Civil Service Examinations
The civil service examinations, known as gwageo, assessed subject's ability to interpret the Chinese classics, in terms of official Neo-Confucian ideology. Only those who came from high-ranking families were permitted to take the test. The gwageo were divided into civil and military sections, with the military section being open to people of relatively lower rank. The gwageo system had been set up in the Goryeo dynasty, but reached its peak in the Joseon period.
Read more about this topic: Education In The Joseon Dynasty
Famous quotes containing the words civil and/or service:
“Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike;
Alike reserved to blame, or to commend,
A timorous foe, and a suspicious friend;
Dreading e’en fools, by flatterers besieged,
And so obliging, that he ne’er obliged;
Like Cato, give his little senate laws,
And sit attentive to his own applause:”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“The ability to think straight, some knowledge of the past, some vision of the future, some skill to do useful service, some urge to fit that service into the well-being of the community,—these are the most vital things education must try to produce.”
—Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve (1877–1965)