia was state centric. All three periods had their respective approaches to setting educational policy, but one last point should be noted here. While the domestic political and ideological orchestration of the 1950s and 1960s can be characterized as outward-looking and international in orientation, during Suharto’s New Order period it was inward-looking, with a remarkable national orientation of self-sufficiency. The New Order’s policy, in general, was focused on domestic issues such as the importance of peaceful interactions, copying the Javanese style of social harmony, for the sake of economic growth. These different orientations determined how the world was perceived and how its history was taught in schools.

World History as a Subject The teaching of world history in Indonesian secondary schools reflects the different philosophical frameworks of the trajectories of policy-making which I have identified. This seems obvious, first of all, in the position of this subject. From 1950 to the late 1960s, world history was one subject taught two hours per week in both general and vocational secondary schools. It was called World History (Sejarah Dunia) from 1951 to 1955, General History (Sejarah Umum) from 1956 to 1966, and World History again in 1967, as shown in Table 8.1. In 1968, the Department of Education, Table 8.1. Titles, Status, and Time Allocation of World History in the Indonesian High School Curriculum, 1950–2006. Period

Title of World History subject

Status of the course subject

Hours / week

1950–1955

Sejarah Dunia (World History)

Individual subject

2

1955–1966

Sejarah Umum (General History)

Individual subject

2

1967

Sejarah Dunia

Individual subject

2

Combined with Indonesian history

2

1994*–1999* Sejarah Nasional dan Umum (National Combined with and General History) Indonesian history

2

2006*

2

1975*–1984* Sejarah Indonesia dan Dunia (Indonesia and the World History)

Sejarah Indonesia dan Dunia

Combined with Indonesian history

Note: * indicates the year(s) a new curriculum was presented. In 2013, the Indonesian government launched Kurikulum 2013, K–13, the implementation of which was revoked or at least delayed in 2014. The 2006 Curriculum has thus remained in effect as of the time this was written.

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under the newly installed New Order administration, began to combine world history with Indonesian history which resulted in a course called Indonesia and the World (Indonesia dan Dunia), also taught two hours per week. But it was only starting in 1975, when the New Order presented its first educational curriculum, that world history was “permanently” to be combined with the history of Indonesia. Its name changed from Indonesia and World History (Sejarah Indonesia dan Dunia), in the 1975 and 1984 educational curricula, to National and General History (Sejarah Nasional dan Umum), in the 1994 curriculum and its 1999 revision, and back again to Indonesia and World History in the 2006 curriculum. In the following subsections, I shall explore world history as an individual course and as a combined course as it is found in the world history textbooks for secondary schools.

World History as an Individual Course Teaching world history as an individual course subject from the 1950s through the early 1960s reflected to a large extent its colonial legacy. This holds true in terms of the way the course reflected an imaginary structure of the world, in which Indonesia was located at the center. In colonial Indonesia, world history was taught as a means of connection between Dutch-language secondary schools that had been accredited as concordant with the corresponding school in the Netherlands. Together with Dutch language, world history was designed to equalize the quality of schools in the Netherlands East Indies and the Netherlands so that students who wished to continue their learning in Europe did not have to take matriculation courses. One example of a colonial text for world history is the three-volume World History (Sedjarah Doenia), which was written in Dutch by E. Molt and translated into Indonesian by H. A. Salim. In the preface to this textbook, Molt wrote that it was meant for “those who had completed primary education in the colonies and who had learned the history of their land.”132 World history was thus functioning as a window for colonial children to see the peoples and cultures in other geographical parts of the earth. In the colonial context, however, other geographical parts of the earth did not always correspond to the terms used, such as “East” and “West.” The world of world history in the colonial context was defined by Molt as the West and Europe and, more specifically, the imperial metropolis, which was the Netherlands in this case. To nobody’s surprise, Molt’s three volumes of world history consist of the topics and chapters that are quite similar to the contents of any European history textbook. Volume I looks at the prehistoric period and includes such topics as the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Babylonia, Persia and Phoenicia, Greece, and the Roman Empire. Volume II deals with the Middle Ages in Europe. Volume III focuses on the period known as the European Enlightenment and expansion, including the “discovery” of the Americas by Christopher Columbus. Volume III also deals with the wars waged in Europe. So world history in colonial schools in Indonesia had two different purposes. First, it was a pedagogical instrument for bridging education in the Netherlands East Indies and the Netherlands. Second, it was an instrument for imposing 132 E. Molt, Sedjarah Doenia, Vol. I, Zaman Poerbakala, trans. H. A. Salim (Weltevreden: Balai Poestaka, 1930), 4.

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a Euro-centric worldview on colonial children. In other words, it was an instrument for the Europeanization of the colonies. By the time of Indonesian independence, the Eurocentric contents of world history were obsolete, as some Indonesian leaders like Muhammad Yamin (1903– 1962) said in the 1950s. Notwithstanding this, the centralizing nature, which copied the style of colonial Eurocentrism, was still apparent and observable. This holds true not only with respect to the world history textbooks translated from Dutch or jointly authored by Dutch and Indonesian historians, but also with the textbooks written by the other Indonesian writers of the time. A Eurocentric style is observable, for example, in the three-volume world history text jointly authored by former Dutch colonial officials, H. J. van den Berg and H. Kroeskamp, and an Indonesian high school teacher, I. P. Simandjoentak. The textbook is organized both chronologically and thematically. Volumes I and II, published in 1951 and 1954 respectively, deal with the period up until 1500, whereas Volume III focuses on the period after 1500. The themes are much more diverse than those covered in Molt’s colonial world history textbook, as they also include India, China, Japan, and Indonesia (Volumes I and II), and the Mediterranean cultures and the rest of the world (Volume III). While dealing extensively with the history of Asian countries, this textbook nevertheless carries a European paradigm of diffusionism, in the sense that it is based on the idea that the world has one specific center of interaction. As the authors suggest in the preface to Volume I, The feeling of nationalism has been spreading in that the Indonesian people wish to know more about the history of the formation of their cultures. However, the [socio-political] context within which that history should be written has changed. Unlike in the past, when Europe and the West were the center of attention in world history, now the focus of the subject has to be on Asia.…The periodization and the structure [of a world history textbook with a focus on Asia] cannot possibly copy one of European history.133 Other examples of diffusionist world history textbooks include those written by Indonesian historians Anwar Sanusi and R. M. Sutjipto Wirjosuparto. Sanusi’s General History (Sejarah Umum), published in 1956, was the eleventh edition of a book first published in 1948. Unlike van den Berg, Kroeskamp, and Simandjoentak, who focused on Asian countries, Sanusi included both Asia and Europe. The way he determined the periodization, however, as that of antiquity and the Middle Ages, is a copy of that used in European history. Sanusi put the ancient histories of Egypt, Babylonia, Phoenicia, Syria, and Persia into one chapter on the Eastern cultures but, unlike the standard European history, added to it the ancient histories of the India, China, and Japan. Other than this, he dedicated the majority of the pages to Europe, with a subsection on Mongolia inserted into the Middle Ages section in the eleventh edition of the book. Thus, like in many other Eurocentric world history

133 H. J. van den Berg, H. Kroeskamp, and I. P. Simandjoentak, Dari Panggung Peristiwa Sedjarah Dunia I: India, Tiongkok dan Djepang, Indonesia [From the Stage of World History Events], Vol. I: India, China, Japan and Indonesia] (Groningen & Batavia: J.B. Wolters, 1951), 3–4. Here and below, the English translations are mine.

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textbooks, Sanusi employed the approach of the “West and the rest” in looking at the world. Meanwhile, in his History of the World (Sedjarah Dunia), Wirjosuparto did not divide the periodization into antiquity and the Medieval period because, he wrote, such a division “is not an Indonesian concept [of periodization], but a European one, which has become a standard timeline in European history.” Wirjosuparto also claimed to have eliminated another perspective in his book which also arose from a European tradition of world history writing, that of always starting with the history of Egypt, Sumer, and Babylonia. Instead, he wrote, he started with the history of the Sindhu culture. “As an Indonesian, who writes for Indonesian children, it is necessarily important to begin [my world history textbook] with the history of the countries of high civilization which have had more intense relationships with the history of the Indonesian lands.”134 Regardless of his claimed intention, Wirjosuparto could not escape the prevailing Eurocentric paradigm. Not only did he make use of the French Revolution as a dividing point between the first and second volumes of his text, but he also discussed more topics dealing with Europe than other parts of the world. Even though Wirjosuparto’s textbook is ambivalent in its perspective, it should be counted as one of the first world history texts that, while still employing the pattern of European diffusionism, switched the center of the world structure it presented from Asia at large to Indonesia. His work actually reflects the growing nationalist sentiment of the 1950s. As I elaborated earlier, in the 1950s the government of independent Indonesia began a project of nation- and state-building in all aspects of public policy and practice. The core aim of the project was to develop a sense of collective pride and self-confidence among the Indonesian people, in order for them to live together with the international community. Government documents of the time show mass education programs that aimed to implant and grow the people’s perspective and consciousness of their new status as citizens of an independent nation that was an equal and sovereign member of the family of nations. The programs also emphasized the importance of the Indonesian people being ready to participate in the world’s dynamics. This vision of nation- and state-building influenced the formulation of the 1954 Education Bill, the first one in independent Indonesia, in which the goals of national education were set. So, the relocation of the center of the image of the world structure from Asia to Indonesia, as can be seen in the world history textbooks of the time, was only one of the ways the government worked to implement this Indonesia-centric political vision. Many world history textbooks published especially in the late 1950s thus logically carried a diffusionism characteristic of Indonesia-centrism. In his Sketches of History (Lukisan Sejarah), first published in 1956, former education minister Muhammad Yamin presented 550 photographs of historical sites, remains, and artifacts, which he divided into Indonesian history and world history. The Indonesian history part consisted of photos illustrating themes from the prehistoric period up to Indonesian independence. The world history part shows photos reflecting the different cultures of West Asia, Africa and America, South Asia, China and Japan, and Europe. The last two sections in the world history part deal with global interactions in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The centralizing nature of 134 R. M. Sutjipto Wirjosuparto, Sedjarah Dunia I (History of the World) (Jakarta: Kementerian Pendidikan, Pengadjaran dan Kebudajaan, 1953), 7–8.

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the book is found in the description of an event that Yamin selected and put at the end of the second part. According to Yamin, the 1955 Asia-African Conference in the Indonesian city of Bandung (also known as the Bandung Conference) should be seen as the end of the world history section of his book. Yamin said that the conference clearly indicated “the end of Western imperialism and the beginning of an active role that Asian and African nations play in the world.”135 Here Yamin suggested that Asia and Africa—with Indonesia standing as a main actor, given the geographical locality of the conference—had evolved into a new center of post-Second World War international interactions. The three volumes of Indonesia at the Center of the World from Age to Age (Indonesia di Tengah-tengah Dunia dari Abad ke Abad) by Soeroto are perhaps the best example of a textbook that displays a diffusionism characteristic of European-style Indonesia-centrism. The first two volumes of this textbook appeared in 1955, followed by volume III in 1958. Considering that it was repeatedly reprinted (eleven times by 1965 for volume I, eight times by 1968 for volume II, and four times by 1966 for volume III), one may be sure that the textbook was widely accepted and used in schools. Soeroto understood the world from what he believed was an Indonesian perspective. The definition of the world, he said, had changed in line with a “new realm of Indonesian independence.” Soeroto continued: The world today is not the same as it was during colonial times. In colonial times, the world mainly meant Europe. There was no Africa, no Asia; even the Indonesian people existed in history only when the historical episode being discussed had something to do with the Europeans. A newly independent state requires a new system for the teaching of history.136 In Soeroto’s view, the world was as broad as the way the Indonesians themselves conceptualized it. It adjusted its width to the Indonesians’ own horizon of the socio-political environments around them. So when it came to determining periodization, Soeroto defined the concept of the world in different geographical scopes, depending on the type and amount of interaction that the peoples in the Indonesian archipelago had with each. In Volume I, which deals with the period up to 1300, Soeroto presented the ancient histories of only India and China, while adding that of Indonesia at the end. The reason was, he argued, “our [the Indonesians’] world was limited only to India and China.”137 Meanwhile, in Volume III, which covers the period from the nineteenth century up to the 1950s, Soeroto’s concept of the world included “societies in all parts of the earth.”138 With this, he argued that the independent state of Indonesia had achieved equal relations with all other states. 135 Muhammad Yamin, Lukisan Sedjarah (Sketches of History) (Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan, 1956), Preface, unpaginated. 136 Soeroto, Indonesia di Tengah-tengah Dunia dari Abad ke Abad, Vol. I (Indonesia at the World’s Center from Age to Age) (Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan, 1955), vii-ix. 137 Soeroto, Indonesia di Tengah-tengah Dunia dari Abad ke Abad, Vol. II (Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan, 1955), vii. 138 Soeroto, Indonesia di Tengah-tengah Dunia dari Abad ke Abad, Vol. III (Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan, 1958), vii.

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Soeroto explicitly admitted that he employed a centralizing perspective in exploring the time period and in selecting the geographical spaces to be included in his vision of the world. The image of the world which he constructed is one that puts Indonesia and Asia at the center. “I deliberately sustain Asia-centric and Indonesia-centric approaches because we see the world from our perspective as an Asian and as an Indonesian,” he said in the preface of Volume I. “The history of Indonesia cannot be discussed independently from that of the world because the peoples of the Indonesian islands actively participated in world interactions,” he insisted. “Indonesia at the center of the world,” Soeroto argued, “implies not only the fact that Indonesia is geographically located at a strategic hub in international waters, but also that it has made significant contributions to the development of the world.”139 More examples of world history textbooks include Excerpts of World History (Ichtisar Sedjarah Dunia I) by L. Jama, R. I. W. Dwidjasusana, and F. H. Dwidjosaputro (1967, eighth edition), and Indonesia and the World (Indonesia dan Dunia) by Soeroto (1968, third edition). Like the textbooks mentioned above, these two emphasize the importance of a non-European perspective in the writing and teaching of world history. In Excerpts of World History, for example, the authors stressed what they called “Asia-Africa Centrism” and claimed they employed this perspective with the spirit of “creating friendship among nations and peace for the world without imperialism and colonialism.”140 Meanwhile, in the preface to Indonesia and the World, Soeroto, wrote that world history is not only, and not primarily, the history of Europe and the United States. Instead, it is a history that “gives priority to Asia.” With this perspective, “past events are selected by considering their close relationship with Indonesia,” whereas “events concerning wars and conflicts are discussed from the perspective of the interest of Indonesia.”141 The world history textbooks that I have surveyed show a gradual change in the concept of the world. In colonial times, the world was understood as Europe and the West. In the early years of Indonesian independence, the world was Asia at large, with Indonesia as one element of it. By the second half of the 1950s, the world was defined as Indonesia, which became a point of departure for Indonesians to define the neighboring Asian region. By this time, the mandala image of the world consisted of Indonesia at the core, with Asia in the second, and Europe and the West in the third outer circles. All in all, world history education in post-colonial Indonesia was characterized by diffusionism, in that the world was perceived to operate around a particular center. Pedagogically speaking, the fact that numerous world history textbooks were published during the 1950s and the 1960s shows that the subject was considered to be extremely important and that, as a discrete academic subject, it received wide-ranging attention from Indonesian historians. Such a position, in turn, made room for different definitions of the world and of the scope of world history

139 Soeroto, Indonesia, Vol. I, vii-xii, passim. 140 L. Jama, R. I. W. Dwidjosusana, and F. H. Dwidjosaputra. Ichtisar Sedjarah Dunia I (Excerpts of World History), 8th ed. (Yogyakarta: Penerbit Jajasan Kanisius, 1967), 4. 141 Soeroto, Indonesia dan Dunia. Djilid I (Indonesia and the World, Vol. I) (Jakarta: Penerbit FA Gadjah Mada, 1961 [1st ed.] and 1968 [3rd ed.]), 3–4.

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coverage. Although in this analysis, I have not been able to present any world history textbooks that would correspond to the characteristics of the ideological conflict of the 1960s, because of my limited access to sources, in the two textbooks published in the 1960s that I have discussed, I have identified the diffusionism characteristic of world history teaching in the 1960s.

World History and the History of Indonesia, Combined The variety of voices that readers could find in history textbooks published in the 1950s and 1960s were disappearing by the 1970s, and this is one reflection of the changes in the political constellation at large. As I elaborated earlier, following the 1965 Tragedy in Indonesia, Suharto’s New Order regime took over the government and emphasized stability, security, and social harmony at the core of its public policy. Overall, the collective intellectual framework in policy-making and practice was inward-looking. International relations received less emphasis in public activities and in the socio-political horizon of the nation in the 1970s than it had in the previous periods. By the 1975 introduction of the New Order’s first educational curriculum, this inward-looking perspective was to be taught to school children. World history, a strategic ideological instrument of nation- and state-building in the 1950s and early 1960s, was now merely a part of the history of Indonesia class that was allocated two hours per week. I have not found any sources that indicate the exact reason for the policy decision to combine Indonesian and world history into one course. Nevertheless, looking at the nature of the New Order development programs that, in addition to emphasizing stability, security, and social harmony, promoted the principle of public good above individual rights, the decision to combine the two subjects seemed to aim at prioritizing time for subjects that had direct relevance to Indonesia’s political stability and economic growth. The New Order project of systematically writing national history began in 1975, but it was concerned only with Indonesian national history. Unlike its predecessors, the New Order regime did not seem immediately to recognize world history teaching as a strategic instrument for nation- and state-building. Although the national history textbooks were revised and reissued in 1975, 1977, and 1983 successively, world history, which was featured in only a modest way in the textbook based on the requirements of the 1975 curriculum (for example, Z. H. Idris and Tugiyono 1984), received sufficient space only in the 1984 curriculum. In textbooks produced in accordance with the 1984 curriculum, world history topics were strictly limited to world events that played a role in the making of Indonesian nationalism. For example, in Guide to Indonesian National History and the History of the World (Pegangan Sejarah Nasional Indonesia dan Dunia) those topics include Japan’s Meiji Restoration and its impact on Asia and the Pacific, the revitalization of Asian and African nations’ resistance to Western imperialism, the emergence of nationalism in Europe, the global economic crisis of the 1930s, and the two world wars.142

142 Dodi R. Iskandar and Dedi P. Persada, Pegangan Sejarah Indonesia dan Dunia (Guide to Indonesian and World History) (Bandung: CV Armico, 1988 [1st ed.] and 1992 [4th ed.]).

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In the 1994 curriculum, the topics included in world history came under more scrutiny. They included only the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution in Britain, and the American Revolution, plus a concluding chapter on the emergence of nationalist movements in the Philippines, China, Turkey, and Egypt.143 For me, this reflects the narrow perspective of the New Order regime in seeing the world. More seriously, the narrow-mindedness indicates the regime’s vision of an Indonesian personality that had to comply with a concept of the world defined by the regime. In the early 1970s, there was a sharp deterioration in the image of the world from what it had been in the periods prior to the 1960s, which directed the teaching of world history. Indonesia’s New Order regime officially collapsed in 1998 with the ouster of its primary figure, President Suharto. One year later, in 1999, the Ministry of Education and Culture revised the 1994 educational curriculum, updating the curriculum with supplementary guidelines. This legal instrument led to the publication of new history textbooks, which provide more space for world history topics.144 In one of the earliest of the new history text, which were based on the revised 1994 curriculum, I reviewed topics including the centers of ancient civilizations in Asia and Africa, elements of European civilization, the growth of elements of Hindus and Buddhist civilizations, and the birth, growth, and spread of Islamic civilization. These topics are still not as comprehensive as those covered, for example in Soeroto’s three volumes published in the 1950s. Considering the thirty years of political control of education by the New Order, however, this change, which took place only a year after the fall of the regime, occurred remarkably quickly. Notwithstanding this, the textbook reflects little of the authors’ understanding of an image of the world and the position of Indonesia. Another textbook published later, in 2003, and also based on the revised 1994 curriculum, better illustrates the authors’ concept of the structure of the world and its relationship to Indonesia. It is the three volume National and General History (Sejarah Nasional dan Umum).145 Although the effort to understand the history of Indonesia through the world’s historic events is still apparent, overall this textbook shows that the authors have imagined the world as a flat structure. Topics on world history are the primary contents in Volumes 1 and 3, but even so, they are only supplementary to the topics on Indonesian history. Here the diffusionist characteristic is still identifiable, but the notion of centrism seems to be less sharp than in earlier world history textbooks. This may be a reflection of the Indonesians’ political life, which has been moving towards democracy since the fall of the New Order. The notion of a less diffusionist world history and a more democratic vision of the world remains apparent in the most recent textbooks, which are written on the basis of the 2006 curriculum.146 143 For example, see Martono and Suroso, Sejarah Nasional dan Umum 2 (National and General History), ( Solo: Tiga Serangkai, 1994). 144 For example, see Siti Waridah, J. Sukardi, and P. Sunarto, Sejarah Nasional dan Umum 1 (National and General History) (Jakarta: PT Bumi Aksara, 2001). 145 I Wayan Badrika, Sejarah (History), 3 vols. (Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga, 2006). 146 See, for example, I Wayan Badrika, Sejarah (History); Ratna Hapsari and Abdul Syukur, Eksplorasi Sejarah Indonesia dan Dunia 1 (Exploration of Indonesian and World History) (Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga, 2008).

