Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thegadfly]

Candy = bad.

If you "pay" kids for answering questions, they will learn to NOT answer unless they are "paid." When you try to stop the practice, the students will feel resentful and uncooperative. The practice is counter-productive, sets a bad precedent, and will ultimately lead to MORE discipline problems, rather than less.

Just stop it -- read a few books on classroom management.

Any sort of "reward system" will share the same problems -- if it is stickers or "class money" or whatever, if you are "paying" kids to do what they should already be doing, you are nurturing a sense of entitlement, as well as subtly convincing them that learning is NOT something they should want to do -- I mean, clearly, if you must get paid to do it, it isn't something one would choose to do WITHOUT pay, right?

High fives, praise, or social acknowledgement do not work in the same way -- a "job" has both a salary and a prestige connected to it -- if you are adding to the "salary" of a student in some way, it will backfire. You need to add to the "prestige" of doing good work.

[karenology]

[karenology]

[thegadfly]

Karen,

Actually, your version of the reward system corrects several of the problems inherent in the "candy" system -- your immediate reward is public recognition (the prestige I was referring to), and though you allow the rewards to be accumulated (which makes it delayed rather than instant gratification), you have seen that some (many?) students actually prefer the recognition represented by keeping their stars, rather than the physical reward of the candy obtained by turning them in....

You aren't actually disagreeing with my basic premise -- you have fixed the broken parts of the practice, and substituted things that work better, and are more educationally sound...now if you could just step away from giving the actual, physical stars...maybe put up a leader-board with stars drawn on it, then you wouldn't need to search high and low for more post-its.

Perhaps, eventually, after doing this for a while, you could be a little slow to update the board...perhaps once a week instead of every day, then every month instead of every week...then quietly take them down, since students have internalized the target behavior, and no longer need the extrinsic incentives....

I'm an idealist, and it is hella work to remain one, but I keep on keepin' on.

Learning IS fun, and IS its own reward. Some people forget that...but in my classes, at least, I try to help the kids remember.... I don't always succeed, but I do succeed often enough to keep trying...and I think those students are better served by that effort than by a fistful of sugar nuggets...so I will modify my position:

candy = significantly less than ideal

[take a rest]

[cayce23]

[erasmus]

[KevinT]

I'm a pretty new teacher here in S. Korea (2.5 months) so take my response for what it's worth.

The teacher I replaced seemed like he gave out candy for everything. Maybe he did, I'm not sure, but the kids expected candy. That didn't fit too well with my opinion that you shouldn't have to reward / bribe kids to do what's right. I give every kind of praise I can to let the students know they did well, but I don't reward them with candy.

Then I started to notice something; rarely did a day go by that I wasn't given something by a student. Just a taste of this and that, but they seemed to take pride in sharing. I've also been given a lot of food by the two other teachers at the school (I work at a small hogwon). It's just part of the gift giving tradition that is so strong here, and for a while all I was doing was taking.

So, I've backed off on my no-candy policy, but I still refuse to give candy as a reward. Instead, I'll give out small candies in between classes to students who ask, or I surprise the quiet ones that I know will never ask with a piece.

I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing or not. I'm still a new teacher, so I'm still learning.

[thegadfly]

KevinT,

What you are doing is completely different and completely fine. As a teacher, you are not actually expected to give your students gifts -- the gift-giving thing can be one-way without looking like a jerk. You should be sure to share with your co-workers, however...builds goodwill, and smooths over the minor rough edges that might come up.

I would say you are definitely doing it right -- bring something in to share with your co-workers, though, if you have not. It does not need to be expensive...ddukk-bokk-ki is pretty cheap, and a bowl of that seems to produce as many smiles as a 25,000 won cake....

[KevinT]

thegadfly,

Thank you. I actually do give gifts to my co-workers (who are actually the owner of the school / my boss, and his wife). I don't share the candy though. I tend to walk around town on my break and if I stop at a bakery or some place and get something for myself, I'll pick up something small for them as well. Last night I finally found the waffle place my students go to, so I picked up 3 of them and brought them back. 1k Won each, so it was definitely not expensive.

[DavidVance]

Team,
From a multiple health science and public health degrees holder:
Candy is bad for general health nutritionally.
Candy in between meals wrecks the teeth.
Candy reinforces the infantilizing and stupidifying effect of advertising designed to pander to the lowest common denominator in order to garner money from people's ignorance.
Candy is one of the least worthy aspects of our culture that we might foist on the East, and on vulnerable minds.
Please think again and give this ignorant and harmful practice the flick.
Give the students your sincere efforts to give them valuable learning, and leave it at that - you might even incorporate a class on why you don't give candy...
Regards,
David Vance.

[DosEquisXX]

The key is knowing when to award it and what to award it for.

Bribery might work for some hagwons who just want to keep kids/parents happy and don't give a shit about their kids (customers) learning anything. But if you really want to teach them something, then be wiser with your candy.

I would prefer not rewarding students with candy due to possible allergic reactions and the like. But people here love it.

[oldfatfarang]

Update: Yesterday I asked my co-teacher why students were eating candy in my lesson (not allowed). She said that our high school library is having a 3 day Candy Festival this week. Apparently, any student who borrows a book, gets a credit - the more credits, the more candy reward they get. Standing room only!

[TheUrbanMyth]

[RedKristin]