Elwood 5566

Jack’s thrashed palm

One of my students didn’t do well in his Korean language exams and so his teacher, a woman, gave him five thrashes across his palm with a large stick. Jack is a friendly student with a mild manner and despite not being the quickest academically, he always tries hard. I’m not against the stick but I am against using it either excessively or for punishing students because they didn’t perform well.

bruises can clearly be seen at the base of his thumb and left-center palm

I suppose he was quite proud of his bruises and told me that though he didn’t cry, it hurt so much afterwards he had to go to the nurse’s office for some ice. I am aware how situations and events can be wrongly reported by students but part of me wants to confront teachers who so viciously beat kids simply because they did not do well in an exam. Meanwhile, plenty of other punishments exist for ‘naughty’ students.

Students in my school being punished for lack of homework

First and second year high school students being punished en-masse. I would imagine this punishment particularly painful

A high school student waiting to be beaten. I’ve seen teachers in this school use golf clubs for this purpose

Two of the most common forms of punishment

© 林東哲 2011 Creative Commons Licence.