The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the similarities and differences between “The Observation of Local Community” and “The Observation of Environment”, which were established by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Japan and the Chosen Governor Seat (CGS) in Occupied Korea respectively in geography education in national schools at the fourth grade level during the Pacific War (1941-1945).
The results of the research can be summarized as follows:
The purpose of geography education at national schools established in 1941 by the MOE and the CGS was the same. However, there were three differences between them. First, the content of geography education differed in different grade levels. Second, geography education at the fourth grade level was called “The Observation of Local Community” in Japan and “The Observation of Environment” in Occupied Korea. Finally, the contents of the teachers' guide were also different. This is because the CGS accepted the educational system and contents of the MOE, but modified them, taking colonial Chosen's situation into consideration.
The MOE and the CGS organized geography curriculum based on the “expanding horizon” theory, by taking children's psychological development into account, and they did not publish textbooks for children in order to avoid standardized geography education. This was a positive aspect in the history of geography education in Japan and Korea. However, there was a limitation to the geography education of the Local Community during the Pacific War, because the MOE and the CGS associated “The Observation of Local Community” and “The Observation of Environment” with the upbringing of a narrow-minded, territory-loving spirit, in order to realize the mission of “the consciousness of the empire”, the ultimate purpose of geography education during the Pacific War.
