Issue Paper

Name: Tina Wang

Professor: Mei-Ya Liang

Number: 100102033

Department: English

Course: Sophomore Composition

Date: October 4, 2012

Whether double-income families have changed traditional family education or not in Taiwan? 

–responsibility for family education is transferred to a third party.

     According to the statistics made by DGBAS^*1 in 2009, the labor participation rate of married women increases year by year—that is, double-income families also increase every year. Then, when tired parents finish their work and come back home, do they have remaining energies to focus on their children? If they do not have family education to their children, then, who do it in their place? Family education had been regarded as parents’ responsibility for a long time; however, is it still parents’ responsibility now? Whether double-income families have changed traditional family education or not in Taiwan?

     Nowadays, a lot of couples both enter workplaces to pay the expansive cost of living, becoming double-income family. For DINK^*2, couples might have an agreement that they do housework together; however, for those who have children, they still have to take care and educate their children. As so, double-income parents often have problems in doing those things. They are quite exhausted after work; they also have to do housework and details—it always deprives parents of their last patience, still less of taking care and educating their children. Parents have no time and no energy to have family education to their children. In fact, if parents have extra time, they mostly prefer to relax themselves rather than focus on their children. Then, who do family education in parents’ place?

     One to the answers is formal school institutions. Double-income parents entrust their children to teachers; they take it for granted that teachers should take care and educate their children well. Teachers become leading roles to cultivate students, so their duties also increase. Another one is cram schools. Parents send their children into cram schools not only for good grades, but for convenience. What is convenience double-income parents get? Double-income parents always pick up their children late due to the work. To avoid the rush, they ask children to go to the cram school nearby the school alone and have maybe a two-hour class, so they might have enough time to pick them up.

     Take my experience for example. I was born in double-income family. When I was little, my parents were too busy to pick me up, so I always walk to the cram school after school. Now I am a tutor as a part-time job. One of my students’ parents asked me for checking out student’s homework. She claimed that she has no patient to do it because she is very tired after work—however, checking out homework might be the duty parents have. The other student’s parents do not care about how their child naughty is in class. What they focus on is the grades. Obviously, they regard their child’s mischief as my problem that I have to conquer. It seems that family education is no longer the responsibility parents have—in fact, it is transferred to another one.

     Whether double-income families have changed traditional family education or not in Taiwan? The answer is ‘yes.’ In traditional family education, parents take care and educate their children by themselves. However, nowadays double-income parents are too busy to do those things. When they have extra time, they almost prefer to relax themselves but not focus on their children. Family education is gradually transferred to the third party such as formal school institutions and cram schools. It is hard to judge if the phenomenon is good or bad; however, it makes sure that family education is no longer the duty only parents have.

^*1: DGBAS is Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R. O. C. (Taiwan)

^*2: DINK is Double Income No Kid.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Work Cited

行政院主計總處綜合統計處家庭收支科–台灣地區家庭收支調查

     form World Wilde Web: http://win.dgbas.gov.tw/fies/result2out.asp?year=100