Korean students are generally pretty violent with each other. They love to violently put their arms and feet all over each other and often resort to weapons (pens, pencils, scissors, books, snap blades, anything that can be used to hit another person). It's endless. And it's not friendly slapping either. It's hardcore all out, throwing, punching, kicking, smacking. So hard that you can hear the smacking noise throughout the school I'm sure.
It bothers me.Either way, kids are free to roam about and beat each other up as often and as much as they'd like. They're only yelled at if it's interfering with class time or they're in someone's way. Even when it stops they are not disciplined in any way for it. They either go unnoticed or unpunished...mostly both.
It bothers me. Examples:A while ago, 2 students were messing around and one picked up the other and dropped him on his face. His nose started bleeding like crazy and he was bawling. Of course, his nose was cleaned up, but there were no consequences for such dangerous behavior.
Last week, I watched a girl bang her head against a desk. Immediately a yellow and blue egg started growing out of her forehead. I plead with my co-teacher to get her some ice. My co-teacher just said "oh, science room ice" and chuckled and walked away. The girl was seriously hurt and nothing was to be done!
Today a boy threw a clay structure with sharp edges at a girl and cut open her ankle. No repercussions. She cried and her skin peeled off. What was oddly interesting was that when she showed it to me, she cared more about hiding her big mole on her leg than the pain from the injury.
It bothers me.Then there's the topic of corporal punishment. I haven't seen anything myself beyond the occasional smacking on the back of a student's head to get him/her to shut up. But one of the girls I do Taekwondo with came into class once and showed me her palms. On both of them was a SUPER thick and huge outlined blister from all of the whacks she got from her teacher's drumstick. She, along with a few other friends who had been helping a sick friend, had been whacked numerous times on their palms for being a few minutes late to class. It was awful! The blisters were full of puss and severely needed to be drained. That kind of torture I'm not okay with.
It bothers me.There's also a student (who I'm pretty sure has some mild case of autism or something similar) that sits in the class like everyone else but is knowingly different. He screams a lot, is very touchy yet hypersensitive, moody, and tends to get into fights with everyone. When he's having a moment or starts running around, the teacher does nothing. The students instead chase after him, hitting him, yelling at him, dragging him by his clothes.
It bothers me. Recently a friend told me her student drew a vagina on a Teletubbie picture. Today in my 1st-2nd grade after school English class, some of the kids came up to me to show me their drawings of boobs and vaginas on the female cartoon characters in their English books. One girl even laughed and said, "teacher...NIPPLES!" FIRST GRADE! I shook my finger in a very mother-like manner and said "NOT GOOD!!! BAD!!!"
It bothers me. Oh and for the past month, all the vice principal and teachers have been doing in the teacher's lounge is designing and sewing shirts, vests, purses, and blankets. Is there no work to be done???
