Education in Korea 
 
 A SUPREME OPPORTUNITY FOR THE 
 CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 By 
 
 GEORGE IIEBER JONES 
 
 
 KOREA QUARTER -CENTENNIAL COMMISSION 
 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE 
 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 150 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
 
9 
 
 OLD TIME KOREAN DAY SCHOOL 
 
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN 
 KOREA 
 
 A missionary opening work in a new region started a 
 school. Among the boys who presented themselves was one 
 nine years old, with soiled clothing, wrinkled face, and eyes 
 set so close together he looked like a rat. The missionary 
 was drawn to the lad because he looked so forlorn, and told 
 him of the Saviour who loved him and would help him to 
 become a strong, good man. He gave his heart to Christ 
 with the utter abandon that marks a boy’s loyalty, and 
 was instrumental in leading his mother to become a Christian. 
 Then the mother and son together brought the father to the 
 church, and he was shortly afterward converted and became 
 one of the most influential and effective Christians the 
 Korean Church has ever known. Among the many people 
 whom the father led to like saving faith with himself was a 
 merchant, who in his turn became a strong and successful 
 lay worker. In the course of the years this merchant suf- 
 fered financial reverses, and, selling out his business, went 
 south, purchased farm lands, and settled in a heathen village 
 of thirty-five families. The first Sunday he was there he 
 invited his neighbors to a Christian service in his own house. 
 One man came. The next Sunday two men were present; 
 the third Sunday, three men; and the fourth Sunday, six 
 men. Five months later, when the missionary visited that 
 town for the first time, he found that of the thirty-five 
 families living there only two still professed to be heathen. 
 The rest were all Christians, and they had organized under 
 the leadership of the Christian merchant a church with 
 eighty-six members. There were no schools, so the Christian 
 opened a night school for boys in his house, with his son as 
 teacher, and twenty-six pupils were enrolled. The Chris- 
 
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tian’s daughter, a girl fourteen years of age, opened a school 
 for girls, and she had fourteen pupils in constant attend- 
 ance. This is interesting as an incident, but note the chain 
 of events with their results. A missionary opens a boys’ 
 
 school in 1892; a boy attends 
 it, is saved, is instrumental 
 in converting his parents, 
 who in their turn lead a 
 merchant to Christ; and then 
 seventeen years later that 
 merchant, with the same 
 power that first found its 
 lodgment in the little lad’s 
 heart, is instrumental in con- 
 verting a village and estab- 
 lishing two schools, while the 
 boy himself has come to 
 America and is a student in 
 one of our Methodist uni- 
 versities. It is incidents like 
 these that set the seal of 
 divine approval upon the 
 work of Christian education, 
 and show how immeasurable 
 are its results. 
 
 DEMAND FOR MODERN 
 EDUCATION 
 
 KOREAN BOY, 
 
 non-christian A great opportunity con- 
 
 fronts the Christian Church 
 in Korea. At least four millions of children and young people 
 are turning eagerly to the new education. To secure and 
 maintain the leadership in the training of these young peo- 
 ple will mean the permanent Christianization of the Korean 
 people. There is at the present time a wide-spread move- 
 ment for the new learning in Korea amounting practically to 
 an educational revolution. This has been going on for some 
 time. Three years ago it became a sort of Korean fad to 
 
 4 
 
start a school, and everybody — governors, magistrates, town 
 officials, noblemen of wealth, and middle-class men — went to 
 heavy sacrifices to bring the blessings of education to their 
 children. Seven school boards would lay hold upon the 
 coat-tails of one teacher 
 and constrain him to 
 abide with them, with 
 the result that the sal- 
 aries for the native 
 pedagogue soared sky 
 high, and a vast 
 amount of superficial 
 education was inaugu- 
 rated. This temporary 
 stage has passed, and 
 a more suitable and 
 satisfactory condition 
 prevails to-day. 
 
 THE NATIVE SYSTEM 
 
 OF EDUCATION 
 
 The Korean people 
 possess an ancient civ- 
 ilization, with a tradi- 
 tion that extends back three thousand years. In the 
 development of their culture, Buddhism and Confucianism 
 have played important roles. Under these old systems the 
 ideal of education was clearly set forth, and from the earliest 
 times the highest value was placed upon learning. Educa- 
 tion under the native systems had a religious base. During 
 the predominance of Buddhism the monasteries were the 
 schools and the monks the teachers. When Confucianism 
 rose to power the temples of the Sage became the bulwarks 
 of education, and the possession of learning was necessary 
 to any who desired to take part in his worship. The idea of 
 a secular education independent of and divorced from re- 
 ligion was foreign to Korean modes of thought. 
 
