It’s time to debate children’s happiness

Hwang Young-key
The author is the executive chairman of ChildFund Korea.

The happiness of children can define the happiness of a society. As a person with an unpleasant childhood cannot become happy in adulthood, a society that has many people with unhappy childhoods cannot be healthy. How happy are South Korean children today? We cannot confidently say they are happy, as we watch kids devote most of their time to studying without getting sufficient sleep and leisure.

The Children’s Happiness Index 2024 released by ChildFund Korea underscores how miserable Korean kids are. Their biggest source of unhappiness was education, according to a rare extensive poll of 10,140 kids and teenagers across the country. Hours spent on studies continue to increase, as more than half of the students polled went to cram schools over the weekend to get ahead of the school curriculum.

Many complained of pressure and stress from studies, and conversations at home mostly focused on academic performance. As much as 13 percent of students confessed to having sleeping disorders. The biggest reason was that they couldn’t sleep well due to worries about unfinished tasks. It is no wonder that most Korean children mostly defined themselves as “unhappy kids.”

The survey also confirmed regional disparities in child happiness. In the regions where happiness levels were relatively high, children had less pressure over their academic performances. They spent their off-school hours to play and had close relationships with friends and teachers at school. In contrast, children living in the areas where they spend more time studying at expensive cram schools showed relatively low happiness levels. The results showed that a child’s happiness can depend where they live.

Since children spend the most hours at school, improving the school environment can help boost children’s happiness. Children must be able to build diverse interactions and experiences at schools.

There is no place better than a school for a child to have various experiences. The role of public education should be enhanced, and teachers must be freed from tasks to focus on guiding children. Overcrowded classrooms in certain areas also need to be addressed.

Families play an equally important role to that of schools in a child’s education. Children do not get happy simply by being with their family. The key to happiness lies in the quality of relationships. Children are happy when home is a pleasant space to spend time with family and a refuge to find balance between learning and emotional growth.

Children were found to be relatively happier in families with less pressure on academic performance and a greater focus on activities with family members. The happiness index for children who share their weekend and pastimes with their families and caretakers was 8.24 points higher than those who did not.

Few would disagree on the importance of schools and families for education. Finding a comprehensive approach will not be easy due to various conflicting interests and complexities. Still, society must deliberate hard on reducing children’s stress, which is causing sleeping disorders from academic pressure.

Most of the countries with high levels of happiness among children have strong educational foundations at school and home. According to the 2024 World Happiness Report issued by the UN Sustainable Development Solution Network, Northern European states such as Finland and Sweden had higher happiness levels among children and teenagers. The Netherlands and Norway ranked first and second, respectively, in a comparative happiness research on children and teenagers of 22 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2021.

Korea worries over its existential sustainability due to its pitifully low birthrate. Improving children’s education is a task that cannot be deferred any longer. I hope the children’s happiness index serves as primer for social discussions on this issue. I hope for a heated public debate about the happiness of our future generation.