The Increase of Educational Opportunity in Korea
under the Japanese Occupation: For Whom the Bell
Told? 1)
Seung-CheolOh
Chongju National University of Education
Ki-Seok Kim
Department of Education, Seoul National University
On October 11 th, 1995, the minister of governmental
administration, Japan, Dakami Eto tried to justify the Japanese
occupation of Korea by saying, " Japan did do some good things
for Korea during the Japanese occupation, like building about
5000 schools". This is just one of the string of insistences that
have been made frequently by the extreme-right Japanese
politicians in Japan after the Independence of Korea in 1945 and
is an example of the insistence that Japan's occupation had
contributed to the modernization of Korea. And what makes his
assertion distinct is the only fact that he used to support it was
a specific reference to education, more specifically, the increase.
of educational opportunity.
This paper takes a close look at the reality and characteristics
of the increase of educational opportunity in Korea under the
Japanese occupation. To be more specific, we will ascertain the
size and the agency that lead elementary school expansion
under the Japanese occupation. Through this, we will reexamine
the arguments for the justification of occupation, of which Etc's
comment is but an example. We will also raise a few issues and
questions related to the so-called "Colonial Modernization
Theory".
1) This paper was presented at the Korean-American Symposium on Korean
Colonialism and Socio-Cultural Formation: In Search for a New Perspectives,
held at the University of California- Berkeley on October 12-14, 1997.
84 THE SNU JOURNAL OF EDUCATION RESEARCH
I. The Size and Characteristics of Educational Growth
The consequences of Japanese colonial education can be
summed up by the following educational statistics complied by
the Japanese themselves, a year before the Korean
Independence.
Table 1 clearly shows that 86% of the whole Korean
population never went to any school whatsoever. Among the 14
% of the schooled Koreans, hardly any went on to secondary
schools. And Less than 1% went to secondary schools and over.
-The case of Korean women was worse than men. 95% of the
female population never attended any schools. Severe
restrictions on educational opportunities under Japanese
occupation had brought about a vast majority of illiterates
throughout Korea. Although deprived of educational opportunity
by the colonial policy for 35 years, Korean people insistently
counteracted obscurant policies throughout the colonial period.
Also, we are going to address by whom and how the increase in
the elementary school opportunities were made.
After taking over Korea by force in 1910, the Japanese
promulgated "The Korean Education Ordinance" in 1911. An
Table l. The Composition of Korean Population by Levels of Education
(As of May 1944) Unit: person (Percentages)
Levels of Schools Male Female Total (%)
University 7,272 102 7,374(0.03)
College 18,555 3,509 22,064 (0.1)
Secondary 162,111 37,531 199,642 (0.8)
E1ementary* 40,702 9,240 49,942 (0.2)
Elementary** 1.281,490 355,552 1,637,043 (7.2)
Elementary Drop-outs 190,250 64,555 254,805 (1.1)
Convenient Schools 864,308 115,814 980,122 (4.3)
No Attendance 8,430,940 11,211,835 19,642,755(86.2)
Total 10,995,628 11,798,138 22,793,766(99.9)
Sources: 1944 Census Report
Table Note: * Elementary Upper-Level; **) Elementary-Lower Level
THE INCREASE OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN KOREA- 85
educational system was made consisting of school lader from the
elementary level to the higher level. But neither normal schools
nor universities were established in Korea; what is worse: the
term of each grade was much shorter than that of Japanese
schools either in Japan or in Korea. After the March First
Movement demanding independence manifested itself in 1919,
the Japanese seemed to equalize the colonial education system
of Korea with the Japanese public school system at home. Due
to this shtftnfthetr polices, the two education systems became
equal in appearance. In accordance with the amendment of the
Korean Education Ordinance, the names of all the educational
institutions at every level were homogenized with those in Japan
and the number of Korean-Japanese integrated schools were
increased. And from the 1920's, the Government-General
launched some reforms to increase the number of elementary
schools. Because of these reforms, the elementary education
started to grow steadily. Following this growth, the number of
middle and high schools slowly increased after the 1930's.
