Life is tough,and it does not get any easier for those who have little economic power. That is why, many students turn to part-time jobs as a way to sustain their way of life. This gives a whole lot of relief not only to students but also to their parents.
According to a survey conducted by the online employment site Job Line, http://www.jobline.co.kr ,49.12 percent of 621 university students said
tutoring or academy teaching jobs were their favorite part-time jobs.
Though there are countless numbers of part-time jobs available to students, tutoring is ahead by far in terms of payment compared to the amount of physical effort or time put in. While most part-time jobs, such as serving at restaurants, make 3,000 won at most an hour, tutoring may make nearly 10 times more than that.
But the very aspects that make tutoring so tempting for students are also causing heated criticisms from the public, as they accuse today"s youths of being unfairly privileged, and claim that tutoring is easy money with no real effort. The conventional image of the tutor is that of a junior member of the bourgeoisies making at least 1,000,000 won a month. The nature of tutoring is such that it only allows students of the so-called "Prestigious schools to hold jobs."
Others worry that students are only concerned with materialistic values and not about their future. Though tutoring may offer more money than other jobs, it does not necessarily offer diverse experiences in the work field. Another survey of 4,077 students done by Job Line found that 53.8 percent would prefer "Well paying jobs" to "jobs that offer work experience" in their professions.
Those accusations,however,cover only one side of the problem. The truth is that students basically need the money to survive. According to a survey of 175 students by Seoul National University"s "SNU Now," out of the 87.4 percent of students who tutor for money 15 percent pay for their own tuition, 32 percent cover their own living expenses, and another 32 percent use the money as spending money.
?
"The school tuition alone is over 2~3,000,000 won, and I cannot ask my parents to pay for my living expenses too. So I have to make my own living plus keep up with the school work, and I can"t do that by serving drinks at a coffee shop," says a student who wishes to remain anonymous. "The only alternative for me,was to start tutoring," she adds, and laughs at the argument that students should look for part-time jobs that provide work experience in their fields. "When you have tuition and book prices to worry about, your future career in three years seems pretty distant."
The reality is that the part-time job most tempting to students at the moment is tutoring. And until that fact changes, student tutoring will continue.
espirit0121@ewha.ac.kr