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Inclusion and Trends in World History Textbooks The teaching of world history in Indonesian secondary schools has displayed the diffusionist characteristic across time. In such a paradigm, the world is perceived as pivoting around a particular center. This center implies a political and ideological definition. Before Indonesian independence, centrism in the approach to world historic events was a colonial instrument used to implant an image of imperial centrality on the colony. After Indonesian independence, centrism became a nationalist instrument to build and strengthen Indonesian identity and self-perception. This is why the selection of world events for inclusion or exclusion in the textbooks depended very much on whether they had a direct influence on or relation to the creation of Indonesian self-perceived identity. Thus, the concept of the world depended on the political and ideological undertones of Indonesia’s governing regime. Until 1998, the diffusionist characteristic remained prevalent, but as a result of the democratization process following the fall of the New Order regime, it seems to have become less sharp and less identifiable. The nature of world history education in the future within the frame of the Indonesian socio-political dynamics at large is yet to be seen. The textbooks under study also show three other striking characteristics. First, none of them contains any discussion of the Opium Wars in China. Most standard references on the Opium Wars have seen these events as an historic moment in the rise of Chinese and, more broadly, Asian nationalist movements against Western colonialism. These wars were first waged by Britain against China (the First Opium War or Anglo-Chinese War, 1839–1842), and then by Britain and France against China (the Second Opium War, the Arrow War, or the British–French War in China, 1856–1860).147 Both were wars over “conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, [and] the administration of justice for foreign nationals” in China.148 These two Opium Wars, which together marked an important turning point in the centuries-old relations between the Europeans and the Chinese, did not receive any attention in the Indonesian world history textbooks at the different times of publication under review here. This is because the origin and evolution of Indonesian nationalism has a genealogy that evolved in a distinct manner from the insights that the Chinese Opium Wars would have presented. In Indonesian historiography, the making of the nation-state is usually depicted as arising from the psychological and communal developments of the Indonesian people themselves in intellectual, political, and social matters. According to the writings of Indonesian nationalists such as Sukarno, Muhammad Hatta, Muhammad Yamin, Ki Hadjar Dewantara, and others, the historic moments of the struggle against colonialism were the periods of National Awakening of 1908, the Youth Oath of 1928, and the Proclamation of Independence of 1945. The common narrative of these depictions echoes an inward-looking perspective in which the strength, power, and initiative of Indonesian leaders and people at these specific moments are emphasized by the image of the glorious archipelagic (nusantara) kingdoms 147 Retrieved March 24, 2015, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/430163/ Opium-Wars 148 Retrieved March 24, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Opium_War and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Opium_War

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of the eighth and tenth centuries such as Srivijaya and Majapahit, and by heroic anti-Dutch movements of the nineteenth century such as the Java War (1825–1830). This style of narrative suggests that there was little direct influence of world events on the emergence of Indonesian nationalism.149 In the eyes of Indonesian nationalists, therefore, the Opium Wars were too alien an event to be used as a source of inspiration for Indonesian nation-building. Secondly, most of the events elaborated in the textbooks under study tell big stories with big historical actors, and they put aside any social or political history of the daily life of ordinary people. This is typical of historiography in Indonesia, in both the colonial and post-colonial periods, as critics have long recognized.150 As such, these textbooks have strengthened the impression about the institutional style that many analyses of other Indonesian textbooks have portrayed.151 Thirdly, of the fourteen textbooks published between 1930 and 2006 which are being surveyed here, only ten contain topics related to Islam. These ten books are mostly those used to teach world history as an individual course. As Table 8.2 shows, the biggest proportion of pages dedicated to Islam-related topics in those textbooks is 23 percent. Not all the Islam-related topics, however, are discussed in the context of world history. Some of the textbooks deal with the role of Islam in Indonesian history, although the structure of the contents relates it to world events such as migration, for example. All of this is a striking finding. Islam-related topics have never actually become a central theme in the world history textbooks used in schools in the country with the world’s largest Muslim population. Although after the fall of Suharto’s New Order in 1998, there has been a growing tendency of Islamocentrism in the writing of Indonesian national history textbooks, little has been done to deal with Islam in the wider context of world history.152 More seriously, although the ideology of “Islam as a source of blessings for the world” (Islam Rahmatan Lil Alamin) has received increasing scholarly attention, especially in studies that aim to understand why fundamentalist movements like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria emerge, there have been hardly any attempts in Indonesia today to write a world history textbook from an Islamic perspective. All of this confirms the persistence of the diffusionist approach to Indonesian history. With this diffusionist approach, most of the textbooks have looked at Islam from an inward-looking Indonesian centrism. Consequently, Islam-related topics appear only as instruments to help construct an imagined Indonesia. Although with increasing Islamocentrism, there has recently been an effort to make Islam the focus of history writing, it does not mean Indonesian historians are using Islam itself as a perspective on or an approach to historiography. 149 An example of a world event that is seen as having had a direct influence on Indonesian nationalism is Japan’s victory in the war against Russia in 1905, which received widespread attention in different Javanese and Sumatran newspapers published in the early twentieth century. 150 See, for example, Sartono Kartodirjo, Indonesian Historiography (Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 2001). 151 See, for example, Agus Suwignyo, “Indonesian National History Textbooks after the New Order: What’s New under the Sun?” Bijdragen to de Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde 170 (2014): 113–31. 152 Suwignyo, “Indonesian National History” (2014): 126–29.

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Table 8.2. Proportion of Islam-related topics in some textbooks published between 1930 and 2006 in Indonesia. No Textbooks

Total No (and %) Islam-related topics pages of pages on discussed Islam-related topics

A.1 Sedjarah Doenia Vol. II, by E. Molt, 1931

196

41 (20.9)

Prophet Muhammad Early Caliphates First Crusade Richard the Lionhearted and Sultan Saladin Impacts of the Crusades

A.2 Sedjarah Doenia Vol. III, by E. 177 Molt, 1932

6 (3.3)

Islam penetrating Europe

A.3 Sedjarah Umum untuk Sekolah Menengah Vol. I, by Anwar Sanusi, 1948

79

5 (6.3)

Islam The Crusades

A.4 Sejarah Dunia untuk SMA Bagian A Vol. 1, by R.M. Sutjipto Wirjosuparto, 1953

162

16 (9.8)

Palestine The Arabs and Islam The Crusades (1050–1300)

A5

Indonesia di Tengah-tengah Dunia dari Abad ke Abad Vol. I, by Soeroto, 1955a

142

8 (5.6)

Islam and Islamic Kingdoms in India

A6

Indonesia di Tengah-tengah… Vol. II, by Soeroto, 1955b

221

51 (23)

The Middle East and Islam Islamic States (First Wave; Second Wave; Islamic civilization, the Crusades; The Osmani Kingdom) Islam in Indonesia

A7

Sejarah Dunia untuk SMP Vol. 1, by L. Jama, R.I.W. Dwidjasusana, F.H. Dwidjosaputra, 1966

45

1 (2.2)

Islam born in Arabia, penetrating to India

B1

Sejarah untuk SMA, by Z.H. Idris and Tugiyono, 1975

120

12 (10)

The coming and development of Islam in Indonesia

B2

Sejarah Nasional dan Umum untuk SMU Kelas 1, by Siti Waridah, J. Sukardi and P. Sunarto, 2000

172

40 (23.2)

The emergence, development and spread of Islam (Islam and Islamic civilization in Indonesia; Islamic Kingdoms in Indonesia; Islam and Indonesian integration)

B3

Sejarah Nasional dan Umum untuk SMU Kelas 1; Vol. 1, by Nana Nurliana Soeyono, Sudarini Suhartono and Magdalia, 2003

210

41 (19.5)

The influences of Islam in Indonesia Islamic kingdoms in Indonesia

Note: #A for textbooks on world history as an individual course; #B for textbooks on world history combined with Indonesian history

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Further Reading Badrika, I. W. (2006). Sejarah (History), 3 vols. Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga. Blaut, J. M. (1993). The colonizer’s model of the world: Geographical diffusion and Eurocentric history. New York/ London: Guildford Press. Chakrabarty, D. (2007). Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial thought and historical difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Department of Information. (1950). Rentjana mass education (Mass education plan). Jakarta: Department of Information. Department of Mass Education. Mass Education in Indonesia. Jakarta: Department of Mass Education, 1953. Hapsari, R., & Syukur, A. (2008). Eksplorasi Sejarah Indonesia dan Dunia 1 (Exploration of Indonesian and world history). Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga. Idris, Z. H., & Tugiyono, K. S. (1984). Sejarah untuk SMA (History for High School) (6th ed.). Jakarta: Mutiara Sumber Widya. Iskandar, D. R., & Persada, D. P. (1988 [1st ed.] and 1992 [4th ed.]). Pegangan Sejarah Indonesia dan Dunia (Guide to Indonesian and world history). Bandung: CV Armico. Jama, L., Dwidjosusana, R. I. W., & Dwidjosaputr, F. H. (1967). Ichtisar Sedjarah Dunia I (Excerpt of world history) (8th ed.). Yogyakarta: Penerbit Jajasan Kanisius. Kartodirjo, S. (2001). Indonesian historiography. Yogyakarta: Kanisius. Martono & Suroso. (1994). Sejarah Nasional dan Umum 2 (National and general history). Solo: Tiga Serangkai. Mazliz, B. (1998). Comparing global history to world history. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 28(3), 385–395. Ministry of Education, Instruction and Culture. (1951). Mass education in Indonesia: A contribution based on our experience with reference to mass education in Indonesia. Jakarta: Ministry of Education, Instruction, and Culture. Molt, E. (1930). Sedjarah Doenia Vol. I Zaman Poerbakala (World history I: Ancient period) (H. A. Salim, Trans.). Weltevreden: Balai Poestaka. ———. (1931). Sedjarah Doenia Vol. II Zaman Pertengahan (World history II: Medieval ages) (H. A. Salim, Trans.). Batavia Centrum: Balai Poestaka. ———. (1932). Sedjarah Doenia Vol. III Zaman Peroebahan (World history III: The age of changes) (H. A. Salim, Trans.). Batavia Centrum: Balai Poestaka. Muhammad Yamin Collection No. 247, Indonesian National Archive/ANRI Jakarta. Sanusi, A. (1956). Sejarah Umum untuk Sekolah Menengah I [General history for high school]. Bandung, Jakarta, Medan: Pustaka Pakuan. Soeroto. (1955a). Indonesia di Tengah-tengah Dunia dari Abad ke Abad, Vol. I (Indonesia at the world’s center from age to age). Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan. ———. (1955b). Indonesia di Tengah-tengah Dunia dari Abad ke Abad, Vol. II. Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan. ———. (1958). Indonesia di Tengah-tengah Dunia dari Abad ke Abad, Vol. III. Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan,. ———. (1961 [1st ed.] and 1968 [3rd ed.]). Indonesia dan Dunia. Djilid I (Indonesia and the world, Vol. I). Jakarta: Penerbit FA Gadjah Mada. Soeyono, N. N., Suhartono, S., & Alfian, M. (2003). Sejarah Nasional dan Umum (National and general history), 3 vols. Jakarta: ESIS/Penerbit Erlangga. Sutjipto Wirjosuparto, R. M. (1953). Sedjarah Dunia I (World history). Jakarta: Kementerian Pendidikan, Pengadjaran dan Kebudajaan. Suwignyo, A. (2012). Unifying diversities: Early institutional formation of the Indonesian national education system, c. December 1949–August 1950. Jurnal Humaniora, 24(1), 3–16. ———. (2014). Indonesian national history textbooks after the New Order: What’s New under the Sun? Bijdragen to de Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde, 170, 113–31. van den Berg, H. J., Kroeskamp, H., and Simandjoentak, I. P. (1951). Dari Panggung Peristiwa Sedjarah Dunia I: India, Tiongkok dan Djepang, Indonesia (From the stage of world history: India, China, Japan and Indonesia). Groningen & Batavia: J.B. Wolters. ———. (1954). Asia dan Dunia Sedjak 1500: Sejarah Umum dalam Bentuk Monografi (Asia and the world since 1500: Monographic general history). Djakarta & Groningen: J.B. Wolters. Waridah, S., Sukardi, J., & Sunarto, P. (2001). Sejarah Nasional dan Umum 1 (National and general history). Jakarta: PT Bumi Aksara. Xu, Luo. (2007). Reconstructing world history in the People’s Republic of China since the 1980s. Journal of World History, 18(3), 325–328. Yamin, M. (1956). Lukisan Sedjarah (Historical illustration). Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan.

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World History Education in Singapore SIM Yong Huei and Chelva RAJAH S. N. National Institute of Education, Singapore

World history education in Singapore has evolved through a series of revisions that reflect its own stages of development. Covering the periods before and after independence, through the years of transition and nation-building, and into the new millennium, the country experimented with finding a balance between world history topics and more local and regional content. The curriculum has also changed as the emphasis in education has evolved towards skills development and creative thinking.

T

he genre of world or global history research and education, if one may label such a category with full certainty, is one that has evolved through time and encompassed, within it, multiple strands of approaches and foci. The World History Association (WHA) defines world history in a way that “as long as one focuses on the big picture of cultural interchange and/or comparative history, one is a practicing world historian”153 Discussion in the field has distinguished between world history and international history; some have gone further to try and distinguish it from global history and comparative history. At one extreme, criticism worth noting includes that by scholars such as Andre Gunder Frank questioning whether a civilizational, comparative, or gender approach to world history exists, as discussed in The New World History: A Teachers’ Companion, edited by Ross Dunn. The definition used in this essay will differentiate the nature and scope of this sub-discipline of history in two parts: content and analytical approaches. It will encompass the widest descriptions that have been made in the field because, if one goes by the narrowest definition, not many education systems outside the United States can be said to be implementing a world history curriculum. This essay will trace the development of history education, in particular of world history education, whether in schools (below the university level) in Singapore and comment on these in relation to issues arising in the United States. We will do this in five sub-sections, each corresponding to a particular period in curriculum development (before 1965; the independence period, 1965–1980; transition, 1980–1995; the 1990s into the new millennium; and twenty-first century agendas). The phases can overlap to some extent with the periodization devised by historians Goh Chor Boon and 153 World History Association. “What Is World History?” Retrieved January 2014, from http://www.thewha.org/about-wha/what-is-world-history

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Saravanan Gopinathan in their discussion of history-teaching in post-independence Singapore.154 To assist the reader in understanding the developments in pre-university education in Singapore, an overview of its current system for mainstream education will be briefly discussed. After six years of primary education, students sit for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and are streamed to various courses at the secondary level such as the Express Course, the Normal Academic Course, and the Normal Technical Course. Express Course students sit for the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (Ordinary Level) Examination (GCE O-level) at the end of four years, while Normal Academic Course students sit for the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Normal (Academic) Level and one year later the GCE O-level. At the pre-university level, the majority of students sit for the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) Examination, or the A levels, after two years, while some students sit after three years. The examinations are jointly set by the Ministry of Education (MOE) Singapore and the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (ULCES), although the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) is playing an increasing role. Currently, history is compulsory for the Express and Normal Academic courses at the lower secondary level, while the Normal Academic Technical students are offered social studies, which is non-examinable (not included in the final exams), over the four years. At Secondary 3 (ages fourteen to fifteen), both the Express and Normal Academic students are offered combined humanities (social studies is a compulsory component, and students choose one elective subject: history, geography, or literature). Students are also offered history as a full-fledged humanities subject at the upper secondary level. The history and social studies curriculum is planned by the History and Social Studies Units in the Curriculum Planning and Development Division, (CPDD), MOE. Under normal circumstances, the curriculum is reviewed every six years. Whether or to what extent should developments outside the United States follow or link up with those in the West (especially the United States)?155 While the 154 Goh Chor Boon and Saravanan Gopinathan, “History Education and Construction of National Identity in Singapore,” in History Education and National Identity in East Asia, eds. Edward Vickers and Alisa Jones (New York: Routledge, 2005), 203–25; Susan A. Adler and Jasmine B. Y. Sim, “Social Studies in Singapore: Intentions and Contradictions,” in Social Education in Asia: Critical Issues and Multiple Perspectives, eds. David L. Grossman and Joe Tin-Yau Lo (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2008), 163–82. Goh and Gopinathan have divided history teaching in the post-independence period into three phases: A. the survival phase, 1965–1978; B. the post-survival phase, 1978–1995; and C. the phase going into the new millennium, 1995–2000s. The evolution of social studies, as discussed by Adler and Sim, also overlaps with this periodization. 155 Patrick Manning, Navigating World History, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Manning found four phases in the evolution of the sub-history discipline of world history. The phases he described are: A. before 1900; B. 1900–1965; C. 1965–1990; and D. since 1990. The earliest high school world history class, also known as general history, can be traced to Boston, Massachusetts in 1821. Manning describes the world history narrative before 1900 as influenced by historical philosophy, and heavily plagued by Eurocentric issues. The trend in which citizenship education began to tussle with the coverage of topics beyond one’s own country (in other words, world history) appears to start after

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process of implementation of the history curriculum in Singapore may not have resulted in heated debates, as it did in the United States, this does not mean that no issue(s) arose or that these have been resolved. Some of the issues and questions that can be generated from a brief survey of the development and teaching of the sub-discipline of world history in the United States, and deserving of comments in relation to the history education developed in Singapore, are: 1. In terms of content in the curriculum, what is the balance of national history in relation to world history as they are taught in the Singapore classroom? Has the content been more or less narrow during the various stages of the economic development of Singapore? 2. In terms of analytical approaches, which approach or model (Western civilization, Singapore-focused, cultural heritage, patterns of change) is the the First World War when the “National Education Association asked the American Historical Association for recommendations to adjust school work to a wider conception of citizenship education.” The schism persisted after the Second World War; part of the debate between social studies and history revolved around whether the latter should be incorporated into the former, and whether the set of generic thinking and analytical skills taught in one subject could be encapsulated by the gist of another that it hopes to substitute. Specialists in world history widely acknowledged the appearance of Alfred Toynbee’s twelve-volume Study of History (written 1934–61), as were Oswald Spengler’s The Decline of the West and H. G. Wells’ Outline of History before him, as a revival of history on a grand scale in the twentieth century. Although Toynbee’s multi-volume work elicited much readership and represented the second phase (1900–65) of progress in the world history narrative, the resulting debate also produced a certain reaction in the universities against the subject of world history, fueling the complicated divide between social studies educators, as well as both “old school” (national history historians) and world history historians. The third wave of the world history narrative, beginning in the mid-1960s, was kicked off by historians such as L. S. Stavrianos, with A Global History published in 1970; and William H. McNeill, author of The Rise of the West, who also published a version of A World History in 1967, among others who wanted to reverse this unfavorable trend of world history. These developments culminated in the formation of the World History Association in 1982. For many years, the tussle of implementing a world history curriculum continued to be about whether the contents could be taught in depth and scope and, in terms of teacher training and research, whether the contents to be taught are advanced by research and if there is capacity-building in those who professed or are tasked with teaching the subject. One needs to be cognizance of various other contributors to the world history narrative. Philip Curtin, for instance, an advocate of comparative history, whose own work centers on the history of Africa, extended his investigation to adjacent and wider areas in his later works. Other paradigms for viewing the world, such as modernization (advocated by C. Black in 1982) or core-periphery theories (advocated by Immanuel Wallerstein in 1974), affected the perception and narration of the subjects of world history and history at large. Finally, the 1990s constituted their own distinctive phase in the development of world history historiography and teaching because of the unleashing of democratization movements that coincided with the popularization of the internet. The year 1990 is significant because the Journal of World History first appeared. The community of world historians also came closer together on H-Net and unleashed further experimentation in area and comparative studies, as well as thematic and macro approaches from works already initiated in the previous phase. New impulses can be seen in the works of, for example, Kenneth Pomeranz, A. J. R. Russell-Wood, and J. Diamond.

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Singapore system adopting in implementing its world history education curriculum? Is the approach of comparative history, for instance, used in the text and the teaching of history in Singapore? 3. Does the content, as well as the thinking and analytical skills taught in world history/history education, conflict with those of social studies education (implemented after 2001)? How will implementation of world history education in Singapore face the difficulty of teaching in both depth and scope? 4. Are Singaporean teachers covering the various regions associated with world history teaching in the United States, following the formation of the WHA (1982)? Some attempt should be made to understand the terms used in question 2 (Western civilization, Singapore-focused, cultural heritage, patterns of change) before we begin the analysis of the case of Singapore. The three ways that the world history curriculum is taught in schools in the United States is summarized by the historian Peter Stearns: the Western heritage approach champions a history centered on Western civilization and is committed to the liberal values of democracy and freedom. The different cultures approach gives more emphasis to the “ancestral histories [of different ethnic] groups in the country but does not refute the Western heritage model.”156 The patterns of change approach focuses on exploring linkages between the communities under study. Although this essay will not touch on the training of world history historians and teachers, it has been theoretically possible for an undergraduate to attain a history education with diverse coursework in world history by taking a variety of modules while studying at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in the 1990s; NUS has since offered a world history module at the first-year level. There is no world history course at the National Institute of Education, but trainee teachers study modules on regional histories of the East; the history of the Western world offered at the institute approximates diplomatic or international history of the twentieth century. While these diploma courses catch up with some content, the postgraduate version of the courses given for the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) do not cover the content of history at all. The courses are centered on the teaching and learning of history in the classrooms.157 It should be mentioned that there is no requirement for teachers teaching history to have a world history or even a history specialization.

