Christian School

Background

A Christian school is a private school founded by a Christian body for missionary purposes. Following the English term, such schools are commonly called mission schools in Korea. The term is sometimes applied to religious schools in general, but in Korea it usually refers to Christian schools. Because Korea has no state religion (a religion officially established by the state), all such schools operate as private schools. This article deals primarily with Protestant schools.

In the late nineteenth century, the Joseon government, as part of its efforts at modernization, permitted Western missionaries to carry out educational and medical work. This permission is reported to have been granted in 1884 under King Gojong, after which Christian schools began to be founded in earnest.

Development

With the arrival of Protestant missionaries, Paichai Hakdang opened in Seoul. In Korea, Paichai Hakdang is commonly regarded as the first Christian school. Other Christian schools, including the girls' school Ewha Hakdang, were subsequently established in succession in Seoul and in the provinces.

During the Japanese colonial period, many Christian schools continued to operate under the legal and financial management of missionaries. Some in the Christian community hold that, as a result, these schools were comparatively less subject to Japanese interference and that students and church members used them as places to prepare for the independence movement.

Results and Influence

The early Christian schools contributed to the spread of Hangul literacy, women's education, and modern learning. They also produced many national leaders and independence activists. People formed in these schools and churches went on to play important roles in many areas of modern and contemporary Korean history. Some also argue that during the Japanese colonial period these schools served as a channel through which Koreans encountered the culture and learning of the wider world.

Today, Christian schools are fully accredited schools authorized by the Ministry of Education. Their distinguishing features, compared with other schools, are commonly identified as follows:

• They offer Bible classes.
• They hold worship services or devotional assemblies (brief worship gatherings held at school).
• Many of their teachers are Protestant, and they employ a school chaplain responsible for the school's religious education.

In other respects, their curricula are the same as those of other schools, and their students and staff come from a variety of religious backgrounds.

Assessment

Within the Christian community, Christian schools are highly regarded for having pioneered modern education, served as a base for the national movement, and taught democracy and individual human rights.

At the same time, controversy over religious freedom has persisted. Christian schools also enroll students who have no religious faith or who belong to other religions, and critics argue that requiring such students to attend worship services or religion classes infringes on their religious freedom. The most frequently cited case is the challenge raised by Kang Eui-seok, a former student council president at Daekwang High School in Seoul. He later directed Mission School (2015), a film about the issue of religious education in schools. The film was produced by the Institute for Religious Freedom Policy and Human Rights Solidarity.

The schools and the churches, for their part, regard religious education in keeping with a school's founding purpose as central to the identity of private Christian schools. How to uphold both students' religious freedom and a school's founding principles remains a matter of ongoing debate.