Asian Parents Frenzy

SculptorDad
Tue, 21 Mar 2017 19:32:44 +0000

I came to the U.S. from Korea after my education, and know several like me. Most of them I know are engineers with relatively comfortable income, but are not affluent. Private college tuition would be the biggest life time spending but they are willing to pay it by refinancing house if necessary, which usually is. We are all supportive to our children’s education, and provide supports as best as we can (or as much as we can afford). None that I know is ignorant to U.S. college admission system or has delusions on IVY admission even though we may dream it, because we study and talk a lot to learn the system as best as we can. We support EC where the kids have interest since it is necessary for admission, support social life because good performance comes from healthy mind and body. Most of us also support boy/girl friends as long as it’s severely detrimental to school life and academic performance because we don’t want our kids to be the lonely one.

Also, everyone I know are horrified to even imagine our kids to get a job in Korea after college, or even a job in a Korean company in the U.S. We prefer U.S. work culture and that’s why we live here and not in Korea.

I push my child to work as hard as she can, in terms of effort and concentration rather than time she spends. Sometimes she appreciate it. Sometimes she doesn’t. I back off if she barks, because our brain can’t learn well if stressed. And I am always careful not to waste her time on studying unless it’s very useful or she enjoys it, and not to overdo it, unless she is motivated to do it and my support is appreciated.