The Educational Function of Children's Plays in the 1930s and Holistic Convergent Education: The Interaction between National Education and Emotional Education

This study examines the role of children's plays in 1930s colonial Korea as a medium for holistic education encompassing emotion, intellect, and morality. Amid intensified cultural oppression and assimilationist education policies under Japanese colonial rule, children's plays functioned not merely as entertainment or moral instruction, but as cultural practices that fostered national identity and communal consciousness. Focusing on key works by Kim Jin-su, Jeong In-seop, and Kim Sang-deok, this paper analyzes dramatic devices, narrative structures, and character portrayals to explore how these plays cultivated emotional empathy, critical thinking, and moral reflection in an integrated manner. In particular, it highlights how the narratives and language of children's plays enabled the formation of national subjectivity even within the constraints of colonial domination. Furthermore, the study considers the contemporary educational implications of these plays in the context of multicultural and digital societies. By reinterpreting children’s plays as sites of cultural resistance and educational practice, this research seeks to uncover the historical and pedagogical insights they offer for today’s educational discourse.