|
Have you ever heard of Sung-Kyun-Kwan?
Sung-kyun-kwan was the highest educational institution and it was
established in Joseon Dynasty. The reason that I am telling you about
Sung-Kyun-Kwan is that I visited it and learned lots of things about it.
Sung-Kyun-Kwan was a place to study for the students who want to
guarantee a high rank in the past. Now a day, highschool students take a test called "수능", before entering the university. It is almost the same
as the students who take the first test to Sung-Kyun-Kwan.
Joseon Dynasty took confucianism as a political ideology.
The two famous scholars who believed in confucianism were Yi-Whang
and Yi-i. Yi-Whang systemized Korean Neo-confucianism and Yi-i
proposed various reforms. He was also known as the son of Sin-Sa-Im-Dang, a famous writer in 16th century. Next, students who studied in Sung-Kyun-Kwan, also known as Yangban, took a test every year.
The test was called the civil official exam. The people who pass the first exam were called Gap-Gwa.
The first prize was called 장원급제. The second and third were called 방안급제. The next seven were called Eol-Gwa or 탐화급제, and the rest were called Beong-Gwa or 급제.
I think passing the civil official exam and guaranteeing a high rank is a very hard thing. However If I were a person in Joseon Dynasty, I could take the exam and get the 1st prize. I will enter the famous university such as Oxford and study hard! |
