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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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 Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:42 pm Post subject: Daegu abuse case - what are elementary schools coming to? |
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http://koreabeat.com/?p=1541
Thanks yet again to KB for bringing this to our attention. I just cannot believe that a whole elementary school staff could be so helpless, clueless, and useless. I just really don't get it - we can make high school students spend 14 hours a day studying but can't stop elementary school students from raping each other?
A bit of a lack of social life aside it's things like this that make me so glad that I teach in a small town where it's very difficult to be anonymous and where parents actually still have some trust in teachers' and schools' authority. If the first boys who were discovered to be responsible for these things were publically named and shamed and their families humiliated it would have been ugly but it would have been a hell of a lot less ugly that what ended up happening by pretending nothing was happening to the students they were entrusted to care for. Few things piss me off more than teachers - and this includes a lot of foreigners, too - who are too lazy, cowardly, or uncaring to deal with obvious, serious problems. Without doubt there are a few homeroom teachers, a VP, and a principal who are now directly responsible for scores of shattered lives. |
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crescent
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: yes.
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| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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| I thought this outcome would be a given. I didn't expect anything more. |
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gangpae
Joined: 03 Sep 2007
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:58 pm Post subject: Re: Daegu abuse case - what are elementary schools coming to |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
http://koreabeat.com/?p=1541
Thanks yet again to KB for bringing this to our attention. I just cannot believe that a whole elementary school staff could be so helpless, clueless, and useless. I just really don't get it - we can make high school students spend 14 hours a day studying but can't stop elementary school students from raping each other?
A bit of a lack of social life aside it's things like this that make me so glad that I teach in a small town where it's very difficult to be anonymous and where parents actually still have some trust in teachers' and schools' authority. If the first boys who were discovered to be responsible for these things were publically named and shamed and their families humiliated it would have been ugly but it would have been a hell of a lot less ugly that what ended up happening by pretending nothing was happening to the students they were entrusted to care for. Few things piss me off more than teachers - and this includes a lot of foreigners, too - who are too lazy, cowardly, or uncaring to deal with obvious, serious problems. Without doubt there are a few homeroom teachers, a VP, and a principal who are now directly responsible for scores of shattered lives. |
I agree with you about lazy, cowardly, heartless teachers unwilling to establish an environment in which all students can thrive. From what I've seen teachers usually help facilitate the bullying, either by sheer stupidity or gross negligence, or in the worst examples, by actively participating. Make no mistake this is a problem in almost every so-called first world country, and I think it stems from the institutions not keeping up with the culture.
I do disagree with your suggestion of naming the bullies. I think it might have the opposite effect, that is the bullies may well 'wear' the publicity as a badge of merit in our media driven age. In Canada because of the Young Offender Act, the students could never be named, almost no way no how.
Rarely do people have the wisdom to act in a 'pro-active' way, but instead, we are a reactive animal. Change will come when parents finally get the courage to start using the legal system to protect their children. Until that time bullies will continue to mock and humiliate or worse with impunity, teachers will continue to ignore the problem, and many children will suffer needlessly.
It'll take a few juicy legal judgements before any serious change takes place. However change it will, because nothing is as painful as an empty wallet. If Korea really wants to learn from the best they should pass on the educational consultants from the U.S., where the start of the school year coincides with the start of the mass murder season, and start hiring consultants from Australia. The Aussies are world leaders when it comes to addressing the problems plaguing our schools. |
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Typhoon
Joined: 29 May 2007
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't know where you are from in Canada, but this would not happen in Canada. The assult could happen, but not the ongoing sexual harrassment with teachers knowing about it as described in the article. With the current atmosphere in relation to bullying; kids can't even get away with hugging friends in a school setting let alone any form of sexual harrassment. It just wouldn't happen and any teachers that knew something like this was happening and let it continue would be brought to the OCT and then disbarred...no need for the school board to fire or the unions to step in. F-ing up something like this gets you kicked out of the profession. Check out "Professionally Speaking" from the OCT and the blue pages. They are people who have lost their permission to teach from the OCT for things a lot smaller than letting sexual abuse go on in their classrooms. It is freaking ridiculous that things like this happen here. I guess it goes to show being a man in Korea gives you the right to do whatever the hell you want. Korea Fighting!!! |
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rebel_1812
Joined: 17 May 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:30 am Post subject: |
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The page won't open for me. I guess the summary of the story is a female student got raped in class and neither teachers or other students did anything. I'm not sure if this is the situation but it would not suprise me to hear something like that happen.
I have a case of bullying in one of my classes between two boy students. One is fat and is always called pig and student by the other boys. In fact the directors son says shut-up every time he speaks. I punish the kids for their bullying but I know the korean teachers do nothing about it. It wouldn't surprise me if it escalates to violence and assault one day. |
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crescent
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: yes.