Developments in World History Education From Before Independence to the Mid-1980s The authors of this essay believe that the context surrounding the implementation of world history education has to be examined from the time that Singapore was still 156 Peter N. Stearns, “Getting Specific about Training in Historical Analysis: Case Study in World History,” in Knowing, Learning and Teaching History, eds. Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas, and Sam Wineberg (NY: New York University Press, 2000), 123. 157 There is also a course on teaching history through field trips, assessment, and evaluation in history.

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in the Federation of Malaysia (and the resulting Malayanization of education). In Singapore, as is probably true elsewhere, history is rarely able to fulfill the mission set by its host nation and people. The subjects of civics and moral education, social studies, geography, and history were meant to function complementarily in Singapore; this was especially so in the early years of its independence, sometimes even to the extent that these subjects were fused together.

Before 1965 The teaching of history was done in both English and the native languages (Mandarin Chinese, Malay, and Tamil) before and after Singapore’s independence; before, in a decentralized manner, and after, in a coordinated way, spearheaded by a policy of bilingualism. Pegged against the developments in world history, it is interesting to note that Singapore was just beginning to grapple with the making of its own history in 1965, at a time when world history was about to evolve into a more mature and sophisticated field of study. History teaching in the English stream (meaning that courses were taught in English) before 1959, not surprisingly, was focused on the history of the British Empire and the Commonwealth, as well as some Southeast Asian and Malayan history. It also included the history of the early civilizations, prominent non-local personalities, and aspects of world history—the orientation, according to a teacher in this period, was “essentially worldwide.” History teaching in the Chinese-language schools covered, as could be expected, “Chinese history from its origin to the period of the Manchus,” some Southeast Asian and Malayan history, as well as aspects of world history.158 Singapore maintained its autonomy within the Federation of Malaysia between 1959 and 1965. The broader policy of Malayanization therefore affected an array of policy-making in Singapore, most notably in education, during those years. In addition to the history of Malaysia, aspects of world history were commonly taught across Singapore and Malaya. Part of the curriculum in the pre-1959 period carried over to the period when Singapore was under Malaysian rule. The revised curriculum also “emphasized practical subjects like mathematics and science…to meet the demands of an industrialized society.”159 The scope and orientation of the history curriculum at the primary, secondary, and higher school certificate levels, clustering in that order, were as shown in Table 9.1. The internal inadequacies of the syllabus, in addition to the end of the political merger with Malaysia, sparked a round of revisions to the curriculum and teaching. Some of the shortcomings included: first, the scope of the content at the upper primary and secondary levels was thought to be too broad. Second, some of the topics were deemed to be “not interesting or beyond the grasp of the students.” Third, it was thought that there was excessive “orientation towards examination.”160 Perhaps in relation to this examination focus, the students were burdened with rote-learning, having to memorize an excessive number of names, places, and dates. Most of 158 Jacinta Tan, “The Teaching of History in Singapore Schools, 1959–80.” Honors Thesis, University of Singapore, 1982–1983, 5–6. 159 Tan, “The Teaching of History,” (1982–1983): 7. 160 Tan, “The Teaching of History,” (1982–1983): 21–22.

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Table 9.1. Scope and orientation of Singapore history curriculum for primary, secondary, and higher school certificates, 1959–65. Primary level (grades 1–6) 1. The history of early civilizations, in particular of Egypt and Babylon (beginning in primary 3). History from 1000 bce to 1500 ce was repeated at the upper primary levels and included early East-West contact as well as the classical periods in China and India. 2. The history of the medieval period stretching to 1497 (voyages of Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama). History from 1000 bce to 1500 ce was repeated at the upper primary levels and included the rise of Islam, as well as the rise of the Mongols in Asia. 3. History featuring prominent men and women, especially locally important individuals. 4. The history of Singapore and Malaya from the earliest times to 1948 (upper primary levels).161 Secondary level (grades 7–10) 1. World history from 1500 to 1783 (lower secondary level). A section on Southeast Asia was included, signifying “the shift away from emphasis on the European world.”162 2. World history from 1783 to the present. 3. The history of Malaya, 1200–1960 (upper secondary level).163 4. The history of the British Commonwealth (including India, Pakistan, Ceylon [Sri Lanka], Hong Kong, Borneo, Australia, and New Zealand). 5. The cultural backgrounds of the peoples of Malaya (to 1900); including the regionally important religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity). 6. The development of liberty and responsibility. 7. The history of China (the teaching materials were prepared but never distributed). Higher school certificate level (grades 11–12, or junior college) 1. World history from the time of early man to 1497 (Paper IX). 2. The history of Southeast Asia, 1840–1939 (Paper VI). 3. World affairs since 1919 (Paper VII). 4.

all, Singapore’s exit from the Federation of Malaysia meant that elements of Malayanization added to the curriculum during the union had to be removed.164 In terms of the geographic and chronological scope of coverage, in the pre1965 period students at the different academic levels were exposed to different 161

162

163

161 K.R. Menon, History in Singapore Schools (Singapore: India Pub. House, 1962). This series of textbooks received praise from specialists on the subject such as Ken Tregonning and Victor Purcell. 162 Tan, “The Teaching of History,” (1982–1983): 18. 163 The textbook for this level was Joginder Singh Jessy, History of Malaya (Penang: Peninsular Publications, 1961). 164 This report refers to English-language history education; the “problem areas were recognized to be prevalent in the other language streams similar problems were found in the curricula taught in other languages, as well.” See also, Ministry of Education of Singapore, Final Report, Commission of Inquiry into Education (1963), 35.

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histories of the world although, from a pedagogical point of view, whether such breadth of learning was beneficial to students merits further discussion. The approach in teaching the contents in this curriculum is Asia-focused (as opposed to Western civilization-focused). One could say that elements of the cultural heritage and patterns of change models could also be detected, although these were not consistent to any extent in the curriculum. Comparative history is not included in the texts, although teachers were free to use the comparative approach when teaching the major civilizations. It is clear that, in the first phase, there was little identification of what constituted history skills, much less any distinction of how history differs from other humanities or social studies (which had not yet been introduced as a subject) disciplines. The difficulties of teaching such broad coverage had been highlighted in the curriculum review (mentioned in the previous paragraph), which prompted a reduction of the contents in the following years. Overall, one can say that although teachers were teaching a broad and inclusive curriculum in history, the consciousness and the deeper issues associated with world history teaching did not approach the debates and discussions seen in US education. In addition, with Singapore’s location in Asia, the natural tendency to focus on Asian history brought about a certain balance to the teaching of regional and world history.

The Period of Independence, 1965–1980 The initial decades of independence appeared to witness a step backward for history education in Singapore, with reductions in the geographical scope of the subject and, hence, on the field of world history. This, however, should not be seen as a period devoid of initiatives. Twice, history syllabi revisions were attempted in an effort to enliven national and local history. The first, prompted by a History Association of Singapore (HAS) seminar in 1968 and in liaison with an MOE-appointed committee, began with the writing of a new series of textbooks for use at the primary levels.165 A change in ministry policy, however, combined with inherent problems encountered in the texts, as well as in their translations, phased the books out. The second initiative was undertaken in 1979 to 1980, when the “need for study on national history [in particular, at the lower secondary levels] was realized.”166 Problems such as presenting decisions undertaken by the political leaders during the merger with and breakup between Singapore and Malaysia, and the unfair representation of prominent local figures of Chinese ancestry rather than those who were Malay or Indian, for example, led to the end of these revisions.167 165 Two teachers, Suan Imm Tan and Tan Winston, were commissioned to write the English master texts The series included five textbooks, each with two parts, entitled Pioneering Years, Many Races, Many Religions, War and Peace, and Struggle for Freedom. 166 Tan, “The Teaching of History,” (1982–1983): 45–51. 167 Tan, “The Teaching of History,” (1982–1983): 53. Two academics from the history department of the National University of Singapore were appointed to draft the new syllabus for the lower secondary level. Towards the end of the project, the “irresolvable issue” was left to the Committee (Ministry of Education) to sort out. It is “assumed that the syllabus has been shelved as the Ministry failed to inform the history department of the possible acceptance or rejection of the proposal.”

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In the middle years of this period, from 1973 to 1979, a subject called Education for Living (EFL), incorporating the subjects of history, geography, and civics, was introduced in the primary schools. The subject was taught as part of the civics lessons in the mother tongue and designated as “non-examinable.”168 At the same time, there was to be greater emphasis on science and technology, introducing the rudiments of technical education, so that by the end of Secondary 2 (ages thirteen to fourteen), pupils had been given the opportunity to pursue technical education; those who went on with general education were given the chance to specialize in various natural science tracks (history and other humanities subjects were de-emphasized). The aims of EFL were “stated to be inculcating in the children some traditional values of the East, an understanding of what is right and wrong, of what the rights and obligations are of being a Singapore citizen, and to teach some simple concepts of history and geography.”169 In terms of the specific history elements in EFL, the subject was not included at the Primary 3 (ages eight to nine) level. At the Primary 4 (ages nine to ten) level, students were taught the early history of Singapore. The founding of Singapore as a British commercial port in 1819 was taught in a way so as to highlight “useful information” about the early days for use in the present; for instance, prominent and hardworking figures from early society, many of them immigrants, made what would become a multilingual and multi-religious community. At the Primary 5 (ages ten to eleven) level, students were taught a brief history of Singapore covering the period from colonial rule to independence. Selected figures in this historical process were used to “create a sense of national consciousness and pride.” Finally, at the Primary 6 level (ages eleven to twelve), sub-topics such as “our country” and “the early migrant spirit,” covered in the previous levels, were again evoked and brought together as part of the curriculum. Overall, ideas and lessons in history were selected and used to meet specific or current purposes.170 While the lower secondary school level continued (into the 1980s) teaching world history from 1500 to the present, the curriculum at the upper secondary level was reformed in 1964 to become as follows. A. The history of Malaya, 1400–1963; B. The history of the British Commonwealth, 1740–1960; C. The history of Southeast Asia, 1500–1945. The sections taught before on the cultural background of the peoples of Malaya and the development of liberty and responsibility were replaced by the history of Southeast Asia. The popularity of the history of the British Commonwealth slowly waned after its reintroduction, as teachers and schools gravitated toward teaching and studying topics that were nearer to home. The least amount of change was made to the syllabus at the higher school certificate level, which remained pretty much the same as during the period before 1965.171 168 169 170 171

Tan, “The Teaching of History,” (1982–1983): 38. Tan, “The Teaching of History,” (1982–1983): 44. Tan, “The Teaching of History,” (1982–1983): 48–50. Ong Yed Deed, “Development of the History Curriculum in English Medium Schools in Singapore 1899–1991” (Master Thesis, Columbia Pacific University, 1992), 75.

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The authors of this essay agree with the general assessment that the period of independence (1965 to 1980) took a step backward in terms of the development of the subject of history in Singapore, not the least in regards to the sub-discipline of world history. The saving grace is, as highlighted at the end of the first section of this essay, that the continued implementation of the regional and ancient history curricula at the lower and upper secondary, as well as the higher certificate, levels maintained some semblance of world history in humanities education in Singapore. While the world history curriculum met the content requirement that the coverage of topics be broad, the analytic approach followed a country and regional narrative that followed chronological lines and had not evolved in a more sophisticated manner. Pedagogically, having or not having examinations did not discourage or inhibit a diverse or world history curriculum from being implemented; a series of higher educational policies that de-emphasized the humanities appears to have done much more damage. The method of teaching history was relegated to the cultural heritage approach. The emphasis on contemporary culture was so strong that the few historical elements linked to culture were usually overlooked. The content and teaching approach, if one is pushed to describe it, can be labeled as an essentially national history model. Here, the attempt to have historical information comply with some modern day, national history or lesson-learning agenda risks distorting the presentation of the story. The preparation of history teachers and the development of history teaching in Singapore appear to have stagnated during this period, although there was never a lack of exasperated voices, such as that of Dr. Chiang Hai Ding in Parliament, advocating for a return to the higher calling of the discipline.

Toward a More Organized Local and National History in the Curriculum, 1980–1995 The failure of the 1979 to 1980 attempt to craft a comprehensive syllabus for national and local history education at the primary and especially the lower secondary levels led to the creation of another committee for that purpose, this time focusing on teaching the social and economic history of Singapore.172 The (general) objectives of the syllabi were: A. to develop in pupils a sense of Singapore identity; B. to impart some knowledge about, and bring about an understanding of, and instill pride in Singapore’s past and the students’ ancestors’ achievements; C. to show how major external factors and events influenced the history of Singapore and the way Singapore contributed to the development of the region and beyond; D. to emphasize the relevance of the past to Singapore’s present and the future.173 172 The textbooks were to be entitled The Social and Economic History of Singapore (Singapore: Longman Singapore [for] Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore, 1984). 173 Ong Yed Deed, “Development of the History Curriculum” (1992): 87. See also, Ministry of Education of Singapore, Secondary School Syllabuses: History Secondary 1 and 2 (Singapore: MOE, 1982), 2.

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As part of a master’s thesis at Columbia Pacific University, Ong Yed Deed analyzed the contents of the textbooks for lower secondary use during this period and found political history to take up 26.8 percent; economic history to take up 23.4 percent; social history to take up 30.9 percent; and military history to take up 10.2 percent.174 Given its nature and focus, Deed did not, understandably, survey the book in terms of possible world history agendas and linkages. Using the method suggested by Deed, the authors of this essay have analyzed the sections to show the extent to which the text discussed major external factors and events that influenced the history of Singapore and the way Singapore contributed to the development of the region and elsewhere, and found 57 percent of the content to meet these criteria. This result is perhaps not surprising for a tiny island community (and later, state) devoid of material and human resources. In order to survive and even thrive, it had to connect more closely with a host of entities (from nearby Malaya to Europe and the United States) in the external environment. The result is even more revealing when we break up the percentage results for both volumes of the history text. The first volume dealt with developments to the end of the nineteenth century, the second to independence in the 1960s. The respective percentages are 42.6 and 72; assuming that the textbook is written in such a way as to reflect a healthy mix of internal and external events that affected the island, Singapore is found to be much more connected with the rest of the world in the twentieth than in the nineteenth century. The balance of content in the history curriculum at the lower secondary level is clearly tilted towards national or local history. As before, if the overall picture involving the upper secondary level is looked at, a certain balance in terms of the content in world history is attained. Accordingly, the approach during this period may be described as Singapore-focused, and, to a lesser extent, as one emphasizing cultural heritage. The illuminating revelation of this sub-section on the period 1980 to 1995 is that even while national history was emphasized, linkages could also be extended to world history agendas. It should be clarified that when this essay refers to national history topics, these are not to be seen as diametric opposites of world history topics; the former, especially for a small country like Singapore, was sometimes linked to developments outside the country. A national history topic refers to a narrative or focus on content that is relatively centered on domestic developments, rather than those outside the country. While comparative history (history calling for comparison between societies existing in the same time period or sharing similar cultural conditions) might not be again included in the textbooks, the earlier stress on generic thinking skills meant that comparing and contrasting were likely to be used in teaching the content. At the time of the formation of the WHA in the early 1980s, there was little evidence that many teachers were aware of world history or its teaching as a field, as participation in WHA activities by teachers in Singapore, and one might say in Asia, as well, was limited.

174 The researcher tagged the section of the textbook according to the type of history it belong to, then added up the respective categories of sections and converted the figures totaled into percentages.

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Some discussion may be briefly added regarding the 1980s, which Goh classifies as the post-survival phase. Juxtaposed against the discussion of world history, the decade appears to point to a more local focus of the history curriculum, a process that was intensified further with the introduction of social studies in the late 1990s. This was in tandem with his characterization of this phase as witnessing the beginning of the inclusion of Singaporean history citizenship education, as seen in the introduction of a textbook more specifically written for this purpose. From the perspective of values education, the post-industrial syndrome, which affected many first world countries, appears to have impacted local society and led people to pursue concerns that were related to the comforts of life. The government began to be concerned that the values of hard work, thrift, etc. (values associated with Confucianism), which had characterized the rise of newly industrialized countries (NIC), would be eroded.175 The researchers Jasmine Sim and Susan Adler identify this phase as the Asian versus Western values period.176 Returning to the world history curriculum and its development, the retention of regional and international histories at the upper secondary level and of the ancient and medieval histories of Europe and the classical world at the higher school certificate level during this phase (and for other phases, as well) appears to indicate that Singapore’s educational system needed to respond to a mixture of domestic and international developments, although the retention of a broad history curriculum was probably due to the arrangement in which the contents of examinations were determined by both the Ministry of Education and the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES).

Developments in World History Education from the 1990s to Post-2000 The 1990s and the years into the new millennium saw new revisions to the history curriculums at the primary and secondary levels.

The 1990s In the 1990s, there were two milestones in the teaching and learning of history in the secondary schools. First, there was a revision of the lower secondary and upper secondary history syllabi which took place in 1994; and second, in 1999, all the history syllabi were revised to incorporate the MOE’s three initiatives of national education, thinking skills, and information technology as part of its educational campaign:

175 Ezra Vogel, The Four Little Dragons: Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993). As a result of numerous factors , a religious knowledge course, which featured Confucian ethics as one of its elective modules, was implemented in 1982. 176 Adler and Sim, “The Role of Secondary Social Studies in Educating Singapore’s Citizens,” Teaching and Learning 25, no. 2 (2004): 163.

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Thinking Schools, Learning Nation (TSLN).177 The importance of national history was further emphasized when then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong launched National Education in the schools in May 1997, when he stated: Many Singaporeans, especially pupils and younger Singaporeans, knew little of our recent history. They did not know how we became an independent nation, how we triumphed against long odds, or how today’s peaceful and prosperous Singapore came about. This ignorance will hinder our effort to develop a shared sense of nationhood. We will not acquire the right instincts to bond together as one nation, or maintain the will to survive and prosper in an uncertain world. For Singapore to thrive beyond the founder generation, we must systematically transmit these instincts and attitudes to succeeding cohorts. Through national education, we must make these instincts and attitudes part of the cultural DNA which makes us Singaporeans. He then went on to give examples of other countries, such as Japan: Japanese schools start early to teach pupils Japanese culture, values, history and geography, and even the politics and economics of Japan. As pupils get older, they also learn about the cultures and histories of other countries. In so doing, they understand even better what makes them uniquely Japanese.178 It was clear that history would be one of the primary means of fulfilling the aims of National Education. At the same time, there was a need to provide students with an understanding of their cultural roots and ancestry by tracing the countries from which their ancestors originally came, as Singapore is largely an immigrant country. In order to appreciate their common shared experience, students had to learn about the ancient civilizations of India, China, and Southeast Asia. Moreover, the MOE had realized that history at the lower secondary level was very insular and parochial in nature, as students studied only the history of Singapore for two years. This meant that future Singaporeans who did not study history beyond the lower secondary level would not know much about the history of other countries either. Thus it is not surprising that the objectives for the lower secondary syllabus in 1994 were revised as follows. A. Foster a strong sense of national identity and develop understanding and respect for people living in our community; B. Develop a broader and more balanced world view in our students by helping them to become more informed individuals and instilling in them a boldness in outlook and an entrepreneurial spirit; 177 These revisions included a reduction in content also aimed to free up time that could be used to teach core skills such as argumentative writing. TSLN was first announced by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in 1997. This campaign was meant to prepare a nation of thinking and committed citizens capable of meeting the challenges of the future, and an education system geared to the needs of the twenty-first century. 178 See http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/speeches/view-html?filename=1997051607 .htm

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C. Develop in students an enquiring mind and lead them to higher-order thinking through the acquisition of historical skills such as distinguishing between facts and opinions, inferring, synthesising points of views, and evaluating evidence and judgement.179 The textbook on the ancient history of India, Southeast Asia, and China was written by the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore (CDIS), Ministry of Education. CDIS was set up in 1980 to prepare textbooks for the primary and secondary levels of the new educational system. In 1979, there was a major revamping of the educational system, resulting in a need to design both textbooks for innovative teaching and quality teaching packages that private publishers were not able to meet. In 1996, CDIS was closed as the MOE put more emphasis on curriculum frameworks and syllabi. Commercial publishers were allowed to provide history textbooks that did not include the history of Singapore. Singaporean history and social studies texts would be written by the officers in the history and social studies units of the Curriculum Planning and Development Division (CPDD). This meant that the MOE had control of the content. The resulting textbooks followed a country-by-country, as well as a chronological approach in narrating histories. For India, as an example, students studied the Indus civilization, followed by the coming of the Aryans. Then they continued on to the Mauryan period and India’s Golden Age, as well as the kingdoms in South India. The section on India ended with the influence of trade on ancient Southeast Asia. It was not really an in-depth study of Indian history but rather covered major elements and showed how the ancient people of India built their society and state, created their works of art, and discovered the great ideas and the principles of science: in essence, how they attained their achievements. The textbook also covered the benefits of these great ideas and explored their legacies.180 Changes were also made in the format of evaluations. Essay questions were replaced by structured questions, and there were compulsory stimulus questions (essay questions which provide a stimulus passage or picture to elicit students’ thinking) to test students’ abilities in interpreting historical sources. This change in the design of evaluations was supposed to discourage memorization and rote learning. In this way, the direction of this and future history syllabi is intended to ensure that there will be a balance between content and skills development. Changes were being made in the upper secondary history syllabus too. Though there was coverage of both regional and world history, there was a revision to make them relevant and meaningful for students. Prior to 1993, the upper secondary history syllabus included the history of Malaya (1400–1963), the history of Southeast Asia (1500–1945), and the history of the regional members of the British Commonwealth (1740–1960). The histories of Malaya and Southeast Asia were more popular in the schools. This meant that students’ knowledge and understanding at the upper secondary level were basically local and regional. The increasing connectedness of Singapore’s society and economy to other countries required a broader understanding 179 Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore (CDIS), Lower Secondary History Syllabus (Singapore: CDIS, 1994). 180 CDIS, The Ancient History of India, Southeast Asia and China (Singapore: CDIS, Ministry of Education, 1995).

