2009 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 21-29
During the decade from 1995 to 2005, the annual household income of families with preschool children declined overall, while average monthly educational expenses rose. As income fell and educational expenses rose, educational expenses accounted for an increasingly greater percentage of total household income. Public anxiety over declining scholastic aptitude extended to parents of preschoolers, who increased expenditures for lessons and instructional services for their children. In a comparison of mothers with higher education (hereafter, junior college education or above) and high-school-graduate mothers, the difference in average educational expenses per child by educational background of the mother grew during the same decade. In terms of lesson type, among mothers with higher education, the percentage of children taking English lessons rose. In the high-income and higher-education bracket, where English lessons begin from early childhood as a way to prepare for the future, the percentage of preschoolers taking English lessons increased.
