Pre-college Study Abroad and Its New Impact on Korean Mothers

This study examines pre-college study abroad (PSA, Chogi yuhak), which is one of the fastest growing phenomena among the various efforts for Koreans to learn English. The discussion includes the reasons why PSA has become so popular in the last decade under the name of globalization, the problems it has caused, and its new impact that this phenomenon has on Korean mothers. This study argues that PSA boom provides Korean mothers with an opportunity to pursue their own self-realization by studying abroad with their school aged children. These "new wild geese" mothers, who make double investments in their own education as well as in their children's in the U.S. represent important aspects of the contemporary Korean society regarding education, gender and neoliberal social atmosphere.