조선시대 여성교육의 분석

A Philosophical Analysis of Women's Education of the Chosŏn Dynasty

Confucianism exerted tremendous influence on all spheres of traditional Korean education. The Chosŏn dynasty rulers set out to enlighten the people through Confucian ethics in order to maintain a well-regulated state. Confucians believed that social order and norms were deeply violated by Buddists who abandoned the social world. The proper social relationship between subject and ruler was based on a rigidly hierachical family order in which the females amd younger members remain strictly obedient to the commands of the older males. The Chosŏn rulers emphasized the chastity of women in an effort to eradicate what they saw as the evils brought by Buddhism in the end of Koryŏ. Traditionally, education has been quite important in the Confucian tradition. Confucians believe that most people are born with similar abilities and political, but that through practice, people become different. Maintaining a moral character requires education and constant effort. Neo-Confucians believed that the principle of Nature could be realized but that selfish human desires and feelings could be eliminated through moral effort or education. The first step for this was the investigation of things. When things are investigated, one's knowledge will be extended, one's will be rendered sincere, one's feelings correct, and one's personal life cultivated. When this is done, one will fully develop one's nature. In this way, the intellectual and moral dimension of education was emphasized for (upper class) men's development. In contrast, Confucian education for women was generally limited to traditional feminine tasks and virtues. Unlike men, intellectual or learned women were not highly esteemed. Such a limitation of women's education resulted from Confucian, especially neo-Confucian views of women based on the doctrine of yin and yang. The absolute separation of yin from yang cannot in principle be justified since yin and yang form supposedly a harmonious whole. Nevertheless, the doctrine has given the logical grounds for the discriminate norms and rules between men and women. From the Han dynasty of China onwards, neo-Confucians emphasized filial obedience, subject's loyalty and women's chastity with an unconditional tone. The Chosŏn rulers urged women to achieve Confucian virtues by publishing the Samganghaengsil-to, Naehun, and other texts of women's education in Korean, written by fathers and grand-fathers within the family tree. The basic aim of such an education by the texts was forming basic habits of wifely virtues and indoctrinating Confucian values. The texts for women tell concrete everyday norms and rules such as "If the parents-in-law call you, answer promptly and obediently" "Married women were to obey their husbands" "Women are to be calm, faithful", etc. Numerous legal devices designed to form and socialize Confucian virtuous women. According to Naeoebŏp, a set of rigid rules concerning the distinctions of the roles of husband and wife, (upper class) women spent most of their time at home, shut off entirely from the outside world. Widows are effectively prohibited from remarrying because their offspring would be barred from becoming public officials. Monument gates for chaste women gave great honor to the whole family which were exempted from taxes, received a pension, were given rice, etc. The Chosŏn women were subject to being expelled from their home if they committed one of seven evils, originated in Confucian teachings. These social institutions resulted in the systematic control and subjugation of women during the Chosŏn dynasty. Women's education was justified by law-like assumptions based on the theory of yin-yang that assume separate function between the sexes and that social order depends on the role differentiation. The Chosŏn society excluded women from the formal educational system because women's academic learning was supposed to be improper and contrary to the way w