한국 초기 기독교학교의 쇠퇴에 관한 연구 - 장로교계통의 소학교를 중심으로 -

Abstract

Although the first Christian schools were established by missionaries from North America, Korean churches began to establish many Christian schools after the 1890's. In 1909, the number of Christian elementary schools established by Presbyterian churches in Korea was 694. Dr. Nak-Jun Baik has called it the “educational renaissance.”However, the number of Christian schools began to decrease gradually from right after 1909. The purpose of this study is to look into the phenomenon of the decrease of Christian schools, to analyze its reasons, to understand the role of Korean churches in its process, and to gain insights for today's Korean churches and Christian schools from these historical facts. For this purpose, the study analyzes all the annual reports of the Presbytery and the Assembly of Presbyterian Churches in Korea during 1907-1915, and other historical documents. According to this study, the number of Christian schools, which had been 694 as of 1909, had decreased to 477 by 1915. The reason for this decrease can be explained as follows. First, Christian schools were closed due to financial problems. Second, the government of Japan in Korea oppressed Christian schools through various laws, including the law regarding private schools. Third, public schools rapidly increased in number during that time. Although Korean churches tried to support Christian schools by establishing Hakmukook in each presbytery and to resist the government of Japan in Korea, they could not turn the tendency of decrease of Christian schools. Korean churches and Christian schools must gain insights from this history in order to overcome the crisis of Christian schools in the future.