In Korea with Marquis Ito

by George Trumbull Ladd

The same Report further agrees with the Article in the Korean Review in considering the reforms proclaimed in 1894 by the government as ineffective. The schools which sprung up under the “Primary School Ordinance,” with the intention of introducing the Western system of education, were almost without exception of the old (Shobo) character. And, indeed, how could it be otherwise, when there were no teachers who could give the rudiments of a modern education, and few pupils who desired such an education? As for the middle-grade education which the Seoul schools professed to give, there was little or nothing to bear out their pretensions.

Street Scene in Seoul.

The Residency-General aims, therefore, “at nothing less than the establishment of an entirely new system of education for Korea.” But the system does not propose to interfere with, much less wholly to close, the existing old-fashioned Confucian institutions. It will, the rather, gradually displace them by something better. The Government system as now planned contemplates supplying the nation with the necessary schools of the different grades, in accordance with the outline of reforms given below.

1. The former “Primary Schools” have been renamed “Common Schools.” The Common School Ordinance and Regulations have been drawn up and put in practice; the ten primary schools of various kinds in Seoul having been turned into Government Common Schools, and the thirteen Primary Schools in the provinces into Public Common Schools. The class work under the new régime was begun in September, 1905, in all these schools. It has been arranged, further, to establish Public Common Schools in twenty-seven principal cities and towns of the provinces in April this year.

2. The former “Middle Schools” have been renamed “High Schools”; and the “High School” Ordinance and Regulations issued. The period of study in these schools has been fixed at four years, and graduates of the Common Schools are to be taken without the examination, which is, however, required in the case of other candidates for admission. The number of regular course students in each of these schools is fixed at 200, with the proviso that they may open a Hoshu-kwa class (or interim class for those who need to complete their qualification before taking up the regular course).

3. Reforms and the expansion of the scope of work, judged necessary and advisable, have been effected for the Normal, and the Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Schools, which all retain their old names, while the Medical School has been attached to the Tai-han-ui-won (or “Great Korean Hospital”).

4. Out of the 500,000 yen provided for the extension of the educational system, a sum of 340,000 yen has been expended in newly constructing, renovating, or enlarging the Common School buildings. The remaining 160,000 yen has been put in part to the service of new buildings for the Normal, the Agricultural and Forestry, and the Commercial Schools; and in part to the fund for necessary construction work and equipment for the schools of the Middle Grade.

5. Besides the schools described above, a special institution having the name of Syu-hak-won has been established for giving education to the children of the Imperial and aristocratic families. It has been placed under the superintendence of the Minister of the Household. The regular number of scholars received into this institution is fixed at twenty. The course of instruction given is not dissimilar to that in the common schools.

Any account of educational reforms in Korea would be quite inadequate if it did not include mention of the new provisions for medical and surgical treatment and for the education of native physicians and surgeons. Incredible as it may seem, it is true that there was in the spring of 1907 only one native in all Korea who had received a thorough modern medical education; and this one was a woman who had studied in the United States and was connected with the medical work of the Methodist Mission at Pyeng-yang. In connection with one of the three small hospitals hitherto existing in Seoul there has been for some seven years a Seoul Medical College, with only one Japanese instructor. The hospitals are now to be united in a single large institution, for which 280,000 yen, to be spent in construction, and 123,600 yen, for maintenance, have already been provided. This hospital will also have charge of training for the medical profession and for hygienic and sanitary administration. The site has been secured and the construction of the buildings begun, with the expectation of having them completed during the year 1907.