Min Jin Lee Examines the Moral Pressures of Education and Diaspora in Radio Atlantic Interview
In a recent episode of Radio Atlantic published by theatlantic.com, novelist Min Jin Lee discusses her latest book, American Hagwon, exploring the intense personal and societal pressures of global education, immigration, and family sacrifice. Ten years after the publication of her best-selling historical epic Pachinko, Lee returns with a narrative that examines ordinary people caught within punishing economic and educational systems during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Hanna Rosin hosts the episode, which focuses on Lee's upbringing in Queens, New York, and how her research into South Korea's private tutoring centers—known as hagwons—influenced her understanding of modern displacement and parental devotion. Rather than treating her characters as passive victims or calculating villains, Lee positions herself as a moral novelist who believes readers are deeply hungry for ethical frameworks in an increasingly cynical world.
The Evolution of the Hagwon and the Reality of Global Migration
The conversation centers heavily on the cultural significance of the hagwon, a private tutoring institution that acts as a repository for parental anxieties surrounding academic achievement. Lee explains that her initial impression of these learning centers was deeply negative, driven by terrifying statistical data showing that roughly 80 percent of South Korean five-year-olds attend hagwons despite immense financial strain on middle-income families.
However, after conducting hundreds of interviews with parents, students, and teachers across South Korea, Australia, and the United States, Lee’s perspective underwent a complete transformation. She notes that for working parents, hagwons often function as an affordable, high-end form of childcare and academic support rather than mere torture for children.
Diaspora as the Permanent Condition of Modern Life
In American Hagwon, this displacement is magnified by the shadow of the 1997 International Monetary Fund financial crisis and the 2008 subprime mortgage collapse. Lee emphasizes that unlike clear-cut fictional villains, economic catastrophes implicate everyone, forcing ordinary families to rely on rigorous sequencing and profound self-sacrifice as their only viable survival strategies.
Defining the Role of the Moral Novelist
Addressing her classification as a moral writer, Lee clarifies that morality in her fiction extends far beyond simple legal compliance or punishing bad behavior.
Through her work, she continues to challenge fatalistic narratives about global decline, arguing instead for stories that examine how ordinary people manage to endure and rebuild under immense pressure.
