Korean Job Discussion Forums

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[weatherman]

I worked for a year in a girls high school and I did see a fair share of physical punishment, but it was mostly a stick to the palms of the girls hands. Very rarely did I see any hit the calfs of a student with a stick. (I never saw any whacking of the upper thigh thank god.) The worst I saw, was when this very popular female teacher went nuts with a student and took a brick of book and whacked her on the head with it, twice. I was pretty scared along with a lot of the other staff in the teachers room, but nobody interfered with the tantrum.

[jaderedux]

I work in a boys middle school and these boys get their collective butts beat alot. I have seen some pretty rough treatment. Popular favorite is to have the boy put hand and feet on floor and make sort of an upside down "V" and wail on his butt.

I don't know about anywhere else in the world but in America most of these teachers would be in jail or at the very least not allowed to teach.

Also, have them kneel and beat them with a stick on the thighs. I had one 3rd year student throw a temper tantrum in my class that was so bad they called his mother in to beat him too. NOT KIDDING! By the time he had to apologize to me I was already feeling sorry for him. But tell you what that boy NEVER EVER acted up in class again.

There is also random slapping, pinching and all round smacking around. I am not surprised some of these boys end up so damn violent. Remember about 90% of these teachers are women.

But I asked some of them about about and they say they know the teacher loves them because they beat them. One of the meanest teachers who wields the stick like a samuri sword is also one of the most popular when it comes to Teacher's Day or Christmas. hmm? go figure.

[richinkorea]

This statement says a lot:

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I hate it when people say "back in my day...."

Guess what?

It's not "your day" anymore.

[buddy bradley]

Back in my day, getting jacks was the norm. Oh, how we paid for our tomfoolery!

A spelling mistake? Cane across the knuckles!

Unpolished shoes? Bamboo stick across the kneecaps!

Absent? Fifty push-ups the next day!

I truly believe that beatings better a person, and if I'm not proof of this then I don't what is.

[Mr. Pink]

[rapier]

I'm with mr pink: corporal discipline is utterly necessary. but it has to be done right, not simply hitting kids or any of the wacky range of humiliations meted out over here. A quick caning for persistent offendors is thoroughly acceptable and reccomended if you ask me. No more, no less.
A short, sharp shock is not cruelty or abuse. Allowing the worst kids to run wild terrorising the good ones, later becoming criminal delinquents, certainly is.

[IconsFanatic]

[Juggertha]

[On the other hand]

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

I totally agree with OTOH. At my high-school you could get the cane for a serious repeated offense. It was not easy to get the cane, and it was a very serious thing. You would have recieved multiple warnings for one thing. And you would never be caned in front of people, and never caned by the teacher with whom you were misbehaving. You would go to the Deputy principles office after school, and you knew what was going to happen. He would take the time to tell you exactly why you were being caned, and then you would put your hands on the desk and get anything from on to six canes on the ass. The key features of this system were: It was never done in the heat of the moment, it was done by a different teacher, there were repeated warnings, it was a standard punishment, they could not hit you on the legs or the back, only the ass, and there was a limit to the number of strokes you could get.

Also, you parents were always told when that happended, and were told the reason. I see it as a very effective system. It was very painful if you got more than one, but it was controlled. And it was also quite terrirfying, which was the strongest part of the deterent. The waiting was excruciating.

I don't agree at all with random physical punishment in the heat of the moment, in front of other kids, and on innapropriate parts of the body.

[Cedar]

When I first arrived in Korea corporal punishment was still legal. It was shocking to me, not so much that it was legal, but seeing it carried out. I was told a lot of that "It's cause the teacher cares" stuff and didn't believe it. Of course I was looking at things with my cultural bias, and not able to understand the language (sometimes not knowing WHY someone was being hit). Now, nearly eight years later, I believe my Hapkido teacher was right. IF you can beat a child WITHOUT emotion, just purely the right amount to discourage bad behaviour in the future, then sometimes it's the best way. Of course it should never be used until students have been prompted in correct behaviour and refused to comply on more than one occassion.

Remember, Korean parents DO NOT discipline their kids. That's seen as the job of the teachers.

[hellofaniceguy]

I was not resigned to a second year at the high school I was at some years back; I stepped in between a male teacher and the female student he was slapping across the face and slapped him across the face and told him to never hit another woman again. He put his tail between his legs and sat down in the teachers room. What was unexpected was the support I got from the other teachers! And the students. But not enough support to get a second year.

[kangnamdragon]

At least Korean high school students are more polite and don't shoot their schoolmates and teachers. There are few drugs and crimes committed in Korean schools too. Maybe some American students need a few whacks!