The trend of the increase at each level during the occupation
is shown in Table 2.
During the occupation, a modern educational system
composed of elementary, secondary, and higher education was
established, and quite a few number of modern schools were
opened. In 30 years from 1912 to 1942, the number of
elementary schools increased from 300 to 3000, about ten times
the earlier number; middle schools, from 64 to 400, six times
the earlier number; high schools, from 2 to 20 ten times their
earlier number. It might safe to say that if we take into account
not only the elementary and secondary schools but the Simple
Schools(MJlJ'~~4x) which were 2 or 3 years elementary schools,
the number of the education institutions under the Japanese
rule was at most 5,000.
On the basis of these numbers, however, we can not conclude
that educational opportunities increased and the 'modernization'
of the education system was achieved durtng the occupation. We
must look closely at the next few points that are hidden behind
the 'fact' that 5,000 schools existed. Was it the Japanese that
first introduced the modern education system into Korea? But
even before the domination, the Korean Empire government had
already established a public education system . .The Korean
86 THE SNU JOURNAL OF EDUCATION RESEARCH
Table 2. Schools by Level and Foundation: 1912-1942
primary education secondary educationhighereducation private
year school sodang
total publicprivate total publicprivate total publicprivate
1912 343 343 0 64 63 1 2 2 0 1,323 18,238
1913 368 368 0 92 91 1 2 2 0 1,285 20,268
1914 404 384 20 99 94 5 2 2 0 1,214 21,358
1915 429 412 17 107 102 5 2 2 0 1,090 23,441
1916 447 428 19 121 114 7 5 5 0 973 25,486
1917 461 437 24 127 118 9 7 5 2 827 24,294
1918 507 471 36 130 119 11 7 5 2 780 23,369
1919 570 537 33 131 119 12 7 5 2 698 24,030
1920 681 643 38 115 99 16 7 5 2 661 25,482
1921 794 758 36 110 93 17 7 5 2 625 24,193
1922 947 903 44 111 96 15 8 5 3 653 21,057
1923 1,099 1,043 56 134 118 16 8 5 3 637 19,613
1924 1,141 1,090 51 138 122 16 9 6 3 645 18,510
1925 1,254 1,189 65 145 127 18 10 6 4 615 16,873
1926 1,342 1,266 76 160 138 22 11 6 5 600 16,089
1927 1,425 1,345 80 182 159 23 11 6 5 566 15,069
1928 1,510 1,430 80 200 176 24 11 6 5 549 14,957
1929 1,589 1,507 82 205 181 24 12 6 6 528 11,469
1930 1,727 1,646 81 214 188 26 14 6 8 513 10,036
1931 1,861 1,781 80 221 193 28 14 6 8 497 9,208
1932 1,978 1,898 80 230 200 30 14 6 8 471 8,630
1933 2,105 2,022 83 234 203 31 16 8 8 457 7,529
1934 2,221 2,135 86 234 202 32 16 8 8 430 6,807
1935 2,363 2,276 87 251 217 34 16 8 8 412 6,209
1936 2,504 2,419 85 277 237 40 16 8 8 394 5,944
1937 2,601 2,509 92 297 255 42 16 8 8 393 5,681
1938 2,707 2,607 100 317 273 44 16 8 8 357 5,293
1939 2,853 2,736 117 339 298 41 19 9 10 335 4,686
1940 2,995 2,861 134 360 309 51 19 9 10 300 4,105
1941 3,129 2,984 145 378 322 56 20 10 10 284 3,504
1942 3,263 3,122 141 400 336 64 21 10 11 252 3,052
- Chosen Sotokufu, Tokei nenpo (Keijo: 1932.1933.1938.1942)
- primary education: ordinary school only for Koreans/secondary education:
secondary academic school, normal school, vocational schooL/higher
education: university, specialized college
- private school: elementary or middle private school which was organized by
Koreans or missionaries and out of colonial educational system/sodang :
traditional elementary school for Koreans
THE INCREASE OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN KOREA- 87
Empire had built a Western-style modern education system by
expanding educational opportunities, compiling history books
and training teachers, forming education systems composed of
elementary, middle, and high schools as its main structure and
promoted the modern educational reforms through the "Kabo
Education Reform" in 1894. Along with this education reform led
by the central government, passions and efforts toward building
modern education in every town were already blooming in Korea,
led by reform-mineclcivilian leaders even before the coming of
the Japanese invasion around 1905. In the early 1900's, beside
the private schools founded by the Christian missionaries, there
were more than 1,000 schools founded and run voluntarily by
Koreans. The Korean experience is quite different from Taiwan
which also underwent a colonial occupation by Japan. The
colonial education system and growth of educational
opportunities during the period of occupation have occurred
based on the denial of the spontaneous efforts for modern
education made by Koreans. We must thus deny the insistence
that the modern education system was newly initiated into
Korea by the Japanese empire.
