17. THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM Jang Dong-Pyo South Korea today is known for its highly educated populace, with a liter- acy rate of ninety-nine percent. Its success at creating a modern educa- tional system is credited as a major factor behind its rapid industrial development. Nine years of schooling are compulsory, but over ninety percent of students continue their education. Competition is very intense to get into the top colleges. Students have to spend years preparing for the entrance exams, attending cram schools until late in the evening virtually every day of the week. This is routinely called ‘examination hell.’ Year after year, students subject themselves to such a pressure-filled, grueling sched- ule because they know that an elite college degree is the surest path to success. Though today’s educational system differs greatly from that of the Joseon period, what they have in common is the fact that educational attainment was the key to gaining status and power. At the beginning of the Joseon period, when Neo-Confucianism replaced Buddhism as the ruling ideology, the government undertook a reorganization of the educational system. The objective was to promote its new ideology and to assist the creation of a new social order based on Neo-Confucian principles. Mainly limited to the yangban class, education was meant to produce officials who were skilled at classical Chinese and thoroughly versed in the Confucian classics. It was not until the mid- Joseon period, when the adoption of Neo-Confucianism became com- plete, that a full educational system was established. Rather than a completely publicly funded system, there developed a dual structure of state and private schools. For the children of yangban families, the path to a high-ranking government position began at the local seodang (village schools), the equivalent of a primary school. Students who continued their education then enrolled at either a hyanggyo or a seowon in the provinces. Hyanggyo were schools established by the government; seowon were private Confucian academies that were established by provincial Neo-Confucian scholars called sarim and local yangban elites. After com- pleting their studies at a hyanggyo or seowon, students then went to the capital to study in one of two government-run institutions. Most enrolled in one of the Sahak (literally, ‘the four schools’) that were located in <UN> <UN> 198 jang dong-pyo eastern, western, southern, and central districts of Seoul. The most prom- ising students entered the Seonggyungwan, the highest educational institution in the country. They finished their education when they passed the civil service examination, assuming official posts in the government. This chapter provides an overview of the three main provincial schools in the Joseon period: the seodang, the hyanggyo, and the seowon. It examines their organization and curriculum and discusses how private schools gradually came to play a larger role in education than state schools. Seodang: The Primary Schools of the Joseon Period Some scholars claim that the origins of the seodang can be traced back several centuries to the Goguryeo kingdom where there were schools called gyeongdang, but this has not been proven definitively. In the Joseon period, they began to spread throughout the country during the reign of Jungjong (r. 1506–1544). Their growth was the result of the community compact movement led by the sarim faction and of structural changes in rural society at the time. Seodang were preparatory schools for students whose ambition was to obtain an official post. They entered the school at age seven or eight and finished their studies at age fifteen or sixteen. They were built in villages by commoners and yangban families in the prov- inces. Families belonging to a rotating credit association (gye) jointly con- tributed the funds for its operation. In contrast to hyanggyo and seowon, the types of seodang varied accord- ing to the region and the period. First, there was the sasuk or dokseodang. Established by powerful families, they employed a teacher and provided all the funds for their operation. Second, another type of seodang was the donggye seodang, schools built to educate the children of a specific clan. A yangban or wealthy family would raise money for a school by forming a local credit union or devoting a portion of their harvest to it. The school building was also used for other purposes such as family or clan meetings. Teachers were selected among educated village elders and itinerant intel- lectuals who taught for a living. The parents of students did not pay tuition, but they compensated teachers in other ways, providing them rice, fire- wood, and clothing as salary. When their children graduated, they held a simple celebration for the teacher called a chaekgeori. They also prepared special seasonal delicacies for the teacher to eat. When the summer study session called hagwa began, each household paid a separate fee. Third, <UN> <UN>.