Ban on corporal punishment

[unreal.livejournal.com]

Teenaged students are humans, too

Korea joins in a global trend toward banning corporal punishment of students. Seoul and the nearby Gyeonggi Province have prohibited inflicting physical punishment on primary, middle and high school students for their misbehavior. Initial confusion prevailed in class. Schools need to devise ways of keeping discipline among students without the use of corporal punishment.

Europe, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries have outlawed the practice in public education. It is still legal in many Asian, African and Caribbean nations.


In Korea, corporal punishment has long been in practice despite many negative effects. From this month, teachers in Seoul are unable to hit students, to ask them to hold both of their hands out and to run laps around the playground as disciplinary punishment. The rest of the schools in the nation will also prohibit physical punishment in the future.

Leaders of the Korean Federation of Teachers Associations have recently visited the Education Ministry to express concern that the prohibition is out of tune with the reality at schools. They claimed the ban is theoretically and morally convincing but causes problems in student guidance. Its survey showed that more than half of the schools opposed the ban.

For example, a Seoul teacher reportedly encountered embarrassment when he gave a warning to a student who was smoking. A class disturber threatened to report the teacher to police for alleged bullying. A teacher received an angry reaction from a parent, while consulting about the wayward behavior of the student.

The federation only highlights the negative effects of the ban. Teachers sometimes confuse corporal punishment with lashing out on the spur of the moment. This is illegal violence and brutality. It has not provided positive effects. Many teachers say spanking or paddling should be allowed to deter childish misbehavior.

Teachers need to seek ways to introduce programs and manuals to maximize the positive effects. It is understandable that it is difficult to gauge the positive effects numerically. Teachers’ complaining about the ban means they are lacking in proper teaching qualities. Even light physical punishment may provoke resentment and further misbehavior.

It is experimentation that may take time for the system to take root in schools. The nation can distribute manuals and establish practices Europe and many advanced countries have adopted to strengthen student discipline without corporal punishment. Schools have yet to install the Thinking Room where unruly students repent over their misdeeds. Professional counselors are also necessary. Schools use the behavior score card to grade rule-abiding of students. Teachers need to communicate with parents to help problematic students behave themselves. Schools can share information on effective ways of restraining student misbehavior.

Teachers need patience and adolescent students need basic human rights. Like the Western countries, Korea also can introduce the Student Bill of Rights, a guidebook highlighting the freedom and responsibilities of students. Schools without corporal punishment will help students learn that human rights entail responsibility.

The new system is a short-term growing pain for teachers but a long-term gain for students. The positives will ultimately outweigh the negatives in the system.

Source: koreatimes
Finally. I still remember that girl that died after a corporal punishment

Comments

[gigiettu.livejournal.com]

Not legal in Trinidad and Tobago thanks for catching up with a'3rd world country' Korea

[liime-arix.livejournal.com]

Legal in Barbados >.>

[tingest.livejournal.com]

omg glad to hear this.
being an educator and all, things like these really disturb me when i see them. :/

[jaded-skys.livejournal.com]

but see, there's wild downsides too. the kids are used to getting a bonk here and there, and I've got horrible students here who will take this and do everything they can to piss off teachers because getting a talking to won't do anything at all. there will be kids who take advantage of this and use it as a way to taunt teachers and disrupt classes even more.

while I've never hit a child, and there's never been a teacher at my school who has truly hurt a child, I find making kids dance in front of their class works swimmingly.

[midnight808.livejournal.com]

@@ a girl died out of corporal punishment??!!! omg what did they do her ??

yah it was banned along time ago in my country 2(Kuwait)

[unreal.livejournal.com]

As far as I can remember she had to do push-ups while she had a weak heart. And she died because of that.

[wintersol.livejournal.com]

I think it was on it's way. People just don't think teachers and administrators should be able to physically punish them anymore. Of course, it's rulers are still popular at private schools that I know of.

[archaenon.livejournal.com]

I KNOW I'm going to get dis-agreements with this It's just my POV.

As long as it's withing safe limits, like a swift smack on the butt or hands, I'm all for it.

I think kids have gotten out of hand and now they are able to sue teachers for looking at them the wrong way. I really do blame the lax in bringing troublesome kids up to some of the problems with their school performance and other things.

