Discipline in the classroom

By Brian Deutsch



In September a cell phone video of a student harassing his teacher made its way around the internet to much shock and outrage. It was of a male high school student putting his arm around his smaller female teacher, asking her out, and continuing to bother her despite her obvious displeasure.

The short video clip resulted in a 10-day suspension of the offending student and the one who filmed it and posted it to his webpage. Korean commenters pointed to a breakdown in discipline in their schools, though I`m not sure foreign English teachers found the incident so unusual. The professional boundaries between students and their native speaker English teachers are often unclear, sometimes resulting in awkward, inappropriate moments like the ones on the video.



It`s common for older people to lament that the youth no longer have the respect for their teachers or their elders as they did in the old days. Newspaper articles and anecdotal evidence point to a lack of discipline among young people in schools. And Koreans quoted in The Korea Herald on Sept. 11 said that students and parents no longer show the same respect to teachers they once did. One teacher said that parents relying on hagwon so much has resulted in "the declining authority of the teachers at public schools."

Another brought up a point worth exploring. A 30-year-old office worker in Seoul was quoted as saying: "I was infuriated by the fact that such an unimaginable incident could happen. Education on ethics and morality should be strengthened and teachers also need to project a strong image so that students dare not challenge them." The teacher in the video was part-time, young and of a slight build, and thus apparently easily exploitable and intimidated by her taller students.

In the past it was more common to rely on corporal punishment to "project a strong image" and keep classrooms in line. These days corporal punishment in school is technically illegal, though still widely practiced. However, both the larger size of students and the widespread possession of cell phones with cameras has made teachers think twice before using the "love stick." Indeed, when cases of extreme corporal punishment are filmed and posted online, schools respond not by harshly disciplining teachers but by prohibiting cell phones.

Last winter a Korean English teacher wrote a book saying that since corporal punishment has been abolished, it`s become nearly impossible to control students. "With the ban on physical punishment on students, there is no effective way for teachers to punish kids who break the rules and do as they please," the author Kim Young-hwa said in an interview with the Joongang Ilbo.

The book opened with a fictional scene from an elementary school classroom to illustrate how chaotic classes have become for teachers who can no longer get physical with students. A translation by the blog Korea Beat reads:

"Once class starts, it`s a disaster. The kids giggle over their cell phones. So the teacher takes them away. One of the kids looks at her with hurt eyes and says, `I`m going to call the police`. The student gets angrier as the teacher goes on with the lesson. The students write the answers on the blackboard, one by one. Carrying the chalk, the student says to her `f*** you` (in English). All the students start laughing uncontrollably. The student has a wide grin at doing such a great thing. So she just had to go on. The teacher whacks the kid on the head. `Screw you!` the kid says (in Korean)."

The challenges in that story are the ones English teachers often deal with on a regular basis. "Does this mean Korean English teachers will understand us better?" I asked in a blog post at the time, pointing out that not only can we not rely on corporal punishment to control classes, but the oft-mentioned reverence for teachers in Korea is often not shown us. Indeed if I whacked a kid on the head each time he or she said something vulgar in English, I`d likely tear a rotator cuff.

Foreign English teachers are often not shown this respect because, like the woman in the video, we are often young and often considered temporary teachers, being employed by a school for only a year at a time. It is also because a small minority of teachers do not behave like professionals and thus should not be awarded the respect that should go with the title.

But the biggest reason is foreign English teachers are expected to lead easy, light-hearted, informal classes, as opposed to the strict, demanding classes led by Koreans. Directed to teach English conversation classes, we often try to lead communication-based lessons in a country where the method is, well, completely foreign, and the methods thus not given the proper respect as, say, teacher-centered classes of rote memorization and lectures. Moreover, the way English education is presented on television, with a native speaker acting like a buffoon, conditions the way native speakers are supposed to act in the classroom. And, considering that too many teachers and students are completely unaware that English even has etiquette or polite speech, and it`s easy for that professional line to be crossed.

Sexual harassment isn`t a daily occurrence in the classroom, if the video is even an example of sexual harassment, but things like swearing in English, cursing in Korean at teachers, rubbing arm hair, gawking at breasts, and hugging and touching do happen with regularity. As do minor annoyances that Korean teachers lament as well, like students who are disruptive, inattentive, or who think public school classes are a waste of time.

Trying to lead classes of students who consider you a friend or a plaything is not conducive to improving English ability or to maintaining a healthy learning environment.

I still ask whether this means Korean English teachers will understand us better. By the same token, while the challenges native speaker English teachers face in large part arise by how native speakers are imagined in Korea, we may take some perverse comfort in knowing that certain disciplinary issues appear, unfortunately, to be widespread. Just like foreign teachers who must keep students in line without using "love sticks," it will be up to teachers all over the country to regain respect and control in the classroom when physical intimidation doesn`t work.



The opinions expressed he are the author`s only and do not necessarily represent those of The Korea Herald. More of his writings can be found at briandeutsch.blogspot.com -- Ed.



By Brian Deutsch