조선시대 서원 교육정책에 관한 연구

Abstract

Joseon Dynasty(1392 - 1910) was based on Neo-Confucianism and focused on cultivating talent and edification. So the government established educational institutions especially like those of Sungkyunkwan, Sahak and Hyanggyo. But over time, management of national schools became weak, and private schools, Seowon, appeared in the mid 16th century. Administrative and educational policy towards private schools, Seowon in Joseon Dynasty is studied in this paper. Among the early Seowon the most famous was the Baegundong Seowon established by Chu Se-Bung, in 1543. Subsequently Yi Hwang(the foremost Korean Confucianist philosopher of his age) persuaded the king to bestow a hanging board on this Seowon “academy of received learning”(Sosu Seowon). Sosu Seowon was the first of the so-called royally charted private academies. Seowon sprang up everywhere by the end of King Seonjo's reign. The number of royally charted Seowon also increased at the same time. In the early days the government took an affirmative and supportive attitude in establishing private schools bestowing on them books, lands and slaves. But because too many private schools were built, many abuses emerged in the 17th century to avoid military duty and reduction of tax. So In the mid 17th century, the government policy changed from support to regulation and then Seowon could only be founded by government grant. In the mid 18th century, unauthorized Seowon were abolished by the government. By this time hundreds of Seowon possessed large agricultural estates and slaves to work them, and they enjoyed the special privilege of corvee labor and exemption from taxation. As Seowon were ravaging the economic foundation of the state in 1868, Daeweongun(the King Gogong's father) ordered that taxes be levied on Seowons, and finally, in 1871, he carried out a drastic reduction in their number, closing all but a scattered forty-seven.