So many things have continued to amaze me since the day I stepped foot on this little peninsula. Some of these are things that happen and do not happen in the public schools. I believe some of these differences to be positive, some to be negative, and some to be pretty freakin hilarious. I can't count the number of situations while at school I have said to myself, "Are you serious?!" Here are some of the most memorable and poignant ones that I have experienced first-hand or heard about through other public school teachers and know to be pretty common practice in Korea.
Drinking and smoking on school grounds. I know this is probably hard to believe for all of you parents and teachers back home since the laws and consequences against drinking and smoking at schools are very strict. Back in the states this is taken very seriously. Obviously it is a big no-no for students to drink or smoke on campus but that isn't what I'm getting at on this one. I have heard stories from other foreign teachers about their staff taking soju shots during their lunch break in the teachers' lounge. From my last post you probably remember that soju is not ideal to drink if you don't want to get completely hammered. I mean, I don't really blame the teachers and administration for drinking before class. I know that at times I have thought that a shot or two before class would make the little brats a little easier to handle.
Another unique example of drinking at school was recounted to me by a friend who teaches in a public alternative high school. At his school there is a culinary specialization and also one for bartending. Of course if someone wants to learn how to bartend they are going to need to work with alcohol. The students study mixology but aren't of legal drinking age so they happily share the alcoholic cocktails with the teachers. Someone has to grade them, right? My friend certainly wasn't complaining about getting to sip on a hard drink after lunch.
Smoking is also permitted by the staff on school grounds. My principal is a pretty heavy smoker, as he often has to get up from the table at school dinners to go outside. I really doubt if he could go a whole day without smoking and I can't really imagine him walking off school grounds to enjoy a cig. Instead he just walks outside of his office to smoke and leaves the door to the school wide open. This allows the cigarette scent to waft inside and fill up the halls. I don't even have to see him to know that he's outside. It helps a bit if i'm trying to sneak out of work a few minutes early and don't want to get caught. When I smell him outside I know to tiptoe down the hall and use a different door. In a country where the older you are the more respect everyone must give you, this sixty-something year old man can pretty much do whatever the f!@# he wants.
Corporal punishment. It's been brought to my attention that corporal punishment is still legal in 20 states in the U.S and is still used. I also found that Idaho is one state in which it is legal. I guess I'm basing my assumption that it doesn't happen too often on the fact that every teacher in my family whom I've told about corporal punishment here in Korea has gasped in awe and disbelief. I don't believe the rate of corporal punishment in the U.S. to be anywhere near that of Korea. Although corporal punishment is technically illegal in Korea, it is still pretty common place in the classroom. This site claims that in 2005 a study was done that found 94% of students surveyed had received some sort of physical punishment in school.
If my students decide not to do their English homework my 24 year old co-teacher will either have the naughties do squats while holding their ears in the back of the classroom (which I actually think is awesome) or hit them. I mean, I doubt if she does any lasting physical or emotional damage but it does look pretty painful. The way she does it is she has the students line up in front of the class while everyone is watching. When they get to her in the front of the line they hold their hands out flat, face up and she hits them pretty hard with a wooden stick. Usually the students walk back to their desks with a painful look on their face and shake their hands a bit to try and ease the pain.
Like the thought of having a shot before class I can also say that the thought of physically punishing a student has too gone through my head. I don't think I would ever do it but there have been times that students have angered me so much that I have wanted to give them a little love tap upside the back of the head to help them get their act together. A friend of mine was telling me the other day that she actually had a kid spit right in her face because she continuously had to tell him to be quiet during a movie in class. I guess the kid had it with her trying to keep control of him and decided he would take matters into his own hands (or mouth). She told me that she had to fight herself to keep from doing something to this kid because of how enraged she was and I can understand that.
Students "shooting" the teacher during class. I think it's pretty common for students (I would assume most often boys) to pretend like they are shooting other people with semi-automatic weapons. I'm almost positive this stems from the fact that it is completely illegal for civilians to own guns and that young people are so consumed in the world of computer gaming. Shooting games are very popular here and kids to young adults may spend hours a day playing these games. Obviously, because guns are illegal in Korea, there are not problems with students bringing guns to school and shooting people, so I guess when students pretend to kill each other at school the teachers don't think too much about it. It has been a little bit harder for me to get over this as an American, having grown up hearing about school shootings all my life. It is also a bit unnerving that I have a 5th grade student that likes to sit in class and the whole time act like he is shooting me while I'm teaching. I guess it might be sort of funny if he did it once and was laughing and obviously joking, but he doesn't. He sits there for almost the entire class sometimes pointing his invisible weapon, that could easily kill everyone in the class, at me. I don't quite particularly like it and I think if it happened back home it would probably be taken pretty seriously and the student would at least enjoy a date with the principal and a calling of the parents.
