Modern Education, Textbooks, and the Image of the Nation: Politics and Modernization and Nationalism in Korean Education: 1880-1910 by Yoonmi Lee

Author:Yoonmi Lee [Lee, Yoonmi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Political Science, History & Theory, Social Science, Ethnic Studies
ISBN: 9781136600791
Google: 7T4cueSOMfkC
Goodreads: 1765673
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2000-08-22T00:00:00+00:00

THE MODERN EDUCATION SYSTEM AFTER THE KABO REFORM

The modern mass education system was first promulgated by the Kabo reform in 1894. However, the schools after the Kabo reform were not the first “modern” schools, as opposed to “traditional” forms of education.14 The schools built by the government, missionaries and local communities already took form in the 1880s. Since the early 1880s, the government also gradually opened opportunities for commoners to enter traditional government schools such as Sungkyunkwan and Hyangkyo, which was traditionally reserved only for yangbans (see Kim & Ryu, 1994).

However, these earlier schools did not yet challenge the “system” as a whole. It was only after the Kabo reform that the new system of education began to emerge for the masses. Despite the instability of major modernizing efforts in the 1890s, new laws continued to provide the basis for shaping the educational system. By measures promulgated since the 1895, the schools under the supervision of the Ministry of Education consisted of the following: a system of primary schools, a normal school, and various secondary schools such as regular middle schools, vocational schools, foreign language schools, medical schools, law schools, military schools, etc., along with the traditional higher education institute, Sungkyunkwan (see Jung & Lee, 1994).

According to the Edict on Primary Schools, which continued to be the basic legal guidance for primary education up to 1905, the primary school system consisted of government, public and private schools, with the establishment of private schools approved by the Minister. Primary schools covered five to six years of education. The primary school years were divided into elementary and advanced levels, which had a duration of respectively, three and two to three years. The age of the students ranged from 7 to 15 years. The basic subject matter for the elementary level consisted of ethics, reading, composition, handwriting, arithmetic, and physical education. Upon approval by the Minister of Education, depending on the circumstances, schools could exclude physical education, and they could choose one or more subjects from Korean geography, Korean history, drawing, and foreign language, or sewing for girls. In the advanced level, ethics, reading, composition, handwriting, arithmetic, Korean geography, Korean history, world geography, world history, science, drawing, physical education, and sewing (for girls) were taught. For the advanced levels, the schools could add one or more foreign language in the place of world geography, world history, or drawing. Textbooks were subject to approval by the Minister of Education (Edict on Primary Schools, July 19, 1895).15

The normal school was to train teachers, primarily for primary schools. Depending on circumstances, the graduates could be recruited to teach at other levels of education. It had two courses: a two-year or regular course and a six-month training course. The subjects taught consisted of ethics, pedagogy, Korean literature, Chinese literature, history, geography, arithmetic, physics, chemistry, biology, handwriting, composition, physical education. Candidates for admission had to pass the entrance exam on Korean, Chinese, Korean history and geography, or could be selected with the recommendation of the principal. The age limits ranged from 20 to 25 years (Law on Hansong Normal School, April 16, 1895).

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