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of the world. There was also the need to move away from British-centric (Commonwealth) history. At the same time, the coverage of modern world history should not be too broad, as there was a need to balance both content and skills development. In 1994, the revised upper secondary history syllabus covered: Section A: The History of Malaya, 1819–1963; Section B: The History of Southeast Asia, 1800–1954; Section C: Modern World History, 1919–1952.181 Sections A and B provide students with information for understanding the history of Malaya and Southeast Asia (Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia) from the period of colonial expansion to the emergence of the new nations. Colonialism had a tremendous impact on the lives of people in this region, and it also influenced the way in which Southeast Asian governments were set up. Thus, the study of Malaya and Southeast Asia from the colonial era onwards enables students to develop a historical perspective on the region and to appreciate the importance of national will and survival. Studying the history of Malaya was important, as Singapore’s history was inextricably linked to it, and Southeast Asian history was included because events in that region had an impact on Singapore. Section C begins with the aftermath of World War I and ends with the Cold War period. The study of landmark events of the twentieth century provides students with a more global perspective and a better understanding of world events in contemporary times. It also helps students to see the relevance of history to the modern day. The inclusion of this section exposes students to twentieth-century developments in countries such as the United States, Germany, and Russia, as well as in regions of East Asia. The other major objective of the upper secondary history syllabus was to introduce students to higher-order analytical skills used in history, such as the interpretation of documentary sources. A start was made in the 1988 examination format with the inclusion of an optional essay question on Malaya, based on the interpretation of documentary sources, both textual and pictorial. In order to ensure continuity, the assessment format for the revised upper secondary history syllabus was changed to comprise structured questions and compulsory stimulus questions as had been done in the revised lower secondary history syllabus. For the pre-university history syllabus, evaluations continued to require four papers (or exams) in the 1990s. Students had to choose two of the following papers: Paper 5: European History, 1450–1973; Paper 6: The History of South, Southeast, and East Asia, 1824–1959; Paper 7: World Affairs since 1960; Paper 14: World History before 1497.182

181 University of Cambridge, Local Examinations Syndicate, International Examinations, “Examination syllabuses for 1996 – O-level.” (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 1995). 182 UCLES, Local Examinations Syndicate, International Examinations, Examination syllabuses for 1996–O-level. (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 1995).

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Time periods and subjects covered had been broad at the pre-university level. There were no major changes in the pre-university history syllabus in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, however, CPDD planned to reduce the number of required papers from four to three for the revised syllabus. Paper 14, World History before 1497, would be removed. The three papers that continued to be offered spanned the years 1789 to 1939 for Modern European History, 1870 to 1980 for Southeast Asian History, and 1945 to 1991 for International History. In other words, these three papers were deemed to be more relevant for students than history prior to 1497. Moreover, the revised syllabus adopted a thematic approach to the study of history, which was more suited to the three papers, allowing the study of historical events and issues within a broader context. Students learned to identify patterns and links in historical developments, which they would not do with a country-based approach. In terms of the weighting of the national and world history content that is incorporated in Singapore’s history curriculum, there appears to have been an effort to attain some degree of balance. This is seen in the fact that a national-focused history was provided at the Secondary 1 (ages twelve to thirteen) level. A cultural heritage approach teaching about the ancient civilizations of the East was implemented at the Secondary 2 level. A more sophisticated, thematic analytical approach was not adopted for the presentation of content, although with the introduction of generic thinking and history skills, it was possible that discussions involving comparison and contrast could occur in the classroom, depending on the teaching approaches of the instructor. As in the periods before 1965 and up until the 1980s, the inclusion of topics like the Silk Road or the influence of ancient Indian culture on Southeast Asia was already introducing a semblance of world history. Compared to world history texts used in the United States (for example, William H. McNeill’s History of the Human Community: Prehistory to the Present), the Singaporean curriculum appears to have achieved a scope catering to the country’s needs, although it did not necessarily offer greater depth in treatment of the topics covered. In addition to the endeavors of history teachers, the HAS (founded in 1967) actively strove to organize activities to support the efforts of teachers in the 1990s. A series of talks, seminars, and fieldtrips, “[centering] around themes and topics that would help history teachers in their classroom teaching,” were organized.183 Although an innovative period of world history research and discussion was taking place in the United States at this time, there were few or no links between the activities of history teaching professionals in Singapore and those of the WHA.

Into the New Millennium At the turn of the twenty-first century, there were changes in history education as the MOE began to implement its TSLN educational campaign. In 2000, the revised lower secondary syllabus for students was implemented simultaneously throughout the system. The scope and coverage were retained by and large, as had been done in 1994, although teaching the ancient histories of India, China, and Southeast Asia was shifted to Secondary 1. Singapore’s history, already being taught in Secondary 2, 183 Ky Chiang, History Association of Singapore (HAS) 1967–2012 (Singapore: HAS, 2012), 36–39.

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had its chronological period of coverage extended to include the British withdrawal in 1971 (previously it had ended in 1965, when Singapore separated from Malaysia). It may be that Singapore’s history was taught in Secondary 2 because it was believed that more mature students would be better able to follow and understand political developments in Singapore after 1945. It was clear that the MOE wanted to adopt a more balanced approach in order to give students a wider world view or perspective. This time, developing the ancient history textbook was outsourced to private publishers. There was also a corresponding emphasis on what was called the “inquiring mind.” This meant that teaching strategies and activities had to be tailored to help students develop this frame of mind. In order to achieve this, the MOE cut down on content and coverage. It was decided that the ancient history of India, China, and Southeast Asia was to be covered in Secondary 2 by adopting a thematic approach instead of a chronological approach. The content covered the rise of civilizations, their achievements in science and the arts, and how these great civilizations were sustained by successfully responding to internal and external threats. There was no need for students to be preoccupied with dates and timelines of dynasties and empires. It could be asked whether Secondary 1 students were better prepared to understand the complex and broader developments of the ancient civilizations (even if these were limited to key developments). In 2001, the upper secondary history syllabus consisted of two papers: Section A: History of Southeast Asia with Emphasis on Malaysia and Singapore, 1870–1971; Section B: Modern World History, 1910s–1980s. It is interesting to note that students pursuing history at the upper secondary level were not given any choice but to study modern world history. At the pre-university level, however, students still had a choice in the content they wished to study. Students chose two out of these three papers in 2001: Paper 1: Modern European History, 1789–1939; Paper 2: Southeast Asia: From Colonies to Nations, 1870–1980; Paper 3: International History, 1945–1991.184 As a follow-up to the TSLN educational campaign, another initiative, “Teach Less, Learn More” (TLLM), was introduced in 2006 (MOE).185 Intended to help 184 UCLES, Examination syllabuses for 2002–O-level. (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 2002). 185 TLLM builds on the groundwork laid in place by the systemic and structural improvements under TSLN, and the changes in mindset encouraged in our schools under the initiative “Innovation & Enterprise.” It continues the TSLN journey to improve the quality of the interactions between teachers and learners, so that students can be more engaged in learning and better achieve the desired outcomes of education. It is about shifting the focus from quantity to quality in education: more quality, in terms of classroom interactions, opportunities for expression, the learning of life-long skills, and the building of character through innovative and effective teaching approaches and strategies; less

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refine the quality rather than quantity approach in teaching, it invariably led to a further round of content reduction in the history syllabi. This new initiative engendered another round of revisions of the lower secondary history syllabus. Though the coverage was the same, the content was organized around themes based on substantive concepts revolving around government, society, and culture, instead of being structured around achievements and lessons that could be drawn from the past. The concept of interaction, for example, was to make students aware of the different types of contacts and interactions, such as trade, and their impact on the growth of ancient societies. It also enabled students to understand how some civilizations were able to survive because of their ability to adapt and respond quickly to changing demands and situations. Overall, the new thematic framework was designed to provide better understanding of the origins, developments, and achievements of ancient civilizations. The time frame for the study of Singapore’s history was shifted earlier, to include the pre-1819 period, as recent archaeological findings from early Singapore have provided new perspectives on Singapore’s more remote historical past. This has helped to address a misconception that students may have, that Singapore’s history began with Thomas Raffles’s founding of Singapore in 1819 and British colonial rule, and hopefully shift perceptions to include a more indigenous-based understanding of the country and the region. The themes were also reorganized to better reflect the distinct phases of Singapore’s development up to the withdrawal of the British from Singapore in 1971. The reorganization of the syllabus resulted in further content reduction. The extra time allowed teachers to employ original source materials, IT resources, and experiential learning activities such as fieldtrips, in order to make learning more interesting and engaging for students. Likewise, in the upper secondary syllabus, a thematic-comparative approach that is structured along the themes of colonialism, nationalism, and independence was adopted to study the regional history of Southeast Asia between 1870 and 1967. It is clear that the focus was still on regional and international events in the twentieth century. For the international paper, an issues-based approach was adopted to study historical forces such as war, ideology, and nationalism that had shaped twentieth-century world history. Through this study, it is intended that students will have regional and global perspectives on the complexities of regional and international relations between and among countries in the twentieth century. For the upper secondary history syllabus, there was no choice in the papers to be studied. It was expected that the upper secondary history syllabus would adequately prepare students to study history at the pre-university level. The time freed up as a result of content reduction was intended to enable teachers to use innovative pedagogical approaches in classroom instruction and to help their students develop critical and creative thinking skills. It was expected that the time could also be used to teach core skills such as argumentative writing. At the pre-university level, the history syllabus was revised to provide a contemporary study of regional and international events in the twentieth century. Through thematic, comparative, and issues-based approaches, it was believed that the syllabus quantity, in terms of rote-learning, repetitive tests, and following prescribed answers and set formulae.

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would enable students to identify patterns and links, recognize changes and continuity, and understand the interactions of forces that have shaped world events and developments. The study of Southeast Asian and international history would also enable students to appreciate Singapore’s place in the Southeast Asian region and the larger international community. Finally, studying the forces in twentieth-century history was intended to prepare students to understand the key forces driving historical events, to study their impact on the present, and to explore responses to challenges in the twenty-first century. In 2006, the A-level history syllabus had two papers: A. International History, 1945–2000; B. History of Southeast Asia, 1900–1997.186 For international history, all students must study a primary source-based segment of the syllabus, “Political Effectiveness of the United Nations, 1945–2000.” Students also study other topics such as “The Cold War and How It Shaped the World,” “The Development of the Global Economy,” and “Conflict and Cooperation.” The main countries and regions studied are the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, Japan, China, the Middle East, and South Asia. The introduction of social studies as a subject significantly changed the development of humanities education in Singapore schools in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Social studies is a multi-disciplinary subject, incorporating history, geography, political science, economics, and sociology, and designed to provide students with a wider world perspective on different contemporary issues.187 Themes included exploring Singapore in the frame of the world context; understanding Singapore’s governance and how it manages and sustains its international relations and economic development; conflict and harmony in multi-ethnic societies such as Ireland and Sri Lanka; and a historical chapter on Venice, serving as an applied case study to crystallize the lessons on managing challenges and change. The main thrust of the social studies syllabus remains to “develop students into well-informed, responsible citizens with a sense of national identity and a global perspective.”188 The balance between the content in national and world history topics appears to be maintained as the curriculum for the lower and upper secondary students (discussed in the previous section, “1990s”) is maintained. For all levels (up to A level), the chronological periods included in each segment have been shifted toward the contemporary period and the present. It can be asked if a more contemporary focus is, indeed, of more utility and value when compared to focusing on the more distant past. A more thematic approach was also incorporated in terms of this content. The introduction of social studies, which was meant to instill a stronger Singaporean identity in the students, also broadens their knowledge and 186 UCLES, International Examinations. Examination Syllabuses for 2007–A-Level (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 2007). 187 Social studies in Singapore is a compulsory subject that has been taught to students at the upper secondary level as part of combined humanities since 2001. Students are also expected to learn history, geography, or literature as part of the elective subject. 188 UCLES, Singapore-Cambridge GCE O-Level Syllabuses Examined in 2013/2014 (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 2013).

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perspectives, as selected case studies from the West and the wider region of Asia are included in the curriculum. The topics studied in social studies in upper secondary history bode well in terms of the scope and breadth of topics covered, although if students were to choose the social studies and geography option, they will probably miss out on a more rounded history education. The approach to humanities education puts emphasis on students gaining a set of generic skills in the humanities, rather than on whether they have taken up specific subjects (such as history). In the new millennium, reforms in the schools (involving, for instance, sharing teaching experiences between schools and schools in different clusters or zones), in addition to the activities of the HAS (including an overseas exchange program for history teachers), brought the teachers up-to-date with the latest developments in history teaching, while linking them to professionals in other parts of the world (especially in the United States). Overall, links between professional bodies advocating history or history-teaching in Singapore and the WHA are still limited; it may be desirable to have more collaboration, so that educational professionals from Singapore can tap developments made on the frontiers of knowledge in world history, as well as emulate the types of nexus and cooperation between universities, teacher training colleges, and world history teachers in schools . Following the first decade of the new millennium, 2013 saw the introduction of a new upper secondary history syllabus. Instead of two main sections, the history syllabus now includes four units:189 Unit 1: European Dominance and Expansion in the Late Nineteenth Century; Unit 2: The World in Crisis; Unit 3: Bi-polarity and the Cold War; Unit 4: Decolonization and the Emergence of Nation States.190 Students choosing to study history as a core (or main, as opposed to elective) subject will take all four units. The case studies for Units 1 and 3 are Malaya and either Vietnam or Indonesia. Students choosing the history elective will take Units 2 and 3, international history covering Europe, Asia Pacific, the United States, and the Soviet Union. In 2014, there was another round of revisions of the lower secondary history syllabus.191 Lower secondary students will now study two years of Singapore’s history, from the pre-1819 period to 1971. The ancient history of India, China, and Southeast Asia are introduced in the primary level syllabus, within the subject of social studies. The fact that Singapore is returning to a national history curriculum is a signal that the MOE believes students should develop a deeper understanding of national history in order to build a stronger national identity. Although lower secondary students will be thoroughly grounded in national history, it is reasonable to wonder if the ancient history of Asia will be studied at a sufficiently rigorous level in the primary schools. 189 Appendices 9.1 and 9.2 summarize the Singapore history syllabi for Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary levels respectively. 190 UCLES, Singapore-Cambridge GCE O-Level Syllabuses Examined in 2013/2014 (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 2013). 191 Proposed lower secondary history syllabus, 2014.

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Twenty-first Century Agenda: Reaching Out The progress mapped by Manning reveals that the state of research and teaching of world history in the United States is one of the best-developed around the world. The diversity found in the US curriculum is no doubt propelled partly by the needs of the superpower nation, which requires its school graduates to be knowledgeable about the country and a large part of the outside world. In comparison, the history curriculum in Singapore also underwent several revisions before it arrived at a curriculum encompassing a limited number of content areas, offering a good balance in content, and exposing students to various cultures and geographical regions outside Singapore, approximating a “world history” curriculum while catering to the needs of the country. In addition to the content coverage, the development and adoption of a body of generic skills in the humanities also enables content to be studied in a more sophisticated manner (for instance, the use of comparison and contrast in studying the ancient civilizations of India, China, and Southeast Asia), even though development of these approaches in Singapore evolved on its own, rather than through interactions with professional bodies advocating for world history in the United States. As of the time of writing this chapter, communications and linkages with WHA appear to be negligible, but teaching professionals, whether sponsored by MOE or HAS, are increasingly connected to fellow professionals elsewhere, notably in the United States. It is good news and a great stride forward that the Asian Association of World Historians (AAWH) hosted its 2015 congress in Singapore.192 This gradual but increasing interaction can lead to more exchanges and recognition of the type of world history being taught in Singapore schools at some future point in time.

Further Reading Asian Association of World Historians (AAWH). (2015). Program booklet, Asian Association of World Historians Congress May 2015 organized by AAWH and HSS at The Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Singapore: AAWH. Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore (CDIS). (1994). Lower secondary history syllabus. Singapore: CDIS. ———. (1995). The ancient history of India, Southeast Asia and China. Singapore: CDIS, Ministry of Education. Deed, O. Y. (1992). Development of the history curriculum in English medium schools in Singapore 1899– 1991. Master’s Thesis, Columbia Pacific University. Dunn, R. E. (1999). New world history: A teacher’s companion. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. Frank, Andre Gunder. (2002). ReOrient: Global economy in the Asian age. Berkeley: University of California Press. Goh, C. B., & Gopinathan, S. (2005). History education and construction of national identity in Singapore. In A. Jones and E. Vickers (Eds.), History education and national identity in Asia (203–225). (New York: Routledge). Jessy, J. S. (1961). History of Malaya (Penang: Peninsular Publications). Chiang, K. (2012). History Association of Singapore (HAS) 1967–2012. Singapore: HAS. Manning, P. (2003.) Navigating world history. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

192 Asian Association of World Historians, Program Booklet, Asian Association of World Historians Congress May 2015 Organized by AAWH and HSS at The Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. (Singapore: AAWH, 2015). The AAWH is a body that exists sideby-side with the WHA and aims to serve world history scholars in Asia by bringing them together in conference meetings and linking them to the network.

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McNeill, W. H. (1991 [1963]). The rise of the West. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ———. (1990). History of the human community: Prehistory to the present, 2 vols. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. ———. (1967). A world history. New York: Oxford University Press. Menon, K. R. (1962). History in Singapore schools (Singapore: India Pub. House). Ministry of Education (MOE) Singapore. Speech by Lee Hsien Loong at the launch of National Education 2008. Retrieved June, 2013 from, http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/1997/170597.htm ———. Article on MOE Initiative, Teach Less Learn More. Retrieved June, 2013 from, http://www3.moe. edu.sg/bluesky/tllm.htm ———. (1982). Secondary school syllabuses: History Secondary 1 and 2. Singapore: MOE. Sim, J. & and Adler, S. (2008). Secondary social studies in Singapore. In D. Grossman and L. Joe (Eds.), Social education in Asia: Critical issues and multiple perspectives (pp. 163–182). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. ———. (2004). Role of secondary social studies in educating Singapore’s citizens. Teaching and Learning, 25(2): pp. 161–169. Spengler, O. (1947). The decline of the West. New York: Knopf. Stavrianos, L. S. (1998 [1970]). A global history: From prehistory to the 21st century (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Stearns, P. N. (2000 ). Getting specific about training in historical analysis: Case study in world history. In P.N. Stearns, P. Seixas, and S. Wineberg (Eds.), Knowing, learning and teaching history. New York: New York University Press. Tan, J. (1982–1983) The teaching of history in Singapore schools, 1959–80. Honors Thesis, University of Singapore. Toynbee, A. (1956). A study of history, 12 vols. Oxford University Press. University of Cambridge, Local Examinations Syndicate, International Examinations. (1995). Examination syllabuses for 1996 – A-level. Cambridge: University of Cambridge. ———. (1995). Examination syllabuses for 1996 – O-level. Cambridge: University of Cambridge. ———. (2002). Examination syllabuses for 2002 – A-level. Cambridge: University of Cambridge. ———. (2002). Examination syllabuses for 2002 – O-level. Cambridge: University of Cambridge. ———. (2007). Examination syllabuses for 2007– A-level. Cambridge: University of Cambridge. ———. (2013). Singapore-Cambridge GCE O-level syllabuses examined in 2013/2014. Cambridge: University of Cambridge. Vogel, E. (1993). The four little dragons: Spread of industrialization in East Asia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Wallerstein, I. (1974–1989). The modern world system, 3 vols. New York and San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Wells, H. G. (1971). Outline of history. New York: Doubleday. World History Association. What is world history? Thewha.org. Retrieved January, 2014 from, http://www. thewha.org/about-wha/what-is-world-history

Appendix 9.1. Singapore: Detailed Lower Secondary School Syllabi How is Singapore’s past constructed? The role of history and historians in uncovering the past The types of evidence historians use to construct Singapore’s past • Archaeological artifacts At Fort Canning, the Singapore River, the Old Parliament House, etc. • Written and oral accounts

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Myths and legends; Malay, British, and Portuguese records; diaries and letters: Raffles’s diary, Lady Raffles’s diary, John Crawfurd’s diary; travel tales: Wang Dayuan’s travelogue • Maps Map of Southeast Asia in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, map of colonial Singapore in the early twentieth century by John Crawfurd • Places, buildings, monuments Colonial buildings, e.g. City Hall, Victoria Concert Hall; ethnic enclaves, e.g. Chinatown, Arab Street; places of worship, e.g. Thian Hock Kheng Temple

