Culture Shock: Crime and Punishment

Today when I came to school, I was greeted with a scandal. Let me set this up. On Thursday and Friday, my Seong Po students, the teachers, and the principals went on a field trip. It was an overnight thing where they toured universities and saw some touristy sights. Then, Saturday, they had school. Yes, they had school on Saturday. They do NOT have school on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month, which means on months with five weeks--yes three weeks of school.

Anyway, apparently, the student were rowdy all Thursday night, and got back late Friday, which means a bunch of tired teenagers. The scandal occurred because a group of about ten of the students didn't come to school. This is very noticeable when there are only about fifty students in your grade--and when the group of students are a clique.

So, my co-teacher spent most of the morning making phone calls to parents. The students spent most of the day on their knees outside the teachers office with their eyes closed--not saying a word. I have to admit I felt a little bad for the kids. They have a week of holidays coming up (starting tomorrow), just got off a two day field trip. I wouldn't want to come to school on a Saturday either.

However, as my role as "teacher" I had to hide my smirks and try my hardest not to give them a hard time. This started a conversation with my co-teacher about corporal punishment in the states. I had to explain that while we do have corporal punishment in some places, it is rarely used. Oh, that in America, teachers don't just suddenly smack a student up the back of the head for talking back. Although that sight is rare in Korea so far, when I saw it today, I actually thought, "Man that kid deserved that." Does that make me a bad American teacher and a good Korean teacher?