The Culture of Our Parents

 Today, we're going to have a bit of a history lesson. 

In order to understand the perspectives of parents of Eastern culture and why they force their children to undertake rigorous educational activity, we need to understand from what place they are coming from. Being of South Korean descent, we're going to focus on the various hardships that many South Koreans, during my parent's time, had faced growing up.

South Korea was not always the economic utopia that it is today. Although South Korea is dubbed one of the richest countries in the world (in terms of GDP), the country and it's people has faced many hardships.

War

Due to it's small size, South Korea was often a target for larger Asian countries to invade and plunder. Ever since the 14th century, Korea has fought in many different wars. Although the country has seen it's share of victories and defeats, we have seen in history how wars devastate the economy of a country. My grandparents and my parents were both alive during the Korean War, which saw many North Korean soldiers invading South Korea. They would destroy homes, kill families, and leave devastation in their wake. More than half of the total number of causalities (5 million) were Korean citizens. 

Famine and Poverty

Historically, we know the damage that war does to a country's economy. Not only did South Koreans face extreme poverty and famine, but many feared for their lives, afraid that North Korean soldiers will invade and kill their families like they did in the past. Kongdan Oh, an Asian specialist working for the Institute for Defense Analysis, pulled a figure that estimated the per capita income of the country was less than $100 - on par today with some of the poorest South Asian and African countries. Many classrooms lacked desks and chairs, with many students depending on foreign aid for food and sustenance. The winters were often bitterly cold, which led to food shortages and little heat in the homes and classroom. 

However, thanks to the Peace Corps coming to Korea in 1966 and President Park Chung-Hee, South Korea began to see an economic boom. This was capped off with South Korea holding the 1988 Olympics, proving to the world that they were no longer the poor and helpless country that they were in the years past. 

However, for most citizens, they still felt very weak and vulnerable. Despite the quality of life increasing immensely, many developed a "me first" attitude where people were willing to play dirty to get ahead. Because of the dire circumstances that they had once faced in the past, they will do anything to make sure that they stay ahead. Citizens became proud of being a Korean, almost to a fault. 

Children were taught to always go the extra mile without help from others. They were told by their parents about ulterior motives that the people around them may have, so they need to make things happen for themselves. After all, one of the harshest invaders of their country shares a direct border with them; who can they really trust? It was often expected of students to put in long hours in study halls and investing in expensive tutors to make sure that they stayed ahead of their classmates. Students were ranked by numbers in most high schools, with the highest ranking students going off to university and the lower-ranking students going off to trade schools.