How does historical evidence help us see Singapore’s connections to the world up to the twentieth century? • Overview of Asian maritime trade (fourteenth to sixteenth centuries) • Maritime trade routes between the empires of India, China, and the Middle East Role of the monsoon and trade winds, demand for silk and spices, exchange of goods and ideas • Temasek [an old name for Singapore] as a port-city (fourteenth to sixteenth centuries) • The strategic location in the Melaka [Malacca] Straits region • Allegiances to Siam and Melaka • Singapore as part of the Johor-Riau Empire (sixteenth to nineteenth centuries) • Trading networks between the Chinese, Malay, and Bugis rajas • The decline in trade between Singapore and China • Overview of European trade exploration in Asia (sixteenth to nineteenth centuries) • European expansion into Southeast Asia For God, gold, and glory: establishment of colonies by the Portuguese, French, Dutch, and British • • • •

Singapore as a British settlement (early nineteenth century) Interest in China and the spice trade Anglo-Dutch rivalry British Malaya’s role as an economic and administrative center

Why did different people come to Singapore? • Overview of new opportunities brought about by European expansion • Establishment of trading ports in Southeast Asia 162

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Dutch and British ports • Push (external factors) • Developments and conditions in China Corruption and oppression of the late Qing dynasty, droughts and floods, shortage of food, land, and jobs • Developments and conditions in India Civil rebellions within British India, droughts and famine, shortage of food, land, and jobs • Developments and conditions in the Malay Archipelago Dutch monopoly of trade, lack of trade opportunities • Pull (internal factors) • Benefits from immigration policies of Malay rulers in the early to mid-nineteenth century • Free port status • Law and order

How was life different among the people in Singapore before World War II? • Living conditions • Sanitation • Housing • Health • Employment • Types of jobs Trade-related, agriculture-related • Pastimes • Entertainment Operas (e.g. wayangs, bangsawan) • Sports Cricket, horse-racing • Vices Opium, prostitution, gambling • Sense of belonging to the local community 163

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Social groups and associations (e.g. clans, secret societies), establishing families • Sense of belonging to the motherland

Did the Japanese occupation change the way people viewed Singapore? • Overview of the people’s allegiances in the first half of the nineteenth century • Reactions towards events in China Anti-monarchy and anti-foreign movements, Sun Yat Sen’s revolutionary efforts in Singapore • Reactions towards events in India Sepoy Mutiny 1915, Subhas Chandra Bose’s struggle for India’s independence • Affinity to the British Empire Anglophile community in Singapore, Peranakan [mixed marriage] communities, e.g., Straits Chinese, Eurasians, Peranakans, etc. • The Japanese occupation and its impact • Diminishing respect for the British Failure to defend Singapore • Rise of awareness for self-determination Hardship under the Japanese occupation and Japanese anti-Western propaganda Anti-Japanese movements, e.g. MPAJA and Force 136 • Post-war British rule and its impact • Anti-British sentiments Failure to provide proper living conditions, e.g. jobs, food, water Strikes, e.g. labor strikes, work stoppages Riots, e.g. the Maria Hertogh case • Pro-British sentiments Close affinity to the British empire The European community in Singapore The Peranakan community in Singapore

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What aspirations did the people have for Singapore after 1945? • • • • •

Overview of the British policy towards independence of its colonies The Western Alliance The Cold War The search for independence The road to self-government, 1959

Labor Front-role of David Marshall; Lim Yew Hock; workers’ unions and labor unions: roles of Lee Siew, Choh, Lim Chin Siong, Devan Nair; People’s Action Party: roles of Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Keng Swee, Toh Chin Chye, S. Rajaratnam, Chan Choy Siong • The Merger with Malaysia, 1963 Historical affinity with Malaya • The separation from Malaysia and independence, 1965

Did everyone welcome Singapore’s independence? • Singapore is out! • Politicians’ reactions Concerns over the loss of the hinterland, recognition of Singapore’s sovereignty • Peoples’ reactions Concerns over citizenship issues, concerns over the status of the Malays • Foreign governments’ reactions Indonesia, Malaysia: uncertainty over the relationship with the new state United States, Britain: concerns over the communist threat in Southeast Asia

How did people adjust to life after independence? • Embracing being a Singaporean • From “Negara-ku” to “Majulah Singapura” • From the British Far East Command to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) • Change in standards of living • From housewives to employees • From kampungs to Housing Development Board (HDB) flats • From wayang to television

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Appendix 9.2. Singapore: Detailed Upper Secondary Syllabus Unit 1–European Dominance and Expansion in the Late Nineteenth Century How were systems and societies transformed by colonialism? The compulsory case study of Malaya and the case study of either Vietnam or Indonesia will be studied in the context of European dominance and expansion in the late nineteenth century. • • • •

Reasons for European interest and expansion in Southeast Asia Responses of Southeast Asian states to European expansion Impact of colonial rule on Southeast Asia Case study of Malaya, 1874–c. 1900, and case study of either Vietnam, 1870s– c. 1900, or of Indonesia, 1870s–c. 1900

Unit 2–The World in Crisis What forces and developments changed Europe and the Asia-Pacific in the first half of the twentieth century? • • • •

Impact of World War I Rise of authoritarian regimes and their impact in the interwar years Case study of Communist Russia, case study of Nazi Germany World War II in Europe and the Asia-Pacific

The reasons for the outbreak of WWII in Europe, the reasons for the outbreak of WWII in the Asia–Pacific, the reasons for the defeat of Germany, the reasons for the defeat of Japan

Unit 3–Bi-Polarity and the Cold War How did the Cold War impact world order in the post-1945 years? • The Cold War and the bi-polar world order Reasons for the Cold War in Europe • Manifestation of the Cold War outside Europe • Case study of the Korean War, 1950–1953, case study of the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 Reasons for the end of the Cold War

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Unit 4–Decolonization and the Emergence of Nation-States Was the attainment of independence in colonies shaped by the decline of Europe and Cold War politics? The compulsory case study of Malaya and the case study of either Vietnam or Indonesia will be studied in the context of decolonization and emergence of nation-states in the post-war years. • Decolonization and emergence of nation-states in Southeast Asia Overview of nationalism in Southeast Asian states (non-examinable), struggles for independence in Southeast Asian states in the post-WWII period, the establishment of newly independent states in Southeast Asia, the case study of Malaya, case study of either Vietnam or of Indonesia

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Teaching World History in Secondary Schools: The Indian Model* Satyanarayana ADAPA Osmania University, Hyderabad, India

In India, post-colonial education emphasized national spirit and cultural heritage through the study of national history and culture: these were the guiding themes of the post-colonial Indian state. World history education within the social studies curriculum aimed to provide a broad perspective and an empirical, reasonable, and humane outlook, although Eurocentrism persisted in the curriculum. Recent revisions have encouraged the study of non-European nations and comparative themes across history in order to present the interconnected history of the world.

I

ndia is a democratic, secular, and sovereign nation with a rich historical and cultural heritage. It is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual, and multi-cultural country. Hundreds of mother tongues are spoken in India, and of the major languages, twenty-two are included in the Constitution of India, including English, and are used as media of instruction in the schools. With independence in 1947, the government sponsored a variety of programs to address the problems of illiteracy. The Government of India (GoI) determined that the objective of education is to affirm the nation’s commitment to the concept of equality and social justice. Since independence, the national government has also sought to enact the ideas and the concerns of education articulated by the nationalist leaders during the freedom struggle. Universal and compulsory education for all children between the ages of five and twelve has been a cherished (though not yet realized) dream of the Republic of India. This is evident from the fact that it is incorporated as a Directive Principle of State Policy in Article 45 of the Indian Constitution.193 In this chapter, I focus on the curriculum and teaching of world history courses in the Indian secondary schools. The first section deals with salient features of the Indian educational system. The second section addresses social-science and world history curricula; it focuses on the role of various federal government agencies, including the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the National * I am grateful to Professor Arjun Dev and Dr. K. Ramesh for their input, help, and encouragement in writing this chapter. 193 P. M. Bakshi, The Constitution of India (Reprint, New Delhi: Universal, 2015), 100–110.

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Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), in formulating curriculum and textbook production. The third section presents a content analysis of selected world history textbooks. The fourth section presents information regarding the certification of teachers, methods of recruiting teachers, and examination patterns.

Indian Education and the School System: An Overview India consists of twenty-nine states and seven union territories. Each state has its own government, elected by its people through universal franchise. Union territories are governed directly by the Indian national government, and the president appoints an administrator for each of them. In accordance with the constitution, school education was originally a state responsibility—that is, the states had complete authority on deciding policies and implementing them. The role of the national government was limited to coordinating and determining the standards of higher education. This was changed, however, by a constitutional amendment in 1976, so that education was included in the Concurrent List, which stipulates departments to be supervised by both the federal and state government.194 Overall, education in India is provided by both the public and private sectors, with control and funding coming from three levels of government: federal, state, and local. In 1968, the GoI issued the first in a series of statements on the National Policy on Education, marking a significant step in the evolution of education in post-independence India.195 It promoted national progress and a sense of common citizenship and strengthened national integration. It also emphasized the need for substantial reconstruction of the national educational system along the broad lines recommended by the education commission of 1964.196 The most significant feature of the new policy was the creation of an innovative, uniform educational structure in India, known as the 10+2+2 system. Under this program, the first ten years of school education were intended as a stage of general education with common courses, to equip children with the basic knowledge necessary to become responsible citizens. In 1986, the Indian Parliament adopted a new national policy on education to provide a national curriculum framework with a common core and a common structure as the basis for building a national educational system.197 It also envisioned education as an instrument for the realization of national goals and a catalyst in the process of human resource development. India’s school system was divided into four levels: (1) Primary, Classes/Standard I to V (five years) and (2) Upper Primary Classes/Standard VI to VIII (three years) which, when combined, are known as Elementary Education (eight years); (3) Secondary Level/Junior

194 Indira Arjun Dev, “General Framework of the History Curriculum in Indian Schools and the Presentation of Japan in History Textbooks in India,” (manuscript), 3–4. 195 GoI, The National Policy on Education (New Delhi: NCERT, 1968). Succeeding policy statements were published in 1986 and 1998. 196 D. S. Kothari, Report of the Education Commission (New Delhi: Ministry of Education, 1966), 10. 197 GoI, The National Policy on Education (New Delhi: Department of Education, 1986).

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High School, Classes/Standard IX and X (two years); and (4) Senior Secondary Level/Senior High School Classes/Standard XI to XII (two years).198 Of the students enrolled in schools operated by the federal government, most are enrolled in three streams of school education: (a) the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), (b) the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), and (c) the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). At the national level, two important governmental bodies play a significant role in the formulation of curriculum, textbook preparation, supervision, and monitoring. They are the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). Under the CBSE, federal schools called Kendriya Vidyalayas have been established in all the major urban areas in the country, and they follow a common schedule, so that if a student were to go from one school to another on a particular day, he or she would notice hardly any difference in what is being taught. In these schools, one subject (social studies, consisting of history, geography, and civics) is always taught in Hindi, while the other subjects are taught in English. Similarly federal schools known as Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are established all across India to cater to the needs of talented, predominantly rural students—one school for each district. The vast majority of Indian children, however, are enrolled in state government schools. Each state in the country has its own Department of Education, which runs its own school system with its own textbooks, examinations, and evaluation system. The curriculum, pedagogy, and evaluation methods are largely decided by each State Council of Educational Research and Training in the State (SCERT), following the national guidelines set by the NCERT. At the state level, the SCERT is responsible for developing the curriculum, syllabus, and textbooks. Each state has three kinds of schools that follow the state curriculum: government (that is, state-government schools), private-aided, and private-unaided schools. All the states in India follow the uniform system of 10+2 years. Some states in India offer ten years of school education and two years of intermediate college, which is similar to the Senior Secondary School of the federal scheme. In addition, there are Sainik Schools, military schools, and Indo-Tibetan schools. Over time, several committees have laid down the policy framework for India’s educational development.199 Educational policies have been envisaged to promote values such as India’s common cultural heritage: pluralism, diversity, egalitarianism, democracy, secularism, and the inculcation of the scientific spirit. In  accordance

198 GoI, National Policy on Education (New Delhi: Department of Education, 1986). 199 In chronological order, the main committees and commisions have been: Government of India (GoI). Report of the Secondary Education Commission. (New Delhi: Ministry of Education, 1953); D. S. Kothari, Report of the Education Commission (New Delhi: Ministry of Education, 1966); GoI, The Curriculum for the Ten Year School: A Framework (New Delhi: National Council for Educational Research Training, hereafter NCERT, 1975); National Curriculum for Elementary and Secondary Education: A Framework (New Delhi: NCERT, 1988); Learning without Burden: Report of the National Advisory Committee (New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development, 1993); GoI, National Policy on Education (New Delhi: Department of Education, 1998); GoI, National Curriculum Framework for School Education (New Delhi: NCERT, 2000); and Yash Pal, National Curriculum Framework (New Delhi: NCERT, 2005).

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with long-established Indian tradition, education has to strengthen and motivate the younger generations to ensure international cooperation and peaceful co-existence. The most recent policy statement, the 2005 National Curriculum Framework (NCF), recommended that children’s lives at school be linked to their lives outside of school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continued to shape the system and caused a gap between the school, the home, and the community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of rigid boundaries between different subject areas.200 The guiding principles of the 2005 policy documents emphasized connecting knowledge of life outside the school, enriching the curriculum to provide for overall development of children rather than remaining focused on textbooks, and nurturing an overriding identity informed by humanitarianism within the democratic political traditions of the country. Furthermore, the national system of education adopted a common core along with other components that would be flexible. To this end, however, the content of history was reduced substantially in the 2005 curriculum reform.

World History Curricula in Schools Social science, at present, is a compulsory subject up through class X (age fourteen), i.e., the entire period of compulsory school education. The social sciences component is an integral component in general education up to the secondary stage. It has been designed to help students to understand the human environment in its totality and to develop a broader perspective and an empirical, reasonable, and humane outlook. The social sciences are intended to help students grow into well-informed and responsible citizens with the skills necessary to participate in and contribute effectively to the process of development and nation-building. The curriculum proposes to make social science education meaningful, relevant, and effective by keeping the concerns and issues of the contemporary world in the forefront. Past developments are studied as a backdrop for understanding the present, so that the needs and challenges of life today can be responded to suitably. The curriculum, drawing its content mainly from the disciplines of geography, history, civics, and economics, is also aimed at developing emotionally intelligent learners, who are prepared to face new challenges and to adjust to unfamiliar situations.201 An expert committee stated that the objectives of teaching the social sciences at the upper primary stage (VI to VIII classes, ages ten to twelve) are: to develop an understanding about the earth as the habitat of humankind and other forms of life; to initiate the learner into a study of his own region, state, and country in the global context; to initiate the learner into a study of India’s past, with reference to contemporary developments in other parts of the world.202 200 Yash Pal, National Curriculum (2005), 4–6. 201 GoI, Secondary School Curriculum (New Delhi: Central Board of Secondary Education, 2014), 129–130. 202 GoI, The National Focus Group on Teaching of Social Sciences (New Delhi: NCERT, 2006), 5–6.

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At the Secondary/Junior High School Stage (classes IX and X), the objectives of teaching the social sciences are “to develop among the learners analytical and conceptual skills to enable him/her to understand the process of change and development in India in relation to the world economy and polity.”203 At this level, world history topics are included in the social sciences textbooks. The National Focus Group also suggested that while the existing disciplinary orientation may be retained, there is a need to make the boundaries between disciplines more porous. Wherever the disciplines overlap, an integrated approach must be adopted because it is necessary to interlink and cross-reference different areas, to make the subject more relevant, meaningful, and interesting.204 History is introduced as one of the subjects in the social sciences from class VI to X. The history courses provide a general introduction to Indian history from the earliest times to the contemporary period and also to the history of human civilization from prehistoric times to the present. In classes IX and X, two courses have been developed to provide an introduction to Indian history and to the history of human civilization. The main objective of these history courses is to provide a systematic understanding of the major components of the history of India and world history. The focus is on the most important stages in the evolution of human civilization in its social, economic, political, cultural, and scientific development. The chief objectives of these courses are: to promote an understanding of the processes of change and development through which human society has evolved; to develop an appreciation of the contributions made by various cultures to the total heritage of humankind; to foster the understanding that the mutual interaction of various cultures has been a major factor in human progress; to develop a world historical prospective necessary for the understanding of the contemporary world and to facilitate the study of the history of specific countries and regions in the general prospective of world history at a later stage.205 World history courses are designed to deconstruct the Eurocentric perspective and to provide an account of the interconnected history of the world. Traditionally, world history courses have been Eurocentric, with bits and pieces of information about other regions included. The purpose of the syllabus at the secondary school level is to give students in classes IX and X an understating of the main trends in the history of the world as a whole. The syllabus covers the historical development of all the major areas of the world, including pre-colonial Africa and the Americas, which had been ignored in the Eurocentric accounts. At the secondary level, the study of the social sciences includes aspects of history, geography, civics, and economics, to promote an understanding of contemporary India. The pupils are introduced to the stages of development of human civilization and to the historical forces and factors that have shaped the modern and the contemporary world. The main focus of this syllabus should be the study of social systems as they emerge, progress, and are then replaced by newer ones, and on scientific and cultural development. The 203 GoI, National Focus Group, 5. 204 GoI, National Focus Group, 7. 205 I. A. Dev, “General Framework,” 7.

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historical evolution of all the major areas of the world, including pre-colonial Africa and the Americas, is intended to convey the integration of the world and the awaking of the mankind “to a sense of world community in which all were inescapably involved.”206

Content Analysis of Selected History Textbooks To highlight the salient features and contrasts of the world history courses at the federal and state levels, I have selected two textbooks used at each level. These are for classes IX and XI at the federal level (following the NCERT/CBSE syllabus) and for classes IX and X at the state level (prepared according to the SCERT syllabus) for the state of Andhra Pradesh. As will be seen, the levels of detail and comprehensiveness and the chronological order of historical presentation differ in the federal and state syllabi. In general, the federal syllabus (NCERT/CBSE) provides more historical depth and greater at attention to global coverage. For federal-level schooling, I begin with a textbook for class IX (age thirteen) to be used in the Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas, federal government schools. The text, India and the Contemporary World, emphasizes the time from 1790 to the present. The textbook development committee, appointed by the Government of India, was led by the chairperson, Hari Vasudevan of the Department of History at Calcutta University, and the chief advisor and textbook author, Neeladri Bhattacharya of the Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, at Jawaharlal Nehru University.207 The ten members of the committee were university professors and educationists, and they prepared lessons for this textbook. In introducing the book, Bhattacharya remarked: All too often in the past the history of the modern world was associated with history of the West. It was as if change and progress happened only in the West. As if the histories of other countries were frozen in time, they were motionless and static. People in the West were seen as enterprising, innovative, scientific, industrious, efficient and willing to change. People in the East—or in Africa and South America—were considered traditional, lazy, superstitious, and resistant to change.”208 Further, the author argues that this book enables students to understand how the contemporary world evolved, by giving them a comparative perspective on the processes of transformation in India, Africa, Europe, and Indonesia. This textbook contains details of important events and ideas, as well as of everyday life. The Eurocentric view of world history is questioned, and the textbook takes the approach that every society has its own history of change. It teaches students to 206 For a textbook following this approach, see Arjun Dev and Indira Arjun Dev, History of the World: From the Late Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century (New Delhi: Orient Black Swan, 2010), 10. 207 Neeladri Bhattacharya and Hari Vasudevan, India and the Contemporary World–I: A Textbook in History (New Delhi: NCERT, 2006). 208 Bhattacharya, India and the Contemporary World, v.

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look at the ways and how different societies and countries have experienced change. To understand better the making of the contemporary world, students study how the history of different countries is interlinked and how changes in one society influenced and shaped others. The textbook argues that the contemporary world was not shaped by Western Europe alone. The book points out that different social groups in diverse ways have played important roles in making the contemporary world. It addresses the growth of trade and commerce, industries, science and technology, transport and communication. Yet it also discusses pastoralists, cultivators, and forest dwellers. By focusing on the range of events and processes that are important for understanding the modern world, this book enables students to be aware of how and why changes take place and how the present world has evolved over a period of time. This text includes three sections and eight chapters. Section I, entitled “Events and Processes,” deals with the French Revolution, the growth of socialism and nationalism in Europe and the Russian Revolution, and the growth of Nazism and the rise of Hitler; surprisingly, it does not include the rise and growth of fascism in Italy and militarism in Japan. Section II contains a discussion of livelihoods, economies, and societies across the world, while lesson four discusses the forest-dwelling communities in India, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Pastoral communities in modern Asia, India, and Africa are the focus of chapter five, while chapter six deals with peasants and farmers in England, the United States, and India. This latter chapter explains what happens to rural communities when commercialization and industrialization occur, as well as the impact of the world capitalist market on the rural economy, from a comparative perspective. This chapter also demonstrates how the histories of the rural economies differ in the European and non-European worlds, even though some of the processes are similar. Section III deals with everyday life, popular culture, and politics across the continents, and the history of sports and of clothing. The author notes that History is not just about the dramatic events in the world. It is equally about the small things in our lives. Everything around us has a history—the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the music we hear, the medicines we use, the literature we read, the games we play. All these have evolved over time.209 The social history of games and clothing provides an interesting dimension of modern world history. By providing details of the everyday lives of people in different cultures, this book enables students to understand the specific ways in which entertainment and games evolved in different counties. The discussion about games and clothing also reveals certain aspects of law, social structure, and colonial domination. For instance, in the case of clothing customs in India, lower caste women were not allowed to cover their breasts, while upper caste women wore jackets. When lower caste women wanted to cover themselves with jackets, it led to conflict between the upper and lower castes in the nineteenth century. A second textbook in history, also for Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas of the federal government schools, is for students of class XI (age fifteen). This text, Themes in World History, surveys history from early times to the end of the 209 Bhattacharya, India and the Contemporary World, 138.