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:56 am Post subject: |
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Daegu Sex Abuse Case Ends With No Charges
In May Koreans were scandalized by a case of bullying in Daegu that grew into a bizarre atmosphere of sexual violence which culminated in some form of gang-rape (see also The Marmot). The legal case ended recently with no charges filed against any of the accused after police failed to secure cooperation from victims and their families, some of whom denied anything had taken place. This interview (done while the case was ongoing) with Nam Eun-ju, an activist in the area, helps shed some light on the story.
▲Interview with Nam Eun-ju, head of the Daegu Women�s Association (대구여성회)
Society has been shocked by a case of group sexual assault at an elementary school in Daegu which involved even very young children and went on for a long time. But rather than taking steps towards a solution, the school authorities and local society simply covered it up.
The scandal, revealed to the world by the media, has been treated by school authorities and parents as �exaggerated and non-existent�.
A local citizens� group formed to go to the school and help deal with the issue, says that the school authorities and parents who have the responsibility of protecting the children, as well as the Office of Education, have not played their proper roles nor attempted to properly deal with the issue. What in the world could the problem be? On hearing of a case of a child being sexually assaulted, what is the best thing for a person to do?
Experts familiar with the special nature of the issue of the sexual assault of children warn that if not dealt with properly, similar incidents will continue to recur. Because of this Korean society, which is currently trying to deal with this issue, needs to investigate the issue and think about where and what kind of changes need to be made.
We met with Nam Eun-ju, director of the Daegu Women�s Association and active with the citizens� group, and asked for her views on the situation, what makes it difficult to deal with, and what policies are needed.
There has been a lot of attention paid by the media to this case of student sexual assault, but it seems that the full picture has not yet emerged. Please explain how the students could have gotten into something like this.
�Teachers first became aware of sexual harassment being committed by the male students in November, and the group sexual assault incident was reported in April.
If you look at the entire case it is interconnected. It�s natural for their to be a coolest student in each school, each grade, and each class. At first the students had no intention of committing sexual assault, but a violent situation developed. The male students were hit, sexually assaulted, and robbed by the older boys, and then they brought in others. In the process victims became victimizers, and the number of students drawn in grew until even the girls were, too.
Besides this large, multi-layered case there were other, individual cases of sexual assault. Kids caught up in this kind of culture would sexually assault girls in the bathroom.
Nearly 100 names have been given to police by the teacher, 22 of them middle school students. Attention has focused on the ringleaders with little paid to the number of victims. In the lower grades the students had a chance to get a teacher involved, but once they got to fifth grade they wouldn�t talk. I think there was a possibility for the scope and nature of the situation to grow more serious. With other cases of teen group sexual assaults have been revealed in the media, people are wondering if this is a natural thing.�
With the revelation of this scandal people are wondering if the school is really doing anything. The former principal submitted a letter of resignation and a punishment committee has been opened to deal with those responsible, but is there no other measure for protecting children?
�It appears that the school is, in its own way, working hard to take proper measures. When the case was first reported on the news the Office of Education and the school began a �stabilization� move. They would make a speech to the teachers every day about doing better. Parents were educated. The victimized students were separate, kept on the outside� The school has placed the homeroom teacher who revealed the case on sick leave, and if the teacher doesn�t come back we plan to lodge a complaint against the committee.�
Right now the school and parents are saying there is no connection between the harm these girls have suffered and the incidents which occurred at the same time. They call them separate matters but also call for the teacher to be punished. They say there nothing happened other than what was reported to the police. So nothing needs to be done? That runs counter to what we know about the truth. These children need counseling and treatment and the adults are saying that nothing happened.�
The parents� attitude is even less understandable than the schools�. Why aren�t they protecting their children?
�First of all, students don�t talk to their moms. Kids are more afraid of their mom than of their victimizers, and they don�t want to make her angry. And the parents tell their kids they don�t want to hear about this kind of thing.
It�s clear that the kids have been hurt, but unfortunately it seems the parents absolutely do not believe anything happened. Maybe they think that is a way of protecting their children. Right now the kids may think so too, but as they grow older they could change their minds and hold a grudge over it.
If we want to solve this problem we have to face the problem, talk about it, get angry about it and heal the damage. The problem of sexual violence is that people don�t want to face it. When parents and schools see it they won�t face up to it and don�t want to talk about solutions.�
It seems that there is a refusal to deal with the sexual assault of the boys. Is that because they don�t know about the effect of sexual assault on children?
�Culturally our society is not interested in boys who have suffered a sexual assault. Children are the same. And because this incident saw boys as both victims and victimizers, parents think that nothing needs to be done.
