Corporal Punishment, a Korean Tradition

I overheard two sets of children get hit today. It’s not the sort of thing you turn around to gawk at– regardless of what culture you’re from it seems– so I only heard their whimpering after the contact was made.

Corporal punishment in Korean schools is not uncommon. Teachers are allowed to administer physical punishment if they choose to and students are aware of it.

Today I saw two boys kneeling in the hallway after class. I wasn’t sure why they were in front of the teacher’s room in that position, with those worried faces, but when I saw an older teacher with his stick I quickly understood. His face lit up with aggravation as he approached the teenage boys and I immediately walked away. I heard the smack of the wood on their backs/ backpacks a few times. I sat down at my desk.

The other teachers knew what was happening and some of them peaked over with looks of concern (this made me feel like I wasn’t alone in feeling for the boys); however, a few moments later they burst out into laughter. Since my Korean’s so bad I’ll never know if they were laughing at the students– my guess is not– but the point stands that their sympathy was fleeting and the status quo was unshaken.

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I had (unfortunately / fortunately) largely forgotten about the incident at school today until my host brothers warranted a scolding from their mother. The boys had been bickering all evening and when their mother came home and was trying to prepare dinner she knew she had to put a stop to it. I don’t know if she physically hit them but she took them outside and yelled pretty firmly.

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There is nothing I can do. Correction, there is nothing I should do in this situation (the consoling / hug that I wanted to give my host brother was probably even too much). We are naturally sympathetic to the little guy but I cannot change the system– nor is it my place to– as a solitary outsider who will be here for only 12 months. But for as advanced as Koreans are in technology and development it astounds me sometimes how lagging their social progress has been.

I just wish they didn’t hit their kids, cultural relativism or not.

Because I encounter cultural oddities (to me, as an American) everyday in Korea I’m going to lump them together under the “Culturally Relative” tag. Thanks for following the blog!