Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mrsquirrel]

Let the kids fight. It's good for them.

Had a couple of middle schoolers scrapping after class. I gave them a minute to trade blows then escorted the winner to the office to receive his beatings from the discipline man.

They were best of friends again by lunch time.

[raclos234]

had two 6th graders duke it out...well punches were thrown by one of them at least. one kid was tall and lanky. the other was rather short for a 6th grader.

was talking to my co-worker with our backs turned, then next thing we know the tall kid has the short one by the throat and then the shorter kid cracks him a couple good shots right in the mush.

my buddy ends up breaking it up. i myself wanted to see them go at it a little bit longer.

the shorter kid i had in class the next day and i asked him what happened...he didnt say too much. apparently he didnt tell all his classmates b/c he started telling what happened after i brought it up.

if that was me, hell i woulda been bragging about popping some chump in the mouth.

[Faunaki]

Two MS boys went at it outside the English Zone. Great fight. One kid, although mini, was duking it out like a boxing pro, the other kid was basically just shielding his face and bleeding.

[genezorm]

I agree it is a different mentality among young Korean students when compared to American kids.
Many of the kids in my high school look physically intimidating, but I have never seen them use their strength to intimidate others. I don't see the strong kids or the "jocks" in Korea, behaving with the swagger, cockiness, or bravado that I have seen with American teenagers.

I think they are culturally socialized to the point where it is unacceptable to use violence when you are young, it's only ok if you are a drunk ajossi over 40.

[bogey666]

many of your students look "physically intimidating"?

on average I see maybe one of out a 100 (if not more) Koreans who look physically intimidating (only place I see them is my gym) and they're not kids.

can't think of a single physically intimidating kid in my highschool. Though there are several who are big/fat and tall, I don't think of them as physically intimidating.. though I am sure they are/would be to a classmate half his size.

[genezorm]

[ardis]

I saw some fights at my summer camp with elementary school kids, but never at my middle school. The kids may slap each other silly and punch each other in the arms, but it's never in a mean-spirited way. I've yet to see a true down and dirty fight from the students at my school.

[bogey666]

[IncognitoHFX]

Yeah, Koreans don't seem to fight, really. The atmosphere is totally different at public schools here than it is back home.

Back home - kids with bling, kids with two foot-blue-mohawks and piercings, kids with tank tops and mini-skirts, kids with knives and tattoos, kids with profane t-shirts, kids in gangs...

Here - N/A

Back home - kids loitering under every stairwell, smoking out front, smoking out back, smoking in their cars (actually posessing their own cars), selling drugs, and fighting everywhere except in the library / administration office.

Here - They're either in class, studying, or sleeping.

I've seen more fights in one day of High School than I've seen... in Korea, period. 거지 shoving matches excluded.

[sargx]

There's been fights at my school (high school). Probably 3 or 4 this semester.

[fusionbarnone]

I known a lot of middle-school girls with black belts in many of the Tae Kwon Do gwans I've been a member of and they could kick ass.

If pushed, Korean kids will get straight down to business without all the talk that normally accompanies a dust-up in the west.

[merkurix]