I don't condone beatings, but I do agree with a passionate ass-whopping when wrong is done. Maybe it's because I grew up with it and knew that if I did something stupid, not only my teachers but my parents would kick my ass... and they didn't ban it here until I was well into college.

[idk-ok.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree. I think within reason, schools need to have corporal punishment. Kids need to have at least some understanding of discipline.

I don't know about other people but I did a lot better when teachers could smack you with a ruler if you were an obnoxious twat.

[beauty0fparting.livejournal.com]

[idk-ok.livejournal.com]

lol

[pixifaerithingy.livejournal.com]

outlawed the practice in public education

so in private schools it can still happen. it wasn't practiced at my school, but my brother, who went to an all boys' private school, definitely had some corporal punishment. He had one teacher who would make them do 100 push ups if you didn't do your homework.

[royalantares.livejournal.com]

Yeah same here in the states. But I think the idea is that you're choosing to go to a private school, whereas you can't escape public school.

[lainmyownworld.livejournal.com]

Parents have to discipline their children. thats it, sorry.

and my parents never really hit me much. they hit my and my siblings on the hands.
and they yelled scary as fuck, but thats besides the point.~

control your fucking children, teach them, and theyll be fine.

[lainmyownworld.livejournal.com]

by the way. me and my siblings, were like, the most well behaved kids ever.

[jaded-skys.livejournal.com]

you haven't seen the kids here, sorry to say. there are some who are absolutely horrid, and they don't send kids to the principal and they don't really suspend kids at all either, so it's all up to the teacher, and now all they can do is say "hey, stop or I'll say stop again." totally effective.

it's alright, but to a point. nothing that could actually harm the child, but a soft bop on the head with a pen? go for it.

[girldevil.livejournal.com]

i get annoyed when i hear about teacher's punishing students in an unlawful way. it hardly happens here (philippines).

we only get scolded by parents and teachers but never hit on the head. as far as it can go, only a spank on the hand but that's it.

i think i was only grounded once in my whole life.

[amanda-snape.livejournal.com]

My cousin's teacher smacked her hand with a ruler for talking during class and my uncle ripped into that guy. I really dislike my uncle but that was the first time I agreed with him.

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Well, finally! Finland has had corporal punishment in schools banned for few decades, but still our students top those PISA evaluations (and unlike Korean kids they don't go to any hagwons after normal school hours). Also most Finnish kids are far more rebellious and independent than Korean kids, so having corporal punishment in schools definitely isn't the only way to get your students learn things.

[dellusions.livejournal.com]

omg this so much

[lovekyu.livejournal.com]

good. my friend told me that when he was in school in korea, the teachers would like, line all the boys up once a week, "measure" their hair by pulling it, and then hit them if their hair was too long :(

another friend of mine went to elementary school in china and he said you used to get beaten if you didn't nap during naptime... in kidnergarten.

[jaded-skys.livejournal.com]

that's horrible. that thankfully doesn't happen in my school. :/

[sirhin.livejournal.com]

I don't believe in corporal punishment though it probably won't stop in the homes but really - The Thinking Room? O_o

[relmneiko.livejournal.com]

LOL yeah I laughed at that, too. Though I do remember in junior high, if we were kicked out of class for behaving badly we'd have to go down to the office and sit in a cubicle... it wasn't too bad, really, you just sat there and did homework/read a book or w/e and weren't allowed to talk/leave for an hour or sth. Not much of a punishment.

[tribuo-venerati.livejournal.com]

Ah....so it finally happened huh? My dad used to get punished, like whacked on his hand or had to run laps if his hair was too long, etc. And apparently he was a bit of a ~rebel~ so he was punished quite a bit, lol.

Yeah my mom used to make me sit or stand in the corner of my room and keep my arms raised and make me reflect on my actions. Also I used to be spanked. It's like so ingrained in Korean culture that they don't even flinch/bat an eye if you say that your mom hit you or something.

[royalantares.livejournal.com]

Omg, I used to cry so hard when my mom slapped my hand with a ruler. Drama baby. I would also tell her I was going to call child services and she would go on and on about Korean punishment in schools. I was like Iduncurr, whur we at? America. That's right.

