조선시대 식년문과의 성격 변화

Abstract

Reorganizing the literary examination system of the Goryeo Dynasty, the Joseon Dynasty instituted its peculiar regular civil service examination that incorporated both the oral and writing test at the beginning of the dynasty. By the reign of King Sukjong, however, the civil service examination was divided into myeonggyeonggwa, the oral test, and jesulgwa, the composition test. At the same time, the regular exam became regarded as myeonggyeonggwa and devalued. This study examines such changes in the characteristics of regular civil service examination. The second stage of the regular civil service exam was evaluated by adding up the scores of all three rounds. But only by passing the oral test of the first round could one proceed to the second and third round composition tests. The oral test of the first round served as a qualifying exam. Since the reign of King Jungjong, as the number of passers for the first round oral test decreased to 30-40 people, passing the oral test itself led directly to success in the examination. Furthermore, there appeared a practice where those with superior grades on the oral test were accepted regardless of their scores on the composition test. By the late era of King Injo, the number of high scorers in the oral test had increased. Accordingly, most passers of the regular civil service examination were filled with those high scorers in the oral test. And by the reign of King Sukjong, the practice of selecting 31 to 32 candidates through the oral test and only the rest - 1 to 2 - through the written test was settled. As a result, the regular examination was largely considered myeonggyeonggwa, and the civil service exam was divided into myeonggyeonggwa and jesulgwa. As the candidates preferred jesulgwa to myeonggyeonggwa, the regular civil service examination status diminished over time. In the reign of King Youngjo and Jeongjo, the issue of educating students in literary composition with oral test skills was one of the pending issues in their education policies.