Turkey, Hungary And Poland: The Politics Of School Textbooks

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has recently asked the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Human Resources to develop a patriotic homeland defense education program by the end of 2017. This new "defense education program" will be included in the national curriculum of all Hungarian schools. 

Departing from this example, Deutsche Welle's article traces the recent curricula changes in Turkey, Hungary and Poland and examines how ruling parties' politics are infiltrating the education system. The article argues that the changes introduced render the education system more inclined towards "nationalism" and "religion", with lesser emphasis on diversity. 

The perspective presented in the article by a teacher from Warsaw, Jacek Staniszewski (also a member of the European Association of History Educators-Euroclio), is of specific importance with regards to such curricula changes: Staniszewski states that, "This curriculum divides people into us and them — the narrative shapes our identity against some nations like the Germans and the Russians". Aforementioned "us and them" sentiment referred to by Staniszewski is in fact the very essence of populism. Therefore, implantation of specific nationalist and religious ideals that target conditioning the students to "one single truth" about "the People", namely "Us", is a specific and common policy utilized by populist political movements. In other words, the cultural and historical elements, themes used by diverse populist movements vary; but policy technique used is similar.

This is an insightful article that makes one reflect over future implications of the "populist surge". Populist movements currently in power may wither away over time, but how about their lasting impacts that will shape the future generations for years to come? Populist movements target education systems to ensure longevity of their power, but how will new generations react to being used as guinea pigs of populist education? This is food for thought.