Gireogi appa
A gireogi appa (Korean: 기러기 아빠, literally "goose dad") is a Korean man who works in Korea while his wife and children stay in an English-speaking country for the sake of the children's education.[1] The term is inspired by the fact that geese are a species that migrate, just as the gireogi appa father must travel a great distance to see his family.[2] Estimates of the number of gireogi appa in South Korea range as high as 200,000 men.[3]
Related terms
If the gireogi appa has the finances to pay for frequent visits to see his family, he is called an "eagle dad" (독수리 아빠) but if finances constrict his ability to travel abroad, he is known as a "penguin dad" (펭귄 아빠)[4] because he cannot fly and may go without seeing his family for years at a time.[5] If the man cannot afford to send his children abroad, he rents a small studio for his wife and children in Gangnam, an area dense with hagwon. That father is called a "sparrow dad"(참새 아빠). And if the man sends his children to elementary school in Daechi, he hires lodgings and is called a "Daejeondong dad"(대전동아빠).[6]
More than 40,000 South Korean schoolchildren are believed to be living in United States, England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia expressly to increase English-speaking ability. As of 2009, over 100,000 Korean students were studying abroad.[7] In at least some of the cases, a South Korean mother will choose to live abroad with her children with the additional reason of avoiding her mother-in-law, with whom a historically stressful relationship may exist due to Korean Confucianism.[8]
See also
- Astronaut family
- Contemporary culture of South Korea
- Education in South Korea
- Flying geese paradigm
- Globalization
- Hagwon
- Kikokushijo
- Haigui
References
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External links
- Korea Times Phenomenon of Wild Goose Fathers in South Korea 02-22-2009 by Agnes Goh-Grapes
- (Korean) 펭귄 아빠, 독수리 아빠? Chosun Ilbo 2007.05.30
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