Though formal education in the Joseon
Dynasty was limited to those who could afford it, this dynasty is famous for
the invention of the Hangul alphabet under king Sejong (1419-1450) which
revolutionized the written word in the country due to its simplicity and ease
of learning, making the Joseon Dynasty a land of near universal literacy.
The formal education system was heavily
based on the Chinese model at the time, (even using Chinese characters as the country’s
official writing system) (main subjects studied included: Chinese culture,
Chinese history, Chinese literature, geography, history, literature,
mathematics, and science) which operated both public and private schools,
(neither free, or open to girls) and focused almost entirely on the results of
end of term examinations. In fact, it was through passing very difficult
examinations (usually civil service or military) that the yangban traditionally
gained their status. Education was not free, (in fact many families saved for
years in the hope of sending their children to school) and because of this, the
poorer lower classes had a lot of trouble moving up in society, and in turn
their low status in society prevented them from being able to earn enough money
to send their children to school for the most part; creating a vicious cycle
that kept those who could not afford education down, and boosted those who
could, up.
A
Joseon classroom (reconstruction) (Awaiting A Name, 2007)
Hangul (Alphabet) on the other hand was the
alphabet of the people. Invented in 1443 under king Sejong, and widely
distributed to the public in 1446, at the time called Hunminjeongeum. (Proper
phonetic system to educate the people). This alphabet consisting of 24 basic
symbols based on the shape of the mouth when pronouncing the syllable they
represent, and was by far easier to learn than Chinese characters, which consist
of tens of thousands of symbols. In fact Hangul has been called the world’s
most logical alphabet, and is credited with being the easiest to learn. King
Sejong is credited with claiming that Hangul was so easy to learn that a fool
could learn hangul in as little as 10 days while a wise person could become
literate in it in only a few hours.
The
Periodic Table of Hangul (detailing the letters of hangul and some basic sound
combinations) (Hurk, 2011).
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