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twentieth century (see Appendix 10.1 for details). It was prepared for NCERT by the same authors as the previous text, Hari Vasudevan (Calcutta University) and Neeladri Bhattacharya (Jawaharlal Nehru University).210 They were assisted by Narayani Gupta of the Department of History at Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi, and fifteen other university professors and educationists, who contributed lessons to the textbook. Themes in World History consists of four sections and eleven themes, excluding the introduction and conclusion. Each section begins with an introduction and a timeline. Timelines provide students an idea of what was happening in different parts of the world at any given point of time. They also help students to situate the history of one region in relation to another. Bhattacharya, in introducing the textbook, remarked that writing history involves a process of selection of facts. The selection process depends upon the analytic framework and the conceptual formulation of the historian. Historians’ selection of facts enables them to reconstruct the past and determine the aspects to be highlighted and interpreted. Historians also interpret evidence and bring out new connections and evidence. Previously, the history of the world had been interpreted in terms of the rise of the modern West. It was a story of continuous progress and development: the expansion of technology and science, markets and trade, reason and rationality, freedom and liberty. Individual histories of specific events were very often structured within this larger story of the triumphal march of the West. The West saw itself as the bearer of progress: civilizing the world, introducing the reforms, educating the natives, expanding trades and markets.211 Bhattacharya argued that there is a need to take another look at world history, at travel across countries, and at long chronological periods, in order to think about world history in a new way. The textbook focuses on several themes in world history and interconnections between various continents. Section A, with two topics, focuses on the formation of early societies and civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia, East Asia, Europe, South America, West Asia, and India, in spatial and chronological order, and in a comparative perspective. The salient features of the early civilizations are explained in terms of specificities and common elements. Human society, pastoral and agrarian economy, social formation, language, script and writing, cultural-religious life, and the trade and commerce of the early civilizations are also analyzed. Section B has three themes dealing with the major empires that emerged between 1000 bce and 1300 ce, namely the Greco-Roman, the Islamic, and the Mongol. It shows how the Roman Empire, which spread into three different continents, evolved into the essential cultural features of the European continent, while the Islamic empire spread into Arabia, Central Asia, South and East Asia, and parts of Europe. The Islamic empire bridged the cultures of Europe and Asia. The transcontinental Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan also connected different regions of the world. Thus the lesson on empires not only focused on the Eurocentric Roman Empire, but also on two other equally important empires that spread across 210 The Textbook Development Committee, named by the GoI, was headed by the chairperson of the Advisory Group for Textbooks in Social Sciences for the Secondary Stage. 211 Bhattacharya, Themes in World History, v.

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different continents. It also focuses on the interpenetration of cultures, knowledge systems, art, and architecture in ancient world history. The three themes in Section C, covering the period between 1300 and 1700, focus on changing cultural traditions and the confrontation of cultures across the world. The sixth topic deals with the socio-economic and political changes in Western Europe between the ninth and the sixteenth centuries. Various national monarchies were formed and Christianity became their official religion. Society was dominated by feudalism. The church also became a major landholder and political power in Europe. The social system consisted of three groups, namely, the clergy, nobles, and peasants. The focus of the seventh theme is on the changing cultural traditions in Europe from the fourteenth until the end of the sixteenth centuries. The salient features of the Renaissance and the Reformation are highlighted. The eighth segment, entitled the “Confrontation of Cultures,” examines some aspects of the encounters between Europeans and the people of the Americas between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. The geographical explorations and settlement of Europeans in South America had disastrous consequences for the indigenous people and their cultures. It was also characterized by the slave trade, with Europeans transporting slaves from Africa to work on the plantations and in the mines in the Americas. In this section, students learn about the socio-cultural transformations that occurred in both Europe and the rest of the world. It also highlights the interconnections between different parts of the world, in terms of the growth of the world economy, the flow of ideas, and the migration of people and skills. Section D, entitled “Towards Modernization,” consists of three parts covering the period between 1700 and 2000. The focus of this section is on the different ways and means in which various countries have understood modernity and sought to achieve it, each in the context of its own specificities. The ninth theme deals with the Industrial Revolution in Britain and Europe, while the tenth describes how European colonialism and imperialism displaced native peoples and their cultures in the Americas and Australia. It points out that, starting in the eighteenth century, many parts of the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, and Africa were settled by European immigrants, leading to the displacement of original populations into other areas. The different paths to modernization in the non-European world, particularly in China and Japan, are examined in the eleventh theme, including the significance of the Meiji Restoration in Japan and the modernization of Japanese economy and society, as well as imposition of European control over parts of China, the impact of the Opium Wars, the establishment of the Republic in China, and the rise of the Communist Party and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. In conclusion, Themes in World History covers the vast time period from ancient to modern and focuses on important themes of human evolution and developments in world history. The textbook also provides insights into the histories of different regions of the world, including Europe, North and South America, Africa, West and Central Asia, East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It also uses the case study method to explain developments in a specific field of a country or a region. This book focuses on contacts between people and emphasizes the interconnections and linkages between religions, cultures, and civilizations to explore the varied dimensions of world historical changes. It also brings out the specificities of the historical experiences of different regions and nations to highlight their distinctive 176

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characteristics. This book examines inter-linkages, connections, similarities, and differences among human societies. The interplay of the global and the local, the mainstream and the periphery, and the general and the specific are also included in this book. In these federal-level textbooks, India’s past is related to the larger history of the world. The emergence of the contemporary world is discussed in Classes IX and X. The textbook development committee felt that, [i]n any case there is no reason to think of national territorial boundaries as the only valid unit of our study. There are times when a focus on a small region—a locality, a village, an island, a desert tract, a forest, a mountain—helps us understand the rich variety in people’s lives and histories that make up the life of the nation. We cannot talk of the nation without the people, or the locality without the nation. Borrowing from the statement of a famous French historian, Ferdinand Braudel, we may also say: it is not possible to talk of the nation without the world.212 In the state-level government schools, following the SCERT syllabus, the teaching of world history is included as part of the social studies textbooks for classes VIII to X. I have chosen two texts from the state of Andhra Pradesh to illustrate the statelevel curriculum. In these texts, world history topics are included in classes IX and X but not in class VIII, so that history topics constitute about 30 to 40 percent of the social science syllabus content. I begin with details on the Andhra Pradesh textbook for the class IX level, Social Studies: Class IX (see Appendix 10.2).213 Roughly half of the lessons in this textbook address issues in history and contemporary affairs. Of these, Lesson 12, entitled “Changing Cultural Traditions in Europe 1300–1800,” deals with topics related to medieval and modern Europe. It describes major trends in European history, including the Renaissance, the Reformation, and geographical discoveries. Students are exposed to major cultural trends of late medieval Europe, as well as the developments in modern science; the sub-headings in this lesson are the Renaissance, humanism and universities, artists and realism, architecture, the printing press, new concepts of human beings, debates in Christianity (the Reformation), the beginnings of modern science, and the exploration of sea routes. This lesson concludes with the observation that during the early modern period, Europe witnessed the emergence of private and public spheres: The individual had a private as well as a public role. He was not simply a member of one of the “three orders”; he was also a person in his own right. An artist was not just a member of a guild, he was known for himself. In the eighteenth century the sense of individualism would be expressed in a political form, in the belief that all individuals had equal political rights.214

212 Bhattacharya, India and the Contemporary World, v. 213 Social Studies: Class IX (Hyderabad: Government of Andhra Pradesh, n.d.) 214 Government of Telangana, Social Studies (Hyderabad: State Council for Educational Research Training, 2015), 157.

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The lesson concludes by stating that the different regions of Europe started to have their separate senses of identity based on language.”215 Lesson 13, entitled “Democratic and Nationalist Revolutions, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,” focuses on the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England, the American War of Independence, and the French Revolution. Lesson 14 deals with the “Democratic and Nationalist Revolutions in the Nineteenth Century.” The emergence of new nation-states like France, Italy, and Germany is discussed in relation to the growth of nationalism, liberalism, and democracy. The rise of European states based on linguistic and cultural identity is related to the growth of liberal nationalism. A detailed account of the 1830 and 1848 revolutions in France is provided in this lesson. The unification of movements in Germany and Italy, under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck and the Count of Cavour, respectively, is explained with a detailed account of the events of the movements. The format of the lessons includes a reference to keywords, exercises for improving the content, and project questions to enable the students to understand the contents of the lesson. Each lesson also contains charts, maps, tables, and figures. Lesson 15 deals with “Industrialization and Social Change.” The lesson on the industrialization of England contains details about the major industries and the emergence of the working class. The role of discoveries and inventions, the rise of capitalists, and the working class are discussed in this lesson, as well as the conditions of women and the use of child labor. Lesson 16 deals with the social protest movements of workers and women. References to the early working class movements, like Luddism and the socialist movements led by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, as well as the role of women in the French Revolution, are included in this lesson. Lessons 17 and 18 deal with colonialism in Latin America and Asia, as well as with the impact of colonialism on India. The topics in the seventeenth lesson are related to European colonialism in America, physical and geographical conditions in Latin America, colonies in Asia, China, and India, and the experiences of European colonial expansion in Africa between 1870 and 1914. Lesson 18 focuses on the impact of British colonialism on India in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, ecological destruction, tribal revolts, and industrialization and working class movements in India. Lesson 19 deals with the growth of democratic movements in Africa and Asia. The world history textbook for class X in Andhra Pradesh is Social Studies: Class X.216 Part II of this text, entitled “Contemporary World and India,” deals primarily with twentieth-century European history between the two world wars. Lesson 13 deals exclusively with the world wars in relation to Europe, while lesson 14 focuses on the major developments in Europe between 1900 and 1950, such as the Russian Revolution, the Great Depression, Nazism, and fascism. The world history lessons do not deal with non–European countries like China and Japan, nor with developments in Latin America and Africa. Hence, the world history lessons are very Eurocentric. Although the impact of European colonialism is discussed in relation to the national liberation movements in Asia and Africa, the developments of the non-European world attracted little attention from the lesson writers. Therefore, in

215 Government of Telangana, Social Studies, 157. 216 Social Studies: Class X (Hyderabad: Government of Andhra Pradesh, n.d.)

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the state of Andhra Pradesh, world history teaching is based on information about Europe and America, with less attention to Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Teachers, Class Time, and Exams for History Successful teaching of world history depends on recruitment and maintenance of qualified teachers, on providing adequate class time for instruction, and on a dependable system of evaluation of student work. This section addresses each of these issues for schools in India. Formal qualifications of teachers vary by class level. Social science in classes I to V is to be taught by a teacher who has successfully completed senior secondary school, or twelve years of schooling, with a diploma in teaching (D. Ed.).217 For classes VI to XII, social science teachers are to have a bachelor of arts degree and a bachelor’s degree in education (B. Ed. with social science methodology). In recent years, the national government has made it compulsory for aspiring teachers to pass the Central Teacher Eligibility Test, in addition to obtaining a professional degree (D. Ed. or B. Ed.). State governments have also made it mandatory for aspiring teachers to pass the Teacher Eligibility Test, in addition to receiving a diploma or degree in education. Teachers are recruited through an online process: advertisements are issued in the newspapers and posted on websites. Eligible candidates take a two-part, three-hour written test: part one includes forty multiple-choice questions; part two consists of responses on current affairs, reasoning and numerical ability, teaching methodology, and the academic subject to be taught. Part two of the test is evaluated only if the candidate qualifies in part one. The final decision is based on the performance of the candidate on the written test (part two) and in an interview. The weighting of the written test (part two) and the interview is at a 70:30 ratio. Schools are to function six days a week, for six hours and ten minutes daily for classes VI to XI. Teachers can be kept after school for an additional hour and twenty minutes that can be used for planning, preparation, and follow-up work. Each teacher is expected to devote not less than twelve-hundred hours to actual classroom teaching annually. All teachers are required to teach at least thirty periods per week, with the remaining periods to be used for planning and preparation of lessons and activities. Each school day is divided into eight periods, with the first and fifth periods lasting forty-five minutes, and the others lasting forty minutes. Students have forty-eight instructional periods weekly, and there are no classes on Sundays. For classes VI to VIII, the social science class meets six times a week. Five periods are devoted to theory and one to practical and lab activities. In classes IX and X, the social science class meets eight times weekly, with six sessions for teaching and two for practical activities. The duration of a class period and the number of periods varies between high school (that is, secondary, classes IX–X) and senior secondary schools. In secondary schools, a class period lasts forty to forty-five minutes, and there are seven periods every day, six days per week. For senior secondary school or intermediate college, the duration of a period is fifty to 217 Secondary Curriculum, 2014–2015, Vol. 1 (New Delhi: Central Board of Secondary Education, 2014), 20–21.

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fifty-five minutes, and there are five periods per day, six days per week. In secondary schools, for class IX, 190 periods are allotted in the academic year for teaching social science. The social science text book includes five subjects: history, geography, political science, economics, and disaster management. Forty periods are allotted for teaching history. Thirty periods are identified for teaching world history. Similarly, for class X, 190 periods are allotted for social science with the same subjects, of which forty-five periods are earmarked for history. Only fifteen periods are slated for teaching world history. Examinations are an integral part of the educational system, and some form of evaluation is necessary to determine the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process and its internalization by pupils. The National Policy on Education, 1986, observed that “continuous and comprehensive evaluation that incorporates both scholastic and non-scholastic aspects of evaluation, spread over the total span of instructional time, should be followed.”218 The Report of the National Advisory Committee stated that “Board Examinations, taken at the end of class X and class XII have remained rigid, bureaucratic, and essentially un-educative.”219 Hence, various educational commissions and committees have suggested the need for examination reforms. They have also noted the need to reduce emphasis on external examination and to encourage internal assessment through continuous and comprehensive evaluation. The Teachers’ Manual noted, “Excellence in diverse areas should be recognized and rewarded. And it is children’s responsiveness to what is taught, rather than just their capacity to retain it, which should be the focus of evaluation.”220 The Central Board of Secondary Education introduced a system of continuous and comprehensive evaluation in its schools in a phased manner. In the year 2000, the board introduced the concept of an independent certificate of school-based evaluation, to be awarded by each school to all students who pass the CBSE class X Examination. A Curriculum Grade Point Average (CGPA) was to be calculated for each student based on numerical scores achieved on each subject in the national examination. Government-required textbooks are used throughout schools in India. Schools at the federal level—especially the Kendriya Vidyalayas and the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas—use textbooks written and published by the NCERT. In addition to federal-government-run schools, a number of private schools in the country follow the CBSE syllabus, although they are allowed to assign different textbooks sold by private publishers and follow different teaching schedules. In the states, the curriculum, pedagogy, and evaluation method are largely determined by the SCERT, following national guidelines designed by the NCERT. It is the government’s responsibility to write and publish the textbooks and supply them to all the schools at economical prices. Authors for the NCERT and SCERT textbooks are drawn from the teaching faculty and include experts in the different subjects, scholars, professionals, professors, and senior faculty of universities, school teachers, and curriculum experts. Public examinations by the CBSE and State Boards for the students of class X and XII are based on only these textbooks.

218 GoI, The National Policy on Education (New Delhi: NCERT, 1986), 24. 219 GoI, Learning without Burden (New Delhi: Department of Education, 1993), 21. 220 GoI, Teachers’ Manual: Continuous and Comprehensive Education (New Delhi: CBSE, 2010), 5.

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A scientific methodology that is comprehensive, exhaustive, and participatory has yet to be developed by the NCERT for writing the textbooks. The CABE, an educational policy-making body, considers the recommendations of the curriculum body. Governments, at both the federal and state levels, do intervene if and when part(s) of the textbook are found to be controversial, unscientific, or going against the core tenets of the Indian Constitution. The methods and patterns of writing textbooks still need to be modified, to involve a much larger number of teachers in the preparation of textbooks. Scientists and experts in various disciplines should only be involved with the preparation of textbooks as consultants, and not as writers of the books. The initiative in this regard should rest with groups of knowledgeable and innovative teachers who should be trained in textbook writing.221

Efficacy of World History Teaching Teaching world history in Indian schools and colleges is a recent phenomenon. Post-colonial educational planning and curriculum design were based on principles of national reconstruction and self-reliant, indigenous development. Hence, all the syllabi for the discipline of history were nation-centric. In the process of de-colonization, policymakers in the field of education emphasized instilling national spirit and cultural heritage in India’s people through the study of national history and culture. Given the dominance of the colonial paradigm for framing the national history curriculum, however, a Eurocentric orientation remained in place. The process and the emergence of European nation-states and Western modernity were the guiding themes of the reconstruction of the post-colonial Indian state. Thus, Indian history was taught alongside European history in the schools and colleges. In this way, teaching and studying world history in India was Eurocentric. In recent years, and especially since the 1980s, the revision of the history curriculum has been undertaken with a view to deconstructing Eurocentric bias and to encouraging comparative history. History teaching is now based on a three-tier model: local, national, and world history. In junior and senior high schools across the country, courses were introduced to link India to the contemporary world. In colleges and universities, separate courses on non-European and world history are being introduced, although none of the Indian universities has an exclusive center for world history. At the national level, the Central Board of Secondary Education introduced some innovations in framing the new syllabus, yet it continued to be Eurocentric. For instance, the rise of nationalism in Europe was given more prominence than the Afro-Asian and Latin American experiences. Although there are academic courses about nationalist movements in Indo-China, non-Western world history receives inadequate attention in the syllabi. There are other missing links in the teaching of world history courses. Presently, the focus is on periods, empires, eras, centuries, and dynasties, rather than on a holistic perspective, analysis, and an objective outlook on topics of world history. In the Indian secondary school system, the methodology and approach to teaching world history, within the broader field of history and social science, also needs to change. In general, world history is given less importance than other subjects, and 221 GoI, Learning (1993), 21.

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it is not a subject that is evaluated in public examinations. World history is taught to students in class IX of the CBSE, the NIOS, and the state boards, and is subjected to school-based or internal evaluation rather than public examination. In contrast, Indian history is taught to the students in classes X and XII; the students are graded based on public examination or external evaluation. To date, there has not been any specific methodology developed for history teachers to teach world history. Often students consider world history to be boring and uninteresting, which is a reflection of the way in which it is taught. As for teachers, there is a need to organize exchange programs for history teachers around the world. They need to stay connected with institutions, universities, and governments in other countries in order to incorporate and update the developments, logistics, and methodologies for making world history education meaningful, relevant, interesting, and effective. Students commonly feel alienated when reading world history. Hence, field visits, assignments, projects, seminars, interactive sessions, debates, discussions, quiz programs, map readings, coin collections, the celebration of international days, and reading biographies of world leaders are some of the co-curricular and extracurricular activities that should be planned for the practical teaching of world history. Students tend to show academic interest in relation to their history teachers’ level of curiosity and participation. So, it is the teachers’ teaching ability, commitment, and love of the subject that combine to make the most difference to students of world history.

Further Reading Bakshi, P. M. (2015). The Constitution of India. (Reprint). New Delhi: Universal. Bhattacharya, N., & Vasudevan, H. (2006). India and the contemporary world–I: A textbook in history. New Delhi: NCERT. ———. (2006). Themes in World History: Textbook in History for Class XI. New Delhi: NCERT. Dev, I. A. No date. General framework of history curriculum in Indian schools and presentation of Japan in history textbooks in India. Manuscript. (Typed copy). Dev, A. & Dev, I. A., (2010). History of the world: From the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. New Delhi: Orient Black Swan. Government of India. (2014). Secondary school curriculum. New Delhi: Central Board of Secondary Education. ———. (2010). Teachers’ manual: Continuous and comprehensive education. New Delhi: CBSE. ———. (2006). The national focus group on teaching of social sciences. New Delhi: NCERT. ———. (2000). National curriculum framework for school education. New Delhi: NCERT. ———. (1998). The national policy on education. New Delhi: Department of Education. ———. (1993). Learning without burden: Report of the National Advisory Committee. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development. ———. (1988). National curriculum frame work. New Delhi: NCERT. ———. (1988). National curriculum for elementary and secondary education: A framework. New Delhi: NCERT. ———. (1986). The national policy on education. New Delhi: Department of Education. ———. (1975). The curriculum for the ten years School: A framework. New Delhi: National Council for Educational Research Training (NCERT). ———. (1968). The national policy on education. New Delhi: NCERT. ———. (1953). Report of the secondary education commission. New Delhi: Ministry of Education. Government of Telangana. (2015). Social studies. Hyderabad: State Council for Educational Research Training. Kothari, D. S. (1966). Report of the Education Commission. New Delhi: Ministry of Education. Pal, Y. (2005). National curriculum framework. New Delhi: NCERT.

