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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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 Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:40 pm Post subject: Violent bullies given a slap on the wrist by schools |
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http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2973837&cloc=joongangdaily|home|newslist1
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A 43-year old mother surnamed Lim couldn’t contain her resentment when she learned that a bully who broke bones in her son’s face was only ordered to volunteer at the school for three days and send him an apology letter.
The bully’s parents refused to cover the medical expenses for the injured boy, saying that they didn’t want to pay because the family reported the violence to the police.
Lim went to the middle school’s committee on school violence for help but it did little but slap the perpetrator on the wrist by putting them in separate classes.
After the mild punishment, the bully took revenge on the 15-year-old by locking him in an empty class room and relentlessly beating him.
“During the two years we sought help both from the police and the school, my son felt constantly threatened. I felt that the violence prevention centers and schools didn’t put the protection of the victim first, but just mindlessly imposed a lenient punishment so they could say they did something,” Lim said.
Lim’s grim tale exemplifies a growing number of reports of inappropriate or lax management of school violence.
According to a survey by the Foundation for Preventing Youth Violence, 49.3 percent of those bullied from elementary to high school said they feel depressed and frustrated even after the school handles the matter.
According to the survey, the most popular way of handling a school bully is to require the disorderly student to write an apology letter, with 7,820 out of 16,021 cases nationwide settled that way, followed by compulsory voluntary service inside the school in 7,798 cases.
Corrective measures deemed as strict, such as transfer or expulsion, account for less than 20 percent.
“There is a readily available format for such letters and they just mindlessly fill out their name and signature that they won’t beat another student again,” said a 43-year-old mother surnamed Yoo, whose daughter was assaulted by a group of bullies from a different school.
Under Korean law, bullied students can demand their school cover their medical expenses, but schools are often reluctant to pay.
“When my daughter and I sought medical compensation from the school, they requested the personal information of the wrongdoer,” said Yoo.
“But when I contacted the bullies’ school, they didn’t allow me to have the personal information, citing privacy,” she said adding that she ended up paying all the expenses.
Schools often opt to hush up the cases to protect their reputation.
“School staff and principals just try to cover up the controversial violation cases, worrying about the image of the school,” said Shin Soon-gab, president of the Seoul Media Center for Adolescents, a Seoul-city-government-run organization affiliated with the Foundation for Preventing Youth Violence.
“Depending on the region, some schools even require the approval of the school’s principal [for compensation for medical expenses] which is not stipulated under the law. Sometimes the schools attempt to hide the fact that the victims are entitled to compensation,” the president said.
The violence prevention centers and schools often put victims and bullies together when the institutions administer measures to cope with violent incidents.
But the parents of the at-risk students said this further traumatizes the victims.
“For those who are threatened and beaten by the bullies, just being near them causes great fear and emotional instability,” said Cho Jeong-sil, the president of the Association of School Violence Victims.
“We desperately need a process where they are treated separately,” the president said.
Government-run counseling centers dedicated to helping students get over the emotional pain also invite both parties.
Wee Counseling Centers across Seoul, operated by the Korea Educational Development Institute, is one example.
“I didn’t want to take my kid to the Wee center because we knew that we would encounter the boys who bullied and traumatized him,” said Lim.
The regional branches of the government-sponsored institution even lack counseling experts. Of the five centers across Seoul, only one branch has an expert available upon request while the remaining four centers don’t have in-house counselors.
An official from the Ministry of Education admitted that the government fails to properly help the victims recuperate.
BY LEE JEONG-BONG [[email protected] |
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tob55
Joined: 29 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:48 pm Post subject: |
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This is a big problem in Korea as well as other nations around the world right now. South Korea needs to step up to the plate and stop these ganster wannabes from bullying other students. Otherwise some parent is going to take things too far and end up in jail for murder. One question though, in reading the report I hear nothing about the father of the student and anything he did in the case. I know from my point of view as the father of a daughter, if someone did something like this to my little girl, there would be hell to pay, and I would make sure that someone paid.  |
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andrewchon
Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Location: Back in Oz. Living in ISIS Aust.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 1:19 pm Post subject: |
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Father did do something: he reported the physical assault to the police, hence his refusal to pay medical compo.
