A different kind of discipline

For those of you keeping up with me, I’m sure by now that you realized I’ve been having a great time and trying to experience as much as I can while I’m in the land of the morning calm. My posts are typically lighthearted and express exactly what I’ve been seeing and doing all around town. This one has been a work in progress for some time now, as it’s a more delicate topic but something I must share as it weighs heavier and heavier as each day passes.


Before I took off on this venture, I knew that I was headed into a Confucius country and was wholeheartedly open to culture learning. Coming from a Western country where physical discipline practices are frowned upon and illegal- it was to be seen how I would handle witnessing the punishment methods in Korea.

For the first few months, I witness physical discipline from teachers ( I told them I refused to use any sort of physical punishment in my classroom) in the form of pinching ear lobes, hitting their palms, putting them on their knees with their arms in the air and maybe a small whack to the back of the head. These practices were used for small offences such as fighting in class, and other misbehaviors, such as the length of students hair. Larger “offences” were treated by having the students engage in extra cleaning duties, homework and playing teacher’s gofers for the day. All in all, what I was seeing was as acceptable as it could be for me. Often, I would leave the teachers lounge if as student was being punished, as this upset me through the core. Despite the discipline being used, here in Korea as a Foreign teacher you do not stand up or say anything, as it is the teacher’s right to physically discipline their students. Heck, parents do it at home as well, my kids show up for school with marks and bruising which are atypical of playground bustle.

With the start of the new semester in March, came a new Physical Education teacher at my school. Within days, I could tell he and I were not going to see eye to eye. He implemented serious practices, including measuring girl’s skirt lengths, hair and just about every disciplinary action required. He soon became in charge of handing out the punishments.

Witnessing this tyrant’s actions against my students has been very emotional for me. It’s been trying to sit down and watch him exercise these severe disciplinary actions against children who are 14 and 15 years old. His behaviors have finally broke me, and this is why I need to rant about it now. His methods are harsh. Last month he punched a student so hard in the face that I saw the bruise welt within seconds, he then kicked the student in the leg. His offence: fighting another boy. I stood up, but was quickly told to sit back down. Two weeks ago he placed a boy in plank position, with his feet up on the window sill for 15 minutes. He then intermittently cracked his backside with a stick. His offence: Chronic tardiness. Girls are whacked across the face for the length of the hair and skirts. I could go on and on, but the thought turns my stomach. I've often sat at my desk and dreamed of cracking him back with his own stick- but I would probably be deported for standing up to a male teacher. .

In my own, classes, when I get close to the students, I see many of them flinch if I come down to their level in a swift movement.  It kills me every time.  It pains me to know what stresses these children go through with school alone, and now have to deal with harsh physical discipline on top of it. Korea is advanced in so many things, but they are still stuck in the 50s when physical discipline was widely accepted. I pray for my students every day that these practices will become illegal soon enough. In the meantime, I can only educate them to the best of my ability- and give them a small break when it comes to English class. It’s a hard enough life as it is.