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Appendix 10.1. Contents of Bhattacharya, Themes in World History (2006). Introduction to World History

Section A: Early Societies Introduction 1. From the Beginning of Time Focus: Africa and Europe until 15,000 bce (a) Views on the origin of human beings (b) Early societies. Present-day hunting-gathering societies (c) Historians’ views on present-day hunting-gathering societies. Gathering societies 2. Early Cities Focus: Iraq, third millennium bce (a) Growth of towns (b) Nature of early urban societies (c) Historians’ debates on uses of writing

Section B: Empires Introduction 3. An Empire Across Three Continents Focus: Roman Empire, 27 bce to 600 ce (a) Political evolution (b) Economic expansion (c) Religion (d) Late antiquity (e) Historians’ views on the institution of slavery 4. Central Islamic Lands Focus: seventh to twelfth centuries (a) Polity (b) Economy (c) Culture (d) Historians’ views on the nature of the Crusades 5. Nomadic Empires Focus: the Mongols, thirteenth to fourteenth centuries (a) The nature of nomadism (b) Formation of empires (c) Conquests and relations with other states (d) Historians’ views on societies and state formation

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Section C: Changing Traditions Introduction 6. The Three Orders Focus: Western Europe, thirteenth to sixteenth centuries (a) Feudal society and economy (b) Formation of states (c) Church and society (d) Historians’ view on decline of feudalism 7. Changing Cultural Traditions Focus: Europe, fourteenth to seventeenth centuries (a) New ideas and new trends in literature and the arts (b) Relationship with earlier ideas (c) The contribution of West Asia (d) Historians’ views on the validity of the notion “European Renaissance” 8. Confrontation of Cultures Focus: the Americas, fifteenth to eighteenth centuries (a) European voyages of exploration (b) Search for gold; enslavement, raids, extermination (c) Indigenous people and people and cultures: the Arawaks, the Aztecs, the Incas (d) The history of displacements of the slave trade (e) Historians’ views on the slave trade

D. Towards Modernization 9. The Industrial Revolution Focus: Britain from the 17th century (a) Inventions (b) Industries (c) Changes in the lives of laborers (d) Protest and reforms (e) Historians’ views on industrialization 10. Displacing Indigenous Peoples Focus: European imperialism (a) North America (b) Australia 11. Paths to Modernization Focus: East Asia (a) Japan’s reforms and modernizations (b) China’s political revolutions and reforms Conclusion

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Appendix 10.2. Social Studies: Class IX (Hyderabad: Government of Andhra Pradesh) Contents [Chapters 1–11 address world geography and the economy of India] 12. Changing Cultural Traditions in Europe 1300–1800 13. Democratic and Nationalist Revolutions: 17th and 18th Centuries 14. Democratic and Nationalist Revolutions: 19th Century 15. Industrialisation and Social Chainge 16. Social Protest Movements 17. Colonialism in Latin America, Asia and Africa 18. Impact of Colonialism in India 19. Expansion of Democracy 20. Democracy: An Evolving Idea 21. Human Rights and Fundamental Rights 22. Women Protection Acts 23. Disaster Management 24. Traffic Education

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Addendum: How the Opium Wars are Describedin World History Textbooks in Asia

A

s a means of comparison between the countries discussed in this book, we compared textbook discussions of the Opium Wars (1840–1842 and 1856– 1860) fought by China and Great Britain. While these were wars fought between China and Great Britain, the outcome and ramifications were significant to many Asian countries at that time. We consider these conflicts to be one of the starting points of the modern age in Asia. Despite their importance, we found that the Opium Wars were not covered in the secondary school textbooks of all the Asian countries. The history textbooks used in China and India, the countries that were directly involved, of course described the wars and events leading up them in detail, and Korean textbooks also deal with this topic rather extensively, with stress placed on the impending impact of the West on Asia. Japanese textbooks also covered the wars in detail, perhaps because Japan learned many lessons from these wars, while the textbooks in the Philippines focus on the wars from the perspective of the Catholic Church. Textbooks from Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore, however, either barely mentioned the wars or overlooked them. Translations of sections of the textbooks which deal with the Opium Wars follow below. In the case of China, we offer a summary of the text, since the description of the wars is too extensive to be included in its entirety. In addition, there are brief explanations of how and why the Opium Wars are omitted from the textbooks of Singapore and Indonesia.

Shingo MINAMIZUKA China The Opium Wars in the World History Textbook: A Summary In Chinese textbooks the Opium Wars are described in detail. Here is the summary of these descriptions. In China, the Opium Wars are introduced briefly in the chapter on European imperialism and colonialism in the world history textbooks, since they are presented and described in detail in a separate chapter in the modern Chinese history text. In the world history textbook, which is West/European-centric, the Opium Wars are treated as an important part of European capitalist expansion in Asia, along with colonization in India, Southeast Asia, Japan, and other countries. The Opium Wars are stressed in the modern world history textbook because they are considered to 186

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be a turning point between the middle ages and modern times in Chinese history: modern Chinese history dates only from the year 1840, which is distinct from modern world history which began in 1500. It is interesting to note that the Opium Wars completely changed the way that China was viewed by the world and the way it viewed itself. The political image of China changed dramatically from that of a rich and advanced empire to that of a poor and weak country. Psychologically, the national self-image of the governing elite was transformed from a standpoint of superiority to one of inferiority and vulnerability, which then became the watershed of the decline of China. In the chapter on European imperialism and colonialism, the main points regarding the Opium Wars are given in a global context as follows.

Why? 9. Capitalist development in Europe: European powers, and England in particular, needed overseas colonies and semi-colonies to extract natural resources for sale in the home markets because of the increased production of the Industrial Revolution and the rapid development of capitalism with a core-periphery structure. 10. Long-lasting trade imbalance between England and China. 11. Many Asian countries—India and the Southeast Asian countries, for instance—were already under colonial control and exploitation, and China, in the mindset of the colonials, was going to be the next. 12. China was not interested in importing goods from England, and it banned the import of opium, which was the only profitable good that might have allowed England to cover its huge trade deficit with China. 13. The exchange rate between silver and gold was not favorable to England, which had to buy silver with its gold to pay for Chinese goods; China used silver as currency, and England used gold. 14. China set high tariffs (over 20 percent) on English exports and imports and issued eight injunctions against opium smuggling between 1821 and 1834. Lin Zexu (1785–1850) a high-ranking official, was sent to Guangzhou in charge of banning opium and opium smuggling in 1838. Lin Zexu took strict measures against English merchants. 15. The Chinese government (the Qing dynasty, also known as the Manchu royal court) and people realized that opium smuggling was not only drawing a huge amount of silver (over six million liang, or 300 tons, per year) out of China and causing serious shortages of silver and inflation, but also corrupting social morality and destroying people’s health and minds, to such an extent that economic productivity in southeastern coastal areas declined due to the resultant labor shortage.

How? 16. In the summer of 1839, conflicts between the Chinese people and English opium smugglers were so serious that Lin Zexu completely banned foreign 187

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17. 18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.

trade and sent troops to Macao on 15 August. He then closed the port and stopped trading with England, according to an imperial order issued by Emperor Daoguang (1782–1850) on 5 January 1840. Strong reprisals from England started the war in June 1840. The processes of the war are introduced briefly to explain the difference between the Chinese and English troops in terms of their military technology, as well as the psychological “inferiority complex” of the Chinese court and troops. The loss of the war and the Nanking Treaty of 29 August 1842. The terms of the Nanking Treaty and the loss of sovereignty. Cession of Hong Kong to Great Britain, the loss of territorial sovereignty. Opening of treaty ports—Canton, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai—in which English consulates were established; the loss of economic sovereignty. China had to pay an indemnity of 21 million yuan in silver to England; the loss of wealth. China had to consult with England before setting tariffs on English goods; the loss of sovereignty and autonomy in establishing customs duties and having to accept a low, fixed trade tariff of 5 percent. English merchants could trade with Chinese merchants freely and directly; the loss of trade sovereignty. English people gained consular jurisdiction, with extraterritorial rights, not subject to Chinese laws, when crimes were committed in China. China had to sign several other unequal treaties with England and other foreign powers such as the United States, France, Belgium, etc. The unexpected results of the first Opium War (1840–1842) encouraged the European powers to go further and get more from China by waging the second Opium War (1856–1860), in which Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Beijing were occupied by British and French troops and additional unequal treaties were concluded, such as the Treaty of Tianjin in 1858 and the Convention of Beijing in 1860. More ports (eleven in total) were opened to foreign trade; more rights were ceded to foreign powers; and the opium trade was legalized. During the war, British and French troops even plundered and burned down the imperial summer palace, Yuanming Yuan.

Effects 29. China became a semi-colonial society and lost its independence and sovereignty, and for this reason, modern Chinese history dates to the year 1840. 30. Economically, China was forced to open its market to foreign imports, and became a weak part of the world market. China was deeply involved in the so-called capitalist world system and its expanding markets, and exploited extensively. 31. Culturally and ideologically, traditional Chinese culture and ideas were challenged by Western culture and new ideas. Chinese people developed a sense of inferiority in the face of the West’s seemingly superior culture and 188

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enlightened ideas, and began to question whether China should be Westernized or retain its traditional culture. 32. Politically, China lost diplomatic independence and its position as a major power. 33. In addition to obvious negative effects, the Opium Wars also resulted in many positive changes, reforms, and revolutions in modern China, which helped Chinese society to develop at an unprecedented pace afterwards.

ZHANG Weiwei India Description of the Opium Wars in a social science textbook for Class IX: Social Studies, published by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, India, 2014. European traders found the trade in Chinese silk and tea very profitable, but since the Chinese did not want to buy any European goods, they had to use silver and gold to pay. As we saw earlier, this practice was opposed in Europe, as it caused a drain of precious metals. The Europeans hit upon an item which was in great demand in China but was produced in India: opium. The English encouraged Indian peasants to produce large quantities of opium and purchased it from them at very low prices. This opium was then smuggled into China and sold there. In return, the Europeans purchased silk and tea to sell in Europe. This way, they did not have to pay the Chinese in silver. As the opium smuggling increased, the Chinese authorities suspended all trade with European traders, even in the one city in which it had been allowed. This led to what are called the Opium Wars between China and England, which were supported by the other European powers between 1839–1842 and 1857–1858. China was defeated by England, which imposed a series of unequal treaties. These treaties allowed England to trade with China without restrictions and allowed the English to establish trading enclaves in which only English laws could be enforced. England also forced China to give it most favored nation treatment, by which any concession given to any other country would automatically be applied to England, too. Thus began the loss of independence in China, even though the Emperor’s rule continued until 1911. We can see that, unlike India or the Latin American counties, China was not brought under the direct political control of any European power. However, it was made to serve the interests of those powers through unequal treaties which forced China to accept terms that were favorable to the Europeans, allowing them free trading rights, keeping import duties to a minimum, allowing the European powers to establish settlements on Chinese soil in which their laws applied and not the Chinese laws, etc. Thus, while the Chinese government was responsible for handling the day-to-day administration of the country, the economy was controlled by the Europeans who could now sell their products in China, purchase raw materials for their industries at low costs, and, at the same time, ensure that competitive local industries did not develop. It should be remembered that England was not the only country trading with China. Other European countries, including France, Germany, and Russia, forced 189

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the Chinese government to recognize certain parts of China as areas of special influence for these countries, where only they had free entry. This was a de facto partitioning of China, without actually doing so. Thus, China came to be controlled economically and politically not by one country, but by several European counties. These European countries were joined by a new power that had emerged in Asia itself: Japan. Japan underwent a political revolution in 1861 and had begun a program of rapid industrialization and modernization. Japan, too, was seeking colonies from which it could get cheap raw materials and where it could sell its industrial products. It waged a war against China in 1894–1895 and forced that country to cede much territory and to pay damages to Japan. In this way, various European powers and Japan carved out their spheres of influence in China. That is why China is considered to have been a semi- colony and not the full-fledged colony of any particular country.

Translated by Satyanarayana Adapa

Japan Description of the Opium Wars in Shosetsu-Sekaishi (Detailed History of the World), by Tsugitaka Sato, Seiji Kimura, and Miho Kishimoto, Tokyo: Yamakawa Publishing House, 2009, pp. 269–271. Although the British navy demonstrated overwhelming power on the sea by bombarding the mainland from warships, it had great difficulty ashore, faced with the guerrilla resistance of the Chinese people.

Opium War: Burning Chinese sailing ships

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In Great Britain, which controlled a major part of Guangzhou’s foreign trade in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the importation of Chinese tea rapidly increased, owing to growing demand. But because the cotton trade goods that were being produced in increasing volume as a result of the Industrial Revolution had no market in China, Great Britain suffered from a negative balance of payments that resulted in an outflow of gold into China in great quantities annually. In order to solve this problem, Great Britain established a triangular trade route in which Chinese tea was carried to Great Britain, British cotton products were sent to India, and Indian opium was taken to China. As a result, the habit of smoking opium spread in China, while massive amounts of silver drained out of China, unlike what had been happening in the past, because of opium smuggling. Taking advantage of these situations, the Qing dynasty, which had already prohibited opium use and smuggling, sent Lin Zexu to Guangzhou in 1839 to impose strict control on the situation. In Guangzhou, he not only confiscated and destroyed the opium, but pressed the British merchants to swear not to trade in opium thereafter. Although the opium trade was strongly criticized at home because of its harmful health effects, the British government, advocating free trade, decided to send its navy to China and waged the first Opium War (1840–1842). After successive defeats by the British military, with its superior weapons, the Qing government was forced to agree to the peace treaty, the Treaty of Nanking, by which it agreed to cede the island of Hong Kong; to open the five ports of Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Amoy, and Canton; to abolish the merchants’ guild that controlled the trade monopoly in Guangzhou (the Cohong); and to pay reparation. In addition, in 1843, unequal treaties that recognized consular jurisdiction (British extraterritorial rights), the fixed trade tariff (loss of tariff autonomy), and most favored nation provisions were signed.222 The Qing government signed the Treaty of Wanghia with the United States and the Treaty of Whampoa with France, giving the same unequal rights to both countries. The post-war trade did not produce the expected profits for European countries and the United States, however, and Great Britain watched for a chance to revise the treaties. In 1856 in the Arrow Affair, Chinese crewmen who were suspected of piracy were arrested on a ship of that name, which was claimed to have British registry. On the pretext of this event, Great Britain together with France sent troops to China, triggering the Arrow War (the second Opium War, 1856–1860). The British and French armies, occupying Guangzhou, advanced north on the sea approaching Tianjin, where the Treaty of Tianjin was signed in 1858. In 1859, however, when the Qing army prevented the British delegate from entering Beijing to exchange the instruments of ratification, the British and French armies moved again to occupy Beijing,223 where the Convention of Beijing was signed in 1860. The Qing allowed foreign ministers to reside in Beijing, the opening of eleven ports including Tianjin, freedom of travel by foreigners into inner China, and the 222 This refers to the Trade Treaty of Five Ports and the supplementary Treaty of Bogue at Bocca Tigris. In 1845, the British established the first settlement where foreigners had administrative rights in Shanghai. After this, foreign settlements were established in the other open ports. 223 This time the British and French armies plundered and destroyed the Yuanmingyuan Park Station (the Old Summer Palace).

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freedom of Christian missionaries to proselytize, and ceded the southern part of Kowloon Peninsula to Great Britain. At about the same time, the opium trade was also officially recognized.

Translated by Shingo MINAMIZUKA Description of the Opium Wars in Susumu Ishii, Fumihiko Gomi, Haruo Sasayama, and Toshihiko Takano, Shosetu–Nihonshi (Detailed History of Japan), Tokyo: Yamakawa Publishing House, 2010, p. 227. In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Industrial Revolution was taking place in England, and the wave of industrialization spread to other European countries and the United States. With the gigantic productive power of their industries and military power, Western countries searched for markets and sources of raw materials, competing with each other to obtain colonies; this was the reason for their serious entrance into Asia. The Japanese Bakufu [shogunate] learned that the Qing government had been defeated by Great Britain in the first Opium War and by the Treaty of Nanjing (1842) was forced to cede Hong Kong and open the country. In response, it repealed the Order for the Repelling Foreign Ships (1825) and issued the modest Order for Supplying Fuel and Water in 1842, making it possible to supply fuel and water to foreign ships that were accidentally cast upon the coast of Japan. The Bakufu, however, would not open the country to foreigners, maintaining the seclusion policy, even though the Dutch king sent a personal letter to the Bakufu, advising that the country should be opened, since the Bakufu lacked standing or recognition in world affairs.

Translated by Shingo MINAMIZUKA

Korea Description of the Opium Wars in History 2 for Junior High Schools, Seoul: Cheonjae Gyoyuk, 2014, pp. 144–145. The Opening of Chinese Ports and the Movement toward the Establishment of the Modern State Defeated in the Opium War by Great Britain, China was forced to sign the Nanking Treaty, which made China pay reparations and open five ports, including Shanghai. How did China try to overcome this difficult situation?

Learning Objectives: Opening Chinese Ports and Reaching for Modernity • Explain how China was forced to sign unequal treaties with other countries and open its ports. • Explain the characteristics of claims raised by the Taiping movement. 192

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• Understand the achievements and limitations of the Westernization Movement.

The Warship “Arrow” The public officials of the Qing dynasty arrested a Chinese man who was suspected of piracy on the British warship Arrow in the port of Canton. Great Britain claimed that during this procedure, the Chinese officials insulted the British flag, thus causing a conflict.

The Arrow War and the Opening of the Ports of China In the middle of the nineteenth century, Great Britain turned its attention toward China, seeing it as a gigantic market. But British trade with the Qing dynasty, which allowed foreign trade only through Canton, created an increasing deficit as Great Britain continued to purchase tea and silk goods. To solve this problem, Great Britain began to ship opium from India to sell it illegally in China. As the growing sales of opium resulted in an increasing outflow of silver from China and was creating a social problem, the Qing dynasty prohibited the import of opium. This served as the pretext for the British to wage war against the Qing government (the first Opium War, 1840–1842). Defeated by Great Britain, the Qing opened the doors to China by signing the Nanjing Treaty with that country. But since the volume of trade was not increasing rapidly enough, Great Britain, together with France, attacked the Qing again using as an excuse the trouble on the warship Arrow (Arrow War, [or second Opium War] 1856–1860). The united forces of Great Britain and France occupied Beijing, the Qing dynasty was forced to sign the Treaty of Tianjin (1858) and the Convention of Beijing (1860) successively, both of which were disadvantageous to China.

Inquiring into history: Unequal treaties that China signed with Western powers Document 1: The Treaty of Nanjing (1842) • Great Britain is allowed to engage in mercantile activities in five ports, including Canton and Shanghai, without molestation or restraint. • The Qing dynasty cedes Hong Kong to Great Britain, while Great Britain governs Hong Kong according to the new laws that the British choose to enact. • The Qing dynasty pays twenty-one million dollars in silver to Great Britain as reparations. Document 2: The Treaty of Tianjin (1858) • Western powers have the right to establish diplomatic legations (small embassies) in Beijing. • Ten additional Chinese ports are opened for foreign trade, including Niuzhuang, Tamsui, Hankou, and Nanjing. 193

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• Foreigners can travel, trade, and do missionary works in the interior regions of China, all of which had been formerly prohibited. Task 1: Read documents1 and 2, and explain how the sovereign rights of China were violated. Task 2: Find on the map the locations where the Treaty of Nanjing and the Treaty of Tianjin were signed and describe the characteristics of these places.

The Taiping Rebellion The expansion of taxation by the Qing government after the ratification of the Treaty of Nanjing to pay the reparations due to the Opium War further deteriorated the living conditions of the peasants. This led to increasing popular discontent with the government and the formation of secret societies. Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全), leading a secret society in Guangxi Province in southern China, declared the establishment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, proclaiming the overthrow of the Qing government that had been established by the Manchurians, the equal distribution of land, the equality of the sexes, etc. (The Taiping Rebellion, 1851–1864). The Taiping movement, supported by many members of the lower strata of the population, became a large force in the south of China, threatening the Qing government. A split in the movement’s leadership, however, weakened it, and it was finally defeated by a voluntary army organized by ethnic Han landowners who followed the Taiping, as well as the army of the Western powers.

Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全) (1814–1864) As the leader of the Taiping Movement, Hong Xiuquan established a secret society called Haijoteikai (The Predecessor) and organized a peasants’ army to rise up in rebellion. The Taiping army occupied Nanking in 1853 and made it the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Land Administration of the Heavenly Kingdom (Tianchao tianmu zhidu 天朝田畝制度) This idea embodied the ideal of the Taiping Movement. Its central point was the distribution of land to families according to the number of people in the family, regardless of their sex. This idea subsequently had a significant influence on reformist and revolutionary movements in China.

Translated by Culture Center Arirang

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World History for High Schools, Seoul: Geumseong Chulpansa, 2011, pp. 296–297 Movements for Nation-State Building in East Asia Learning objectives • State the terms of the unequal treaties of China with other countries after the Opium War and explain the consequences of the war. • Grasp the characteristics of the modernization movements that China undertook to strengthen the country. • Understand how numerous military cliques stood together in an uncoordinated way and how the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party maneuvered after the Chinese Revolution of 1911. • Explain the process by which Japan moved toward imperialism after the Meiji Restoration.

