Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ratslash]

i teach at a kindergarten one day a week. on this day, after i had finished my classes, i walked back into the first classroom where i had left my shoes and began putting them on. i noticed a strong smell of bleach in the air. i looked more closely and there were little pots of bleach on the desk and the kids (babies?) had pieces of colored paper in front of them. they had a cotton bud (you know, short wooden stick, cotton bud on each end) in their hand. they were dipping the bud into the bleach and using the bleach to blot a picture onto the paper!

these were six year old kids, so five in western age, playing with firkin bleach! i don't know if it was heavily watered down bleach but the smell in the air makes me think that it wasn't too heavily diluted. i was just gob smacked and still am, that these 'teachers' are having an activity with these very young children, using bleach!!!!!

[schwa]

A quick search on bleach toxicity suggested it's moderately toxic if swallowed. Nothing conclusive on skin contact or inhaling. Kids swim in the stuff in public pools (but that might be a factor in asthma incidence).

[Corporal]

Ah, Korea, the land of safety consciousness. Warms the heart.

[Emma Clare]

Jesus Christ!! Bleach is extremely harmful to small children if swallowed (and to adults too) It can cause horrific injuries if ingested, including chemical burns, and poisoning.

What are these people on????

[camel96]

[Ilsanman]

Bleach, and SARS preventing Kimchi.

Prevents SARS but makes you spit, push, and smoke.

[Real Reality]

Emma Clare and others,
Does this thread relate to another thread.

Are all Koreans Mental???
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=9092

[Mr. Pink]

[ratslash]

i wasn't so much concerned about it being on the skin, but more incase they swallowed it. i guess the teachers told the kids don't drink it, but there are over children always passing by. one of them could grab a pot and knock it back faster than a korean drinking soju thinking it was just water. crazy stuff goes on in this country!

[OiGirl]

I read this thread looking for pornography or child labor or something. I think it's not a great idea for kids to be playing with bleach, but not sure I'd say "shocking"!

In my first grade class today, I asked my students, "What does a good English speaker say?" and one answered, "You can sleep in my bed if you want. I'll sleep in the tub."

[rapier]

To me it's symptomatic of the fact that Koreans are not fully acquinted with the risks and dangers of the modern world that they've relatively recently found themselves in.
You see it everywhere- including the widespread use of harmful pesticides.. we in the west have been exposed to chemicals etc for a lot longer and are a lot more experienced with the full range of things that come part and parcel with a developed, industrialized system...
In 30 years they'll finally realise chemicals are harmful, and other things ,like , "its unwise to destroy/pollute your environment"; or "planning permission is a good thing."

[wormholes101]

cehimcals aern't dnageruos! I paleyd wtih tehm all the tmie wehn i was a kid and i truned out pertty wlel i tihnk. blaech tsates raelly good too!

[Derrek]

Bleach is scary, but those little razor-blade knives they carry scares the heck out of me.

[The evil penguin]

More importantly, how the hell are these little vermin going to pass their TOEIC exams and participate in the struggle for korean world domination if they waste their childhood by painting pictures????

They should be studying dammit!!! STUDYING!!!!!!!

IT MAKES ME SICK!!! Yesterday, believe it or not, I saw a kid who would have been about 5 years old (4 in real years) NOT EVEN IN SCHOOL!!!!
What is this??????? And he didn't even scream out "HELLO HELLO!" when i walked past. Probably because he DIDN"T KNOW HOW!!!!!!!!! Lazy little bugger...

GODDAMN it makes me mad. Less fun and games and MORE WORK!!! Thats what these kids need....

(just as a side topic, mum used to buy me bottles of DRAINO to play with when i was a kid. Used to make sand-castles out if it,...... Sure it burnt the skin but i developed really clean hands.....)

[The evil penguin]