Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
More students seek to become doctors, nurses amid pandemic
Graduates from the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy receive education on the new coronavirus at the institution in the central city of Daejeon in this March 2, 2020 photo. Korea Times file
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
Eight-year-old Lee Sae-ron, a second grader at Eulji Elementary School in Seoul, used to say she wanted to become a famous YouTuber with millions of subscribers, but recently changed her mind.
“I saw many doctors and nurses on TV and on the internet helping coronavirus patients. For me, they are superheroes fighting the virus, so I want to be like them,” Lee said
“I am like many people who change their minds these days. A couple of my friends at the same private English academy said they want to be a volleyball player and a school teacher, even though we all used to dream about being YouTubers.”
Kim Eun-jae, a middle school student living in Namyangju, Gyeonnggi Province who will become a high school freshman next month, said she wants to become a nurse after watching so many medical workers fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I saw pictures and video clips of nurses wearing protective gear just like a battledress and doing their best to treat patients. They looked worn out and tired, but at the same time, they looked amazing as they sacrificed themselves to help other people,” Kim said.
“I honestly didn't have a desired profession before the pandemic, but now I've found one.”
The two are among many children and teenagers here who have changed their minds about what they want to be in the future, as a recent survey has shown that the coronavirus pandemic has actually had an impact on job preferences among Korean students.
According to the survey conducted annually by the Ministry of Education and the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, the number of elementary, middle and high school students hoping to pursue careers in the medical and health care professions, such as doctors, nurses, technicians and scientists, has increased due to the prolonged pandemic.
Teachers topped the list of desired jobs among middle and high school students for 14 years since the survey began, but the percentage of students wishing to become teachers has continued to decline.
A total of 23,223 students enrolled in 1,200 elementary, middle and high schools across the country as well as 16,065 parents and 2,800 teachers participated in the annual survey carried out from July 15 to Oct. 15 last year.
For three-consecutive years since 2018, being an athlete has topped the list of desired jobs for elementary school students at 8.8 percent. Doctors jumped to second place at 7.6 percent, rising from fourth place in 2019.
The most desired career among middle school students was teaching, followed by medicine and law enforcement, remaining the same as last year's results.
High school students also picked teaching as the most desired occupation, followed by nursing, while in third place were scientist and researcher.
Specifically this year, the rankings of doctors, nurses, scientists and researchers rose from the previous year. Among not only elementary school students but also high school students, teaching rose to fifth place last year, from 11th place in 2019.
“This seems to be due to a rising interest in the health and medical fields due to the coronavirus outbreak,” said Koo Yun-hee, director of the lifelong learning and future education bureau at the education ministry.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak in January last year, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) Commissioner Jung Eun-kyeong, doctors and nurses specializing in infectious diseases, epidemiologists who have been at the forefront of quarantine efforts, and scientists working on vaccine development and treatment have been under the spotlight.