Korean students celebrate after exams

The dads live in Korea because of their jobs and occasionally visit North America to have reunions with their wives and children.

Families who do this in Korea are called "goose families."

The term "goose families" is derived from the nature of the migrating birds who during the migration season fly a long distance and have a special dedication to their youngsters. The term emerged in the early 1990s when families in Korea began to send their children in grade school to the United States and Canada.

The families are the rich and upper middle class who can afford to spend at least $70,000 annually for their second home in North America.

Currently, about 6,000 goose moms are reportedly making their second home in the United States, the majority of them in Southern California.

Thousands more are believed to be in Canada.

In Canada, close to 40 per cent of the foreign student population is Korean

Out of the total 9,800 foreign students in Canada, 3,739 were Korean according to numbers published in Korean news media.

Japanese students comprised the second largest group at 1,034.

The provinces of British Columbia and Ontario were the most popular locations for studying, each accommodating about three thousand Koreans.

The parents in goose families, mostly in their 40's and 50's, have decided to make personal sacrifices for one purpose: to have their children educated in North America. For that cause, they are willing to suffer separation for five or six years.

Korean media said families have concluded that America and Canada provide for their children not only better education, but brighter job prospects in the future.

Because of fierce competition to enter college in Korea, most of the children from elementary-school level have to attend after-school learning centers, which is more costly than their regular schools. Korean employers, big companies, which must deal with global competitors more now than ever, prefer to hire graduates from North American schools.

But the consequences are not just monetary. Education and mental heath experts in the community who counsel goose moms are concerned that those couples might not have thought about the ramifications that such a separation will bring many years later, when it may be too late.

For some, separation has already taken its toll. In July, last year, one goose father in Korea took his life. A 50-year-old father named Yoon was found dead in his living room. An audio equipment shop owner in Yongin, a suburb of Seoul, he apparently suffered from depression after sending his wife and two teenage daughters to Canada. Three months later, another man in his 40's was discovered dead in his Seoul apartment. His wife and children were living in the United States.

"Goose moms also suffer from depression," said Dr. Man-chul Cho, a psychiatrist in Los Angeles Koreatown.

In addition to missing their husbands, they are frustrated that they cannot function sufficiently as mothers because of the language problem.

"After their children attend school for three or four years, the mothers cannot communicate with their children, or know what's going on in schools," he said. "They find themselves to be no more than a housekeeper and chauffer."