Disciprine

Considering how hard they are worked, how much is expected of them, and the fact that hey, we're in Asia, makes me extremely surprised at how little discipline these kids have. Even American kids, as I recall from my childhood and from recently working at a school, seem to be better behaved and exert more self control than these monsters, I mean kids, I mean monsters.

They're good enough kids. I like most of them, except for the awful ones. But they're terrible students. I have a couple students (out of about 40) who have been with me for weeks and months and have only turned in a handful of homework assignments. Others turn in homework every day because they face some sort of punishment at home if they don't, but all they do is vomit language onto a piece of paper, and the vomit in no way resembles what I asked them to do.

Others continually say they don't have time to do the homework, which I totally believe and understand, considering that they get up at like 8 in the morning and are engaged in academic activities until midnight every night. Unfortunately I can't excuse them from the homework for that reason. It makes me wish the parents would get their priorities straight and just enroll the kids in classes that are absolutely necessary, like English.

The excuse runner up is "I went to my grandma's house," to which I say, "And why can't you do homework at grandma's?" I never get a satisfactory answer on that one. I think it's culturally inappropriate to do homework when visiting one's elder relatives.

Beyond not turning in homework, there are a number of normal behavioral problems the kids have, like hitting, screaming, getting out of their seats (constantly), not paying attention, being rude. I had assumed that rudeness would not be much of a problem here, considering that the whole language and culture is based on reverence for those older than you, but no. I still have kids treat me like I'm nothing, or a toy, or stupid (laughable).

What gets me about the education system here is that there's no way for me truly punish the kids. I would be in favor of detentions, but we can't give detentions because the kids' schedules are so packed. There is a system of stamps given and taken away for doing or not doing a good job, but really, who cares about stamps? The main punishment is making kids stand against the wall with their hands above their heads, but that doesn't do much. I did that to a girl yesterday, and then when I said she could sit down, she asked if she could stay like that. Then another kid joined her. Super.

I used to write on their faces, since the teacher I replaced used to do that when kids fell asleep. I figured embarrassment was the only possibly effective way to punish them. And they do hate it, but because I'm sure that I would get in a ton of trouble with parents if I used magic or permanent markers on their faces, I just use the dry erase markers. This allows them to rub their faces clean within five minutes. I got tired of doing this after a while, too, because it doesn't work so well, and because the kids put up such a fight about it. One kid totally flipped out and started crying and called me all the worst swears in Korean (the other kids told me), which made him eligible to be ejected from the school, once the other kids told my boss. Heather told me about kicking him out, and I said it would be okay to keep him in my class, since he seemed to be pretty smart and he participated a lot. I have come to regret that decision, though. Ever since then, he's been rude and contrary, he slacks a lot and doesn't pay attention, and he seems to have gotten dumber.

Corporal punishment is alive and well here in Korea, but even if I didn't oppose hitting someone else's kid, I recently found out that I'm not allowed, as a foreigner, to hit them. Steven, the Canadian teacher, recently suggested that we ask the Korean teachers to collect the homework for us, so they could hit them if they didn't turn it in, but apparently that didn't get past the boss.
I decided last week that calling parents is the only way to get the students to do the homework. So now I've devised a chart with all my classes on it and spaces for names and homework details. At the beginning of each class when I collect homework, I note who didn't do it and what they need to do, and the school's assistant calls the parents to tell them. It's kind of a weak solution, since it means the kids get no punishment from me or the school, but I'd like to think the kids get hell at home, since the parents are so hard on the school itself about making the kids learn. But I really have no idea.