Thoughtful, effective policymaking needs a commitment to research, science, experimentation and dissemination of knowledge. We often think that in this modern age we are far ahead of previous generations and other nations when it comes to good policy advice. Maybe not.
In the 1400s, Korea was a leader. For more than 50 years, the rulers of the new Choson (Yi Clan) Dynasty promoted, funded and took seriously practical research scholarship. The Korean government created The Hall of Assembled Scholars, established by Korean King Sejong (1418-1450) who is famous for having his scholars create the Korean phonetic alphabet.
The finest intellects of the day in this policy and research center sought to accumulate, create and disseminate knowledge of value not only for the government but for the general public. Scientists explored astronomy, firearms and copper rain gauges to determine annual rainfall in each province. Agriculture was the primary economic activity everywhere. Reports were created to study effective fertilizer, reservoirs for irrigation, and leaving land fallow every other year. Mathematics, measurement and meteorology were studied and explained. It was their version of a Harvard, an MIT, and today’s think tanks.
Our University of Hawaii has been where independent policy research resides. We have one devoted to politics, a Center on Aging, and the economists at UHERO (University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization). You can find expertise in many places. The medical school and tropical agriculture have made contributions. We used to have an accredited School of Public Health and an Educational Policy Center that was shut down. Recently our interest in policy development has waned. The Future and Peace centers are shadows of their former selves. We have faculty and ask them to also lead a center — but seldom in UH budgets, not full time.
Back to our Korean model. Choson historians documented and wrote the official history of the previous dynasty. Writing history is an important role for a university! The arts were promoted and integrated into the lives of aristocrats and government officials. Poetry, painting, calligraphy … all embracing the well-rounded and educated. Hawaii is one of a small number of states that do not require arts education in our public schools. It’s not that it isn’t there; it just isn’t required.
And, for a monarchy, they were amazingly collaborative. Koreans during the 6th and 7th centuries created councils of equals seeking unanimous agreement. Monarchs presided over rather than dictated major policy. Much discussion. Much debate, Korean traditional decision-making was centered on several aristocratic councils with direct access to the monarch. A special Censorate was to investigate and hold everyone else ethnically accountable. During the Choson Dynasty, they had their own FBI, and undercover agents, known as “darkly going ministers,” visited the provinces looking for unacceptable behavior and officials.
They embraced knowledge and credentials. Entrance into significant governmental positions often required doing well on national or regional exams — requiring well-written essays on general and philosophical topics.
The question that nation was asking was: Are you a worthy, ethical, thoughtful, knowledgeable, well-rounded individual of good character for our government? In many villages, Confucian aristocratic scholars established learning academies to teach and train aspiring young minds.
Why is this relevant to us? Hawaii has expertise. Many in our faculty are on the cutting edge of current innovations. Education, housing and health care are all high-cost, high-priority sectors. None have well-funded, autonomous policy centers for research and analysis to inform policy makers. Government seldom really wants informed outside criticism. It should.
Let’s learn and be inspired by the Koreans of the 1400s. We have the talent. We need the commitment.
Jim Shon, Ph.D., was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea and later studied Korean history at the University of Hawaii.
