Korean Job Discussion Forums

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

You don't need to hit kids to discpline them. It's a perfectly normal part of child development for kids to test out what's acceptable and not acceptable but making clearly defined boundaries of behavior and sticking to them is important.

Seems here in Korea that kids are given a pretty wide berth of what's acceptable and what's not but when they step outside the boundary then the teachers/parents come down on them a lot harsher than in the west. For instance I don't allow sleeping and non uniform items in my class where as the korean teachers let them slide. So I'm called a strict teacher. Yet I have never struck a student.

Too often physical punishment is meated out in rage not because the child is out of control but because parent/teacher is.

Koreabound2004 · Joined: 19 Nov 2003

Well said CLG. Smile

manlyboy · Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 9:09 pm Post subject:

When I interviewed for my public school gig, they were very concerned that I should not use corporal punishment, not because I was a foreigner but because the interviewers simply felt it was wrong, yet I've seen my co-teacher hit students with a closed fist as hard as she could on a number of occasions. She did it this morning, in fact. The girl winced in pain, and is probably sporting a bruise right now. It wasn't a calculated disciplinary action either. She just struck out in frustration because the kid wouldn't listen. It's not typical of the K-teachers at my school to do this however - it's just my wacky "ray-of-sunshine" co-teacher.

Crazyteacher · Joined: 13 Nov 2004

I slapped a kid across the face with a book a couple of days ago. He was only like 10 years old but I feel he deserved it. He kept caughing in my face despite my repeated warnings. Anyway, he cried but my hit didn't leave a mark. The next day, his parents complained to the director and said that the kid was delerious with fever and was talking in his sleep. Now I think I am being fired.
Do any of you know if I will be able to get another teaching job in Korea?

Crazyteacher · Joined: 13 Nov 2004

I slapped a kid across the face with a book a couple of days ago. He was only like 10 years old but I feel he deserved it. He kept caughing in my face despite my repeated warnings. Anyway, he cried but my hit didn't leave a mark. The next day, his parents complained to the director and said that the kid was delerious with fever and was talking in his sleep. Now I think I am being fired.
Do any of you know if I will be able to get another teaching job in Korea?

Crazyteacher · Joined: 13 Nov 2004

I slapped a kid across the face with a book a couple of days ago. He was only like 10 years old but I feel he deserved it. He kept caughing in my face despite my repeated warnings. Anyway, he cried but my hit didn't leave a mark. The next day, his parents complained to the director and said that the kid was delerious with fever and was talking in his sleep. Now I think I am being fired.
Do any of you know if I will be able to get another teaching job in Korea?

matthewwoodford · Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Location: Location, location, location.

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

I agree with physical punishment, if done in the correct way. beating a kid with a closed fist is just wrong.
But no problems with a short sharp shock such as a ruler across the hand, or in extreme situations, a cane.
Sympathies to crazyteacher.. these kids here will drive you to the edge of insanity. But the moment you so much as tap one on the shoulder, they will tell their parents you have brutally assaulted them and fake psychological damage, as well as pneumonia and tramatic stress disorder. You will be labelled an abuser and your career not only in korea but for life, may be in ruins.

crazykiwi · Joined: 07 Jun 2003 Location: new zealand via daejeon

Well i had a situation on friday at my kindy. A parent wanted to know why i punished her son for going to the toilet the previous tuesday. Now, the thing was, the kids have been taught by me and the co-teacher to ASK to go to the bathroom before they jump up and run. This kid aint stupid, he knows and i know that what he did, by just running out of the classroom, was not acceptable. now i punished him by leaving him outside for 2 minutes to tink about it. had a little chat with him, made sure he knew what he did was wrong, and made him have a laugh. problem solved. Now i had my owner (who ive met 3 times) come in to translate, had a huge argument with him, the mother, the father and the director. no matter how hard i tried, they couldnt get what i was trying to do, ie, teach him how to use manners! not only that, i cant have kids coming and going as they please, not only is it rude butvery unsafe for me and them. what if something happened on the way to the toilet? what if there was a fire? etc. now hes been removed from my class , which is good, because hes actually a little shit, but the director is no longer speaking to me. oh well, suck it up, 2 weeks and counting!

btw, i agree with a swift flick to the forehead to make an unruly child shut up and listen. works everytime. fist? no. finger yes. good luck crazyteacher. i dont think your career is over mate, just maybe your job there. chill, no record over here will effect your jobs any where else in the world. just omit that job from your cv. Very Happy

riverboy · Joined: 03 Jun 2003 Location: Incheon

One thing that I feel should be noted, is that Koreans do score consistently higher marks than their western peers. Finland exculded.

Koreabound2004 · Joined: 19 Nov 2003

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

I must say I've been lucky so far. In two years i've slapped 4 kids, booked many over the head, twisted arms, pinched cheeks, pulled ears, lashed with rulers and whatever was to hand, whacked with baseball bats even. The key is for the kids to like you, on the whole, and understand why they're being punished. And to make sure they're in an ok mood by the time they leave the classroom.
If you hit a kid that obviously hates you and you upset him just as he's on his way home, he will cry to mumsy the moment he walks through the door, and you're asking for trouble.
The main problem is that directors don't explain to the parents the proper situation ever. They just say "So sorry, our crazy foreign teacher hit your angel, we'll be sure to take his severence pay to teach him a lesson".
They neglect to mention that their little darling has been behaving like the spawn of satan. I think most parents would be shocked if they knew how their kids behave in the hagwon. But the illusion is forever maintained, and the waeguk gets blamed.
Most directors have never done a days teaching in their lives, they seem to think teaching is quite possible in conditions of unruly chaos and zero discipline. They will be angry if you so much as look a brat the wrong way, then wonder why the class is misbehaving and learning zero. Typical Koreans, want everything both ways ........