Second, The question must be raised, "How many Koreans
were really allowed to attend the modern schools?". To address
this, we must examine closely some of the key educational
statistics, like school enrollment rate by nationality, and take a
look at the estimated number of students per 10,000
inhabitants each year rather than the absolute number of.
students. Table 3 and Figure I, 2, & 3 will reveal the reality of
colonial education.
To start with, the opportunity for Koreans to attend middle
and high schools were severly restricted. In 1942, only 34 out of
10,000 Koreans were allowed to attend middle school but the
number of Japanese was almost 520 out of 10,000. In the case
of high school, the number of Koreans was only 2 out of 10,000
while the number of Japanese was 46 out of 10,000. Although
the absolute number of students did in fact increase, in reality,
the opportunity of higher education for Koreans was almost
completely oppressed. In short, although the number of middle
and high schools increased during the period of Japanese
domination, opportunities to attend those schools were provided
exclusively to the Japanese living in Korea. To sum up, part of
88 THE SNU JOURNAL OF EDUCATION RESEARCH
Table 3. Students by Level andEthnicity: 1912-1942
primary education secondary education higher education
Classif
-ication Korean Japanese Korean Japanese Korean Japanese
1912 41,509( 28.5) 21.882( 897.8) 2.597( 1.8) 1,572( 64.5) 67(0,0) 15( 0.6)
1913 47,451( 31.3) 24,915( 917.4) 3.136( 2.1) 1,918( 70.6) 113(0.1) 28( 1.0)
1914 53,019( 33.9) 28, 173( 967.4) 3.762( 2.4) 2,195( 75.4) 143(0.1) 35( 1.2)
1915 60,690( 38.0) 31,256(1029.3) 4,440( 2.8) 2,678( 88.2) 141(0.1) 13( 0.4)
1916 67.628( 41.5) 34,100(1062.5) 5,372( 3.3) 3.270(101.9) 464(0.3) 74( 2.3)
1917 75,688( 45.5) 36,183(1088.4) 6,106( 3.7) 3,833(115.3) 559(0.3) 125( 3.8)
1918 80,113( 48.0) 38,447(1141.3) 6.535( 3.9) 4,290(127.3) 567(0.3) 187( 5.6)
1919 80,632( 48.0) 41,447(1195.8) 5,064( 3.0) 4,920(141.9) 392(0.2) 256( 7.4)
• 1920 107.365( 63.5) 44,007(1265.1) 6.507( 3.8) 5.862(168.5) 454(0.3) 250( 7.2)
1921 159.361( 93.4) 47,279(1286.1) 9.826( 5.8) 6.790(184.7) 532(0.3) 362( 9.8)
1922 238,058(138.3) 50,322(1302.0) 12,411( 7.2) 8,394(217.2) 806(0.5) 468(12.1)
1923 306.358(175.6) 52.686(1307.3) 15,557( 8.9) 10,189(252.8) 890(0.5) 566(14.0)
1924 374.347(212.5) 56.478(1372.2) 19,169(10.9) 12,650(307.3) 1,080(0.6) 785(19.1)
1925 407,541[219.8) 56,105(1320.9) 20,427(11.0) 13,949(328.4) 1,144(0.6) 921(21.7)
1926 441,872(237.4) 56,987(1288.3) 23,004(12.4) 15,354(347.1) 1,347(0.7) 1.024(23.2)
1927 453,943(243.6) 59.091(1299.0) 25.727(13.8) 16,402(360.6) 1,338(0.7) 1.144(25.1)
1928 465,314(249.3) 62,130(1324.6) 28,184(15.1) 16,998(362.4) 1,434(0.8) 1,276(27.2)
1929 474.117(252.4) 64.963(1329.9) 29.105(15.5) 17.662(361.6) 1,564(0.8) 1,553{31.8)
1930 492,613{250.2) 68,253(1360.0) 30,341[15.4) 18.708(372.8) 1,710(0.9) 1.767(35.2)
