[Student Reporters] Students Feel the Pressure from Their Parents

By Rebekah Eurhi Ihn
10th, Crescenta Valley High School

“OH MY GOSH. My parents are driving me nuts,” exclaimed Christine Cho, a sophomore attending Crescenta Valley High School.

In fact, Christine starts her day, rushing to school in her pajamas. After school, she plays water polo until 5 o‘clock, even 7 o’clock at times, and then trudges to C2 tutor place. She even volunteers at various places. Her schedule is so packed that she barely has time to meet up with her friends. Christine is the epitome of a typical Korean academic student, yet her parents are not content with her outstanding extracurricular activities, 4.0 GPA, and her superior water-polo skills. For this reason, she can barely muster a genuine smile these days.

Korean parents expect their children to achieve a 4.0 GPA, as academic success is a standard for most Korean students. Sure, school is important, but that does not always guarantee success. For example, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and managed to become one of the wealthiest men in the world. The older generation should encourage their children to strive for Yale, but should also let them live their lives as well.

Parents must loosen their grip on their kids because kids are striving for their own goals too. Who wouldn‘t want to succeed in life? For this reason, the older generation should relax and trust their kids. Once adults trust the teens and encourage them, the teens would be motivated to strive higher because someone believes in their boundless capabilities.

Additionally, high school students feel that they are accomplishing their parent’s goals, not their own individual goals. Unbeknownst to the older generation, today‘s youth has a different career aspirations than the designated career that his or her parent proposes. Korean parents usually do not accept their children‘s dreams if they are risky, such as striving for Hollywood. Hollywood-related dreams may be risky, but if the child has talent and potential, they should be allowed to pursue their dreams.

Today‘s youth appreciates the care and concern of the older generation, but the older generation has to recognize that their lives are different from the lives of today’s youth. As mentioned earlier, high school students feel as if they are living their lives for their parents, not for themselves. The message that today‘s youth would like to send out to parents is reflected in Christine’s statement to her parents, “I wish you would support what I want to do with my life instead of pushing me to be just another academic student.”