History
Realizing the imperative need for a learning institution for women created by the Korean people themselves, the Royal Family of King Go-Jong of the Joseon Dynasty founded Sookmyung on the vast grounds of Yong-Dong Palace in 1906. The fact that the very first Korean principal was appointed to this innovative institution under Japanese colonization holds important historical meanings in itself. To furnish the necessary fund to establish the school, the Royal Family bestowed Kyung-Sun Palace, and the son of King Go-Jong, Young Chin, granted the harvest coming from 6 districts (including Shin-chun, Eun-Yul, Wan-Do) from 3 Provinces (Hwang-Hae, South Cholla, and Kyunggi), so began the pioneering effort to erect a truly nationalistic learning ground for women without any external help. Sookmyung first opened its doors to five young women between the age of 11 and 26. Thirty-two years later, the nation was about to be embroiled in World War II. The intellectuals of the time who yearned for independence and the sovereignty of the people, recognized the paramount need to endow women with opportunities for learning. This recognition led to a nationwide fund-raising campaign for the foundation of Sookmyung Women's School in 1938. The predecessor of Sookmyung Women's University, Sookmyung Women's School, therefore opened a new chapter in the educational history of the nation, with a rich and unique legacy created by the Korean people and the last Royal Family.
Read more about this topic: Sookmyung Women's University
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“All history becomes subjective; in other words there is properly no history, only biography.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain. The crown of roses is also a crown of thorns. Its people are too prone to hurt others, but quite ready also to hurt themselves. They are martyrs for religion, they are martyrs for irreligion; they are even martyrs for immorality.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“History has neither the venerableness of antiquity, nor the freshness of the modern. It does as if it would go to the beginning of things, which natural history might with reason assume to do; but consider the Universal History, and then tell us,—when did burdock and plantain sprout first?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)