1931 502,107(254.7) 71.925(1397.5) 31,872(16.2) 19,416{377.3) 1,854(0.9) 1,823{35.4)
1932 517,091(258.1) 76.052(1452.9) 32,828(16.4) 20,215(386.2) 2,056(1.0) 1,954(37.3)
1933 564.901(279.6) 79.397(1461.9) 34,312(17.0) 21,414(394.3) 2,345(1.2) 2,365(43.5)
1934 640,140(312.1) 81.523(1452.2) 36,719(17.9) 22,172(395.0) 2,502(1.2) 2,410(42.9)
1935 720,757(339.2) 84.395(1446.5) 39,238(18.5) 23,300(399.4) 3,044(1.4) 2,441(41.8)
1936 802,976(375.7) 86,775(1424.9) 42,748(20.0) 24,864(408.3) 2,834(1.3) 2,406(39.5)
1937 901,182(415.6) 89,811(1426.7) 45,583(21.0\ 27.202(432.1) 2,847(1.3) 2,382(37.8)
1938 1,050.371[478.5) 92,991[1468.3) 51,420(23.4) 29,353(463.5) 2.980(1.4) 2,408(38.0)
1939 1,215,340(550.0) 96,156(1479.1\ 57,555(26.0\ 31,564(485.5\ 3,443(1.6\ 2,572(39.6)
1940 1,385,944(603.8) 97,794(1417.7) 68,281(29.7) 33,075(479.5) 3,865(1.7) 2,766(40.1)
1941 1,571,990(657.4) 99,316(1385.1) 76,031(31.8) 35,328(492.7) 4,166(1.7) 3,124(43.6)
1942 1,779,661(697.2) 103,831(1379.2) 86,110(33.7) 39,147(520.0) 4,505(1.8) 3.502(46.5)
- Chosen SOtokufu, 10kei nenp» (Keijo: 1932·1933·1938·1942)
- primary education: ordinary school only for Koreans/secondary education: secondary
academic school, normal school, vocational [Link] education: university, specialized
college
- ( ) : number of students per 10.000 inhabitants
THE INCREASE OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN KOREA- 89
1600r----------------,
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
o ••••••••. /
1912 1917 1922 1927 1932 1937 1942
• Korean D Japanese
Figure 1. Number of Students in Primary Education Institutes per
10,000 Inhabitants: 1912-1942
600r-----------------,
500
400
300
200
• Korean D Japanese
Figure 2. Number of Students in Secondary Education Institutes per
10,000 Inhabitants: 1912-1942
the secondary education (middle and high schools) of the so
called modern education system, which was supposed to
encompass the three levels of schools, was just a nominal entity
of little benefits to Koreans.
What about elementary education? Of course there still was a
positive difference between Korean and Japanese when it came
to accessability to elementary education. In the case of
elementary education, however, there was indeed rapid
90 THE SNU JOURNAL OF EDUCATION RESEARCH
50,.---------- ----------,
45
.40
35
30
2S
20
15
10
o~:;+~-~~~~~~~~~~
1912 1917 1922 1927 1932 1937 1942
• Korean D Japanese
Figure 3. Number of Students in Higher Education Institutes per
10,000 Inhabitants :1912-1942
70.,-----------------,
60
• Korean D Korean male .... Korean female
Figure 4. Primary School Enrollment Rate for Koreans: 1912-1942
expansion of educational opportunity during the period of
Japanese occupation. The following Figure 4 shows the change
of the estimated elementary enrollment rate of Koreans. In the
1910's it started below 10% but began to grow after the 1920's.