It seems that, because they are still very young children, there is a desire to cover it up and say that they don�t know anything. But if you hide it now, and pretend nothing happened, does that actually mean nothing happened? The face is hidden but the body is the same as ever. Inevitably it�s going to come out.
This incident occurred at the time when children are learning about sex, and it is going to bubble up again at difficult times. When they have sex, or when they get married, it will come back. It will affect them as their consciousness develops and they grow up. If treated now it won�t be enough to heal the chasm inside them, but if we ignore the problem we don�t know how they will develop.
Because they are so young the damage can grow. Because they were forced into sexual assault rather than freely participating in it, the damage can grow. We cannot ignore the possibility that they will become sex criminals. Sexual assault follows a person for life and affects their sense of self. And it doesn�t affect just themselves because they have trouble forming connections with other people when they become adults. We can�t let that kind of misery perpetuate itself.�
It seems that the failure of the local children�s center to get involved has played a role in the worsening of the situation. If so, who is there who can protect them? This is case of child sexual assault but no experts are involved.
�If the center had been offering counseling from the start the problem would not have gotten as big as it has. That�s because with the parents of the victimizers saying there was no sexual assault, everyone was given a pass for it. If you let off the hook the ones at the center of the problem, you can�t pursue the issue.
When kids tell them they want to be safe, educators are open about not being up to the task but id they kids don�t then they don�t say anything. Can they say that the kids didn�t say anything, that nothing happened, that there was no sexual violence? Out of the kids who told what happened, some have broken arms and others don�t want to go home. They saw others get grabbed by the throat and asked �what did you say?� The older kids told them to go off and die, how can they tell adults about such things?
Teachers asking, �are you having trouble? I can help you. Or who would you like to have help you?� and having a checklist and checking on the kids, is that really the work of experts? As time passes and the problem gets more complex, it should bring home the fact that experts in child sexual assault are needed.�
Isn�t it bad for schools to deal with the issue of child sexual assault by themselves? I wonder if they don�t need a manual about the subject, and if there shouldn�t be aid from the Office of Education and a team of experts.
�I think it�s not desirable for schools to intervene in a sexual assault first. When this issue was first discovered a school violence committee was opened, and over 10 school authorities are on it. People in government positions don�t have the children�s best interests at heart. They ask if it�s going to be their responsibility if property values fall. School committees judge things according to their own understanding. And it isn�t good for it to be kept secret. That�s just not good.
But when teachers learn of the problem they don�t report it to the school or Office of Education. There should be an outside system in use. If the school learns of it first it seems that nothing is done. They cover it up, and people help them do so. A bureaucratic atmosphere takes hold.
A greater problem than not having a system is when there is one but it is not used. Putting together a local policy board at the school is a democratic method, but if they�re concerned over local property values it�s a different story.
This is because the principal has to investigate an incident of child sexual assault and then go to the Office of Education and if he reports it, it�s a minus for him. Teachers who present problems also get low evaluations, and are criticized for not teaching correctly. So when an incident of sexual assault happens the other teachers will say, �do I have to report it too?�
This case is affecting other teachers in the area. Parents are threatening to go to the school and pull out the teacher�s hair, saying that the school is getting a bad name because of you, calling the teacher a liar. The teacher is having a difficult time and cries every day. This just seems like the opposite of what should happen when you tell the truth and the teacher is feeling greatly persecuted.�
To deal with and prevent issues of child sexual assault what should schools, Offices of Education, and our society do?
�The Office of Education should not take over the investigation. That�s where the cover-up starts. They start by looking at who can be crucified. It�s better if they don�t take things over, work together on policy, and think about the children. It shouldn�t be like now, where it�s �should we transfer them, or fire them?� but the school should work with experts on what to do and NGOs and the government would have to stay out.
If there is any change to come out of this problem, it should be that other schools in the Daegu area should put more emphasis on sex education. I think that if kids are not given sex education this kind of incident will occur, and if early responses are not made then experts will not be consulted, and the problem will grow.
But at this school it appears that this was not a part of teachers� duties and thought was not given to the children. And in our society there is almost no awareness of childrens� rights and people don�t agree that �children should be brought up socially�. These are big problems.
