Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bogey666]

not so much the whacking part (though I approve of it in the most serious circumstances)..

but the normal, everday stuff.

I've seen some new contortions with students on th ground, hands on their heads, bowing down, in some kind of a conga line....
(this was outside on cold and wet ground because they were late)

then I've seen a new kind of body squat, except you have to hold your ears with your fingers. This is HILARIOUS - because the squatter looks like a monkey... I'm going to use this one for sure!

then of course, you have the smokers (busted for smoking - our bathrooms smell like ashtrays) that have to walk around school in a green vest while holding up a sign that says something about not smoking.

GREAT STUFF!

of course in the US of A, this would be considered "child abuse", where of course the real answer is that yes it's child abuse for the child to have such utterly USELESS parents. Some people really shouldn't be allowed to reproduce.

you can't even say Johnny/Jose/Jawan is a complete screwup.... you have to say little Johnny etc "isn't working up to his potential" - never mind that he has no potential, largely due to the idiot parents who have allowed him/her to do whatever they want in their lives.

anyways , I'm basically sick and tired of you whiners who whine about "Korean discipline". I think it's LOVELY!

[lifeinkorea]

Today we are selecting students for our afternoon program. They are combining grades, so the 3rd and 4th graders came into the classroom at the same time. The 4th graders ended up getting herded like cattle into a back room and peeked through the window while 3rd graders were doing some crazy lotto system. I couldn't stop laughing.

[hugekebab]

[ekul]

[Privateer]

I think it's ok for teachers and parents to discipline kids, including using corporal punishment. Kids will be traumatized or brutalized by it only if it's excessively violent or abusive. Of course, the problem is defining what constitutes and what does not constitute abuse...

[bogey666]

[bluelake]

I have nothing against necessary discipline, even a little corporal punishment, but the problem in Korea is that it is sometimes overused (and it was the same when I first lived here back in '84). It was one of the reasons my wife and I decided that our son would not go to Korean middle and high schools; they waste too much time on discipline and don't give enough time to actual education. Well, it certainly did save him some time; he's now in his second semester of Ph.D. studies at the age of 22.

When I took a group of university students on a trip to Jeolla last fall, we saw another version of punishment. In the parking lot of a restaurant, a large group of high school girls had to get in the push-up position and stay there for an extended period of time. One of our members asked one of their teachers what they did. In that case, they had left their picnic trash on a mountain. They deserved what they got...

[RufusW]

I don't think you can ever justify using pain or humiliation as a punishment.

[bogey666]

[Simplicity]

I don't think education should be taught through a medium of fear. In my mind that's the easy-way-out. Anyone can bully and ridicule another if you have power and authority. Real teaching is finding what motivates your students and creating positive learning environments. I think using phyical punishment and humiliation is a real step back for our civilization.

[Perceptioncheck]

[bogey666]

[Simplicity]

[bogey666]

[ddeubel]

If you get a hard on while talking about corporal punishment, giving corporal punishment or thinking about corporal punishment - you should take up another profession.

There is a major message in that word, "in" security.

DD
http://eflclassroom.com