International Images of Korea

Being a highschooler and fan of Korea from the young age has led me to find extremely passionate groups of people at school with the same interests, making long-lasting friendships through their love for Korea. From teaching each other the Korean alphabet(한글) to having endless conversation about what they know about Korea during break-time, using specifically Korea as an example for making presentations and introducing Korea with so much passion to the class and to the teachers, more than you can find in the textbooks. I watched how the love that they have for Korea has brought them a big passion to try to make the best image of Korea and show it to their mini society.

Thanks to the Korean wave(한류), Korea drew huge global interest in Korean entertainment and the culture which merges traditions, nature and aesthetics. In recent years, South Korea, has been one of the biggest trends and so many people around the world talk about it specially on social media. Korea is known for so many things, such as K-drama, K-pop, Korean cuisine and healthy foods and its rich culture. In some countries, Korea is known for its history, modernity, fast economic development and fast-internet. in some countries, Korea is also popular for k-beauty and k-fashion. In my country, Korea is mostly known for its most unforgettable dramas, Taekwondo(태권도) and Korean technology.

But, why including content about Korea in our textbooks and curricula? all of these topics, with the increasing global success and receiving endless attention from around the world, in my opinion, can be reasonable enough and necessary to emphasize South Korea in our education system. The education that let the student’s inspirations and knowledge grow while they are exploring the topics that are interesting to them. by improving the contents related to Korea in our textbooks not only help making deeper understanding of Korea but also it brings students the values and knowledge they need to thrive in this rapidly changing world, so they can use this knowledge to take the world to new heights. I think, Educators should put support in place to motivate students by listening to their needs, interests and curiosity about Korea and provide them with opportunities to developing their understanding of Korean art, culture, history, etc.

Since Korea has a big positive global impact, was ranked the world’s sixth most cultural influence, in 2021. As we are becoming more and more interconnected and transform into a globalized society, I think, governments must encourage expanding content about Korea in textbooks for the educational benefits and also diplomatic benefits as well. As a result, you will notice a big shift and the positive impact it can have on improving education system.

The popularity of Korea was not built overnight. however, in a short time, the image of Korea has changed a lot in less than 50 years. there was a time where what people thought of Korea was about national defense and recovering from war, but now the image of Korea is all about K-culture K-music, K-movies, besides all the achievements Korea has made so far. While Korea is becoming more and more recognized globally, and the resources getting updated every day, there is a wonder why people who work in the field of education still using old and limited resources? Or not expanding up-to-date information about Korea in textbooks? Are educators truly unaware of student’s willingness to know Korea? Or we need educators to re-educate themselves about Korea? Or maybe we need different ways to change and make better contents about Korea in the textbooks?

How is South Korea presented in our textbooks? In some countries including mine, when it comes to introducing the Asian culture and history, most of the contents are limited to China and Japan. In my country, for example, elementary textbooks do not mention South Korea. In middle school, "Social science" of the eighth-grade textbook, describes South Korea as the world’s power, beside China and Japan. The textbook talks about the high-speed trains but only shows the photos of China, but not photos of the amazing Korean (KTX) train that runs between Korea’s two biggest cities and connects them in less than 3 hours.

In high school we learned about world art history and the textbook is designed for introducing different art around the world, but when it comes to east Asian art they only talk about China and Japan in detail. They do talk about how Korea played a big role in influencing Japanese art and brought their culture to Japan, and how the art of the sculpture, architect, painting and pottery spread to Japan from Korea. But sadly, the textbook doesn’t talk specifically about Korean art and its history. So, at that time I searched it myself to find out more and I was amazed by the fact that Korea has a unique and impressive culture and art, from manhwa(만화) to calligraphy, from painting to creative handicrafts like(노리개, 탈, 옻칠장,…). I felt bad that there is a lot to say about Korea and a lot to learn from it that need to be highlighted in our textbooks, but still there is no content about it.

due to limited resources in school, I was encouraged to do my research on Korea elsewhere to improve my understanding of Korea and I found out that South Korea is much more than what we’ve been told in the school. But how we can improve the contents related to Korea and troubleshoot this issue with the textbooks to find a solution?

I think, for the first step to know that, we need to knowledge and assess the thoughts, opinions and experience of students and educators about Korea in schools. So, why not take the direct route and ask them directly? “What are the images of Korea in their textbook?”, “How much they know about Korea?”, “Do students want to know more about Korea?”, “Do educators have easy access to rescores?”, “What are their experiences with Korea at class?”, “Do educators use up-to-date and accurate information about Korea?” and “What are the resources that educators are using for Korean content?”. Students and educators can give their responses through an online or offline survey. By creating a survey, we can gather accurate and meaningful data that can help making informed decisions and lead to successful outcomes. By analyzing the results, it can give you a better vision to see if there are any hidden problems, and now, we can seek for solutions.

The world, which once seemed so distant, is now at our fingertips in this digital age that we are living in and it has made everything so much easier in comparison to the past. It would be mutually beneficial for both sides, to make an online global gathering place for educational leaders from all over the world to encourage more use of standards-based resources and knowledge about Korea among educators as well as offering schools, materials to provide educators with learning opportunities to develop their own understanding of Korea to become educators with professional development and curriculum resources. Furthermore, creating a chain of aligned knowledge and curriculum guides for all educators around the world, serve as a road map for developing the beliefs, values, knowledge and skills to improve understanding of Korea and improve the images of Korea in textbooks, as a result. Textbooks are definitely important in shaping students learning, but should textbooks still play a big role?

Digitizing information is essential to enabling easy and worldwide access. Moreover, for most people from the same generation as myself, learning through digital contents is preferred way of learning new things. This is why, turning books and pdfs to mini videos, vlogs, podcast, blog posts and running online event and contest with giveaways using social media or other internet platforms, can be used as effective tools to attract students more and educate those who would like to learn more. Another way to enjoy and learn about Korea, is making weekly or monthly digital magazine, that includes interesting Korean information and also with interesting stories of students and their experiences with Korea, students would be engaging more in improving their understanding of Korea while inspiring each other.

Learning Korean through online classes in the Sejong institute(세종학당) During covid-19 pandemic lockdown, had helped me to have a deeper understanding of Korean culture, language, history, and society than ever. Finally in 2022, I got invited to an in-person event held by Sejong institute, for the first time. I remember being surprised how magical it felt, even though I had watched so many videos and read so many things about Korea, however, there was a magical feeling attached to being in an event and watch Arirang(아리랑) playing on piano, dancing to K-pop with friends, dressing in hanbok(한복) and trying kimchi (김치) for the first time is one of my unforgettable memories in life and it made me appreciate the beauty in Korean culture even more.

The most important thing I have learned about that day is, no matter how much you know about something or read about it online, there is nothing like a real experience. Don’t get me wrong, the internet is helpful especially when you are miles or continents away, but yet, nothing can match the power of “being there” and being able to enjoy the real-life experience. In other words, People might forget what they heard or read on internet but they will never forget what they experienced. In pulling together this line of thought, I believe that, a better way to show the real image of Korea is to gifting people real experiences, a chance to experience Korean culture and history in a more personal way.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, to help people see Korea through a wider lens, requires a deeper relationship between Korea and people around the world. providing people with opportunities to help them having a better understanding of Korea and get to experience it personally, besides much of the meaning that can accrued from it, it helps to create a meaningful connection with Korea and create unforgettable memories, so that everyone outside of Korea, hopefully, can see the magic within Korea! 

[Encouragement Prize]
Seyedeh Farahnaz Mirdamadi
(Country of Activity : Iran)