192 SOCIAL REFORMand yuhak who did not become selected scholars would continue to be regis-
tered in the Four Schools of the capitaL "in accordance with old custom."7^2 Their
only obligation would be to attend rites at the Confucian shrines in the schools
and formal visits of high officials to the schools.
Yulgok also pointed out that in his own time (late sixteenth century) there
were a number of school students in the provinces (kyosaeng) who were, in fact,
almost illiterate. Since these men were by custom listed on the registers of the
district towns in the quota for scholars, it would not be feasible to strike their
names from the list, but these older incompetents might be removed gradually
and their slots filled by younger talented scholars. Only the extra-quota students,
however, would be subject to loss of status and enrollment for military service.
There was another category of scholar in the provinces called "nothos scholar"
(Obyu), and Yulgok proposed examining them to test their knowledge, sending
those capable of instruction to school, and eliminating the others by enrolling
them for military serviceJ3
Yu Hyongwon's plan went further than Yulgok's because he contemplated the
total abolition of the examination system and did not discuss methods of deal-
ing with degree-holders left over from the old system, but both men shared the
ideal of confining privileged student status to men of talent and bona fide schol-
ars and returning: all others to the ranks of the commoner class. Yu appeared
more ruthless than Yulgok in his willingness to eliminate the vestiges of
unearned, hereditary scholar status. but neither of them envisioned an egalitar-
ian, unstratified society. Both saw the commoner class as an intermediate stra-
tum, from which the talented could rise first to the temporary but privileged
category of registered student, and then into the ranks of the ruling class, while
the drop-outs or failures would descend again to the ranks of the commoners.
This attitude was shared by many of the advocates of reform of the military
service system throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but the net
result of their efforts was only the creation of the "select military officers" under
the Equal Service Reform of 1750. The select military officers were a privileged
group liable to a fine or tax equivalent to the ordinary yangyok tax, but by remain-
ing exempt from actual service they were allowed to avoid a decline in social
status to ranks of commoners, or "men of good status" (yang'in) (see chap. 14).
Vicarious Punishment of Slaves for MisdemeanorsAnother manifestation ofYu's toleration for existing discrimination even inside
his school system that was supposed to honor age as the only criterion of sta-
tus was the leniency he allowed in the punishment of students of slaveholding
families. If they were absent from school for as much as fifteen days a month.
their household slaves would be beaten in the study hall as a form of vicarious
punishment,74 Obviously, the ones who did not own slaves would have to take
the beating themselves, and since most of the slaveholders were yangban, Yu
was obviously bowing in their direction.