The Freedom To Learn - Helen Kim

1899–1970

When Helen Kim, whose birth name was Kim Hwal-lan, grew up in Korea, she was educated in church-related schools. She came to the United States for college, supported financially by American women missionaries in Korea. Helen earned a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University and an MA from Boston University Graduate School. In 1931, she became the first Korean woman to earn a PhD. With it, she returned to Korea to expand women’s education in her home country.

She took the job as dean of Ewha Womans College, a private Methodist school in Seoul, South Korea, becoming its president in 1939. Not long after that, during World War II, Korea came under the control of Japan. Helen cooperated with the Japanese to keep the college open. When the war ended and Korea gained its independence from Japan, the school flourished into a full university, adding more schools and departments as well as a hospital.

Helen’s achievements weren’t limited to the educational field. In 1948, the Korean president selected her to represent the nation before the General Assembly of the United Nations. She spoke to many other international bodies as a Korean delegate, including the International Missionary Council and the World Council of Churches. She also served as publisher of the Korean Times, a daily English-language newspaper that reported on the political landscape in Korea so the US and UN allied forces could be informed of what was going on. Somewhere in there, she found time to serve as vice president of the Korean Red Cross for a while too.

In the male-dominated society that Korea was at the time, Helen dedicated her life to advancing the freedoms of her people, particularly the educational freedoms of women.

It’s easy to take for granted the education that’s readily available to us. Even when the choice is ours to attend college, get continuing training for a job, or commit to formal Bible study, we can grumble about the work. When you’re tempted to grumble about your freedom to learn as much as you want, think about Helen Kim and how she fought to get educational freedoms for Korean women.

How much better to get wisdom than gold, and good judgment than silver!

Proverbs 16:16