The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-06-29
KOREA AT SCHOOL
By FRANK G. CARPENTER

SOI1OC thC pd1dSC 4 L LIZ CdpdlC0S
have given him. They state hat his
little highness sleeps in a European
bed in a room. kept warm by an cleo
trio stove. His palace is furnished
throughout in foreign style, and he
has riding horses and all sorts Of gym
nastic appliances, from punching
bags to parallel bars. His palace is
guarded by eighteen foot soldiers and
ten court policemen, n when he goes
out he has an escort. His instructors.
are selected from high-class Japanese
professors. The mikado himself is
lnterestd in him, and altogether the
japanese are trying to make of him
a man as we'll as a
kOrea's New Schools.
When the boy becomes Emperor of
Korea he will have a new nation to
govern. The people are just Begin
ming to appreciate our civilization.
Their almOn eyes are opening to the
needs of modern education, n
schools are being started in all the
cities. Those Of the missions. which
have been in existence for years, are
O~VercrOWded, and the new ones Of the
japanese government nave more thar
they can do. There are several thous-
and boys and as many girls now in at
tendance at the public schools of
Seoul. They all wear uniforms, and
night and morning the streets are fill
/ ed with boys wearing caps and gowns,
and barefaced and bareheaded girls
with books in their hands. Each boy
has a little brass badge OF his cap
which marks the school to which he
belongs. All the boys have their
hair cut short, instead of wearing it
long braidS down their backs, as was
the Die Korean custom, and the girls
wear no wells, which is quite con-
trary to the ideas of the older Ko-
reanS.
The government school buildings
are much like those of Japan. They
are equipped with furniture like ours,
and each has its gymnasium. There is
a Japanese academy where young men
are taught Korean in order that they
may act as advisors to the native Of
fcials.
Our mission schools are scattered
over Korea. There are. all told.
four hundred and fifty primary graded
schools. which are supported by the
Koreans themselves. and eleven inter
mediate schools and academies. The
primary schools had ten thousand pu-
pills last year, and at that time there
were nine high schools for young wo-
men with five hundred Students. There
are also industrial schools and schools
for the blind.
The Y. NJ. c. A. is doing a great
educational work here in Seoul. and
one of the finest of the new buildings,
which is now going up, is a Korean
college being built by Korean money
and backed by Koreans. The natives
realize that the Japanese are now
brighter than they are, and they feel
that their success comes from the uew
education In the past the Chinese
classics were the only standards of
scholarship. Today our modern stud
les have taken the place of classics,
and all Korea is studying the multi
pliCatiOn able.
R.--se
Just now there is some excitement
among the missionaries on account of
an imperial edict which provides that
all private schools shall be under gov
direction. The authorities re
quire full Information as to the names
and character of the teachers,an also
as to the receipts and expenditures.
All pooks have to be passed upon by
the educational department, and the
4 teaching must be as the government
directs. This seems rather severe, and
it causes unfavorable comment.
"A Literary Awakening.
The Koreans have always been a
literary people. Much of the old
learning of Japan came from them,
and they still hold scholarship in the
highest respect. Indeed, the commo
word here for Mr.. is ~"SchOOlman.'
The Koreans call each other School
man PAX. SchoOlman Ye or School
man Kim, instead of Mr.. PAX. Mr.. We
or Mr.. Kim. In the past the better
classes of the people nave been well
up in Chinese, and have seen picnic
parties Of young Korean gentlemen
engaged in writing Chinese poetry un-
der the trees. They would take a tex,
and try who could make the best
rhymes. Such young men are now
studying modern languages and sci
ences. They have laid aside Con
fucius and Mencius and are reading
the New Testament, which has beer
translated by the missionaries. and
also a number of other books which
are being turned into Korean. A life
of Garfield was recently published
and also the STORY of Madam Ro-
land A popular book is Bunyan's
Pilgrims Progress, which was trans.