 This religious ideal as determining education has pre- 
 
 KOREAN BOYS, CHRISTIAN 
 
 O 
 
vailed to the present time, so that when Christian mis- 
 sionaries first made their appearance in Korea, placing 
 emphasis upon education as a part of their work, it was 
 regarded by the people as quite the natural order, and their 
 first impressions of Christianity were that it was a great 
 educative rather than a religious force. 
 
 The native systems of education enjoyed the sanction and 
 fostering care of the government, although there was no 
 system of public schools. Primary education was obtained 
 in the numerous private schools throughout the country, 
 presided over by one teacher and maintained either at the 
 expense of some wealthy gentleman or of a group of families. 
 The schoolhouse itself was usually a room in the house of 
 some wealthy villager, and the compensation of the teacher 
 amounted to little more than his board and lodging. 
 
 The course of study consisted of a diligent and perpetual 
 attempt to memorize and master the Chinese classics. The 
 boy began his studies at about the age of six years with a 
 small, easy primer, which familiarized him with a thousand 
 Chinese characters, many of which he would rarely if ever 
 again meet in the course of a lifetime. He then took up 
 another primer, which instilled into his mind the funda- 
 mental principles of the Confucian faith. This was followed 
 by a history of China, consisting of numerous volumes and 
 covering the events in that land down to about A. D. 1000. 
 From this historical work he passed into the four primary 
 classics, consisting of “The Great Learning,” by Confucius; 
 “The Doctrine of the Mean,” “The Works of Mencius,” 
 and “The Confucian Analects.” He then took up the three 
 great classics, “The Book of History,” “The Book of Poe- 
 try,” and “The Book of Changes,” which may be regarded 
 as the post-graduate course of study. These schools never 
 issued diplomas and had no recognized form of graduation. 
 
 There are no reliable statistics concerning literacy among 
 the Korean people, but as a rule the men of the gentry class 
 were always more or less educated. Many men of the mid- 
 dle classes who looked forward to employment as govern- 
 ment clerks enjoyed a smattering of education. Possibly 
 
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ten per cent of the male population of Korea might be said 
 to have been literate under the old system. The women, 
 with certain rare exceptions, were, as a rule, illiterate. 
 
 WHAT CHRISTIAN EDUCATION HAS DONE 
 
 In the midst of conditions like these Christian education 
 was in a position to make a very large contribution to the 
 improvement of the Korean people. Among the many lines 
 of service it has been permitted to perform there are six 
 which are particularly deserving of notice. 
 
 1. Christian missions introduced to the Korean people 
 their first knowledge of the fundamentals of modern educa- 
 
 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION, CLASS IN CARPENTRY (Y. M. C. A.) 
 
 tion. In the old schools there was no study of arithmetic 
 and higher mathematics, geography, grammar, natural 
 science, the history of their own nation and of other nations 
 except China. These subjects were all introduced into the 
 Christian schools, and for the first time the Korean people 
 came to know the things for which these essentials stand. 
 
 7 
 
‘2. Christian missions gave to the Korean people their 
 first modern text-books. The subjects being new, there 
 were no text-books in the Korean language. This task was 
 particularly difficult because the Korean language was 
 devoid of terms in which the commonest teachings of arith- 
 metic, geography, and the other sciences could be expressed. 
 Probably no more vitally important contribution to the 
 reconstruction of life in the Hermit Nation has been made 
 than that which was accomplished at this point, for Chris- 
 
 COLLEGE ATHLETICS, Y. JV1. C. A. BASE BALL NINE, 
 PLAYING IN SEOUL 
 
 tianity has constructed the highways along which the feet 
 of native thought must travel for all time. 
 
 3. In bringing to the Korean people a new curriculum, 
 with a new apparatus of text-books, it was necessary to 
 train a new staff of teachers. The native pedagogues who 
 had been developed under the old system were of little 
 service. Out of the Christian schools came a new force of 
 teachers, who to-day practically control the educational 
 work in Korea. 
 
 8 
 
4. Christian educators introduced the idea of a graded 
 system, with schools united in a connectional bond. They 
 also established the first large schools requiring a faculty of 
 teachers rather than the solitary and uncontrolled peda- 
 gogue who set up in the native village as master of the birch 
 rod. These schools involved the idea of specially trained 
 teachers for each subject. They also brought together large 
 numbers of students, involv- 
 ing the idea of association for 
 educational purposes. Thus 
 the student class discovered 
 
 its own strength. 
 
