Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Jane]

I'd like to bring up a topic that I don't think (to my knowledge) has been discussed before on this forum. It's relating to older Korean women who beat up kids. I'll relate my experiences to clarify...
Case #1.
A few months ago, a grandma barged into one of my classes midway through and starting hitting one of my 12-year-old boy students on the head. Apparently, the boy being beaten had picked-on the woman's grand-daughter earlier that day. I looked over at the grand-daughter who was in the classroom, and she had this smug smile on her face! The humourous part was when grandma turned to me (I was stunned-faced at this point), and courteously said 'sorry' in English and took off. I heard that same grandma beat up another boy on the school bus but a month earlier for picking on her grand-daughter.
Case#2.
I was coming home on the bus tonight and was looking out the window while we were stopped at a red-light. I saw an ajumma approach a group of girls who were standing on the street and start to beat one of the girls. At first she whapped the girl with here purse (more like a mini-suitcase) and it must of been heavy since the girl went flailing. Then, the ajumma proceeded to kick the girl (hard). The girl was trying to get away. And this was all in public!!

What ever happened to kids fighting their own battles? Why do ajummas think they have the right to beat someone else's kid? Shouldn't ajummas set a good example for their kids, teaching them that violence isn't a way to solve these things?

And these aren't isolated incidences. I discussed this with my husband (who is Korean) a while ago, and he said the same thing happened to him when he was in elementary school. He was at home with his brother after school one day (his parents were out), and one of his classmates' mother showed up at his house and started beating him. He said it was so traumatic being beaten by the ajumma! He admitted he wasn't completed innocent and he did pick-on the ajumma's son earlier that day, but felt she dealt with it inappropriately. According to him, these beatings are commonplace in Korea.

So here are my questions:
1.What would you do if some ajumma came barging into your classroom and starting beating one of your students? (Assuming there is no Korean speaker around, just you).
2. Does anyone know of any channels that exist in the school system that enable these conflicts to be resolved in a civilized manner? For instance, a student has a means of filing a complaint against another student and the school has means to inquire and act?

I think these fighting ajummas are sending the wrong message to kids and as a result their kids are growing up to be as childish as they are.
Thanks for reading this winded message. I look forward to hearing your opinions.
J

[jaganath69]

That's nothing, my best mate back home whose dad hails from Chile and has the odd rush of machismo intervened on his behalf once in highschool. An older kid and some mates broke my mate's nose after suckering him, so my mate's dad goes down the park where they hang out armed with a heavy chain and proceeds to give the ringleader a whalloping across the back with it.

[the eye]

[Jane]

Eye,
I taught in a public school last year and was witness to my Korean co-teacher beating kids. In fact, the rest of the class always got a kick out of watching my facial expressions when this was taking place. I never intervened and never would because it's not my place.
I don't agree with corporal punishment in the classroom, but that's the way things are. They were like this before I came to Korea and will probably continue to be.
But what I don't like is seeing parents who take it upon themselves to intervene violently in their kids' affairs. That's the issue with which I have a problem.
If I were a student being brought up in the Korean education system, I would grudgingly accept beatings from my teachers, because it's the way things are. But if I were beaten by a classmate's mother, I would feel disgust for that individual. What ever happened to 'picking on someone your own size'?

[the eye]

But, why is a beating from a teacher, any more acceptable than a beating from an unrelated mother? You said, 'that's the way things are', regarding the school system, but both scenarios are practiced widely here.

[Jane]

I don't wan't to discuss here whether a beating from a teacher is less, equal to or more acceptable than a beating from an unrelated person. What I want to discuss is the childish behaviour of these 'adults' who lay their hands on someone else's kid and by doing so, foregoing any kind of 'mature' method of dealing with these conflicts.
Mature method of dealing with these conflicts: Calling the parents of the guilty kid and letting [/b]them deal with it. Just a suggestion. And yes, this is probably how it would be done in my culture, but on the whole I think this is a more contructive way to deal with such problems.

[the eye]

[Benicio]

It's the lesson that Koreans learn at a very early age and keep with them all of their lives:
If someone upsets you, you have to hurt them. You have to hit them.

In the west, we spank kids, but that stops some time in adolescence when other forms of punishment become more effective, like grounding.

Koreans never stop hitting each other. It's a lifelong punishment.