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Are 'Daechi moms' really the problem?

Published: 20 Feb. 2025, 00:01

Jung Sun-ean

The author is the leader of the Parents team at JoongAng Ilbo.

A documentary shedding light on the state of private education in Korea has become a hot topic. It examines the grueling admissions tests for English-language kindergartens and the notoriously difficult math academies, which are often dubbed as the “7-year-old bar exam” and the "Ox Bar Exam," respectively.

One comment on the video read, “Lee Su-ji, please do a parody of this too.” Intrigued, I watched a clip by Lee, a comedian, satirizing "Daechi moms." The term refers to Daechi-dong, an area in Seoul's posh Gangnam district known for its dense concentration of private cram schools. After watching Lee's video, I watched another one featuring actor Han Ga-in that had been mentioned in the comments. In it, Han ate a meal inside her car while shuttling her two children to and from their lessons.

All three videos featured parents deeply invested in their children’s education. At first glance, it seems that the root of Korea’s extreme private education culture lies in these parents’ overzealous devotion. Even the focus on luxury-brand coats, handbags and foreign cars in the videos suggests a way of sneering at them without directly criticizing their behavior. But why do these well-educated and seemingly affluent parents go to such lengths for their children’s education?

There is a striking commonality in these videos; despite featuring parents of school-aged children, schools themselves are conspicuously absent. In Lee's parody, the Daechi mom sends her child to an English-language academy. In Han's video, the actor mentions that after much deliberation, she decided to enroll her second-grade daughter in an unaccredited international school. The documentary also centers on the private education sector, which its producers harshly described as “child abuse.”

Daechi-dong's main road bustling with "Daechi moms" waiting for their children at 10 p.m. on June 14, 2024. [JOONGANG ILBO]

In 2023, a young teacher at Seo2 Elementary School died by suicide, sparking nationwide outrage over the treatment of educators in Korea and shedding light on the immense pressure teachers face, including excessive administrative burdens, conflicts with overbearing parents and a lack of institutional support. The Seo2 Elementary School case ignited protests and demands for better legal protections for teachers, fueling a broader debate on the deteriorating state of Korea’s public education system.

During this time, I participated in an in-depth investigation into Korea’s elementary schools. After interviewing eight parents and nine teachers, our team reached a striking conclusion that learning had disappeared from schools. With the abolition of written exams and other policies weakening the school’s role in academics, parents turned to private academies. Once the academies gained dominance, neither teachers nor parents expected schools to provide meaningful instruction.

Meanwhile, the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), the culmination of Korea’s 12-year education system, became a high-level puzzle. The exam's concepts are not necessarily difficult, but the questions are deliberately twisted. Moon Ho-jin and Dan Yo, co-authors of the popular textbook “CSAT Hacking” (2024), explain, “Since the test must maintain a set curriculum while ensuring differentiation, this trend has emerged.” Excelling in such an exam requires a certain technique. Private academies refine and teach these strategies, while students, in turn, start studying ahead of schedule to gain a competitive edge.

In the end, Korea’s irrational private education culture is a personal response to the failures of standardized testing and public education. It is easy to point fingers at the Daechi moms, but that does nothing to solve the problem. Unless we confront the underlying causes, this cycle will continue indefinitely.

Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

If you or someone you know is feeling emotionally distressed or struggling with thoughts of suicide, LifeLine Korea can be contacted at 1588-9191. The Seoul Foreign Resident Center offers English-language counseling. Contact 02-2229-4900 to arrange a session. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.