Parents Pamper College-age Children

“Mom is my manager.”

At the beginning of a school term, it is a common scene for parents, instead of the students themselves, to register for class.

“Some parents even attended freshmen orientation to take a class,” said Park, a professor at “Y” university. “After asking questions, they registered for their children and left.”

A staff member in the department of law at “K” university said, “A parent told me, ‘since my son is studying for the judicial examination, I’m registering for him. For him, time is like gold.’”

Especially during selections of college PR models or exchange students, staff members are usually tired of phone calls from parents all day.

Lee, a staff member at “S” women’s university that is currently selecting college PR models, said, “Due to parents’ phone calls asking ‘what should my daughter do if she wants to be a model? What should my daughter wear for the camera test?’, we cannot do other work.”

Jung, a staff member in the department of international relations at “S” university, said, “In cases where their child was not selected to be an exchange student, parents often object by saying, ‘how come didn’t you select my son? What more does he need?’”

In addition, there are plenty of parents asking for “phone numbers of senior colleagues who got jobs” in the career center of universities.

“How can my kid survive an age of keen competition by herself?” asked Kim (45, female, •Eujungbu, Kyungkido), whose daughter is a college student. “Despite worrying about her independence, I still think that parents should assist their kids.”

--Diagnosis of a Specialist

Specialists have analyzed that Korean parents’ love for their children and the current competitive trend, a success-oriented culture and the deepening unemployment problem is causing parents to pamper their children in college.

Hwang Sang-min, a psychology professor at Yonsei University, said “even in college, Korean parents cannot separate their child from themselves.”

Hwang criticized, “Parents who prepare their children’s marriages and housing for themselves are not different from parents who register or manage grades of their children.”

“The Korean atmosphere, where parents actively intervene in their children’s lives, is succeeding in college,” said Han Sung-hee, an education professor at Seoul University. “We need deep self-reflection about education to preventing us from producing immature adults.”

Yi-Young Cho Soo-Jung Shin lycho@donga.com crystal@donga.com