Suffering From Private Education

By Ahn Yoon-hee

A mother gets a headache whenever she comes back home after attending a mothers meeting, the purpose of which is to get information about private instruction. She is as busy as a professional manager for her children. She surveys popular newly opened institutes called hagwon, organizes groups for private lessons, chooses instructors and pushes her children to study.

When they are asked about their plans for the declining years of their lives, most are not saving for old age. They feel uneasy because they are not able to save money, so some mothers go to work to earn enough for extra tutoring expenses.

Many husbands and wives argue about their children's education. However, their children don't care about their parents troubles, they regard it as the natural role of parents, because they are the king or queen of the family, served by sacrificing parents from birth. Parents seem to allow children's complaining. Children don't appreciate their parents, because they are not happy with their support. Sometimes they act like robots controlled by their mother's orders. They don't have time to talk with family, to play with their friends or to get sufficient sleep. They are always in a hurry to learn something.

As for me, I also have anxiety about my daughter's private education. There are moments that I want to push her to study a little bit more because I feel worried when I hear how many kinds of extra instruction her friends are receiving. But I can calm down my selfish desire by looking at my exhausted daughter. I try to confirm that the most effective result of studying comes from self-study with strong motivation.

Most parents don't wait until their children ask them to help with their studying. They're never satisfied. For example, many of Korea's ``lone goose fathers" decide to spend their lives by themselves in spite of the struggle with loneliness after they send their families to a foreign country. These days, many ordinary families without sufficient funds are planning for their children to study abroad despite the huge cost. They probably need to squeeze their budget or even borrow money. Are their precious sons and daughters going to thank their parents in the future? Will their parents be satisfied with their children later? I wonder how great the outcome will be.

In addition to problems within families, there are many side effects of private education at school, which usually come from studying. They learn the material they need in advance at a hagwon before they learn it at school. Many math teachers in middle schools become upset when they are teaching theorems or concepts. Some students don't concentrate on the lesson because they are under the delusion that they already know everything. Actually, most can't solve even easy and basic problems presented in a slightly different form. What is the investment of money and time for private lessons for? Math teachers say the incomplete knowledge spoils students' ability to think.

In English classes, there are several fluent students with native pronunciation built from studying English abroad. However, sometimes teachers are upset when they are very quiet and they never volunteer for the class because they don't want to be victims of cynical teasing from their friends. High-level students tend to be bored during private education classes.

Koreans all know that economic growth is based on educating the future generation. Korea doesn't have enough natural resources, so we need to develop knowledge and skills. The government nowadays wants to increase autonomous high schools for a competitive system to build up superior talent. But parents are not likely to reduce the extent of private education.

I hope the government listens carefully to what the citizens say. For instance, English teachers need small classes according to a students' level, in order to achieve the aim of English-speaking classes. Parents and teachers don't want epoch-making policies, but just one step in the development of education policy.

I hope Korean parents remember this truth: their investment in children who are not self-motivated might waste their money, their time and their energy. I'd like to advise parents to give their children a chance to choose what they want, and to wait until they are eager to study what they need. Also, I suggest they ignore their neighbor's private education, not public education.

I believe the quality of Korean public schools could be improved by teachers' dedicated efforts, by parents' trust and by realistic government support.

The writer is an English teacher in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. She can be reached at lopako@hanmail.net.