Education in Korean Culture
An overview of traditional and modern education in Korea.
Location: North Korea; South Korea
Yangban Scholars of the Joseon Dynasty
Education, while always an important part of Korean society, reached its peak during the Joseon Dynasty. Confucian belief emphasized knowledge as one of the highest virtues. As such, official positions were earned through rigorous exams open to male members of the yangban aristocracy. Eligible children studied for their exams from an early age. Those who excelled rose to high positions in government. Average students typically took up posts in rural towns and lived as country gentlemen.
The yangban class, about 10 percent of the total population, controlled access to education. Learning was further restricted to men. While noble women might learn Hangul after the 15th century, most were illiterate. A notable exception were the gisaeng, an order of dancers and courtesans. Gisaeng were trained to be intelligent and thought-provoking companions to the upper classes. Despite their low status, they enjoyed many freedoms not given to other women of their time.[1][2]
Confucian Education in Korea
Village education in Korea began in the sodang, a state school for young children. Boys studied at these schools for around five years before moving on to urban hyanggyo. At hyanggyo, they devoted themselves to preparing for civil service exams. Private sowon schools also popped up in rural areas. Students at these schools were protected from military service. They began taking exams at the age of 18 or 19 and would continue taking them until they reached their potential.
Education Under the Japanese Empire
When Japan assumed control of Korea in the early 20th century, it targeted Korean culture through its schools. They expanded older reforms modeled on Japanese education. At the same time, Christian missionaries opened new schools seeking converts. The resulting system downplayed Korean culture, language, and history in favor of foreign curricula.[2] Starting in 1937, the Korean language was banned in Korean schools.[3]
Modern Education in the Koreas
With the end of World War II, Korea faced an uncertain future. Multiple generations had been raised away from their own heritage, and the nation soon fell into civil war. When South Korea and North Korea emerged as separate states, they began rebuilding their education systems. North Korea provides its students with 12 years of state-controlled, compulsory education.
South Korea has taken a more open approach but values education no less. In 1945, 5 percent of the population of Korea was literate. By 1995, literacy rates in South Korea had reached 95 percent and 180 colleges had been opened in the country.[4] Competition to enroll in these universities is high. Like the yangban of past times, modern South Korean students begin preparing for their entry exams from a young age.[5]
Bibliography
Djun Kil Kim, The History of Korea (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2017), 95-96.
Michael J. Seth, Hawaii Studies on Korea: Education Fever: Society, Politics, and the Pursuit of Schooling in South Korea (Honolulu, HI, USA: University of Hawaii Press, 2002), 9-22.
Brandon Palmer, Fighting for the Enemy: Koreans in Japan's War, 1937-1945 (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2013), 18.
Seth., 1-8.
Elise Hu, "The All-Work, No-Play Culture Of South Korean Education," NPR, April 15, 2015, NPR, accessed May 02, 2017.
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