English Language School for Joseon Ruling Class (II)
This is the fifth in a series of articles about history of English education in Korea ― ED.
By Kim Eun-gyong
Contributing Writer
Gojong’s keen interest and active involvement in the school was also visible in his concern for students’ progress in performance. After one year of study, while the students were taking the first summer break, the king directed them to come to school and take tests every fifth day to prevent them from forgetting what they had learned.
When the students’ performance did not improve, he instructed the students in the Left class to attend school every other day and warned those in the Right class that their parents would be held accountable as well if they violated the school regulations. He even called in students and twice had them take tests at the palace.
Initially the regulations required three years of study, but in May 1889, the requirement of the duration of study increased to seven years, following the instructors’ proposal for the first three years as a prep course and additional four years as a regular college-level curriculum.
In spite of the king’s active interest and able instructors, however, the students did not make progress as anticipated, and many of them began missing classes. Especially, the students in the Left class had frequent absences under the pretext of their job demands, and eventually none of them attended classes.
Since at one point students with good academic performance were promised government positions, the students in the Right class made diligent efforts, but their enthusiasm died down as well, and they soon repeated the pattern of those in the Left class.
The school continued to be on the wane. After the instructors’ first two-year contracts expired in April 1888, the government prolonged its decision to extend their contracts. Eventually, two of the instructors’ contracts were extended three more years.
Gilmore returned to the United States when his request for a raise for the reason of supporting his family was rejected. His successor, the reverend Daniel L. Gifford, resigned within a few months. The government decided not to enroll the problematic Left class; thus, in March 1889, the school resumed with fifty-seven students in the Right class only.
Nevertheless, by the time the new three-year contracts expired in 1891, the government had lost much of its interest in the school and decided to hire only one instructor: Bunker was renewed for another three-year contract, and Hulbert returned to the United States. (Later Hulbert and Bunker continued to make contributions to Korea’s modern education by teaching at the Hanseong Normal School and the Baejae School, respectively.)
In November 1892, the school underwent personnel changes, and one year later there was another shake-up. When Bunker was offered an instructor’s position at the Baejae Hakdang (Baejae School), a private institution run by American Methodist missionaries, and resigned five months before the expiration of his term in February 1894, the school was closed for all practical purposes.
For the eight years of its existence, the school admitted three groups, thirty-five students in 1886, twenty in 1887, and fifty-seven in 1889, totaling 112. Disappointed by the failure of the school, the king granted other alternatives: a new government-sponsored English language school opened with British instructors in 1894, and the Office of Education started a joint English language program with the Baejae Hakdang in 1895.
Although the Yugyeong Gongwon was one of the ambitious modernization endeavors the Korean government undertook and it received the king’s unfailing support, its existence is not widely known among contemporary Koreans.
The Yugyeong Gongwon was a largely improved and upgraded school that offered English language education as well as attempting to offer liberal arts education, in comparison with the previous Dongmunhak. The government made a vast investment in the school, recruiting quality instructors from the United States.
A highly exclusive selection of students was applied, with admissions limited to a handful of sons of high-ranking yangban. The Korean government took the initiative in its establishment, stepping out of the shadow of China that had loomed over the Dongmunhak. Gojong’s active interest in the school was evident in each phase of the school’s development. Compared to the expeditious, limited curriculum of the Dongmunhak, a much broader Western curriculum was provided by highly educated instructors in the Yugyeong Gongwon.
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