Corporal Punishment in Schools
Photos by Jeremy Azurin, Naver and Daum blogs
Special thanks to Catherine Takoh, Edd Ryewin, Reza Mirhard, and Dinh Nu Ha My
Corporal punishment has been a controversial issue in Korea for a long time. When it comes to laws regarding discipline and corporal punishment in schools, there are not any specific regulations, but people generally agree that corporal punishment should be allowed to some degree.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act stipulates that the school principal can discipline students in accordance with the laws and school regulations when necessary for educational purposes. Revised in 2011, the Act also prohibits direct corporal punishments that inflict physical pain on students with tools or body parts, but the Act still allows indirect punishments such as squat walking and other activities that cause physical distress.
Before the law was changed in 2011, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act stipulated that the school principal can discipline students in ways that do not inflict physical pain except in “inevitable circumstances” for education, which can be interpreted as permission to punish students when it is “inevitable.”
Unfortunately, the laws regarding discipline in Korea are considered insufficient compared to those of international human rights standards. In Korea, corporal punishments have been regarded as natural ways of teaching children for centuries.
However, laws and general awareness have changed in a positive way. The ordinances for students’ human rights, which have taken effect since 2012 in Seoul, prohibit all kinds of corporal punishment, including physical and verbal violence.
Here’s what a few of Gwangju’s teachers think about the issue.
Mrs. Kim (45)
I am against school corporal punishment. I have raised two children, and they grew well without corporal punishment. As a mother and the educator of my children, I taught them to realize their own faults. The purpose of giving corporal punishment is basically to help kids realize their faults, isn’t it?
However, corporal punishment should have limits. At the moment when they are in front of a stick, they may realize their faults and promise not to let it happen again. Act. That’s the limit of it. We oppress children with fearful implements. Personally, I think raising the rod is a lower way of teaching students.
Mr. Park (52)
Well, how have I felt about these days’ school atmosphere? I am worrying about the teachers’ rights rather than the students’ ones. After declaring students’ rights, students are only using their power for their freedom; they do not care about their duties.
As one simple example, teachers cannot give students corporal punishment. A long time ago, corporal punishment has existed and also students had rights. After officially declaring students’ rights without any proper alternative to corporal punishment, students are acting like they are kings of their schools. Until now, most teachers have controlled their students with suitable punishment. It was like a carrot and stick. However, our donkeys are going relentlessly on the ways that they want without fear.
Ms. Kim (25)
When I was little, when I didn’t listen to my parents or my teachers, they used to punish me by using a rod or making me raise my hands for a long time, so that I could reflect on my wrong behavior. But after punishing me, they always let me know how they loved me and what they thought of me, so I could grow up in the right way and so I could appreciate them. So when it comes to being under the age of 15 and not yet being mature enough, I think sometimes they can be punished by adults at home as well as school when they do something wrong.
But sometimes there are news reports that teachers at school punish students very extremely to such an extent as to send them to the hospital, and I think that is wrong. I think it’s not a punishment, it’s just violent. So of course such actions should be punished by law. But although the punishments can cause a lot of problems, I still subscribe to the opinion that students can be punished by their parents or by their teachers. In the U.S., the school has strict regulations so when students do something wrong, they are punished according to school rules. But in Korea, even if the school has strict regulations like the U.S. schools have, many Korean schools do not often practice those regulations, like being suspended from school or being expelled from school because school administrators are afraid of what problems may occur to those children. The students will have disadvantages after graduating from school in the future as they become adults. So parents and teachers are trying to educate students without practicing regulations, so I think that’s why they use physical force, which is what the student fears most. Thus, I think parents at home and teachers at school, both of them, can punish students with physical force to an extent, but not too much.
Mr. Song (37)
I have taught in high school. I think the idea of many men using physical punishments is the proper physical punishment that is needed for students. Of course inhuman corporal punishment becomes a problem but the physical punishment in the established rules will help students’ character development. The teenagers who cannot be mature are easy to think of as being more emotional than rational, whether what they have to make is any kind of decision and action. So if you can solve a problem by talking, a limit will have them because these things increase like they ignore the advice of teacher and break the rules. As a result, recently, teacher’s authority in Korean society has fallen. Accordingly there is the obligation to inform the society of the rules, and I feel that I have to teach human nature with a little more powerful rules through corporal punishment.
In the course of my eclectic teaching career I have tutored or taught all ages from 4yrs old pre-schoolers to adults returning to college. When it comes to corporal punishment for adults obviously the answer is no. Once a person reaches a certain age their brains should be developed enough to maintain self control, respect, and focus in the class room, although I did know a 31yr co-worker last year who literally had the mind/maturity of an angry teenager.
America used to have corporal punishment but it’s fallen out of favor in most states and with the decline of the Catholic school system it’s almost entirely gone. But based on my experience as a very obnoxious junior high student in the past and as a teacher now, I will say that the effectiveness of any form of discipline comes down to several factors.
– balancing the rights of the obedient students in the classroom who want to learn against the demands of one individual who is disrupting the class and thus stealing time and progress from others.
– being very clear to the students as a teacher that you care about them and what you want is for everybody to learn and that the use of discipline in whatever form benefits the class as a whole and hopefully encourages the rebellious student to adjust to and respect the classroom process.
– trying to understand the ‘problem child’ and what it is that is causing them to misbehave. Unsupportive or lazy parents who have dumped their kids onto the school system? Classroom bully’s who are isolating and ostracizing a child? A hidden learning disability? Child abuse in the home? Poor classroom management on the part of the teacher? or just plain rebellion and immaturity?
-lastly, the punishment should fit the offense. Disobedience after repeated warnings is a problem that requires someone to act. But in America they suspended a child for bringing a Hello Kitty squirt gun to class and they over proscribe drugs like Ritalin and Prozac, which can be very dangerous, to mostly boys who teachers can’t control or who are too energetic to be sitting inside all day. I refuse to teach in some American public schools because they are so poorly run and don’t try to discipline or understand their students needs at all.