Korean Job Discussion Forums

pkd4trvln · Joined: 09 Jan 2007

My school a private hagwan of 500 students has a director who often shows up overly intoxicated to work, as I hear many do. Several weeks ago he beat a student pretty badly and we were about to quit because of it, but upon telling the other director we were leaving he told us the beatings have become a lot less frequent because we are there to stand up for the children. (this is not the first time we have complained about the hittings which are generally several close fisted punches to the top of the head as hard as the drunk can swing em') It is obvious that Korea hasn't accepted that hitting a child is a bad thing, so there seems to be nobody to report the incidents to. In many cases the parents beat the children as well and many parents supposedy approve of it.

drunkenfud · Joined: 08 Mar 2007

I have seen corporal punishment. Children being spanked on the palms of their hands. Mostly, they don't seem to care.

Tokki1 · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 6:49 am Post subject:

I had a kindie student a few years ago who had a severe behavioral disorder. The Korean teacher used to beat him on the back with both hands. She'd lift up her arms, and SMACK. It was so loud. I expressed my concern many times. I mean, it really did no good. The kid's going to turn into a serial killer. For sure.

I've also seen stick beatings.

Personally, I've put students in the corner with 'hands up'. This is also physical abuse as far as I'm concerned and I'll never do it again, having reconsidered this 'strategy'.

yingwenlaoshi · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Location: ... location, location!

These work well:

And then:

Rteacher · Joined: 23 May 2005 Location: Western MA, USA

I think that it's generally recognized by leading Korean educators that corporal punishment isn't very good for the learning process (and has an obvious potential for abuse) but until more Korean teachers get training in better class managment techniques, it's allowed within guidelines at many public schools (especially vocational and technical...)

I've heard that there are plans to phase it out gradually (after attempts to legally ban it proved unworkable...)

Hogwans differ widely in their use of it.

Most all the students at my tech high seem to take it in stride and laugh it off - even if it sounds like brutal punishment with sticks and paddles...