[beauty0fparting.livejournal.com]

I was never beaten so I don't believe in corporal punishment. I also didn't grow up in the States but, man, when I moved here and saw how a lot of kids treat teachers it made me consider it. Some kids are just fucking rude and a giving them a smack or two is really tempting.

[madelyn93.livejournal.com]

pfft. i grew up with corporal punishment. once i was hit with a cane 20 times for not doing my homework, and there's nothing wrong with me!

/twitches and cries inwardly

[madelyn93.livejournal.com]

on a slightly more serious note, i always felt that corporal punishment left some sort of emotional trauma in me.

we grew up fearing the cane because every small mistake -not being able to answer a question, not bringing a book, talking in class etc- would mean a few whacks on the palm or legs. and it wasn't just a light whack, because often we would end up with bruises and welts on our limbs.
some teachers felt that one cane was not enough, so they duct taped three or four together to create one mean whacking machine.

though it stopped in junior high, i despise school and studying so much now that i gave up caring about my studies :|

[jangneri.livejournal.com]

It's banned in my country too, I wasn't aware of legal corporal punishment until in highscool. I remember in second grade my teacher lightly hit me, it wasn't the pain that I hated, it's more of the embarrassment I felt. I never told my mom until a few years later, because I knew my teacher was going to experience hell if she met my mom.

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

"to ask them to hold both of their hands out and to run laps around the playground as disciplinary punishment."

This is included in the definition of considered corporal punishment in the US. zzz I don't know what's wrong with smacking a bad kid or two. Some kids in Korea seriously need it.

[relmneiko.livejournal.com]

Even running laps?

I remember running laps as punishment, but then again that was only for gym class, and running's kinda a given on that one. Push-ups and sit-ups, too. Now that I think of it, it seems like kind of a double-standard to say it's corporal punishment in Math class but totes OK in gym ffff

[miki-831.livejournal.com]

i think this is very strongly implemented in korea, it will take a very long time before it dies down

[wynnetimate.livejournal.com]

As a teacher of young children, this is a topic where my blood tends to boil, so I'm not going to say too much.

I would just like to point out that children are one of the only groups unprotected by the law when it comes to being physically struck.

An adult who gets slapped, even lightly, even "for their own good", still has a case of assault.

A child does not.

Just sayin'.

[royalantares.livejournal.com]

Can you tell me some ways to calm down rowdy children? I don't mean this sarcastically at all. I see some comments here and elsewhere in favor of corporal punishment and I want to tell them there are other ways but I'm not a teacher so I don't really know effective ways.

[vvitchbaby.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised this is such a problem.
I'm all for parents disciplining their kids. It's the parents' responsibility to raise good kids and the teacher's job to teach them skills.
My sister was spanked, I've been spanked, my nieces and nephew have been spanked. We're all different kinds of people, so there's no evidence IMO in saying that spanking leads to trauma.

But when it comes to a teacher, it's not their job to do that. I think of teachers almost a mini government; if you do something bad, you're not going to be spanked, you're going to be fined or put in jail (not counting the death penalty).

[taecish.livejournal.com]

i wonder if our oppas were spanked by their teachers
hot male teachers

hmmm

[relmneiko.livejournal.com]

I was gonna try saying something witty in reply to your comment but all I can see is your icon. Every time I see it I end up staring at it in semi-horror.

[tadaki.livejournal.com]

You know, they're probably gonna have problems enforcing that law, what with all the uproar they're facing now.

In other news, corporal punishment isn't banned in Singapore lolz. The boys still get the cane, though it's a last resort thing.

Even so, I still remember the ear-pulling and whacks on the palms with plastic rulers by some of the more traditional teachers back in primary school. (Don't think they do it anymore, parents scream bloody murder nowadays) I mean, it was more so the embarrassment than the pain that kids wanted to avoid. But I don't think it pulled my grades up that much LOLZ I was just terrible at chinese XD

[guitarlovechild.livejournal.com]

They need to bring back corporal punishment in the U.S. Teachers need to punch these little assholes in the face. Korea Don't Do It! Your children going to turn out like ours!!