"Comfort women" description in California curriculum doesn't benefit but harm students and teachers

photo: 2015, The San Francisco Examiner, (2014, Nick Ut/Ap)

California is going to include "comfort women" issue into their History-Social Science Curriculum Framework of Grade Ten.

But that description depends only on one-sided viewpoint, though the issue is still in dispute. So, that will invite worthless conflict to teachers and classrooms, and that will deprive students of the attitude to understand multiple perspectives. The same affair is supposed to happen in other states than California.

You'll find what the problems are in this article.

Hope your recognizing this problems and raising your voice.

If you are a teacher, can you tolerate what's going on in California ?

If you have children, can you tolerate that ?

(A) What's happening in California

First of all, you might not know it, the "comfort women" issue is still in dispute about the determination-of-facts. Some countries insist that was systematic atrocity by the national policy of Japan. But Japan denies that after their comprehensive investigation. The investigation found no basis to show such national policy nor systematic atrocity.

But the curriculum of California is going to adopt the one-sided description as if it were agreed stable fact. This description is supposed to be approved in July 13,14 by the SBE of California.

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The description is;

---- “Comfort Women,” a euphemism for sexual slaves, were taken by the Japanese Army in occupied territories before and during the war. “Comfort Women” can be taught as an example of institutionalized sexual slavery, and one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the twentieth century; estimates on the total number of comfort women vary, but most argue that hundreds of thousands of women were forced into these situations during Japanese occupation. ----

This describes the "comfort women" issue as systematic atrocity and human-trafficking by the national policy of Japan.

Imagine that, at the time the Iraq War began, your children would have been taught "Iraq had WMD" as stable fact. Remember that the existence of WMD was already in dispute at that time. The very same thing is happening in California.

photo: 2013, Chosun.com

(B) What the problems are in the description

1. Doesn't benefit students. Even harmful.

This one-sided assertive description will deprive students of the attitude to understand diversity about determination-of-facts and interpretation of history. It also eliminates the opportunity for students to research and think with their heads.

The description contradicts the education policy of California as "Students should be encouraged to read multiple primary and secondary documents; to understand multiple perspectives" ( the History-Social Science Curriculum Framework ).

2. Inflicts conflict on teachers.

If some students will ask a teacher "What's the objective and verifiable basis why you taught that 'comfort women' description as fact ?", the teacher cannot answer. CHSSP, they wrote that description, didn't disclose the reason why they believed that was stable fact. It is also known, there never found objective and verifiable evidence that showed the atrocity by the national policy of Japan. So, teachers cannot even evaluate the credibility of that description.

3. Invite conflict to classrooms

If a classroom includes Japanese or Japanese-American students, can a teacher teach this description as stable fact ? If those students know the issue is in dispute actually, we can imagine they may keep their mouths shut due to apprehension of their human relations in the classroom. Besides, the teacher may feel afraid of inviting ethnic or racial prejudice to his/her classroom. Such situation seems to contradict the justice the U.S. believes.

4. Other points to be focused

It is recommended you'll investigate the reason why this incident happened in California, then you'll find other aspects than human-rights viewpoint about the "comfort women" issue. Here shows some hints.

The curriculum says "'Comfort Women' CAN BE taught....". Not "should be" nor "are to be". The expression "can be taught" is used only at this point in this Grade Ten Curriculum. This allows each school or teacher to avoid teaching this issue.

However, if California believes this issue is valuable to be taught, why don't they take accountability of the correctness of the description and write "SHOULD BE taught" in the curriculum ?

It is known they didn't disclose the basis to assure the correctness, but they described the "comfort women" issue not from multiple viewpoints but from one viewpoint assertively. If the purpose to teach "comfort women" is to benefit students, why does California act so inconsistently ? Or are there any other purpose ?

As a matter of fact, who, on what purpose, wants to include this "comfort women" description to the curriculum ?

To think about their purpose, won't the same affair happen in other states than California ?

photo: 2016, http://peace.maripo.com/

(C) Proposing improved description

Here shows the improved description that can replace the current one. Do you think which is valuable for students ?

---- "Comfort Women", women who served Japanese soldiers before and during the war. It is said they were forcibly taken into institutionalized sexual slavery by the Japanese Army. This issue is still in controversy. Japan insists they were not sexual slavery but legal wage workers at brothels where the Army was involved in about such as medical-checkup. As well, Japan acknowledged there partly existed atrocity by lawless soldiers.

This issue also has the aspect of human-trafficking. At that time, some parents had to sell their children due to the poverty. Some of "comfort women" were thought to be those victims.

This controversy is not yet settled due to the absence of objective evidence that showed atrocity or human-trafficking by the national policy of Japan.

"Comfort women" can be taught as a valuable starting point for students to discuss 1. Diversity in determination-of-facts and interpretation of history, 2. The present-day problem of human-trafficking. ----

Detail and related info:

- The current draft of the Curriculum Framework , CDE(California Department of Education)

- 'Comfort women' and a lesson in how history is shaped in California textbooks, Los Angeles Times

- 7 Demands by the Victims , Korean American Forum of California

- Japanese government : “Forceful taking away” of comfort women by the military and government authorities could not be confirmed in any of the documents that the Government Of Japan was able to identify in the above-mentioned study.

- Japanese government : the figure of 200,000 persons as the number of comfort women lacked concrete evidence. The expression “sex-slaves” also contradicted the facts....,

- Who takes accountability for students about its basis ? California inflicts that on individual teachers ? - https://goo.gl/I7OjoV

- To:CDE, Request to disclose evidence of the "comfort women" description - https://goo.gl/sYGhiQ

- Points in the dispute at a glance, "comfort women" - https://goo.gl/v4VgbS

June 4, 2016, Racn Kel