 5. Christian missions re- 
 deemed the native writing 
 from the contempt with 
 which it was held, and made 
 it a real national agency in 
 education. The Koreans pos- 
 sess an admirable alphabet 
 of twenty-five letters, which 
 lends itself readily to the 
 expression of native thought, 
 but because of the high 
 esteem in which the Chinese 
 ideographs were held the 
 people were disposed to look 
 with contempt upon this 
 humble vernacular. Chris- 
 tian missions adopted it and 
 printed the Bible and other 
 Christian books in it, with 
 the result that it has achieved 
 its rightful place as the na- 
 tional literary medium of the Korean people. 
 
 6. Christian missions introduced to the Korean people 
 the idea of schools for girls. The great difference between a 
 non-Christian system of education and the Christian system 
 is that while the non-Christian system has schools for boys, 
 
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 KOREAN GIRLS, 
 NON-CHRISTIAN 
 
the Christian system possesses schools for boys and girls. 
 There were no schools for girls in Korea until the Christian 
 Church established them. To-day their number is con- 
 stantly increasing. 
 
 These are a few of the direct results of missionary educa- 
 tional work in Korea. Leadership in this great field is still 
 held by the Christian forces. The Department of State for 
 Education has recognized the Christian schools as part of 
 the national system, registering them, and has placed the 
 Bible in its list of approved text-books. In 1909 there were 
 two thousand private schools in Korea registered in the 
 Department of Education, with 42,000 pupils in attendance. 
 Of this number over 1,400 schools, with probably 28,000 
 pupils, were under the Christian Church; thus out of every 
 three boys getting their education in Korea, two were in 
 Christian schools. 
 
 OUR EDUCATIONAL PLANS 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church has a school system at 
 
 the present time consisting of 
 
 KOREAN GIRL, 
 CHRISTIAN 
 
 172 schools, with 6,083 pupils 
 in attendance. There are 183 
 theological students receiv- 
 ing systematic training, and 
 the Woman’s Foreign Mis- 
 sionary Society maintains 
 schools for the training of 
 nurses and Bible women, and 
 there is a school for the edu- 
 cation of girls who are blind or 
 who are deaf-mutes. 
 
 The schools of our Mission 
 and their needs are as follows: 
 
 1. Pai-chai High School 
 and College, Seoul 
 The oldest of our mission 
 schools is located in Seoul — 
 the first Christian school ever 
 
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opened in the empire of Korea. Its name, Pai-chai Hak-dang, 
 was given it by the emperor, and constitutes a royal charter. 
 It means School for the Training of Useful Men. It is on an 
 English basis, and is of a high school grade, with 160 students 
 in attendance. The school occupies a small and entirely in- 
 adequate building erected twenty-three years ago. Situated 
 in the capital city, and with its long and honorable history, 
 it attracts to it the finest class of students. There is no doubt 
 that if properly equipped with buildings and plant it will 
 
 CLASS ROOM, MODERN SCHOOL (Y. M. C. A.) 
 
 prove self-supporting. The Mission appeals for $45,500 for 
 this school, to be expended as follows: 
 
 a. Administration building, including class- 
 
 rooms, chapel, and offices $15,000 
 
 b. Dormitory for 250 pupils 5,000 
 
 c. Laboratory equipment 2,500 
 
 d. Gymnasium building and equipment. . . . 7,500 
 
 e. Library building and books 5,500 
 
 f. Twenty perpetual scholarships at $500 
 
 each 10,000 
 
 Total $45,500 
 
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2. Union Academy and College, Pyeng-yang 
 This is the strongest and most successful Christian school 
 in Korea. It is a union institution maintained by the Boards 
 of the Presbyterian and Methodist Episcopal Churches. 
 This cooperative arrangement has proven eminently satis- 
 factory and is regarded by the missionaries of both churches 
 as essential to its continuance as a successful school. It 
 reports 523 students in the Academy and 54 in the College 
 
 modern school, physical training, a drill 
 
 Department. During the six years, 1902-1908, it graduated 
 92 students from the Academy and two from the College, 
 while in 1909 the graduating class in the Academy was 65, 
 and there were five graduates from the College. In 1909 
 the total entering class to the Academy and College num- 
 bered 225 students, and every one was a professing Christian. 
 The average age of the student body was twenty years; 
 more than half of the students were married men and six 
 were widowers. Every student pays for his education in 
 
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money and labor. The Church in Korea sets aside one 
 day each year for prayer and for contributions to this school. 
 The tuition received from the students pays the salaries of 
 more than twenty Korean teachers and tutors and fully 
 half the running expenses. The amount appropriated by 
 the Boards for running expenses has never exceeded $500 
 a year. The graduates and former students are found in 
 every walk of life in North Korea, exercising a potent in- 
 fluence on the new-forming life of more than three millions 
 of Koreans living in its contributory territory. The fol- 
 lowing sums are appealed for to provide for the Methodist 
 share in the plant and equipment of this institution. 
 
