The 16-year-old student, identified as Lee, was found hanging from a tree in a playground early in the morning in what appeared to be a suicide.
On Thursday, the teacher, 28, struck him on the sole of his foot 110 times because he skipped two hours of self-study classes. She was recently hired as a regular teacher after having worked on contract for several years.
That's not corporal punishment, that's bullying. The teacher should be fired, plain and simple, as should anyone else who demonstrates an inability to control their anger and lead their students without beating them
* Update: I knew I saw a longer article about this somewhere. Extra! Korea linked to an earlier article. An excerpt:
The teacher is known to be a daughter of the school principal. She began to work full-time this year, after teaching part-time for a few years previously at the same institution.
The school, just like many other Korean high schools, requires students to study in school until 10 p.m. on weekdays.
After the punishment, the deceased told some of his classmates that he would kill himself "in a joking manner," the police said.
After returning home that night, the student chatted with his friends online and watched television, before he went outside.
Students in the school told the investigators that the degree of punishment the student received actually "wasn't too harsh" compared to the "usually very harsh punishment." The police are further investigating the case, focusing on how much influence the punishment had on the student's decision to kill himself.
In another fine piece of editing those paragraphs are repeated twice in the article. So, since she is the principal's daughter we can assume nothing will happen to her and that she won't even be subjected to the harshest of harsh punishments: a transfer.
6 comments:
Since she's now a "regular teacher" it will be much harder to fire her.
Is she not also a relative of the principal, or something?
What's that sound? Ahhh, it's a slap on the wrist.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I saw an article that said she was a relative of the principle, but when I google around this morning I only found the article I posted. I've since updated the post.
See the new "Trek" film. The future of education (as seen on Vulcan--tailor made for the individual needs of the student and allows them to progress at their own levels without slowing down others via individual, 3D technology-based classroom pods) can't get here soon enough.
I read this a little late, but I would like to note the accuracy of your use of the word "bullying". That's exactly what so many 'teachers' in this country do to try and maintain of their classrooms. And I think that's a very real link to a lot of teenagers' decisions to commit suicide. The feeling of powerlessness and helplessness in their lives (and highschool IS a teenager's WHOLE life in this country), with nothing to look forward to but SooNeug tests and manditory military service (one can only imagine how they're treated THERE)... it's a bleak life for what are supposed to be the best years of our lives...
had followed this from the US for some time, saddening me so. I have worked with children for over 30 years, many who are abused by parents who beat their children for little more than asking a question they don't like. The way students are treated in South Korea can only be matched by the abusive ways of Singapore, same thing, students beaten in front of the entire class or the entire school. I've seen the long term damage it does..the student tries to be brave in the face of humiliation in front of his peers..but..inside they are emotionally damaged. The rates of suicide among young people in S Korea is the highest by far in Asia..and highest in the country's history. I'm also quite ashamed of my own country..we still have paddling in some schools..but we are working feverishly to ban it. Soon, we hope to have a federal bill to ban all physical punishment in all schools.
It is long since time for S Korean students to stand up for themeselves, for parents to demand these teaches STOP beatings, stop physical punishment of any kind! The best teachers, folks, are the teachers that can teach by example..to listen to their students and command respect because they respect their students.
If anyone here knows what school and the name of this woman was, I'm going to follow up, late as it is, with the school district and with the national ministry of education. I have over 50 video clips from the last 2 years of students being humiliated and beaten in front of classmates by out of control teachers.
LET'S ALL, PLEASE, BAN TOGETHER TO STOP THIS UNFAIR AND ABUSIVE TREATMENT OF YOUR STUDENTS!
Thank you. I'm a dad, two sons, been foster parent to abused children..and I NEVER EVER struck a child. There are better and more successful ways to give students the tools to make good decisions in their education and their lives.
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