Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kiwi Tart]

My students keep telling me about how their teachers hit them in public school. Also, a few weeks ago the hagwon owner barged into my class and hit two of my kids for trying to finish their homework before I walked around to them. My boss even said that it's NECESSARY because they need immediate discipline, or the parents will complain, so hitting them is the only way they will understand they are doing something wrong.

Other students write about it in their essays that I have to grade. I just can't deal with it anymore.
Why do parents send their kids to hagwons where the kids are hit? How come the parents aren't ripping the kids out and suing the pants off of the administrator? Seriously, it's just to violent.
Why is it tolerated in the public schools too?

This Confucianism doctrine is utter bullcrap. It's just an excuse to blow up on people smaller than themselves. Utter power trips. I blew up on my boss (told him that if it's OK for him to hit my students, then it must be OK for me to hit his son who is also in my class).

I've been here for 4 years, and this aspect of Korean cultural is just really getting to me. I guess there is nothing I can do, but, I feel so bad for the kids. It's just breeding anger, which will probably make them resentful and violent adults themselves.

I wish I could do something.

[mayorgc]

I think some kids (all kids) deserve to get spanked. some are just rotten.

[UknowsI]

My dad went to a school in England when he was a kid and it seemed just as common there and I think the parents thought it was good for their character. They even got hit for things like not finishing your meal. It just takes a little while to realise that it might not be the best way to discipline students.

[anjinsan]

Our family rule is quite simple:

Hit my kid; I hit you (really really hard).

Yet another thing which is against the law/rules in Korea,
but which isn't enforced.

[fermentation]

Breed anger and resentment? Nonsense. It's good for kids. If you don't agree I'm gonna have to beat some sense into you.

[aishiii]

Well not hitting kids is not working either.

[ippy]

i think i was in the year group that was the first one to benefit from the banning of corporal punishment in the UK still, that being said, ive had a month or two here and im unphased by it.

IF AND ONLY IF its done in a structured way ('you did this, therefore you will get 3 slaps on your hand with this ruler) i dont mind it. If i see anything like a slap on the face ill have trouble not saying something though. That has absolutely no place EVEN in a punitive system.

I have serious doubts that physical discipline has any real place in a school for educational purposes in the first place. As a punitive method, it maybe does have a bit of an effect (but im in no place to really judge that.
Its just a knee jerk wooley liberal feeling that has no real place in a debate on corporal punishment after all).

Basically, the jury is out with me. It doesnt really bother me too much so long as it has some kind of value in the class room at the end of the day, beyond of course simply striking fear into the students.

[kingplaya4]

Teach at a school in the states or the UK and you might change your mind. Anyway, now kids can be tazed apparently. I'd be a heck of a lot angry if my child got tazed than if he got his hand smacked. Reducing your western pussification may prove beneficial.

[nautilus]

[Sadebugo1]

Having worked in a Korean public high school teaching up to 60 students in one class, I can attest that the teachers have to enforce strict discipline. In Korea, it seems that hitting students is the easiest method to do this. It happened when I was in school in the US but not anymore. I wonder if there's a correlation between ceasing that type of punishment and the condition of US schools today.

Sadebugo
http://travldawrld.blogspot.com/

[Steelrails]

[Triban]

I wish I could reprimand my kids.

Do push-ups until I get tired.

[eIn07912]

Man, I wish I could hit my kids. I teach at a private elementary school (not hagwon). And we're not even aloud to look at the kids sternly, or their parents will yank them out and out goes their tuition that the school desperately needs. So these kids get babied and coddled to the point they're all spoiled rotten.

Their behavior is unbelievable. I've never known kids that are aloud to scream curse words (both Korean and English) at the top of their lungs in class or in the hallways. Boys punch and beat the girls and their Korean teachers just make them sit in class during break time. If they score poorly on a test, we're supposed to "feel sorry" for them and give them a better grade. No student is aloud to make below a B. There's no such thing as failing a level either. Kids could never do their homework, fail every test, curse and scream at their teachers, and still get promoted at the end of the year.

It's disgusting. It's one reason I think that schools like this are ruining generations of kids to come. I wasn't abused as a kid, but I got my arse beat for far less that what goes on in this place and I turned out fine. Some of these kids need a reality check. The world isn't handed to you on a silver platter. It's going to be a rude awaking for some. If you ask me, a leather belt to the tushy might be a way to ease them into the real world.

[jonpurdy]

My 5th graders receive corporal punishment if they are bad. They might be afraid of my co-teacher but they're definitely the most disciplined. Classes are smooth and work well as a result. I basically do no disciplining at all in those classes.

My 6th graders don't receive corporal punishment from my co-. As a result, classes are much more disruptive and difficult to control. It's gotten better lately but it seems that the fear of a good whack on the head or ear pull keeps them in line.

When I lived in Canada I was totally opposed to any sort of corporal punishment for students. Now, I'm not so sure. I mean, the goal of schools is to educate the students. If the bad kids aren't mature or respectful enough to control themselves without being hit then the good kids suffer as a result. So it seems that keeping the few bad kids in line (using whatever means are necessary) makes it worth it for the education of the good kids.

I've only got a B.A. and I'm only on my second year here. I've also never taught in Canada. Can anybody with more experience enlighten me?

[Captain Obvious]