Schools in Korea, c. 1900
“Schools” from When I Was a Boy in Korea by Ilhan New, 1928.
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
“Schools” from When I Was a Boy in Korea by Ilhan New, 1928.
In the cities there are large schools, but in the country districts the children are dependent for learning solely upon some benevolent scholar who establishes a school in his sa-ra-ang, which is the gentlemen’s reception-room. This room is just as necessary in a Korean home as the kitchen. No matter how poor the house-owner may be, a sa-ra-ang must be provided for his callers, since no men may enter a room occupied by the women of the family.
The tuition for attending such a school is generally what the families of the pupils can give, the man teaching for the love of study as well as for the leisurely, scholarly life that he would lead. Much of his remuneration comes at holiday times when gifts from the families of the students provide many of the necessities of life such as rice and fish, etc., and also luxuries such as silks for pantaloons, beverages of high value, fruits, and other delicacies in the food line.
Our family lived both in the city and in small villages, and the school life in the village is one of the most pleasant memories that I carry to this day. The school that I attended in the village district was located about a mile from our home, and, every morning, with our lunch-kits thrown over our backs, we would set out for the school which was conducted by an elderly scholar in his sa-ra-ang.
The lunch consisted of a good-sized Korean brass-bowl, half-filled with flaky, steaming rice. Set into the upper half of this bowl were two or three smaller brass dishes generally holding bits of cooked fish, bean curd, Korean kim-chee, etc. The whole set had a tight-fitting brass cover and was encased in a regulation net woven of twine and drawn together at the top with strong draw-strings that were long so that the bag might be carried by the strings. This lunch kit is almost standardized by common use, and every boy has one. Of course, there might be one or two frail boys from a rich family who would have a fancier outfit, but most of us were happy to shoulder whatever was provided for us, and proceeded to have all the fun that we could on the way to school.
Time was not much of a factor with us in those days, nor apparently with the teacher for we would arrive at his sa-ra-ang sometimes during the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. Our part of the country was noted for its delicious fruits and nuts, which apparently grew without cultivation by any one. Each day on our way to school we would pick out trees and mark out some particular fruit as our own. When the bright sunshine had ripened the juicy apricot or crisp pear, our respective fruits were plucked, and “a good time was had by all.”
Arriving at the school at last, we would make a deep obeisance to the teacher and ask in our most respectful and high language whether he had rested well during the past night. The teacher usually pretended to be much absorbed in his classical books, but would, after the lapse of a few seconds, condescend to look up and calling our individual names would say in affectionate low talk, “Oh, have you come?” Then he would earnestly ask with much concern after the health of our respective parents. This procedure, with every word the same, would be in order each day, just as ceremoniously as a court function.
On leaving the school in the evening, we would again arise and make a deep how to the teacher and beg the great scholar to rest well that night. He would just as ceremoniously say “Uh —,” which meant that he consented to rest well, and admonished us to go directly and quietly to our homes, and to tell our parents that he inquired whether they were well and happy.
Once in school, our work began. Every one of us smaller boys had the same book of one thousand Chinese characters. The old teacher sat alone at the head of the room. Directly in front of him and facing him sat the smaller boys, about four or five in a row; then boys a little larger, and in the back rows sat the largest boys.
Every one sat on the floor, as is the Korean custom. Of course, there were no girls in the school. There were separate schools for the few that were sent to school, but more often girls of the better families were tutored privately in the secret recesses of their own homes.
The old teacher had a small baton, or more often a short bamboo rod, with which he would tap the floor; then commenced the musical singsong of the boys, all reading the characters aloud, each apparently trying to outdo the others in the loudness of his voice. As the boys read, or rather sang the characters, their bodies swung back and forth like pendulums. This singing often lasted for an hour without stopping and then a short recess would be called so that the boys could go out of the rooms for a much-needed drink of water, or to play around the teacher’s home and back yard.
Often the teacher was a tolerant old man, who would be very lenient with the students and let them go chestnutting, or swimming as the season permitted. There were no regular holidays except those declared by the teacher, and the one long holiday that comes at New Year’s time when all the business of the land closes down for fifteen days.
Occasionally, there are schools founded by old scholars that care for those children whose parents or relatives cannot afford to pay the regular tuition. Such schools are generally sustained by the generosity of the neighborhood. Frequently the pupils live several miles from the teacher’s place, which makes it hard for them to go home daily or even weekly. Such children are taken care of by the kind-hearted village folk, without any charge for the lodging.
Most of these boys being from the farms, each month they bring with them grains or other articles of food such as seaweeds, and fresh or dried vegetables, but very seldom meat of any kind, except fish. These gifts of food the boys take to the teacher as a token of appreciation and to the village folk with whom they stay as part compensation for board and room.
In the case of the teacher, such gifts amount to a considerable sum when all of them are put together, and it is not a bad lot sometimes to be the scholar and be provided with at least his food, the surplus of which he can sell readily. The question of food is the main thing; the shelter will take care of itself.
Each boy attending a distant school carries his own bedding, and at whichever house he is to make his home, whether it be that of a friend or just a family to whom he carries a letter of introduction, he is welcomed. Such is the hospitality of the country. If he brings with him as much as his food, there is no thought of charging him for the rent of the room in which he stays.
Any excess of grain or food can easily be exchanged for the rough homespun cotton cloth out of which the family can readily fashion a new garment for him. So the bartering goes, until the simple wants of the student, the teacher, and the country folk are satisfied to a certain extent.
New, Ilhan. When I Was a Boy in Korea. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1928.
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