Korean Job Discussion Forums

[MarionG]

I have been in Korea for 4 months, teaching in a Hogwan in a small city. My experience thus far has been delightful...motivated and engaging students, plus caring well-educated staff etc. The teachers and owners exhibit a great deal of warmth toward the students.

We have a new teacher who I've not even met. I also have a new student, who is about 12 years old, western age. He has solid English skills at the level of being able to identify an adverbial clause marker etc. His comprehension of spoken English is very good. However, by the end of his first day in my class (a 30 minute class) it was obvious to me that he has some sort of problem which makes it virtually impossible for him to talk. Because he has spoken a few words to me in private, I know that physically he is able to talk. But when I encouraged him to talk in class, and he tried, it resulted in his whole body trembling to such a degree that I was actually alarmed.

I went to my director to explain what I had seen and she told me that I needed to take a firm hand, and tell him to be a man. She told me that she was transferring him into another of my classes, where he would be required to read out loud. While not very thrilled with all of this, I knew I could work around it.

But I also asked another student of the same age whether this boy talked in his regular school. She said no, he didn't, that everyone knew he "can't talk" and then she added that the new teacher at our school was "beating" him for not talking.

I was shocked and disbelieving. I went to the director and asked if students were hit in "our school." She said "Yes." To make a long story short, she seemed to consider that my question was rather odd, and a bit confused by my even asking. That's where the matter stands.

I'd really like input from anyone who might have advice. I feel sick for this boy, and shamed by the behavior of the other teacher.

[ChuckECheese]

Just let it go, man.

It's Korean thing. Let them do what ever with their own kids.

[Hollywoodaction]

Hmm, didn't the Korean supreme court rule that beating the students is an infringement on their human rights? (Then again, I know for a fact that ruled that requiring students to cut their hair was also wrong as it infringed on their rights to self-determination...but you and I both know how that one turned out).

[Bibbitybop]

beating is wrong and not allowed (usually) unless the situation is severe (which is not your case)

hitting hands with rulers for not completing homework or not participating is still ok in korea

but since you are a foreigner, and unless the beatings are truly physically harmful, don't intervene

sad, but true

[kimchi_pizza]

I'm very disturbed by this but your story is a little confusing....

Does the boy attend several classes at a time?
Your class, then the other teacher's class, then another...

Is the teacher hitting him another new foreign teacher or Korean? (Believe it or not, this is an important point.)

I can't really advise you without more info, but so far:

Don't go to your director anymore. She either condones it by turning a blind eye to it or encourages it. You can't confront her without embarrassing her and jeopordizing your own position.
If the teacher hitting the student is Korean, then like another poster said, it's a Korean thing and not much you can do about it.
If it's another foreigner, then confront him/her and to blazes with a comfy work environment and put a stop to it. Being a newbie, see if you can ask for help/advice from another more experienced or veteran teacher there to back you up.

If you really care then the best thing I can advise is use some diplomacy (lies) and see if you can get that student back in your class and you be the sole teacher of that student. He may be difficult to teach, but start another thread on advice on how to help him and draw him out. Lotta posters can help you out.

But for now, try to help that boy out.

[garykasparov]

You may hear "Parents encourage punishment." I've heard this one before from my haggy boss. A KT hits them in the head with the love stick 7X in a row and pinches them under the eyes REALLY hard. I've said stuff about it and it tends to create problems.

[Cerriowen]

I was teaching a 6 year old boy who was so stressed out about being in school from 8am to 6pm every day that he would start bawling in class. The first time I sent him out to see one of the aids, thinking she would comfort him. Nope. She used a ruler on him, and told him to stop being a baby.

[shaunew]

get out of the school, sounds like the Cho guy from VT.

[garykasparov]

If you feel that working for another school is your best option then you'll need a letter of release.

http://www.efl-law.com/letter_of_release.php

[spliff]

And here I was thinking I was the only one whacking the kids.

[rutan668]

I find it very odd in Korea because there doesn't seem to be any standard in relation to corporal punishment. Some schools hand you a stick and expect you to use it, and in other schools I've been told that I can be fired for hitting students or even threatening them!

Why such varying standards for 'punishe'

[wylies99]

The owner and director care only about money. Typical hogwan.



OP-Is it another foreign teacher? Many hogwan contracts forbid discipline by foreign teachers.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

[Rteacher]

I personally think that native-English teachers from western countries should basically mind their own business and not be confrontational over the issue of corporal punishment used by Korean (and other Asian) teachers as a class-management and teaching technique...

Of course, one of the dangers of such methods is the teacher losing control and really harming a kid (in which case intervention might be necessary...) but I think that occurs very rarely. Varying policies at different hogwans largely reflect the wishes of parents in that area.

I worked for one director with a background as an educator who didn't believe in hitting students at all, but he was pretty scary when he intensely screamed at kids (and teachers) until they cried ...

In public schools, I think that younger students are only hit minimally if at all, with teachers sometimes just showing a stick as a threat...

Korean teachers generally use their "love sticks" more in middle schools, and that might vary according to region and socio- economic levels...

By high school, I think that it varies according to the type of school. Those geared more for going on to universities use corporal punishment much less than technical and vocational schools...

At my tech high (privately owned as are about half of all high schools in Korea...) I think that every Korean teacher has at least half a dozen various types of sticks, paddles, rubber pipes, etc...

The Korean teacher who serves as my liason with the Education Ministry informed me that paddling is permitted (by the Korean teachers, who are expert at it...) because it's a technical school, but it's not permitted at the regular high school in the same small rural town...

From what I've observed in the two-and- a half years I've been there, the students seem to buy into the system and usually take the hitting in stride, often laughing it off (though sometimes it at least sounds pretty forceful...)

I only heard a student really cry out in intense pain only once - when a woman teacher in the same teacher's office as me whacked a girl seated on the floor full force across her thighs with a mean looking bamboo cane (And I think that she's one of the most popular teachers...)

At a hogwan I was at that sometimes did hit elementary kids, I asked a 5th grade boy who was a very good student what he thought about Korean teachers hitting kids. He replied that the best teachers hit their students the most...

[oldfatfarang]

Welcome to Korea. The hardest lesson Western teachers learn here is that you have in fact travelled back in time.

And there's another more disturbing lesson we all learn as well, i.e., that you can take the peasant out of the rice field - but you can't take the peasant out of the peasant in just 40 years.

I've just had to leave my office. Because one of my ever-so sweet and smiling woman K co-teachers was beating 9 boys with a hunk of wood.
While this may prepare them for tdoay's manufacturing economy and yesterdays's hierarchical Confucian society, it certainly won't prepare students for a modern global economy that requires flexible - innovative thinking and behavior.

A long way to go Korea - a very long way to go.