Yu Ok-gyeom (兪鈺兼, 1883 – 1922) was an educator, writer, and historian in the Korean Empire and the early Japanese colonial period. He worked as a teacher of history and law at Boseong School, Jungang School, Daesung School, and Hanyoung Seowon, and, feeling the lack of textbooks to be a problem, he also took part directly in editing textbooks.
From the age of 18 he began the work of compiling textbooks. Having long pondered how modern education should be applied and explained, he left works introducing Western pedagogy and teaching-learning methods. Among his works, Gangmyeong Gyoyukhak is also a theoretical treatise introduced into Korea on the qualities and virtues of teachers, methods of education, the types of Western schools, and various school administration matters. His family seat was Gigye (杞溪), and he was a native of Gyeongseong.
Life
Early life
He was the grandson of Yu Jin-su, who served as a jinsa and as Vice Minister of the Central Chūchūbu (동지중추부사), and the son of Yu Hoe-jun (兪會濬), a saengwon. His paternal uncles were the Enlightenment thinker Yu Gil-jun (兪吉濬), who was known by the pen name Gudang, and Yu Seong-jun (兪星濬), an Enlightenment thinker, jurist, and official during the Japanese colonial period. Yu Eok-gyeom, Yu Man-gyeom, and Yu Gak-gyeong were all his younger cousins.
Although he studied classical Chinese in his youth, he grew up under the influence of his two uncles and entered a new-style school. He was especially influenced by his uncle Yu Seong-jun, who published Principles of Law (法學通論), the first legal book in Korea.
Educational activities
After graduating early from a specialized school, he worked as a professor of law and history. At the age of 18 he began compiling Secondary World Geography (中等外國地理) (1900), and he completed it in 1908. In January 1908 (the 2nd year of Yunghui), together with Yun Chi-ho, Yu Gil-jun, Yi Yong-jik (李容稙), Ji Seok-yeong, Jeong Yeong-taek, Yu Seong-jun, Seok Jin-hyeong (石鎭衡), Yi Sang-jae, Yun Chi-o, Yun Chi-so, Yun Hyo-jeong (尹孝定), Jang Heon-sik (張憲植), Jeong Gyo (鄭喬) and Jang Do (張燾), Yu Geun (柳瑾), Yu Il-seon (柳一宣), and An Jong-hwa (安鍾和), he took part in founding the Gihoheunghakhoe (畿湖興學會), which was established at Boseong School. He became a member of the society and a teacher at its educational and training institutions. On June 20 of that same year, when Giho School was established, he became a teacher there and trained teachers, and he also took part in editing the Gihoheunghakhoe Bulletin. However, the Gihoheunghakhoe was dissolved in September 1910.
In December 1907 (the 1st year of Yunghui), he also taught at the Private Yunghui School (私立隆熙學校), which had been established by his uncle Yu Gil-jun. From 1909 onward, alongside his teaching, he devoted himself to textbook compilation. After the Annexation of Korea by Japan, he gave up on official service and devoted himself fully to education. He worked as a teacher of history, law, and Oriental history at Boseong School, Jungang School, Daesung School, and Hanyoung Seowon.
Feeling the need for standardized textbooks, he devoted effort to textbook compilation and, together with several scholars, wrote, compiled, and printed many textbooks. Besides history and law textbooks, he also left works on pedagogy, including teaching methods (敎授法) for instructing students. In 1909 (the 3rd year of Yunghui), he took part in organizing the Cheongnyeon Hakwoohoe, which was formed by the New People's Association, his uncle Yu Gil-jun, Ahn Chang-ho, Yun Chi-ho, and others.
Textbook compilation
Under the influence of his uncle Yu Gil-jun, he wrote textbooks in a mixed Chinese-character and Hangul style, rather than in Classical Chinese, so that students and the uneducated could understand them easily. His history textbooks include Secondary Oriental History (中等東洋史) (1908), Oriental History Textbook (東洋史敎科書) (1908), Comparative Western History Chronology (對照西洋史年表) (1909), and Western History Textbook (西洋史敎科書) (1910). His works on pedagogy and teaching methods include Gangmyeong Gyoyukhak (簡明敎育學) (1908) and Teaching Methods for Elementary Schools (小學敎授法). He also wrote Seoyu Gyeonmun-rok (西遊見聞錄), modeled on his uncle Yu Gil-jun's Seoyu Gyeonmun, Western Teaching Methods (西洋敎授法) (1909), and Selected Principles of Law (精選法學通論) (1911).
Among them, the Western History Textbook is known as the first book on Western history in Korea. This book was a textbook for teachers at private high schools, and his uncle Yu Seong-jun in particular checked and revised it. Whereas translated works at the time rendered Western personal and place names according to Chinese conventions, Yu Ok-gyeom directly consulted the Encyclopaedia Britannica and transcribed them according to British English pronunciation. This has been evaluated as part of an effort to modernize the descriptive style and format of textbooks in order to multiply their educational effect. He died of illness in 1922.