 a. Administration building, including class- 
 
 rooms, chapel, and offices $20,000 
 
 b. Laboratory equipment 2,000 
 
 c. Heating plant 1,500 
 
 d. Twenty perpetual scholarships at $500 
 
 each 10,000 
 
 Total $33,500 
 
 3. Biblical Institute and School of Theology 
 By formal agreement with the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 South, a union Theological School is maintained in Korea, 
 under the control and management of a joint Board of 
 Trustees appointed by the cooperating Boards. One hun- 
 dred and eighty-three students are enrolled, these students 
 spending four months in the classroom work and eight 
 months out in the actual work of the pastorate. It is hoped 
 that the time spent in the classroom work may be increased 
 to six months, thus giving half a year for actual service 
 annually in the work of the pastorate. This arrangement is 
 necessary because the Church is engaged in training the 
 first generation of ministers, and they cannot leave the 
 direct work of the pastorate to give all their time to seminary 
 residence. The plan is proving such a practical and effective 
 method of ministerial training that the sentiment of the 
 
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Mission is to make it the permanent order. For this insti- 
 tution the following sums are asked: 
 
 a . Site $5,000 
 
 b. Administration building, including class- 
 
 rooms, chapel, and offices 10,000 
 
 c. Dormitories to accommodate 250 stu- 
 
 dents 7,000 
 
 d. Bible school building for lay preachers 
 
 and Sunday school workers . 4,000 
 
 Total $26,000 
 
 CONFERENCE ON LIFE WORK 
 First Christian Student Summer Conference held in Korea 
 
 4. Bible Training Schools 
 
 At each mission station there is held during the year a 
 series of institutes for the study of the Bible and of methods 
 of personal work. These institutes are attended by local 
 
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preachers, exhorters, class leaders, and Sunday school 
 workers at their own expense. Many of the men carry on 
 their backs for a distance of from 25 to 100 miles the rice 
 which they will eat during attendance on the institute. 
 These training schools have an attendance of from 250 to 
 700, and last from one to three weeks. They are of great 
 value and productiveness in developing an efficient volun- 
 teer lay agency throughout the church. It is necessary that 
 there should be proper buildings in which these institutes 
 may be housed, and the following are called for: 
 
 a. Bible Training School building, Pyeng- 
 
 yang $2,500 
 
 b. Bible Training School building, Kong-ju. 2,500 
 
 c. Bible Training School building, Yeng-ben 1,000 
 
 Total $6,000 
 
 5. High Schools 
 
 In addition to the higher institutions at Pyeng-yang and 
 Seoul, it will be necessary to provide buildings for high 
 school purposes at the various mission stations, these schools 
 serving as feeders to the central schools. The course of in- 
 struction in these high schools will be in the vernacular, and 
 such is the opening to Christian education at these points 
 that they will exercise a most potent influence for the train- 
 ing and development of competent men in the regions where 
 they are located. Four of these are called for: 
 
 a. High School building at Su-won $3,500 
 
 b. High School building at Kong-ju 5,000 
 
 c. High School building at Yeng-ben 3,000 
 
 d. High School building at Haiju 2,500 
 
 Total $14,000 
 
 6. Other Schools 
 
 The buildings for all primary schools are provided by the 
 Korean Christians. There are two points where school 
 buildings will be necessary, the control and use of the same 
 to be under the Mission rather than under the native church. 
 
 15 
 
These, therefore, have been incorporated in the Quarter- 
 Centennial budget. They are as follows: 
 
 a. Building at Pyeng-yang 83,000 
 
 b. Building at Won-ju 1,500 
 
 Total 84,500 
 
 The total budget thus called for amounts to 8128,500. 
 This amount would not be regarded as adequate to build 
 and equip one college in the United States. In Korea it will 
 provide facilities for two generations for a student body 
 that will number annually ten thousand boys and young 
 men. Who can measure the results which will accrue from 
 placing educational facilities within the reach of ten thou- 
 sand boys annually? From their number will arise the men 
 who in politics, commerce, industry, education, and re- 
 ligion will influence and direct the destinies of multiplied 
 thousands of men and women. 
 
 It is said that opportunity is like a horse standing at one’s 
 front door, saddled and bridled and impatient to be off; 
 if mounted, it will carry its rider to a great and glorious 
 destiny; but if we wait too long we find that it will pass on 
 ■without us, and only the echo of its hoof-beats will remain 
 to tell of a great possibility lost. This is true of the educa- 
 tional opportunity in Korea. It must be seized at the 
 present time or we shall lose it forever. 
 
 16