These sort of things happen and will go on because they are only small potatoes compared to bullying happening in the adults world. One might say the rest of the students are cowards for not reporting the second beating or recording it with their camera ( they record everything else). They don't bother because the bully's parents are rich/own the town/controls parents committee/... and justice by brown envelopes will ensue and eventually it'll be the victim's fault. School is the same. Mighty brown envelopes bandied about in the old boys network destroys lives of you and your next generations. It's one thing to throw a life-saver to a drowning man, foolish to dive in when you can't swim yourself. |
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salutbonjour
Joined: 22 Jan 2013
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Is it even better in Korean private schools? |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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As I've been saying on here for years, schools desperately need corporal punishment.
Spare the rod... |
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Seoulman69
Joined: 14 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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This is terrible. Not only did they get beaten up they got screwed over by the people who are supposed to be protecting them.
| Quote: |
| One question though, in reading the report I hear nothing about the father of the student and anything he did in the case. I know from my point of view as the father of a daughter, if someone did something like this to my little girl, there would be hell to pay, and I would make sure that someone paid. |
We don't know what the father did. Seems to me like the family are doing all they can. I like to think I would "make sure that someone paid" but reality is different from posting on a message board. |
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The Cosmic Hum
Joined: 09 May 2003
Location: Sonic Space
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Julius wrote: |
As I've been saying on here for years, schools desperately need corporal punishment.
Spare the rod... |
Spare us the nonsense.  |
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Old fat expat
Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Location: a caravan of dust, making for a windy prairie
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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Julius:
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| schools desperately need corporal punishment |
violence begets violence
Look, if the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer, then I guess you should ignorantly pound away. You are a lousy teacher to do so. Classrooms based on fear are not good learning environments. fact. |
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le-paul
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Old fat expat wrote: |
Julius:
| Quote: |
| schools desperately need corporal punishment |
violence begets violence
Look, if the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer, then I guess you should ignorantly pound away. You are a lousy teacher to do so. Classrooms based on fear are not good learning environments. fact. |
+1
plus youre only conditioning them to respond to violence so other teachers wont be able to control them. |
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le-paul
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 4:47 pm Post subject: |
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so, im reading this and thinking "wow, this is pretty bad. I wonder if i could introduce this article into my classes as a way to approach the topic of bullying?".
and then i thought; "what would this teach them? That Korean system is f^^ked up and if you report bullying, youll probably get spannered by the bully for reporting it. If youre lucky, itll just be you and not your parents that face repercussions for stepping up?".
The only message a child would learn from this story, is that youre nothing if you dont have money and even less if your face doesnt fit.
The corruption runs so deep in korea, addressing anything is akin to having bone marrow replaced and a blood transfusion because you have a cold. |
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Scorpion
Joined: 15 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Bring back corporal punishment. |
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happiness
Joined: 04 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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I worked in a private hs when the anti c.p. laws went into effect, and it was literally went from night to day. The teachers were beating those kids into submission and the next day, they just stopped touching them (not swearing at them though), there was the student manager, and his name was "MoGi" and he was vicious, an old school Korean dude, who strangely liked me a lot, and asked if I liked hamburgers or Deok one day  I said I liked Deok in the burger and that won him over
I would probably the small voice here but Ive always thought two things, Korean students were actually a bit more focused when they were in fear of physical repercussions, and I know its weird, but
when they all had to shave their heads until graduation, the kids were much sweeter and more humble., Maybe its a thing of Samson...they lose their power when they cut their hair?
just saying...
I saw all kinds of bullying, and Id step in all the time (I saw one muscled tough guy kiss another boy on the mouth, in class,and it seemed the other kid didnt like it... but thats another story//
Korea was a dictatorship for the longest time, and the people that experienced that are still alive, so that mindset is still being pushed, so...also when you have adults who just like kids, want to be in :groups" and such, theres alot of abuse that can happen.
so |
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Yaya
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Wow, Korea, you're such an advanced country. |
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tob55
Joined: 29 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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| andrewchon wrote: |
| Father did do something: he reported the physical assault to the police, hence his refusal to pay medical compo. |
I just re-read the article 3 times looking for the reference for the father's involvement you mentioned, and there is no reference to it in the article. If it is there please cite the location within the article where it can be found, thanks. |
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3DR
Joined: 24 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Old fat expat wrote: |
Julius:
| Quote: |
| schools desperately need corporal punishment |
violence begets violence
Look, if the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer, then I guess you should ignorantly pound away. You are a lousy teacher to do so. Classrooms based on fear are not good learning environments. fact. |
True. Notice that bullying in Korea is down since banning corporal punishment and all the news sites are reporting much better student behavio...oh wait. |
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