Compiled textbooks
Gangmyeong Gyoyukhak
Gangmyeong Gyoyukhak, written in 1908 (the 2nd year of Yunghui), was co-authored with Yi Pung-ho (李豊鎬) and published by Uimun-kwan (右文館) in 1908 (the 2nd year of Yunghui). Its content was basic and simple material on pedagogy and the methods teachers use for education. The work is divided into six units: General Theory, Theory of Purpose, Theory of Teaching and Learning, Theory of Discipline, Theory of Health Care, and Theory of System, each described over 32 chapters. The General Theory unit is divided into six chapters and describes the definition and significance of education, the relationship between education and heredity and environment, and the relationship and linkage methods with other disciplines such as sociology, ethics, and history. In the Theory of Purpose unit, he introduced six Western theories on the purpose of education and stressed that none of them alone is the correct answer, so one should not lean toward any single one. He emphasized that the purpose of education lies in developing human knowledge, being useful in real life, developing practical abilities, and perfecting moral life, and that these should not be skewed toward any single one. He first stressed that since the purpose of knowledge is to be usefully applied to reality, one should not be biased toward theory or any single aspect.
In particular, the Theory of Teaching and Learning analyzes young people's interests and stresses their importance, and explains how teachers select teaching materials, teaching details, and daily schedules (日課案). The Theory of Discipline stresses various disciplinary methods such as demonstration, command, advice, prohibition, reward, and punishment, and the importance of aesthetic cultivation in discipline. The Theory of Health Care covers the main means of health care, including play, gymnastics, stretching, handicrafts, safety during class, and the precautions to take during lessons, as well as the training of teachers' senses (感官).
The Theories of Teaching and Learning, Discipline, and Health Care comprehensively address methods of education and are methodologies for intellectual education (智育), moral education (德育), and physical education (體育). The Theory of System is divided into two subunits on the basic ideals of education. Chapter 1 covers the duties of teachers, the qualities required of educators, the character of educators, teacher qualifications, and the training of educators. Chapter 2 introduces the types and characteristics of schools in the United States, Germany, and Japan, as well as liberal education, general education, vocational education in agriculture, industry, and commerce, compulsory education, and methods of operating educational administration.
Secondary World Geography
From 1907 to 1908 he compiled Secondary World Geography (中等外國地理), a world geography textbook for middle schools, in two volumes. It is likewise written in mixed Chinese-character and Hangul style. A distinctive feature is that it contains no maps or illustrations. Its content is organized into Part 1 General Theory, Part 2 Asia, Part 3 Oceania, Part 4 Europe, Part 5 Africa, Part 6 North America, Part 7 South America, and an appendix on the Antarctic and Arctic polar regions.
The General Theory is further divided into detailed units on geography, astronomical geography, terrestrial geography, and human geography. In the General Theory, he divided geography into three subunits. Astronomical geography covered the formation process of the Earth as a celestial body created by God, the sizes, positions, and motions of each planet and their results, latitude and longitude, and so on; it was also called mathematical geography (數理地理學). Because the people of Joseon at the time still regarded the Earth as flat, they were astonished by his views.
Terrestrial geography described the distinctions and relationships among water, rocks, and soil on the Earth's surface, rivers, seas, oceans, and the distinctions and relationships among them, and it dealt with the phenomena of the Earth's interior and the structure of rocks and soil; it is also called physical geography (地文學). Human geography recognizes the Earth as the dwelling place of humankind, and it explains an overview of human history, the peoples, ethnic groups, and racial composition residing in each region and country, and the conditions of states.
From Part 2 on Asia through Part 7 on South America, regional geographies (地誌) of each country are described separately. The regional geography of each country introduces its location, racial composition, ethnic groups, coastline, terrain, climate, products, economy, politics, a brief history, transportation, trade, major cities (都府), religion, customs, and territories (領地). Meanwhile, foreign place names were unified in English phonetic transcription, and the corresponding English spellings were used alongside them. Afghanistan was recorded as 아프갠이스탄 (阿富汗以斯坦, AFGHANISTAN), and Persia as 퍼시아 (波斯, PERSIA).
Family
- Great-grandfather: Yu Chi-hong (兪致弘)
- Grandfather: Yu Jin-su (兪鎭壽)
- Grandmother: Hansan Yi clan (韓山李氏)
- Uncle: Yu Gil-jun (兪吉濬, 24 October 1856 – 30 September 1914)
- Aunt: Gyeongju Kim clan
- Aunt: Chungju Yi clan
- Cousin: Yu Eok-gyeom (兪億兼, 23 October 1896 – 8 November 1947)
- Cousin: Yu Man-gyeom (兪萬兼, 13 July 1889 – 13 December 1944)
- Uncle: Yu Seong-jun (兪星濬, 18601, 7th day of the 9th lunar month – 27 February 1934)
- Father: Yu Hoe-jun (兪會濬)
- Mother:
Works
- Gangmyeong Gyoyukhak (簡明敎育學) (1908)
- Secondary World Geography (中等外國地理) (1908)
- Teaching Methods for Elementary Schools (小學敎授法)
Textbooks
- Secondary Oriental History (中等東洋史)
- Oriental History Textbook (東洋史敎科書)
- Western History Textbook (西洋史敎科書)
- Comparative Western History Chronology (對照西洋史年表) (1909)
Works on pedagogy and psychology
- Western Teaching Methods (西洋敎授法) (1909)
- Selected Principles of Law (精選法學通論) (1911)
Evaluation
He is regarded as a pioneer of pedagogy. His textbooks are evaluated as having presented relatively systematic theories and a vision in pursuit of the implementation of compulsory education, at a time when few textbooks belonged to the fields of pedagogy or psychology.
Footnotes