Moms Busy Studying for Kids
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Korean moms used to be busy searching for good cram schools, or ``hagwon,'' for their children's college entrance exam, providing full support for their children's study.
Nowadays, moms themselves are scrambling to study and attend cram schools ― children get higher-level education at cram schools, especially to prepare for international middle schools or elite schools for gifted students. Moms think they should be trained as well to have more information and knowledge that can complement their children's hagwon study.
An institute in Seoul, which provides education courses and material for gifted children, has opened a program for those who want to become tutors for gifted students. About half of the participants are schoolteachers, while the others are parents, mostly full-time mothers.
``Parents are interested in the government's plan to expand education for gifted children. Whether they have their children attend hagwon for the goal or they teach their kids themselves, moms need as much information as possible about the special education, so they participate in the program,'' a staff member of the institute said.
In the 10-day course, moms learn what gifted children are like, how to find out whether their children are gifted or not, and how to teach such children. The tuition is 350,000 won, and online lectures are also available.
As even preschoolers start learning English to enter international middle schools or foreign language schools, some hagwon urge parents to study, saying moms should offer tailored-English education to the children at home as well. Some offer lectures for parents on ``how to teach English at home.''
Culture centers run by department stores also have such lectures: Hyundai Department Store offers a program ``to become a tutor for English storybook reading,'' as well as lectures on ``English conversation with children.''
``It seems that private education businesses incite mothers to study themselves, saying that parents need to know what children learn and that hagwon lectures are less effective unless parents support the study at home,'' Jeon Eun-ja, director of the National Association of Parents for Cham-Education, said.
``Many parents have their kids attend hagwon classes for gifted children since preschool, hoping that the children will enter schools for the gifted. But they do not feel assured as to whether the kids are doing okay. Hagwon and such institutes are taking advantage of the uneasiness, opening a niche in the private education market,'' Jeon said.
A staff member of the Parents' Association Caring for School said, ``Moms need education. But the education should be about how to become a good mom and how to parent, not this kind.''