Asian parents! No, KOREAN parents! Sometimes all they care about is image. They want their son to be a doctor or a lawyer just so that they can brag to their friends about their status. But I don’t KNOW if I want to be a doctor or a lawyer. I know both of my sisters are pharmacists and they’ve “made it” but I don’t know if I will or if I even want to go that route. I know deep down that they just want me to be happy, and they want me to want to be something and then to go out and be that. But I don’t know yet what I want to be and I think that scares them. Does that make sense?
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John was not mad during the interview. However, he did state rather blithely that his parents, like all Korean parents, care a lot about image, which translates to wanting their children to have high-paying, high-status jobs like a doctor or a lawyer. He mentioned that his sisters had accomplished this by becoming pharmacists. But John does not want to go this route. Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory dictates that values are passed on from generation to generation. It’s clear here, that John is operating more on an American culture where the individual’s desire is emphasized. This is probably a struggle that has yet to fully play out in John’s life.