ABSTRACT
These extracts vividly describe the image of “educational manager mothers” (maenijeo eomma)2 which is nowadays prevalent in South Korea: mothers chauffeur their elementary school children to their private after-school programs, providing fast food for their dinner inside cars to save time. To keep track of their children’s after-school schedules, mothers need a thick calendar, as shown by a single-page example in the diary of a thirty-something housewife who sends her two children to 23 private after-school programs. During my fieldwork in Seoul from 2001 to 2003, most of the mothers I interviewed expressed anxiety and concerns about their children’s education, especially private after-school education.3 Some mothers pointed out that although the roles of “raising children” could be performed by other women, like mother-in-laws or babysitters, managing their children’s education could only be done by mothers themselves.
