Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Moonera]

Every morning one of the PE teachers and the school "police officer" stand at the front gate of my school and greet the students. The first bell rings at 8:30 and any student arriving after about 8:31 is deemed "late" and is stopped at the gate. Their name is written in a notebook and then they are given a few good whacks on the back of the legs with the PE teacher's "love stick."

I don't agree with it but I accept it because that's the way things are done here.

However, on rainy days (such as this morning) I guess the PE teacher and cop can't be bothered to stand outside so there is no one monitoring the students as they arrive. Students just stream in late with absolutely no consequences.

I just started teaching about 15 months ago but I was under the impression that consistency was one of the most important aspects of any discipline system.

Have you every seen such blatant inconsistency in discipline at your school?

[Easter Clark]

Those kids who are late may have hell to pay when they get to their homeroom.

[Ramen]

...and they better hope that their homeroom teachers don't have hangover from last night.

[Moonera]

EC, you're right. I see them lined up outside their homerooms in various stress positions every morning but that doesn't change the fact that the discipline at the front gate is so arbitrary. I don't agree with the message that it sends to the students.

[mogbert]

what i get to do on those rainy days is stand out in the rain and do the dirty work. i get to take a baseball bat to the students in place of the disciplinarian teacher.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

The inconsistancy really annoys me, too. At my high school every year at the start of the year some of the teachers are all uptight about uniforms. Then after a month when I come to class half the students are in their PE kit. A student in homeroom teacher A's class might get to spend zero block in a stress position and then get whacked for being late while homeroom teacher B pretends not to notice kids coming in late. If the homeroom teachers for a certain grade are taking turns enforcing attendance (so they all don't have to arrive so early) it might depend on what day of the week.

At my middle school the disciplinary teacher this year is way more consistant, and while she's very strict she doesn't hit the students nearly as often as some I've heard about. I've noticed far fewer major disciplinary problems this year compared to last, and the student generally look a lot neater than at my HS.