[PERSPECTIVE]Educating the new next generation

Mary-Jane Liddicoat

Australian Mary-Jane Liddicoat, education counselor at her country’s embassy, has intertwined her fate with Korea. She is married to a Korean sculptor, Choi Jin-ho, and both of her children were born here. Her son, Sam, or Ju-hyun, 4, and her daughter, Romy, 2, both attend local schools and speak Korean.
Liddicoat, who is proficient in the language herself, said, “It’s amazing to watch” her children effortlessly switching back and forth between English and Korean.
Liddicoat has strong opinions about Korean schooling and youth.
“Korea should congratulate its education system, because it has brought the country to where it is today,” she said. “The question now is, ‘Where is it?’
“The rising suicide rate among young people is a sign that something needs to be fixed. Korea has a very strong GDP, but is that what it’s all about? I don’t think so. It’s about happiness,” she said.
“Korea’s been through enormous change, and people are highly educated. People are now at the point where they’re saying, ‘Look how far we’ve come ― where do we go now?’ Koreans have always found their targets and now they’re asking, ‘What’s next?’”
She isn’t worried about her children facing discrimination in Korea because of their mixed heritage.
“Ten percent of what you are is what other people say. Ninety percent is what you know that you are,” she said. Her cross-cultural marriage hasn’t caused problems. “His family was delighted that he was getting married. It didn’t matter who I was, even though I’m a little strange,” she said with a laugh.

By Richard Scott-Ashe Contributing Writer [richard@joongang.co.kr]