Encountering the Past and the Present: Hong Kong Hong Kong, located in the mouth of the Guangzhouwan, used to be merely a stony island with no inhabitants. As it advanced into China, Great Britain recognized the possibility of this island as a port and occupied it in 1841, when the Opium War broke out. In the Treaty of Nanjing that was ratified at the end of the war, Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain, which made it a strong foothold for advancing into East Asia by building Victoria City and establishing its governor there. As a result, Hong Kong prospered as a major trading port and a commercial distribution center becoming the area that first achieved modernization among the domains in Asia where British institutions were introduced. Since the middle of the twentieth century, when the Peoples’ Republic of China was established, Hong Kong has retained its position as the “Pearl of the Orient.” When the ninety-nine year lease on the Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories expired in 1997, Great Britain tried to retain them, fearing that the urban functions of Hong Kong would be paralyzed if they were returned to China. But faced with the unrelenting demand by China, Great Britain was obliged to sign the treaty of restoration. From the Chinese point of view, since Hong Kong was the symbol of humiliation in the nation’s modern history dating back to the Opium Wars it could not continue under British control. But China made a concession to Great Britain by making Hong Kong a special administrative ward that would retain autonomy for an additional fifty years. China has a reasonable right for prohibiting opium, because they know the fearfulness of opium. But our British Foreign Minister justifies this unfair trade. No one has ever heard of such an unfair and humiliating war. —Statement of William Gladstone, a member of the British Parliament (1840)

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Conclusion of the First Unequal Treaty From the middle of the eighteenth century, the Qing government kept the system that allowed only factories to trade in Guangdong. Great Britain, which imported tea by paying a great amount of silver at that time, demanded several times that trade be free but in vain. To cover the trade deficit, Great Britain developed a triangular trade, exporting British cotton to India and smuggling to China the opium that was produced in their Indian colony. The growth of the opium trade was causing a serious economic, as well as social, crisis, and so the Qing government sent Lin Zexu to Guangdong to impose strict control over the smuggling of opium. Using this as an excuse, Great Britain started the first Opium War (1840–1842). Defeated in this war, the Qing were obliged to agree to the Treaty of Nanjing, which entailed the loss of tariff autonomy and the establishment of consular jurisdiction and most-favored nation status. This first unequal treaty that China concluded with a Western power required that the Qing pay reparation, cede Hong Kong to Great Britain, and open five ports in the south, including Shanghai. The opening of the ports did not, however, increase Chinese demand for British commodities, and Great Britain, together with France, waged the second Opium War on the pretext of the incident of the Arrow Affair and the murder of a French missionary (1856). Defeated, China signed the Treaty of Tianjin and the Convention of Beijing, which opened some additional ports, allowed Christian missionary work, and permitted the residence of diplomats in Beijing. Russia obtained Primorsky Kray, the territory in which Vladivostok is located, as a reward for its mediation in this event.

Translated by Culture Center Arirang

The Philippines Zaide, Gregorio and Sonia Zaide. World History for the Postmodern World. Quezon City: All Nations, 2013, pp. 303–304. In the 1800s, revolts disrupted Manchu rule in China. Under the strong Manchus (who came from Mongolia, beyond the Great Wall), the Chinese population grew to 300 million, which strained food resources. The frequent floods or droughts caused mass starvation. In times of famine, peasants rebelled against the government. Furthermore, like all absolute rulers, the Qing Manchus had become absolutely corrupt. Throughout the empire, officials had enriched themselves from public funds. For example, one court official and friend of the emperor stole a personal fortune of $1 billion from public funds. To make up for the loss, court officials raised the quota for peasants or whoever they could tax. Due to these heavy burdens, the working poor revolted. Meanwhile, also in the 1800s, British merchants discovered that they could make huge profits trading opium from India and Turkey for Chinese goods. Many Chinese became opium addicts to forget their misery. The opium trade enriched many foreign and Chinese merchants, but the Chinese authorities were outraged, and opium smoking was banned. Not only was opium harmful to the Chinese 196

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people, it also drained China of silver (from the Philippines), which was used to pay foreign merchants for the drug. In the Philippines, the American authorities banned opium trade at the request of Protestant churches, whose missionaries had seen China’s sorrows caused by opium. The Chinese decided to end, once and for all, the opium trade. In 1839, the Chinese authorities destroyed twenty thousand chests of opium (worth $6 million at that time) which had been smuggled to Guangdong (Canton). To China’s surprise, the British declared war and responded with military force. The Chinese, with obsolete weapons, lost the war. In this conflict, known as the Opium War (1840–1842), the British used their navy and superior weapons to defeat the Chinese. China was forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Nanjing (Nanking) (1842). Under the treaty, China agreed to open more ports to foreign trade and receive more foreign diplomats and merchants. Britain acquired Hong Kong (and later Kowloon) and was paid for the opium destroyed by the Chinese (at the inflated price of $21 million). Other terms of the treaty were very harsh. For example, China agreed to let Britain fix its tariffs, or taxes on imports (which Britain fixed to its advantage). The Chinese had to give Britain the right to extraterritoriality, in which areas British law would apply. The Treaty of Nanjing was the first of many unequal treaties that China was forced to make with foreign powers. Other Western powers soon demanded most of the rights that the British had won. In later conflicts with these countries and Japan, China gave up still more rights. China was forced to yield to these demands because its technology had fallen behind that of the foreign powers. By the 1800s, advances in science and technology had, for the first time, made European nations more powerful than China.

Vivar, Teofista, Zenaida de Leon, Priscilla Rillo, and Nieva Discipulo. Kasaysayan ng Daigdig. Manila: SD Publications, 2000, pp. 209–210. The English were not prevented from bringing opium from India. The opium traders were arrested, and their products were confiscated because the number of opium users had reached the millions. The Chinese were defeated and the English took Hong Kong. In the Treaty of Nanjing, China gave Great Britain the right to trade in five ports, and Hong Kong was fully ceded to the English.

Translated by Francis Alvarez GEALOGO Mateo, Grace Estela, Rosita Tadena, Mary Dorothy Jose, Celinia Balonso, Celestina Boncan, John Ponsaran, and John Ong. Kasaysayan ng Daigdig, pp. 292–293. Under the Qing dynasty, Canton was the only port in China that was open to trade. It took the outbreak of the Opium Wars to open the Chinese ports to trade with the West. The Opium Wars refer to the two wars between China and the West. The conflict stemmed from the desire of the West to open the ports of China to expanded trade. For a very long time, China had enjoyed a favorable trade balance with Great Britain. The British wanted Chinese products like tea and silk, but the Chinese had 197

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little interest in British products. More than silk, tea was the major Chinese product that the British wanted. Eventually, the British introduced opium from India in order to obtain more silver to buy tea. The expansion of the opium trade affected the peace and order of China, and the drug was decreed to be contraband by the emperor. Commissioner Lin Zexu confiscated the contraband opium from the British, mixed it with lime and salt, and threw it into Canton Bay. Lin was the Chinese official tasked with stopping the opium trade. Because of what happened to the opium, as well as other demands by the Chinese, the British declared war. The first Opium War was fought from 1839–1842. China was defeated and signed the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. Included in the provisions of the treaty were the opening of five Chinese ports for trade; the cession of Hong Kong to Great Britain; the payment of war damages amounting to $21 million to Great Britain; and the granting of extraterritorial rights to the British by the Chinese. Extraterritoriality was the right of a foreigner to be tried according to the laws of his own country if ever he is accused of a crime in China. The second Opium War broke out between China and the alliance of France and Great Britain and lasted from 1856 to 1860. China was again defeated, and it signed the Treaty of Tientsin on 1858 and 1860. Included in the provisions were the opening of eleven ports, the legalization of the opium trade, and the acceptance by China of Western diplomatic representatives.

Translated by Francis Alvarez GEALOGO

Vietnam The Opium War in a Vietnamese Textbook for Grade 11 Arguing that the Chinese government had seized and burned the opium of English merchants, Great Britain invaded China in a war of expansion, called the first Opium War, waged from June, 1840 to 1842. When it was over, the Chinese government had to sign a treaty, accepting the demands of the English colonizers: to indemnify war expenses, to cede Hong Kong to England, and to open five seaports to English merchants. This was an event marking the process in which China changed from being an independent feudal country to being a feudal, colonial country.

Translated by Thi Thuy THA

Singapore

The history curriculum in Singapore, for primary school to the A levels, no longer includes the Opium Wars as a topic of study. There are some references to them as “wars in China” when the textbooks have to account for the increased migration from China to Southeast Asia. There is a China studies subject at the A level, in which students would have to study something about the Opium Wars, but this is not included under the purview of the subject of history.

Chelva RAJAH S.N.

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Indonesia The textbooks under discussion reflect two striking facts. None of them contains any topic on the Opium Wars. The first Opium War, also called the Anglo-Chinese War (1839–1842), was a war between Great Britain and China. The second Opium War (1856–1860), also known as the Arrow War or the British–French War in China, was a war waged by Great Britain and France against China.224 Both were wars over “conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, the administration of justice for foreign nationals” in China.225. These historic events, which have marked the relations between Europe and Asia ever since, do not seem to be included in Indonesian textbooks on world history. This is probably because their direct impact on the making of Indonesia was small, if any. Secondly, most events depicted in the textbooks under study are those that included big stories with big actors in history, while putting aside any social or political events in the daily life of ordinary people. This is a typical characteristic of Indonesian historiography, in both the colonial and post-colonial periods, one that critics have long identified. As such, the textbooks under study have confirmed the general impression of an institutional style that most analyses of history in other Indonesian textbooks have identified.

Agus SUWIGNYO A Final Observation We have found it very interesting that the Opium Wars are described in the textbooks of Asian countries in different ways, according to the relationship of the individual country to the wars. But a more serious problem is why the wars are not described in all of these Asian textbooks. Of course, the Opium Wars should not be described in the same style and with the same content, but we historians should be able to investigate the relations of the war to each country in Asia from various aspects, not only that of political relations, but also from economic, cultural, and other contacts and interactions.

Shingo MINAMIZUKA

224 Retrieved March 24, 2015 from, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/430163/ Opium-Wars. 225 Retrieved on March 24, 2015 from, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Opium_War.

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Acknowledgements Shingo MINAMIZUKA

T

his book is the product of a collaborative effort between Asian historians with the purpose of comparing the teaching of world history in Asian countries. In October 2010, the Asian Association of World Historians (AAWH), with Shingo Minamizuka as president, distributed questionnaires to its members addressing such topics as curriculum, teachers, textbooks, etc. We received responses from specialists in eight countries and introduced a rough analysis of the data in 2012 at a session at the 2nd Conference of AAWH in Seoul, together with presentations from three countries: Korea (Kang Sunjoo), China (Zhang Weiwei), and Japan (Yoshimine Shigeki). The audience response to the session was enthusiastic, with many voices calling for the publication of a comparison of world history teaching in Asian countries, since we know so little about each other’s approaches and content. After the Seoul Conference, we undertook a new project to prepare a collection of articles for publication. In addition to the three papers presented at the conference, we wanted to include papers from India, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. By the middle of 2013, with the initial papers ready, we decided that we should meet to discuss and coordinate our efforts in order to make comparisons more effectively. We set about obtaining financial support and in 2014, the Research Institute for World History (RIWH) in Tokyo received a grant from the Mitsubishi Foundation. In November 2014, we held our first workshop in Tokyo. We analyzed the papers presented and discussed what was lacking and what could be deleted in order to have a full breadth of comparison between the history and the present state of world history teaching in Asian countries. We also decided to include a cross-national topic, in order to compare approaches in the different countries. Although we did not settle on a topic at the time, after the workshop, RIWH proposed the Opium War of 1840 and discussions of this event in the textbooks that are most popularly used in each country. We received these by March 2015. In April 2015, we held a second workshop in Cebu, the Philippines. At that time, we agreed that more information should be added reflecting a Muslim perspective. The Indonesian and Indian authors agreed to expand their papers, discussing this approach. We then compared the ways that the Opium War is described in both the world history and national history textbooks. We were surprised to find descriptions of the war only in texts from China, India, Korea, and Japan, as well as the Philippines, which dealt with the war only in connection with Christianity. We discussed ways of finding connections among the Asian countries before, during,

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and after the war in various aspects of history: political, economic, social, cultural, and religious. At the same time, we compared the composition of the world history texts by analyzing the contents of textbooks from each country. Beyond the papers dealing with national topics, these comparisons taught us that world history teaching in most Asian countries has undergone great changes since the 1990s, at least in terms of overcoming Eurocentric world history, with Korea in the lead and Vietnam just beginning to address the matter. We are convinced that these movements are a new wave for world history education. While preparing this book, we were financially assisted by the Mitsubishi Foundation. We would also like to express our appreciation to the following people. Patrick Manning of the University of Pittsburgh encouraged this project and finally accepted the complicated task of reviewing the completed manuscripts, along with Deborah Truhan of Pittsburg University. Masako Nagaba, Hideaki Kimura, Makoto Kimura, Shinichi Yamazaki, and Kenta Suzuki of the RIWH in Tokyo communicated with the authors, and collected and arranged the manuscripts. This book, the result of six years of collaboration, would not have been completed without the kind support of these friends and colleagues. We hope to be able to work together again in the years to come.

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Contributors

A

ll contributors are listed alphabetically, followed by their affiliations. Last names are indicated by capital letters to avoid confusion due to differences in the order of names in Chinese and Western naming conventions. The names of articles are in italics. Satyanarayana ADAPA Osmania University, Hyderabad, India Teaching World History in Secondary Schools: The Indian Model Francis A. GEALOGO Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines Teaching World History in the Philippines: History, Contents, Contexts, and Textbooks Satoshi IBARAKI Joetsu University of Education, Joetsu, Japan The Evolution of World History Education in Japan Sun Joo KANG Gyeongin National University of Education, Incheon, Korea Restoring and Celebrating the Contributions of Diverse Peoples to the History of Humankind: Changes and Issues of the Middle School World History Curriculum in the Republic of Korea Patrick MANNING, University of Pittsburgh, USA Preface MINAMIZUKA Shingo, Hosei University, Japan Introduction SIM Yong Huei National Institute of Education, Singapore World History Education in Singapore (co-author: Chelva RAJAH S. N) Agus SUWIGNYO Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Diffusionism in World History Teaching in Indonesia, 1950–2006 TA Thi Thuy Institute of History, National Center of Social Science and Humanities, Hanoi, The Socialist Republic of Vietnam Teaching World History in Vietnam: Innovation and the Real Situation (co-author: DANG Xuan Khang)

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World History Teaching in Asia

YANG Biao East China Normal University, Shanghai, The People’s Republic of China Teaching World History in China: Shanghai’s History Curriculum and Textbook Reforms Shigeki YOSHIMINE Hokkaido Yuho High School, Sapporo, Japan World History Teaching in Japanese Secondary Education ZHANG Weiwei Nankai University, Tianjin, The People’s Republic of China World History Teaching in China: Past, Present, and Future

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Index

A Asian Association of World Historians (AAWH), 17, 18, 160, 201 B Blaut, James Morris, 45, 124, 125 C China centralization in education, 29 Cultural Revolution, 9, 11, 13 educational reforms, 12, 13 Eurocentrism, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 14 global history, 2, 15 history curriculums high school, 8, 13, 14, 24 junior high school, 8, 24 history teachers, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 29 history textbooks, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 contents, 20 Japan, history of, 3, 5, 176 key lines of revolutionary world history, 6 Ministry of Education, 13, 28 National Education Committee, 24 Reform and Opening policy, 11, 14 regional teaching programs, 24, 25 Shanghai educational reforms, 24, 27 history curriculum, 25, 27 history textbooks, 25, 27 contents, 31 textbooks controversy, 28 world history as a subject, 25, 30 Sinocentric historiography, 1, 3, 16 stages of cognitive development, 25, 26 world history as a subject, 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 28 F Frank, Andre Gunder, 12, 16, 141

I India colonization of, 181 Eurocentrism, 172, 173, 181 examinations, 170, 180, 182 history teachers, 179, 181 history textbooks, 170, 172, 173, 180 contents, 183, 185 National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), 169, 170, 180, 181 National Curriculum Framework, 171 national policies on education, 169, 180 post-independence education, 168, 169 teachers, 182 world history as a subject, 172, 177, 180, 181 Indonesia citizenship in, 127, 132 colonization of, 124, 125, 126, 130, 137 curriculum reforms after Suharto, 136, 138 diffusionism, theory of, 124, 125, 131, 132, 133, 134, 137, 138 Eurocentrism, 131 history textbooks, 124, 126, 137, 138 colonial, 130 in New Order regime, 135 post-Independence, 131, 132 post-Suharto, 136 Islam in history, 136, 138 Ministry of Education and Culture, 136 New Order regime, 128, 130, 135 post-independence education, 124, 126, 131, 132, 137 world history as a subject, 124, 125, 129, 134, 135, 137 J Japan centralization in education, 83 China, history of, 54, 55, 59 Eurocentrism, 66, 82, 83

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World History Teaching in Asia examinations, 63, 66, 81, 82 Government Course Guidelines, 61, 64, 65, 66, 68, 77, 80, 81 history curriculums high school, 56, 58, 61, 68, 76, 81, 82, 83 middle school, 56, 57, 59, 68, 77, 81, 82 reforms, 59, 60, 61 history teachers, 81 as textbook authors, 64, 83, 87 in post-war period, 63, 67 in pre-war period, 58 in the classroom, 63, 78, 82, 84 history textbooks, 55, 56, 82, 83, 86 contents, 70, 72, 73, 87, 89 post-war, 62, 63, 65 pre-war, 56, 57, 58, 59 semi- or sub-textbooks, 83, 86, 87 history textbooks, 77 Hokkaido, history of, 84, 89 issue-focused learning, 81 Meiji Restoration, 55 Ministry of Education, 55, 57, 58, 60, 62, 77, 82 Okinawa, history of, 86 Sino-Japanese Wars, 57, 59 world history as a subject, 54, 69, 76 from a regional perspective, 84, 85, 88 in post-war period, 61, 62, 65, 67, 81, 83 in pre-war period, 55, 56, 58 since the 1970s, 77, 82 World War II, 54, 61, 76, 81, 86 K Kagan, Ronald D., 44 Korea Asia-Europe dichotomy, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43 China, history of, 37, 39, 43, 46 Eurocentrism, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 history curriculums high school, 35, 37, 43, 45 middle school, 35, 37, 42, 47 history teachers, 40, 43, 46, 47 history textbooks, 35, 39, 41, 43, 47 national curriculums, 34, 35, 37, 40, 42 contents, 49, 50, 52 National Syllabus, 37 world history as a subject, 34, 35, 37, 41, 42, 43, 46

M McNeill, William H., 12, 108, 155 O Opium Wars, xvi, 186, 199, 201 as taught in China, 186 as taught in India, 189 as taught in Indonesia, 137, 138, 199 as taught in Japan, 190 as taught in Korea, 192 as taught in Singapore, 198 as taught in the Philippines, 196 as taught in Vietnam, 198 P Philippines colonization of, 105, 106, 108, 111 education system, 105, 108 Eurocentrism, 106, 112, 116, 119 history curriculums, 109, 111 contents, 121 history teachers, 109 history textbooks, 105, 109, 110, 111, 119 contents, 122 Monroe Survey, 109, 110 periodization of history, 106, 107, 112 post-independence, 110 world history as a subject, 106, 108, 109, 110, 116, 119 R Research Institute for World History (RIWH), 85, 201 S Singapore analytical approaches to history, 141, 143, 144, 147, 149, 150, 155, 157 colonization of, 157 examinations, 142, 145, 154 history curriculums before 1965, 145 contents, 161, 166 during independence period, 147 during transition period, 149 in the new millennium, 155 since the 1990s, 151 history teachers, 144, 147, 149, 150, 155, 157, 159 history textbooks, 147, 150, 151, 153, 156 Ministry of Education (MOE), 142, 147, 152, 153, 156, 159 educational campaigns, 151, 155, 156

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Index V Vietnam colonization of, 91 examinations, 98 history curriculums contents, 99 North Vietnam, 91, 92 socialist content, 91, 92, 94, 96, 97 South Vietnam, 91, 92

history teachers, 92, 94, 95, 97, 98 Ministry of Education, 95, 98, 99 periodization of history, 93, 96, 97 world history as a subject, 91, 92, 95, 96 W World History Association (WHA), 17, 141, 150, 155

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A Comparative Survey

“World History Teaching in Asia is a timely and illuminating volume that explains how roughly forty percent of humankind learns ­history. Every teacher of world history can learn something useful from this book.” —J. R. McNeill, Georgetown University “Eye opening, engaging, salutary, inspiring. Welcome to the global story of world history teaching, in which Asia quite rightly plays a significant part.” —Marnie Hughes-Warrington, Australian National University

World History Teaching in Asia_9781614728221_Perfect.indd 1

BERKSHIRE

BERKSHIRE PUBLISHING

WORLD HISTORY TEACHING IN ASIA A Comparative Survey

MINAMIZUKA MANNING

“The ongoing transition away from histories of the world seen from a parochial angle—and that includes continental positions— is a d ­ ifficult and exciting one that scholars of today and tomorrow must embark upon. World History Teaching in Asia, in timely fashion, ­provides inspiration in that direction.” —Ooi Kee Beng, Penang Institute, Malaysia

WORLD HISTORY TEACHING IN ASIA

WORLD HISTORY TEACHING IN ASIA

Edited by Minamizuka Shingo Foreword by Patrick Manning BERKSHIRE

15/04/19 6:12 PM