Here we can clearly see that around 1920 was the diverging
point of elementary education growth. Timing is crucial. This
shows that the March First Movement' in 1919 had a critical
impact upon the sudden expansion in the elementary education,
and that the Korean's attitudes and expectations toward modern
THE INCREASE OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN KOREA- 91
schools had dramatically changed around this time. The
increase can be seen in the early 1920's but slowed down in the
early 1930's. But after the mid 1930's, we can see another
dramatic increase. In 1942, the enrollment rate was close to
50%. If we look at gender difference, we find out that the
enrollment rate for male was much higher, reaching almost 70%
in 1942.
Let us take up a third question at this moment. What course
did theelementary education growth take? Was it really a so-
called 'gift' from the Japanese imperialists?
II. The Driving Forces for Elementary School Expansion
It is easy to think that the Japanese Imperialists led the
growth of elementary education after the 1920's. But it isn't that
simple. We must consider another important factor. And that is
the Koreans' long cherished and strong enthusiasm for
education.
In 1910, when the Japanese so-called 'military rule' began,
most Koreans strongly resisted going to the elementary schools
imposed by the Japanese. Instead Koreans enrolled in the
traditional education institutions called 'Sodang(ii=:!it),. But after
the March First Movement, Koreans' attitudes and aspirations
toward modern education changed. After a while, the number of
applicants exceeded the number of slots in elementary schools.
and the problem of chronic lack of educational opportunities
were brought about. The Japanese blockade policy of
educational opportunity provoked Koreans' strong oppositions.
After the 1920's Koreans made a public issue of the lack of
elementary education and showed anti-social movement, like
criticizing the Government-General and the Japanese
Imperialists domination policy. Koreans rose, without respect to
differences in class backgrounds, political beliefs, and
ideological orientations, and took stand as one people, at least in
criticizing the education policies. The issue of "discrimination in
educational opportunities" is one of the most critical pieces of
evidence that makes the so-called 'Ilsidongin(-ff~[P]1=), policy,
which was just a pretext to justify Japanese domination, and
has made Koreans look at Japanese presence even more
92 THE SNU JOURNAL OF EDUCATION RESEARCH
suspiciously. Educational issues became one of the most
frequent subjects for Korean political criticism against the
Japanese rule. As a result, the Japanese had to make a
concession one way or another to the Korean people who
demanded an increase in educational opportunity. The string of
educational growth policies after the 1920's, were in reality
hesitant Japanese's political concessions to Koreans, coming
from the political and economical contradictions of the Japanese
occupation. That is, the Japanese partially accepted Koreans'
demands for more educational opportunities but severly limited
their concession to the level of elementary education.
Koreans went one more step and organized "the people's
movements" to build elementary schools. They raised funds for
school buildings and extended schooling ages. The introduction
of the elementary education expanSion policy of the
Government-General was drawn by these aggressive education
movements led by Koreans. The point is the growth policy was
carried out "from below" as a Japanese response to a Korean
grass-roofs movement for educational opportunities rather than
"from above" having the Government-General as the head.
Moreover, the funds for building the schools were not all from
the national treasure or district funds, but most were from the
private funds raised by Koreans. And the monies were raised
voluntarily through Korean collective movements.
If Koreans did contribute to the school funds, just how much
of the funds for building schools did the peoples' funds have to
burden? After the 1920's, Koreans' voluntary took up 40% of the
building costs of provincial schools. The rest was from neither
from financial aid from Japan nor the Government-General's
treasure but from Korean taxes. The money to financially run
the school was also from the Korean students' tuition and a tax-
like "School Fee(f5(Jt)" burdened on Koreans. The so-called
modern public school system was not a free school system nor a
compulsory one. In short, as shown in Table 4, Koreans'
financial burden is what made the elementary education
expansion financially possible.
