Young Pressed to Acquire Multiple Skills
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Who said life is easy for a kindergartener? Six-year-old Lee Chae-rim's morning starts at 7 a.m.
She leaves home for a one-hour beginner's English tutoring session at 7:30 a.m. before starting her regular class, which finishes at 2 p.m.
The second half of Lee's day begins with a piano lesson and ends with some playtime and a gymnastics lesson at a gym for kids.
Sound exhausting? Her mom claims that this is only the beginning of her process of giving her daughter the gift of a "perfect spec," a fancy line-up of skills and credentials that is believed to open many doors in life.
"Getting a head start is crucial," says the stay-at-home mother, who admits her child-rearing philosophy is a bit over-the-top compared to her peers. "You fall behind once, and you'll continue to struggle to catch up."
She may sound harsh and uptight, but the lives of many men and women in their 20s and 30s point to the importance of being "qualified."
Take 28-year-old Ko, for example. He graduated from a university in the U.S., speaks fluent English and considers himself quite a talent ― but he is currently jobless.
He thinks the problem is his lack of a factor that sets him apart from the crowd.
"My competitors have all kinds of certifications and internship experiences that stand out, but I realized that I haven't built up my resume strategically," said Ko, who belatedly started taking computer programming classes.
Having the perfect set of "specifications" is pivotal not only in landing a job, but also in getting married, a growing number of today's men and women say.
According to Duo, a leading matchmaking firm, women expect their future spouses to be at least 177 centimeters tall with an annual salary of 45.7 million won. Men want their potential wives to bring home at least 32 million won a year and be over 163 centimeters tall.
"Expectations and more expectations," says Kim Bo-kyung, chairman of a local institute studying trends. "There is a cut-off line for everyone, everywhere."
He said today's talent overflow and fierce competition are pushing people to evaluate and judge others simply based on what meets the eye.
"Everyone is trying to be a little bit better than everyone else, but it's important that people are aware of fostering their inner self instead of blindly beefing up their resumes," said Kim.