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Gyeongseong (or Keij) Imperial University, Korea’s first university, was established as one of the Japanese efforts to appease Koreans’ discontent and hostility. |
 By Kim Eun-gyong
Contributing Writer
This is the 14th in a series of articles about history of English education in Korea ― ED.
In 1919, after a decade of harsh Japanese rule, Koreans' indirect or implicit nationalistic movements, led by underground groups or exiles or confined to educational activities, exploded into an all-out nationwide movement of independence. The movement referred to as the March First Movement began on March 1, 1919, two days before Gojong's funeral rites, an event that brought thousands of Koreans to the capital from across the country.
More than half a million Koreans participated in the movement within the next two months. Japan was taken aback by the enormity and organization of the demonstrations. The movement and Japan's brutal suppression of it received international publicity. It had been accepted that Korea was a flourishing colony under the beneficent rule of Japan, but the world was awakened to a new understanding of Japan's distorted propaganda that the Korean people had willingly submitted to colonial rule.
Although the March First Movement was harshly suppressed, it left a lasting impact on both the Koreans and the colonial ruler. Koreans were enlivened with a new sense of conviction for their independence. A large number of secret independence organizations were formed, the most important being the Provisional Government of Korea, the government-in-exile in Shanghai. Interest in studies of Korean language, literature, history, folklore, and art was heightened.
For the colonial ruler, the movement made it inevitable that it change its colonial policy, even if only cosmetically. The shocked Japanese government realized that its repressive militant rule had not been effective and that it needed to assuage the tension created by the movement and Koreans' hostility against the Japanese. The newly elected prime minister, Hara Kei, and his government promoted "Nissen yuwa,'' or ``Harmony between Japan and Korea,'' and adopted a new more lenient, conciliatory policy called the "cultural policy," or "bunka seiji.'' General Hasegawa was recalled to Japan, and Hara appointed Admiral Saito Makoto as the new governor-general in August 1919.
Saito abolished the military police system and introduced the High Police for a more efficient control necessary for the appeasing ``cultural policy.'' School personnel were no longer required to wear swords. A milder approach to the control of publication was taken: in January 1920, the government-general permitted publication of several Korean newspapers and a number of magazines and political publications.
In addition, Saito's new administration took educational reform as its top priority and made extensive changes. First of all, the government-general de-emphasized the previous forced assimilation policy. The second ordinance for Joseon's education in 1922 addressed the thorny issue of discriminatory school systems for Koreans and Japanese, which had been a major source of students' protests against the colonial government. The government extended the school years required for Korean students to the same length as for the Japanese and permitted teacher schools and college education.
Furthermore, as a conciliatory policy, the colonial government expanded the employment of Korean personnel. In 1924 for the first time since the protectorate, a Korean, Yi Jin-ho, was appointed as head of the Bureau of Education, a showcase of the government's claim that Koreans' voices were being heard in the new administration.
The second ordinance for Joseon's education in 1922 also allowed the establishment of four-year colleges and brought post-secondary schools under one education system. Strengthened by the widespread nationalistic movement in 1919, Koreans campaigned for the establishment of a university independent of the colonial government and collected funds nationwide. In reaction against these endeavors, the colonial government opened Gyeongseong (Keijo or Seoul) Imperial University, the first university in Korea, in 1924.
During the 1920s, along with the establishment of Gyeongseong Imperial University, the colonial government introduced a system of university entrance examinations, a revival of the Confucian civil service examination system. Japanese revival or reinforcement of the examination system in the colonies has had lasting broad influence on Korean education and society. In present Korean society as well as in other parts of East Asia, the university entrance exams play such powerful roles: the exams connect one's schooling to his/her ability to acquire desired social status, and thus good performance on the exams is seen as a guarantee to success in society, therefore, provoking fierce competition among high-school students.
Besides, the government-general abolished all the existing teacher-training programs, temporary or auxiliary in nature, and established normal schools. By 1923, the government had established one government and thirteen provincial/public normal schools. Separate training courses were offered for primary-school teachers (for Japanese children) and common-school teachers (for Koreans). Graduates of normal schools were guaranteed employment; thus normal schools enjoyed popularity.
For post-primary schools, Koreans received teacher training in Japan or in the United States. In 1920, the government permitted private study abroad and adopted a government-sponsored study-abroad program in 1922. The majority of Korean students in Japan received advanced teacher training, mostly in higher normal schools while some Koreans went to the United States for post-graduate studies and came into direct contact with progressive educational philosophies such as Dewey's and Kilpatrick's.
After their return, the Japan-trained teachers taught in government/public schools while the U.S.-educated teachers in private schools, especially in mission schools. The two groups held different positions in educational theories and practices, but the Japan-educated far outnumbered the U.S.-influenced. Under the educational environment controlled by the colonial government, the Japan-educated spread across various important sectors of education, laying a foundation for a long-lasting significant influence on Korea's education. The field of English language education has been no exception to this phenomenon.
In the revision of the private school regulations in March 1920, the government eased its restrictions on private-school curricula and teacher qualifications. Now, teachers of particular subjects, such as Korean and foreign languages, were no longer required to have a command of the Japanese language. Along with his fluent English ability, Saito's lenient approach brought missionaries to his side. Moreover, one of the notable changes observed in the new educational policy was the reinforcement of English language education.
Kim Eun-gyong is an associate professor of applied linguistics and Associate Dean of the Center for International Affairs, Information and Communications University (ICU) in Daejeon. She can be reached at egkimrivera@icu.ac.kr.
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