The Growing 기러기 아빠 Phenomenon

The desire for parents to send their children overseas in order to get a solid education is very strong in Korea. Referred to as 기러기 아빠 (wild geese father), a growing number of families are being broken up as mothers and children are sent away to foreign English-speaking countries while the fathers are left at home to cover mounting expenses. Although such experiences may be valuable for the children down the road, such separation can also prove detrimental as it slowly rips away at the fabric of traditional family life. There’s a very good photo essay featured in The New York Times that documents this phenomenon.

It’s just a sad reminder at how jaded the schooling system in Korea has become for parents to go to such extreme measures at insuring that their children receive the proper education they deserve.