Education in the Joseon Dynasty

Education in the Joseon Dynasty of Korea was largely aimed at preparing students for government service. The ultimate goal of most students was successful passage of the state examinations, known as "gwageo".

Educational institutions were extremely widespread in the country, and can be divided into public and private. The highest public institution was the Seonggyungwan, located in Seoul. Below this were the "Sahak", four schools providing technical training, and the "hyanggyo", schools supported by each of the Eight Provinces. ref|nahm-1 The "hyanggyo" soon fell into neglect, and for most of the Joseon period education was dominated by the private schools, "seowon" and "seodang".

Civil service examinations

The civil service examinations, known as "gwageo", assessed subject's ability to interpret the Chinese classics, in terms of official Neo-Confucian ideology. Only those who came from high-ranking families were permitted to take the test. The gwageo were divided into civil and military sections, with the military section being open to people of relatively lower rank. The gwageo system had been set up in the Goryeo dynasty, but reached its peak in the Joseon period.

tate-supported education

eonggyungwan

The Seonggyungwan was the highest educational institution in Joseon, and attracted scholars from across the country. It was based on the Goryeo-period Gukjagam.

Confucian curriculum

The Korean Confucian curriculum was grounded the Chinese educational system which had 15 or so primary works, and a large number of exegetical works, along with graded exams that were on set topics. All of these works were written in Chinese, the written language of Joseon. A common introductory textbook was the Lesser Learning, an exegetical work by Zhu Xi.

Footnotes

# Nahm (1996), p. 110.

References

*cite book | author= Nahm, Andrew C. | title=Korea: A history of the Korean people (2nd ed.) | location=Seoul | publisher=Hollym | year=1996 | id=ISBN 1-56591-070-2

ee also

* History of Korea
* Education in Korea
* Education in South Korea
* List of Korea-related topics