Teacher is the most wanted job of South Korean students for 11 straight years
They also say the media, over parents, are influencing their decisions
By Park Si-soo
School teacher topped the list of most wanted job among middle and high school students, the education ministry said, based on its nationwide survey.
The job has headed the list since 2007, reflecting students’ interest in occupations with relatively strong security amid the prolonged uncertain economy. Other public jobs, such as police officer or military officer, and strictly licensed positions, such as doctor or nurse, also ranked highly.
The ministry has conducted the annual survey of most wanted jobs since 2007 and the latest was based on responses from 27,678 students and 2,798 teachers at 1,200 schools, and 21,018 parents.
Software programmer and mechanical engineer were among the top 10 in a survey of high school students, reflecting the IT industry boom.
More than 60 per cent of responding students said they chose their wanted jobs after considering their “interests or talents.” But experts say their choices could have been influenced by their parents or the media.
In fact, students said the media wielded the biggest influence on their decisions, followed by their parents. Until 2015, parents were cited as the biggest influencer.