Children can�t spend their whole lives as victimizers or as victims. Living your whole life as a sex criminal, that�s not what anybody wants. If kids become victimizers their spirit will someday suddenly leave them, so eventually their interconnected, structural problems have to be solved. And the victims may blame themselves or lose their self-esteem, and to prevent that they need therapy and help. If that aid continues to be offered to them, they can get to the core of the problem.�
I�ve lost the link, but a different article from The Hankyoreh got this great quote from Jo Yun-seok, chair of an organization supposedly tasked with dealing with school violence: �Today in that school there are neither victims nor victimizers.�
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:00 am Post subject: |
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Maybe the parents received hush, I mean settlement money.  |
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gangpae
Joined: 03 Sep 2007
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:44 am Post subject: |
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| Typhoon wrote: |
| I don't know where you are from in Canada, but this would not happen in Canada. The assult could happen, but not the ongoing sexual harrassment with teachers knowing about it as described in the article. With the current atmosphere in relation to bullying; kids can't even get away with hugging friends in a school setting let alone any form of sexual harrassment. It just wouldn't happen and any teachers that knew something like this was happening and let it continue would be brought to the OCT and then disbarred...no need for the school board to fire or the unions to step in. F-ing up something like this gets you kicked out of the profession. Check out "Professionally Speaking" from the OCT and the blue pages. They are people who have lost their permission to teach from the OCT for things a lot smaller than letting sexual abuse go on in their classrooms. It is freaking ridiculous that things like this happen here. I guess it goes to show being a man in Korea gives you the right to do whatever the hell you want. Korea Fighting!!! |
I didn't say anything about whether this would or would not happen in Canada. I did say that because of the Young Offenders Act the names of the offenders would never be released. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:26 am Post subject: |
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| Well, I'd call this story a bright-little-pick-me-up to the conversation the next time a Korean tells me how sexually deviant America is. |
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DrunkenMaster
Joined: 04 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:57 am Post subject: |
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| Didn't you get the news? It was AMERICAN PORNO CULTURE that taught them that their little gochoos had another use. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:38 pm Post subject: Re: Daegu abuse case - what are elementary schools coming to |
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| gangpae wrote: |
I do disagree with your suggestion of naming the bullies. I think it might have the opposite effect, that is the bullies may well 'wear' the publicity as a badge of merit in our media driven age. |
You might be right. But I sure wish the principal would be named, stripped of his pension, and forced to spend his retirement as a cardboard-cart man. |
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rebel_1812
Joined: 17 May 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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| now that I have heard the article there is no way this would happen in canada. You wouldn't have "multi-layers" of sexual assault in schools. And the teachers would do something about it once they found out. This article makes it sound like the bullying and sexual assault was widespread throughout the school. |
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Benicio
Joined: 25 May 2006
Location: Down South- where it's hot & wet
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:30 pm Post subject: |
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First year in Korea I worked at a public middle school.
Never experienced anything like this, but there were cases of bullying, abuse, and serious emotional problems.
When I talked to my co-teachers (Korean as I was the only waygook) about it, they told me not to worry, it wasn't my concern- basically to ignore it as I should not be worrying about those sorts of things.
They definitely gave me the signals that they did not want to discuss matters like this anymore, that I should pretend like it doesn't happen just like they do.
Fear of shame & embarassment seem to be far more powerful than the protection of children in cases like this.
We had a similar case in Miryang- male students gang raping some female students over a period of months. When it was finally reported, the police investigating blamed the girls for bringing shame on their town. The police even published the names of the under age victims which brought death threats to the girls and their families.
The major credo here is to keep quiet and pretend it doesn't happen.
To the OP, there is only so much foreign teacher can do in these situations, especially when all the other teachers and administrators wish to keep it quiet.
Calling the foreign teachers lazy and apathetic doesn't help! |
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Keep informing western media and English media in Korea-I think it was Smee who made a lot of good noise about Coreana's idiotic commerical; not much to do other than that. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Benicio wrote: |
First year in Korea I worked at a public middle school.
Never experienced anything like this, but there were cases of bullying, abuse, and serious emotional problems.
When I talked to my co-teachers (Korean as I was the only waygook) about it, they told me not to worry, it wasn't my concern- basically to ignore it as I should not be worrying about those sorts of things.
They definitely gave me the signals that they did not want to discuss matters like this anymore, that I should pretend like it doesn't happen just like they do.
Fear of shame & embarassment seem to be far more powerful than the protection of children in cases like this.
We had a similar case in Miryang- male students gang raping some female students over a period of months. When it was finally reported, the police investigating blamed the girls for bringing shame on their town. The police even published the names of the under age victims which brought death threats to the girls and their families.
The major credo here is to keep quiet and pretend it doesn't happen.
To the OP, there is only so much foreign teacher can do in these situations, especially when all the other teachers and administrators wish to keep it quiet.
Calling the foreign teachers lazy and apathetic doesn't help! |
I'm just saying that there are some Korean teachers who, like some transient foreigners you meet, don't really give a damn about the state of their kids' lives. Obviously foreigners are not to blame for this case and there may well have been no FTs at this school.
I'm lucky that bullying isn't a huge issue at my school apart from some typical cases of the wangta phenomenon. But if I saw clear evidence of it I'd definitely step in and thankfully I know that there are at least a few teachers at my school who would take it seriously. |
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