I94 SOCIAL REFORM
slave and commoner (i.e., base and goOd).81 Since graduates of the technical
schools were to be appointed to posts in the bureaucratic agency that had juris-
diction over that specialty, slaves might be eligible for such appointments, but
they would not be expected to cross over to the realm of the bureaucratic gen-
eralistsg2
In short, Yu's treatment of slaves in his regulations indicate very little sym-
pathy for their inherited status debilities, a major contrast with his far more sym-
pathetic attitude toward them expressed in his chapter on slavery. This might be
explained in one of two ways: either he wrote the addendum on slavery after he
finished his other chapters, and it represented the product of his more mature
views, or because he did not envision a sudden and immediate end to slavery
anyway, he felt that he had to discuss the school system with the system of slav-
ery intact.
Acceptability of the um Privilege and Nepotism
Yu realized that the yangban of contemporary Korean society would fear the
loss of their coveted privileges and status if his new system of replacing hered-
itary status and influence with a moral basis for recruitment and registration in
schools as the only bases for social distinction were adopted. He not only
acknowledged the legitimacy of their fears, but agreed to retain the urn privi-
lege as a sop to the discontented yangban. He justified this modification of his
rules by pointing out that the early kings of antiquity had also taken cognizance
of such fears and in warm, tenderhearted fashion had authorized the granting
of the special "protection" privilege (umgup) by which the sons of incumbent
officials "were ranked by law with the class of scholars" (saryu), protecting them
against immediate demotion to the rank of commoner.R3
One can but surmise his motives, but it was most likely a retreat born from
sympathy for his own class and his empathetic reaction to their anguish at the
loss of long accepted privileges and conventions. Another sign of sympathy for
his own class was reflected in a provision that smacks slightly of nepotism. In
his regulations for the recommendation of young scholars to the lowest-level
schools, he allowed immediate relatives, like a son or a brother, to recommend
siblings, just as long as the recommendee was qualitied.~4 One might have
expected Yu to be more concerned about the problem of nepotism, particularly
in a society that placed such a high value on family connections and loyalty.
Leniency for Yangban FlunkoutsYu was also willing to mitigate the threat of expUlsion from school by provid-
ing a probationary period to allow time for restitution:If at the present time we were suddenly to punish them (poor students) for this,
eliminate all of them, and enlist them in the army, then not only would it lead to