Korean Job Discussion Forums

[traxxe]

So last week was the festival for my college and our sister university down the way. After my smaller school is winding down we generally head to the university to continue festivities.

I met a friend there who teaches there and within five seconds of being there I see something that sickens my heart. An older Korean professor is punching a male student repeatedly in the face. He pushed a girl student to the ground when she said something. The male Korean student is sitting there just taking it.

I'm telling my friend I cannot believe this crap. That this is what disgusts me about this culture. No one at the table, including women professors and a few nearby men are doing anything to stop it. In fact one of my own students happens to be one table away and is calling me over to help.

Finally I had enough, I went under the plastic of the tent I was watching this through and I got between the student in the professor. The Korean professor informs me I should go away because he doesn't know me. His English isn't bad.

I inform him if he touches the student one more time I will be punching him. I inform him I am a neighboring professor. He raises his hand, I grab it not waiting to get hit and get a brief arm lock. I contort his arm hard. He groans and I let go. Suddenly someone translates enough to him that he understands I'm a professor and he's all about offering me soju and telling me how much he likes me.

I tell him to go f himself. The women professors at the table thank me and one takes the beaten student away. My own student thanks me and I ask her to be my witness. The violent professor is escorted out drunkenly with his co-workers.

Anyway, I told my boss about this. Told them I expected something to come of it. It hasn't. He said that I shouldn't have intervened but understood.

Word comes to me the Korean professor has his wrist in a cast now. Feh. We'll see how it turns out. I asked to go to the people above him to get him fired. No one seems interested in doing anything about his abuse of a student.

Shame I didn't have my camera.

[Goku]

I do agree I think you did the right thing about intervening,

But one really has to speculate why the beating occured and why the male student didn't do anything.

Who knows. Maybe the student said something like "I was banging your daughter last night in the back of a matiz behind GS25."

Maybe the professor was drunk off his can and picked a random kid to beat.

I would like to hear the reason for the beating. Otherwise this story is lackluster.

Honestly I wouldn't have gotten involved. Only bad things can come out of interfering. As much as I agree on principal what you did, there has to be some perspective. Beatings is just how things are done here. Beating students is a regular occurrence. Not like we can do much to change it, and honestly I don't think it's a moral problem, more of a social perspective.

It wasn't so long ago teachers in America used rulers and waved around terms like "spare the rod and spoil the child". In fact, those times were actually more civil than now. Which begs the question, was beating an effective measure of control? Regardless in this sitaution I think you did the right thing.

But I have to wonder, is there more to this story?

[samcheokguy]

Anybody hitting an adult male and expecting to get away with it, should be sent to Latin America for a brief stint.

[TheUrbanMyth]

So the moral of this story is 'Beating someone smaller and weaker is wrong. And to teach you how wrong it is, I am going to beat you because you are smaller and weaker than me'?


Honestly, I think it is very likely you just made things worse for that student. The next time, the professor is going to pick a place where you aren't around.

[samcheokguy]

No the next time the mature adult male will DEFEND HIMSELF and not be a little prison b.....

[Adventurer]

[Ultimo Hombre]

Sometimes you can hit someone in Korea and not be prosecuted.
I hit some guy for harassing my lady once.
He got charged with sexual harassment.
I got charged with assault.
The cops told him that sexual harassment was going to carry a heavier fine than my assault and that my lady would be using his money to pay my fine. He dropped the whole thing and I skated off clean.

I agree that the OP did the right thing.
Hope it doesn't cause you any more trouble though.

[crossmr]

[Forward Observer]

OP, don't think for a second that other Koreans around you weren't capable of stopping him from pummeling the student. They just didn't want to get involved. I guess you had nothing to lose though.

[hobakmorinam]

What u need to go is gett a bigger casy for your arm. And maybe a neckbrace.

[Adventurer]

[Bloopity Bloop]

[jkelly80]

[red_devil]

[Ultimo Hombre]