Athlete tops kids’ dream jobs list

Athletes, teachers and YouTube creators are among the jobs Korean elementary school students most want to have when they grow up, a survey showed Tuesday.

Athlete topped the chart for a second straight year, with 11.6 percent of the surveyed students picking it as their most preferred job, according to the annual survey conducted by the Ministry of Education and the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training.

Teacher came in second, also for a second consecutive year, at 6.9 percent, while YouTube creator jumped to third place with 5.7 percent from fifth place last year, reflecting the popularity of the video platform that has taken Asia’s fourth-largest economy by storm. Doctor, chef, professional online gamer, police officer, lawyer, singer and hair/makeup/nail artist were also among the jobs that made it in the top 10.

A total of 24,783 students enrolled in 1,200 elementary, middle and high schools across the country as well as 16,495 parents and 2,800 teachers took part in the survey conducted from June-July.

Middle school students picked teacher as their most wanted job, followed by doctor, police officer, athlete, hair/makeup/nail artist, chef, soldier, public servant, computer engineer and nurse.

High school students also picked teacher as their most preferred job, followed by police officer, nurse, computer engineer, soldier, bio technician, architect, flight attendant, public servant and chief executive officer.

The survey, meanwhile, showed 12.8 percent of elementary school students as well as 28.1 percent and 20.5 percent of middle school and high school students, respectively, did not have a job they wanted to have in the future.

Yonhap