Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Oliver]

Hi all,

Well I landed in Yeosu on thursday. I met the principal on friday who was a gentleman. THe kids all waved to me from the windows and were genuinely happy to see me.

I had an absolutley beautiful weekend, a well needed and, I felt, deserved break from the British/Western way of life. Glorius views, mountains, seas, different culture, new foods.

Roll on todays teaching. I was so nervous but gradually began feeling more comfortable. I thought the teacher was a bit strict but she is a nice lady so I thought nothing of it. Very pretty, sweet lady.

Then things started to go wrong. Kids being kids were running amock and I thought Christ, this will be hard to control. Then, having gotten used to the Korean culture for the past few days, I wondered if kids who needed the right attention would get it here. Shortly after a little boy in 5th/6th grade was just being a bit mischievous. The teacher called him to the front and squeezed his cheeks full force.

I am ready to go. Shocked I called a Scottish contact who works in this town and she said it is pretty standard. They don't state this in the contract.

I have no money to get home and my flight was paid upfront. I am about ready to busk my way out of here. Infact I am certain I will be.

Is corporal punishment allowed here, by law?

Such a shame because it is a beautiful place.

Ollie

[bundangbabo]

[sonicmatt]

Im all for it. I think maybe there wouldnt be as many behavioral problems and disrespect that is very prevalent in American schools. Often in american school kids will do the same thing, pass notes, texting on phone, and etc. but here all the students have to respect teacher and I am all for that. In fact, I have asked if I can have my own "stick" which the co teachers say no. Then I tell them I just want to bring in a hockey stick just as a warning.

[DrOctagon]

Did you do any research on Korean schools before you came here?

[Oliver]

[Oliver]

[gteacher]

wait til you see the 'lovestick'

[Draz]

Do you really want to go home over this, or are you just looking for an excuse because of the won?

[bundangbabo]

[ttompatz]

[sojourner1]

Oh man OP, don't run, you're culture shocked. Give it some time, before making a rash decision. The 1st time I came, I felt like I wanted to run due to how bad my neighborhood smelled, how the old people looked at me, how people didn't seem to be friendly and courteous and considerate of others out in public, and how I sensed my hagwon director was slimy garbage, but I stuck it out. It's a very different culture than you'd never see in a western country and does take some getting used to with an open flexible mind.

I'm all for corporal punishment too as long as it's not too aggressive where a teacher is very angry and abusing a kid. I've seen punishment numerous times, but never abusive. I tend to stay out of it, but I do remind them sometimes of what can happen. It's tough love that's necessary to instill right from wrong in a child's mind. I don't do it, but if I were Korean, then I would. It's kind like when in another country, you don't go touching things.


When I was growing up in America, we had corporal punishment and if you were rude to a teacher or did something unacceptable, you got your fanny paddled hard. Inflicting minor pain and fear to communicate that a bad behavior is unacceptable is necessary to have an environment conducive to learning and to build up students level of self discipline to act on what is right in the future. When I was in 6th grade, a teacher sat me and my desk out in the hall for being disobedient and I got mad and threw the desk really far through the hall to find the principal dragging me into his office by my ears!!! He was a bit extreme and scary with his big paddle with holes in it where he'd make you drop your drawers for you're stinging swats. They outlawed it in America a few years later, because some people went too far with it. Corporal punishment is not intended to be a dangerous feared threat, but a communication to the child that a certain behavior will not be tolerated and that it's wrong. This makes kids think long and hard about what is right and wrong. Effective punishment si all about building young minds as long as they are not abused by over doing it such as cussing and inflicting serious injury.

Today, corporal punishment is against the law in America and there's no discipline, the school crime rate is increasing, and schools are just way out of control. It's been quite bad since sometime during the 1990's when it was outlawed. All they can do is set up metal detectors at the door and search students since they have no control over students, classes, and schools. I don't see how today's American teacher could teach anything in that lawless corrupt school environment due to students not having any discipline instilled in them so they act awful and have been known to gang up on teachers. Koreans are capable of the same terrible behavioral change in their culture if they don't have some and maintain controls in place. If in a hagwon, they do act much worse than public school since hagwons tend not to punish students for fear of losing their enrollment. I found hagwon to be much more difficult than public school.

Often, Korean kids don't listen to foreigners since they know we don't come to Korea to hit them, scare them, teach them right from wrong, or touch them in any way. Foreigners usually try to make it fun by taking an edutaining approach, but you can also teach in a traditional manner when their Korean teacher is keeping law and order, because they fear her and their own mothers who their Korean teacher keeps in touch with regularly. I thought it was kinda funny, though I was careful not to laugh out loud, to see my rude too cool for school pre-teen 6th graders bent over on all 4's getting the stick across their rumps in the hallway after they acted badly. They've been doing better recently.

[Ukon]

[ajuma]

[Becka]

Know that this would still happen whether you were here or not, so do your best to positively influence the kids in another meaningful way. That's how I deal.

[RobbJK9]

While I agree that it is a part of culture shock that you're dealing with, I have to disagree with what sojourner said, my school got rid of the paddle when I was 10 and it didn't become Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome or anything like that. The real problems were only when students refused to respect the authority of their teacher and I think that comes from parenting and poor teaching.

Your job, OP, is to gain your students respect in ways that can let you sleep at night. A lot of people want power so that leads to them hitting or yelling (my problem), but you should aim for respect. It's the much more difficult road, but that's the burden.

Personally, I have a Thunder Stick I got from a baseball game and I bop kids on the head with it when they're misbehaving. It doesn't hurt, everyone laughs and they get the point. If I make a mistake, I let them bop me.