Korean Job Discussion Forums

[RACETRAITOR]

[tigerbluekitty]

The Asian mentality is a B*tch!

It makes no sense and gives no affection, compassion, or nuture and causes instability which leads to unfortunate cases like this.

Blame the parents and Korean society!

[Xerxes]

I don't feel responsible, though I strongly feel that I could have prevented it. I think that I had many close calls in my teaching experience so far, and that's what makes me think that I could have prevented it.

One student had run away from home and had been hanging out at his friend's house (his teen friend lives by himself, for some reason). He had missed class for a few days so I started to needle him about the missing classes and he nonchalantly told me that he had run away. (I had thought it strange that the hakwon got a call from the mother asking if the student had come to classes). I talked to him and asked if I could at least call his mother to say where he was and that he was safe. He finally agreed, and we went out to dinner after my having called her mother. She was needless to say very distraught.

He ended up staying the night at the hakwon with the owner's permission, and I had given him some work to do to make himself feel useful. I think that that snapped him out of his negativity. He is now attending Penn State and is doing well, after having talked to her kid sister who later also attended the hakwon.

I really appreciated the hakwon owner for agreeing to let him stay the night on the sofa and to work doing the menial jobs for meals and some pocket money.

I thought that that was a "success" story. Strangly, I have several of these experiences with a kid 10-year-old boy just hanging out at the dorm of a nearby university and I happened to stay with him until his father showed up after I needled his home phone number out of him.

Would either have killed himself too? I don't know, but I really don't want to know. In any case, it probably did him some good just venting some steam. His mother is admittedly very aggressive and disparaging of her son's abilities, but whose Korean mother isn't, I thought.

[lowpo]

[Hollywoodaction]

Friends and family. No students, as far as I know.

You can't always predict it. Some suicides are spur of the moment, like my when one of my friend's did it (He was a great guy: smart, funny, hardworking, outgoing, etc. He and his girlfriend got in a terrible accident one night. She was seriously injured, but he didn't even have a scratch. He hung himself a few hours later.)

[cosmicgirlie]

No students--but when I worked at a group home in Canada as a youth worker a girl I had briefly worked with committed suicide on top of thebuilding....we could smell the rotting but couldn't figure out what it was until some of the kids climbed up on the roof to get a ball that had been thrown up there--yeah cause a bunch of mental health kids need to see the decomposing body

other than that I've had lots of clients that I've worked with attempt suicide and others who have threatened suicide. I find the vast majority of the ones I've come across is crying for help--and can be easily reached. I've stopped a few attempts but for the most part the kids who have followed through with the suicide have been very set in their manner--nothing we've said or done has ever stopped them....and I suspect that was the case with your student---you can always try to say something but if she's got her plan in motion it's hard to stop them. Don't blame yourself.

[tfunk]