Korean Job Discussion Forums

[saw6436]

Most chidren barely qualify as being human. Why not beat them (within reason)?

[SPINOZA]

There's rarely any need to hit kids here because they're generally delightful. It's difficult to find a balance re corporal punishment. I'm not generally in favour because when the red mist descends it's easy to see what damage one could do. Having said that, kids in England are vile sub-human monsters and they are so because if you so much as sneeze on a kid you'd get taken to court and lose your job. Dreadful shower. Lack of discipline is subject to exploitation, yet so is strong discipline by the sadistic teacher. I'd love it if Britain had a really reactionary government and brought back corporal punishment, hanging and national service because that country is going down the toilet socially. Kids here are lovely. Kids in England are revolting and ought to be shot.

[Angrycareb]

when i first got here, the hitting made me shudder. after a year or so and three or four unfocused kids later, i brought the love stick to class for noise control. when i brought the love stick to class the kids freaked out and shaped up cause they thought they were gonna get hit, but then they realized that i couldn't whack them and things reverted again. once i stepped over the "cultural line" (and it is a cultural line and not a moral line) though, things went a different way, the bad kids shut up and the good ones had room to study. but, i couldn't shake the angry feeling inside and it didn't sit right with me, so i quit the love stick. i went to a very strict system of kicking kids out of the class on the second warning and let my korean bosses whack them with a metal ruler on the palms; ten times per trip outside. i was happy again and the proper authorities were in charge of fear and punishment. that's the way it should be.

i mentioned this experience in passing to my brother and mother the last time i was home though ... they were pretty flipped out that i'd hit kids. they didn't have a mind-frame to understand anything out of their own culture and i didn't try to explain it to them. it wasn't worth it.

i'm not ashamed or proud of the way i handled things, it was more about the situation and the kids involved and it was enabled by an understanding boss. i would really like to be able to use a love stick in my current job, but there is no way that will ever happen.

[casey's moon]

I work at a mainstream kindergarten and the only time I get physical with my students is when I have to ask a student to leave and s/he refuses. I have a couple huge 7-year olds, but no one big enough for me not to be able to lift them and carry them out of the room and deposit them on the other side of the door.

The Korean teachers don't use physical punishment either, but they do make the students aware that their actions have consequences. Misbehaving students are often brought to tears by guilt when the teacher is explaining to them how bad they are. Making an apology is also a big part of discipline.

I don't agree with corporal punishment at all -- it frightens me because it can so easily get out of hand. Also, it teaches the wrong lesson to the children. It teaches them that they have a right to hurt someone if they've been wronged.

[Mr. Pink]

"Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child"

This statement has an ounce of truth to it.

I wonder what people consider hitting? Back when i worked in hawgwon hell, I used my book on the kids a lot. Whenever they felt it was fun to dongshim me or do something otherwise as annoying. WHACK on the head with the book usually gave them the message I wasn't happy. Those days seem like another lifetime ago. At my current job, I can't remember ever hitting a kid. Sometimes if I am angry I just rest my hand on the students shoulder, look them in the eye and tell them I am not happy. That usually does the trick. I am sort of uncomfortable touching the students, but in Korea they are very comfortable with that type of thing. The Korean teachers touch the students all the time, and I don't mean in a hitting way. I mean patting them on the head, or touching their arms/shoulders or patting them on the back, etc.



I really don't have a problem that some Korean teachers hit Korean students as long as it isn't hits to the face or head. Whacking a kids arse with a ruler isn't much cause for concern if the kid deserves it. I just think its a shame that Western education lets the kids do ANYTHING they want.

[SuperHero]

[Scott in HK]

Hitting is the lazy and the ignorant. It is as simple as that.

There is no reason for it. Children/Students can be taught without it, so why use it; and if it is so damn useful then why aren't the kids in Korea little angels.

If you can't go through the trouble of learning a better way, don't justify your bullying by saying it is the Korean way. I would rather a chaos in the classroom than hit one kid.

[Mr. Pink]

[Scott in HK]

Ignorant because is shows you are unaware of other forms of classroom management. You do not know that you have option...better options than hitting to bring about order in your classroom.

You hit because you don't know any better....therefore ignorant. Ignorant of the harm you are doing to your class and the student. Ignorant of the problems the cycle of violence brings to society.

And yes...after talking to Education majors and teachers in Korea, many are unaware of other forms of classroom management. This would make them on this subject...ignorant.

In general, the education department would be considered lazy as they won't go through the difficult process of removing hitting as a form of punishment from the classroom.

[Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]

[mindmetoo]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Rteacher]

When I first started teaching in Korea in early 2002 the legal aspect of corporal punishment was reported on in the Korean Herald. The gist of what I recall is that when the law(s) seriously limiting it was passed the Korean teachers en mass vehemently opposed it - claiming that "love sticks" etc. were necessary. Most administrators apparently agreed with the teachers, and - where there is local parental support also - it's likely to continue for a while (or until "gangsta rap" influenced Korean kids get easy access to guns like American students who intimidate and occasionally kill teachers... )

Although I'm disturbed by it sometimes - like when my Korean co-teachers frequently bang sleepy students over the head with various implements (including solid wood clubs and aluminum pipes) while I'm trying to teach intonation - I'm definitely in favor of Korean teachers having it as an option. Korean co-teachers in public schools, I think, will gradually learn from native English teachers some positive alternatives to corporal punishment with regard to class-control. My Korean co-teachers (I have three different ones) seem impressed by my use of music to keep the class as a whole interested and my use of a "slide-whistle" - my "sound weapon" - to wake up napping students. In my opinion, most students seem OK with the punishment system - and it definitely teaches humility and respect (albeit based on fear) of teachers as authority figures.

Admittedly it's a distraction when a particular Korean teacher always spanks the same half-dozen pretty (seventeen-year-old) girl students who regularly show up a minute-or-two late. Of course - consumate professional that I am - I try not to notice all of them rubbing their behinds as they parade into class... (maybe a topic for another forum - like Playboy or Penthouse or Psychology Today)

[cubanlord]

[bosintang]

As a teacher, I want to install a love of learning in my students, and I want my students to feel they're in a safe, supportive, non-hostile atmosphere where they can. I want them to learn to deal with their problems and issues in positive ways. Everything I do as a teacher reflects this, and sets an example of what is appropriate behaviour and what is not. I accept my students for who they are. I reckonise they come from varied backgrounds, and I'm not going to positively influence them unless they respect me as an educator and adult, not as an authoritarian.

I can only lead by example. If I controlled my class using fear, what kind of example would I be setting? and what does that say about my skills as a teacher? I can't interest you in learning, so I must intimidate you into it? It's ok for me to use intimidation and violence to make you do your homework, but it's not ok for you to use intimidation and violence on me when you grow up and become my boss?

There are alternatives to corporal punishment. Removal from the classroom, remedial assignments, detention, counselling with parents, in-school suspensions, etc.. Corporal punishment is for the lazy, the ignorant, and the stubborn.