Struggling as a Child Can Pay Off

In Korea, most parents want their children to learn a lot. When I was a girl, I didn't understand why my parents wanted me to learn so much. I wondered why they pushed me so hard and thought if they didn't push me so hard, I would do better.

Then things happened that made me begin to understand my parents a little. For example, one of my friends, from the age of five to eighteen, learned English from a native speaker. During our high school days, after school she went straight home every day.

At that time, my friends and I thought she was very poor. However, now we envy her. She entered the most famous university in Korea by testing only in English. Also, she makes a lot of money by individually tutoring high school students.

It is very hard for a child to struggle to learn something because the parents want the child to do it. However, I think that sometimes pushing children is necessary so they will have a better future.
The word "struggle" makes me think about how I live. It reminds me of a story that I can't get out of my mind. When I was a high school student, my teacher told the class a story about "a struggling salmon."

A salmon is a fish which lives in the sea when it grows. It returns to its birth place instinctively to bear its young. It is not easy for a salmon to return to its birth place because it has to swim against the current of water, so a lot of salmon die on the way back. A salmon never gives up, rather, with resolution to die, struggles on and on.