Japanese Colonial Education in Korea 1910-1945 An Oral History

This study investigates the impact of Japanese colonial education in Korea. It examines how formal
colonial education affected the attitudes and behavior of Korean students towards Japan's colonial
domination of Korea. The lived experience of Koreans who attended school during the colonial era,
beginning with primary school and ending with college graduation, forms the focus of this study.

The seven individuals presented in this oral history project tell of their colonial educational experience
and how they believe this experience affected their attitudes toward Japanese colonialism. Their
account of this experience provides us with insight into the sociopolitical tension, at the personal level,
created by Japanese colonial education. This study also provides fresh insight into the relationship that
educational achievement has to nationalism.

In order to gain a perspective on colonial education from the bottom up, questions such as the
following were posited: (1) what motivated Koreans to attend government schools, (2) what were the
socio-economic backgrounds of students who received a colonial education, and (3) what impact did
colonial formal education have on student political consciousness. To gather this and other information
that goes beyond that contained in established colonial literature the interviews were conducted within
the framework of the following three questions: (1) did students' attitudes change according to the
length of time they spent in school, (2) what influence did the family have on student political attitudes
and what affect did colonial schools have in changing those attitudes, and (3) did the type of education
a student received, i.e., academic or vocational, affect his perception of colonialism. These three
categories were established less to get answers to specific questions than to derive a dense biographical
discussion and narrative that then could be analyzed in depth.

This study does not make a general statement about Japanese colonialism or colonial education in
Korea. It does provide keen insight into the lived colonial educational experience of Koreans and the
effects that such an experience had on their attitudes and behavior.

Russell A. Vacante received his Ph.D. from the
State University of New York at Buffalo
(SUNYAB) in June 1987. He also received his
Master's and Bachelor's degrees from SUNYAB.
In February 1976, he received a Master's
degree in Korean history from Chung-Ang
University, Seoul, Korea. From 1972 to 1975
he lived and did research in Seoul, Korea. He
remains in close contact with many friends
and colleagues in Korea. To them
he remains eternally grateful for
allowing him to be woven into the fabric of
their lives, culture and society. Dr. Vacante is
a native of Buffalo, New York and lives in
Nokesville, Virginia with his wife. They have
one daughter who, with her husband and
three children, also resides in Nokesville,
Virginia.