School rituals and their educational significance in the Joseon period—Rituals as one of the pedagogical pillars of Confucian school education^*

* This article is written based on the author’s PhD thesis ‘Study on School Rituals in Joseon Period (unpublished)’ (Park, 2003), Seoul National University Graduate School.

Abstract

This paper aims to argue that school rituals played critical roles for the educational purpose in Confucian school education in the Joseon period. Diverse rituals were performed in Confucian schools of the Joseon period, and these rituals formed a comprehensive ritual system of the school education. These school rituals can be read to manifest the ideals of Confucian philosophy of education and to be also utilized as one of the important educational tools or programs through which to hand down the Confucian values. Based on this interpretation, this paper asserts that school rituals were in no way irrelevant to their educational function for the society then nor that they served only for the political edification, but constituted part of a comprehensive system of education in pursuit of the formation of the Confucian personhood as one of the important pillars of Confucian school education in the Joseon period.

Keywords:

• School ritual
• Confucian school education
• Joseon period
• ritual system
• Confucian value
• Confucian personhood

Notes

* This article is written based on the author’s PhD thesis ‘Study on School Rituals in Joseon Period (unpublished)’ (Park, 2003), Seoul National University Graduate School.

1. This argument raises an issue that should be verified in this article. The issue is ‘whether the school rituals in the Joseon period are of the same kind as the ceremonial events in modern schools’. The basic opinion of this article is that although the two are relevant at a glance, the modern ceremonial events are not comparable to the school rituals in Joseon period given their educational nature or the status as education activities. I will discuss this issue again later in the conclusion.

2. There were 16 cases where Sihangnye was performed as ‘Hoenggyeongmunnan and 34 cases where it was replaced as an examination “Alseongsi”’ (Park, 2003, pp. 138, 139).

3. Yeongjo sillok (The Annals of Yeongjo) (March 28th, of the 19th year of Yeongjo’s reign) shows that there was 3 times of learning in Daesarye.