As we have just seen, after the 1920's Koreans have made
great efforts to increase the opportunities of education, but the
Japanese restricted the demands only to the elementary level of
education. And the reason elementary education could in part
THE INCREASE OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN KOREA- 93
Table 4. Local Education Finance of Public Ordianry School
Construction: 1924-1938
(unitewon)
expenditure endowment percents of
year
for school construction of Koreans endowment(%)
1924 3,251,885 1,179,063 36.2
1926 2,427,976 928,198 38.2
1928 2,031,403 941,407 46.3
1929 1,949,350 754,873 38.7
1930 1,582,184 751,238 47.4
1931 1,441,766 574,807 39.8
1932 1,491,574 511,673 34.3
1933 1,262,408 503,672 39.8
1934 1,607,350 758,342 47.1
1935 2,137,496 927,160 43.3
1936 2,521,298 1,161,990 46.0
1937 4,697,902 2,170,684 46.2
1938 6,371,674 2,497,160 39.1
24-38 32,774,266 13,660,267 41.6
- Chosen Sotokufu Naimukyoku, Chosen. chihOjaisei !i>ran(Keijo: 1924-
1938)
grow, even in the highly strict condition of colonial domination,
was because there were persistent effort made by the Koreans.
In short, elementary education opportunities which were the
only (if not restricted) ones allowed to expand, and they were
indeed an outcome of the progressive movement for the
expansion of educational opportunity led by Koreans.
III. For Whom the Bell Told?
It is clear that Koreans are the main drive of the growth of
elementary education. It is a fact that the Japanese did not
block the growth of elementary education entirely but partially
accepted it. Anyway, the growth of elementary education was
realized trough the mediation of a string of growth policies
carried out by the Japanese. Specifically speaking, although
there were Koreans voluntary contributions in the school
building costs, there were also aid given under the decision of
94 THE SNU JOURNAL OF EDUCATION RESEARCH
the Government-General. In short, two different kinds of 'money
with two different kinds of purpose" worked together and
contributed to the building and growth of elementary schools in
Korea. Metaphorically speaking, the elementary school was like
'dreaming different dreams in the same bed for both Koreans
and Japanese. To the Japanese, the elementary school was
supposed to breed Koreans into "royal subjects of the Empire"
and become the means for indoctrination to colonial ideologies
that would make the domination permanent. But it was different
for the Koreans. Elementary school was probably regarded as
feasible means for modern education where Koreans could get
some modern skills and knowledge. It was not, of course, the
best choice for Koreans, but it was the second best choice, for
the purpose of obtaining some sort of modern education.
Then, whose intension was successful? How should the
apparent expansion of elementary education during Japanese
occupation be evaluated? Let us lay two extreme answers. First,
through the growth of elementary education, the ideological
reproduction of the Japanese domination became more stable.
But then, were the Koreans only dolls being easily controled by
the Japanese? Rather than saying the Japanese successfully
assimilated Koreans through colonial education, we could make
a claim that educated Koreans grew to feel more fierce anti-
Japanese nationalism. Then contrary to the first answer, did the
growth of elementary education do any good for Koreans' either
nationally or Indlvtdually? For example, if Koreans hoped to
catch any chance to move up in society or to acquire political
and cultural advantages through elementary school, it is hard to
say that they had succeeded. And it is possible that the
elementary education during the domination period was not a
place where one purpose was one-sidedly carried out but rather
was a contested, contradictory terrain. we could say that the
elementary education under the Japanese rule was a "double
edged sword".
Then for whom did the bell toll? For now it is not easy to
answer that question. We need to find out the answers to the
following questions: What did elementary education during the
Japanese occupation period mean to Koreans? What kind of
education was going on at the black-box of the elementary
school? What kind of personality was shaped through colonial
THE INCREASE OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN KOREA- 95
elementary schools? And what was the real social function of the
elementary school during the colonial period?
