Actor Kim Sung-eun revealed that she spends 3.24 million won a month on tuition for her first-grade elementary school child and 5-year-old child, drawing the attention of netizens. Recently, celebrities have been releasing content related to their children's private education on YouTube, raising discussions about the excessive private education issues.
According to a video recently released by Kim Sung-eun on YouTube, her first-grade elementary school child attends 11 different academies. She disclosed the detailed tuition costs for her children, emphasizing the need for an educational cost diet. The 3.24 million won tuition Kim revealed is for her two children, excluding her middle school first child. The academy her first-grade daughter attends currently includes English, mathematics, reading, essay writing, violin, piano, art, study materials, soccer, and physical education, and during vacation, she also learns rhythmic jump rope and inline skating.
Her 5-year-old son currently attends an English kindergarten and goes to two academies for mathematics, study materials, and physical education, as well as art. While raising three children and traveling back and forth from home 10 times a day, Kim Sung-eun shared her packed schedule, emphasizing, "I'm not making them do too much." She noted, "The child has many interests, and thus attends many academies for both arts and physical education."
Reactions from those who encountered the private education cases of celebrities were mixed. There were expressions of empathy and resentment, and not a few people voiced feelings of despair or jealousy. Some responded, "It's much more honest and better than pretending not to care about education while sending kids to international schools," but concerns were also raised that the high expenditure on private education might be presented as 'average,' thus exacerbating relative deprivation and education disparities based on parents' economic power.
In response to the parents' reactions of "I can relate," some critics labeled it "their own world," prompting Kim Sung-eun to appear on model Lee Hyun-yi's YouTube channel to express her grievances. On the 11th, Kim appeared on Lee Hyun-yi's YouTube channel "Working Mom Lee Hyun-yi" and indirectly mentioned the incident where she shed tears over being misunderstood as indulging in luxury with her husband Jeong Jo-guk's money.
In this context, Kim Sung-eun said, "The funny thing is, I did a tuition settlement content on my channel this time. But suddenly the video went viral and the search term 'Jeong Jo-guk's salary' appeared. I sent my child to the academy with my own money, but people think I don't earn money and only spend my husband's money. I am also working hard to earn money," expressing her feelings of unfairness again. Singer Byul, who was listening, concurred, saying, "We also earn enough, but because our husbands are famous, we face such misunderstandings. I feel the same way."
Meanwhile, actress Han Ga-in shared in her YouTube channel that she spends 14 hours a day on school and academy riding (driving children to their educational institutions) for her children. The riding schedule, which begins at 7:30 a.m. when she drops off her daughter at an international school in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, ends with bringing her daughter home again after finishing her academy classes at 9 p.m.