Korean 'Goose Families' Migrate for Education
The Korea Daily , The Chosun Daily, Compiled and translated by Kapson Lee, Posted: Oct 26, 2004
SEOUL –– The wives and mothers fly periodically between Korea where their husbands live and the United States where their children are attending school. The dads live in Korea because of their jobs and occasionally visit the United States to have reunions with their wives and children. Families who do this are called “goose families.”
The term “goose families” is derived from the nature of the migrating birds who during the migration season fly a long distance and have a special dedication to their youngsters. The term emerged in the early 1990s when families in Korea began to send their children in grade school to the United States. The families are the rich and upper middle class who can afford to spend at least $70,000 annually for their second home in America.
Currently, about 6,000 goose moms are reportedly making their second home in the United States, the majority of them in Southern California. The parents in goose families, mostly in their 40's and 50's, have decided to make personal sacrifices for one purpose: to have their children educated in America. For that cause, they are willing to suffer separation for five or six years.
The families have concluded that America provides for their children not only better education, but brighter job prospects in the future. Because of fierce competition to enter college in Korea, most of the children from elementary-school level have to attend after-school learning centers, which is more costly than their regular schools. Korean employers, big companies, which must deal with global competitors more now than ever, prefer to hire graduates from U.S. schools.
But, the consequences are not just monetary. Education and mental heath experts in the community who counsel goose moms are concerned that those couples might not have thought about the ramifications that such a separation will bring many years later, when it may be too late.
For some, separation has already taken its toll. In July, last year, one goose father in Korea took his life. A 50-year-old father named Yoon was found dead in his living room. An audio equipment shop owner in Yongin, a suburb of Seoul, he apparently suffered from depression after sending his wife and two teenage daughters to Canada. Three months later, another man in his 40's was discovered dead in his Seoul apartment. His wife and children were living in the United States.
“Goose moms also suffer from depression, too,” said Dr. Man-chul Cho, a psychiatrist in Los Angeles Koreatown.
In addition to missing their husbands, they are frustrated that they cannot function sufficiently as mothers because of the language problem. “After their children attend school for three or four years, the mothers cannot communicate with their children, or know what's going on in schools,” he said. “They find themselves to be no more than a housekeeper and chauffer.”
Translated by Kapson Lee
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