25% of 6th graders never missing a day of school in their lives. I remember being in elementary school, sitting in the end of the year assembly and hearing the principal call out the names of students who hadn't missed a day of school the whole year. I always wanted so bad to get that award yet I never did. I wasn't a child to miss school. My mom is a teacher and she definitely did not let us stay home unless we were pretty sick. But I always did get sick enough at least once a year to where I would have to miss a day or two of school. There were always very few of those kids that got that award but I did envy them for that. I was completely shocked when, at my 6th graders' graduation, the principal called out a list of 15 names to stand up. I asked my co-teacher why they were standing and she said that these students had not missed one day of school in their entire elementary school career. As I had less than 60 students in my 6th grade class, that was over 25% of the students. Sometimes I think these little hoodlums are machines when it comes to going to school. I can attest to the fact that it's not that they don't get sick, though. In fact, they do get sick and when one has a bug, they all have it. It makes for a nice environment for the bacteria and viruses to incubate until every student is hacking away all class while I stand right in the pathway of their uncovered mouths and noses to explode on me. I don't know if they haven't been taught to cover their mouths and noses but they sure as hell just let anything and everything escape from their bodies without giving two thoughts about it. I really do appreciate those few kids who come in with the masks over their faces, even though they can't participate at all in class.
Teachers sleeping at work. Actually, this one doesn't only happen at school. I have seen employees of other businesses sleeping on the job too. All of the four co-teachers I have had in the past 8 months have taken advantage of this one, as have I. I actually think this is the greatest difference of all and I think many of my fellow waygooks (foreigners) would agree. Koreans tend to work a lot. They go to school or work for long hours and then continue on at night with hagwons or continued education, meetings etc. When you're not doing anything at work and you really need the rest, why not take a nap? It's good for your health and you can't be too productive if you're that tired anyway. Usually my coTs and I just lay our heads down on our desk for 30 minutes to an hour or until someone comes in and disturbs us. If you are extra sleepy or claim to be sick you can always go to the nurse's office where there are heated beds. Once I got to sleep for 4 hours in a bed on a Tuesday morning. It was divine.
I also saw an employee of the nearest supermarket to my house, HomePlus, taking a little rest. He must have been assigned to the bedroom section that day because I found him standing up in one of the aisles, asleep with his head on a plush comforter. I didn't disturb him because I figured to be able to fall asleep standing up he must have really needed the rest.
Having school on Saturday. My students go to school every first, third and fifth (if there is one) Saturday of the month from about 8:30 to noon. Even though they stay with their homeroom teacher the whole day, the other teachers have to come to school. I really kinda feel bad that my co-teachers have to go to school but I don't. I honestly don't think the teachers in America would ever let this type of thing happen. I know the teachers in my family would not appreciate it. I guess there is speculation that this might change next year.
Giving razor blades to students for cutting. The first time my 3rd through 6th graders were instructed to cut something during class they all pulled out razor blades. I was shocked! With students pretending like they were gonna murder me with guns I figured it was probably not a good idea to give them real deadly weapons! I think something must have happened because I haven't seen any student with a razor since last semester...
Teachers/admin forced to change schools every few years. I don't think teachers and administrators have much say in where they teach. Every few years they are forced to change schools and not really given too much choice in where they teach, as far as I understand. A young teacher at my school last semester got married to a man who lives in another city. Of course after they got married she wanted to move to where he lives to teach. She requested to be in the same city as him but instead they put her at a school two hours away from where her husband lives. She was very upset when she found this out. She had to decide whether she wanted to rent a separate apartment to stay in during the week or take a year off of school. Kinda a tough choice if you ask me.
Not finding out what you're going to teach until a week before the year starts. This semester all of the teachers at my school teach a different grade level or subject than they taught last year. I'm pretty sure they change every year and don't find out until a week or two before the year begins. I know this because I really wanted to know who my co-teachers were going to be for this semester and no one knew until the teachers' dinner a week before the new school year started. At the dinner my principal announced to my new co-teacher, who previously taught 4th grade, that she would be the new English/Music teacher. I don't know if he even asked her if she wanted to teach English and Music but I guess it doesn't really matter since he has all the say in what goes on at the school. I don't think it really even bugs the teachers that they find out important details at the last minute because they are so used to it in everyday life.
I thought of a bunch more differences but these seemed like the most significant ones. I'm sure the list could go on and on with the help of other foreign teachers in Korea. I don't have time for that right now. I'm hungry and a class is singing very loudly and off key outside my classroom. Peace.
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