People who are financially strapped because of their mortgages are commonly called “house poor.” Likewise, families that are poor due to heavy spending on their children’s education are called “education poor” in Korea. According to a recent survey, a large number of Korean households belong to this category.

The survey, conducted by Hyundai Research Institute, defines the education poor as families that are indebted and unable to make ends meet but nevertheless spend more than average on their children’s education. In 2011, such households accounted for 13 percent or 824,000 of the 6.3 million families that reported expenditures on their children’s education, private or public.

These households had to borrow money as they spent more than they earned. One main reason for their indebtedness was their excessive educational expenditures. According to the survey, education-poor households earned 3.1 million won a month, 1.2 million won less than the average.

Nevertheless, they allocated 868,000 won, roughly 28.5 percent of their consumption spending, to education per month, while the average spending on children’s education was 512,000 won, or 18.1 percent of the average household consumption expenditure. As a result, education-poor households incurred a deficit of 685,000 won, or 22 percent of their income.

According to the survey, education-poor households begin to spend heavily from the kindergarten level, reflecting their bid to make sure their kids get the best possible start.

We cannot blame parents for their willingness to sacrifice their present comforts to provide a better future for their children. But excessive spending on children’s education can generate undesirable effects. It puts too much stress on children and strains family budgets. A more serious problem would be the parents’ inability to prepare for their life after retirement.

The government needs to reinforce public education to reduce the household burden for private tutoring. The Education Ministry is urged to refashion its college admissions policy to reduce demand for private education.

For instance, it needs to ensure that essay tests conducted by universities should remain within the confines of the high school curriculum. Universities are also required to come up with measures to lower tuition fees.

Recently, private and public corporations have started to open their doors to vocational high school graduates. This is the result of the government’s efforts to foster “meister schools” and vocational high schools.

The new trend in corporate recruitment needs to be reinforced to encourage more middle school students to go to vocational high schools. It is time for us to change the deep-rooted tendency of putting more emphasis on people’s academic titles than on their real abilities.