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Well, our occasionally schoolmarmish PM, Ms Julia Gillard, is dead-keen on citing the
contentious My School website as one of her proudest policy achievements, even though
when she introduced it, teachers unions didn’t exactly share her enthusiasm for the scheme.
In South Korea, their education unions have been up in arms of late over a planned government
policy change that has starkly different from My School. Amos Roberts found that many Koreans
believe that the old adage that “sparing the rod spoils the child”. A warning - Amos’s
report contains scenes that could upset some of you.
A tae-kwan-do studio is hardly where you'd expect to start a story on corporal punishment.
But in a scandal that shocked South Koreans this year, classroom discipline invoked the
martial arts.
When this primary school teacher assaulted a pupil in July…..he was secretly filmed
by another pupil on a mobile phone. Students had nicknamed the teacher, whose last name
is Oh, ‘Oh Jang Pung’, after a powerful blow used in martial arts movies.
There was a public outcry after the video went viral online.
The teacher has partly admitted to using corporal punishment but said parents misunderstood
teaching principles.
A group of parents from the school filed a complaint with the police, and the teacher
was suspended.
This is the primary school where it all happened. No-one here wanted to be filmed, but the vice-principal
told me the video has been misinterpreted.
Oh Jang Pung isn't the first teacher caught taking corporal punishment to extremes.
Over the past few years, a series of violent incidents involving teachers has come to light,
fuelling controversy in local media.
Corporal punishment isn't supposed to be used in South Korean schools unless it's for ‘educational
purposes’. In July, the Seoul district education superintendent announced he wanted to close
this loophole.
Two districts declared a complete ban on corporal punishment, and the government has announced
its plans to do the same. There was an immediate backlash from teachers.
Kim Yeong-Hwa taught primary school for 37 years, and is the author of a book called,
‘Inside 6th Grade Classrooms Today’. She says many 13-year-olds are now out of control,
and blames their bad behaviour on a growing reluctance to use corporal
punishment.
Kim ***-seok is from the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations, the country's largest
teachers' union.
Finding a school that would let me film ‘educational’ corporal punishment proved difficult - it's
a sensitive issue here.
JONGWOOK HONG, TEACHER AND TRANSLATOR: Hello, everyone, good evening.
But, as it turns out, my translator for this story is also a teacher.
JONGWOOK HONG: Who's missing?
Jongwook Hong runs an after-school study centre, or ‘hagwon’, and invited me to film him
disciplining his students.
JONGWOOK HONG (Translation): Hey, stand up. Go to the back. You didn't finish your homework.
Hands behind your head, squat down and up. Look at one another. Don’t look at me. Ready?
40 times. Go!
Getting students to do physical exercises is a common form of punishment.
JONGWOOK HONG: Go back to your seat.
But Jongwook's never had any qualms about whacking his pupils when he thought it necessary.
However, the parents of these pupils say their children never complain for long.
One mother's more worried about bruises than pain.
JONGWOOK HONG: Will you do your homework?
STUDENT: Yes, I will.
JONGWOOK HONG: Good, have a seat.
But growing numbers of teachers and parents believe that hitting children is wrong. Among
them is Principal Lee Beom-Hee, who greets his students individually as they arrive for
school each morning.
Nobody woke you this morning?
A former ethics teacher, Lee was handpicked to open Heungdeok High School just six months
ago.
Banning corporal punishment is just one of many reforms Principal Lee has introduced.
He believes strict schooling might have worked in the past, when South Korea was struggling
to develop, but students can no longer be forced to do things against their will.
To an outsider, it seems students take advantage of this laissez-faire approach.
They don't appear concerned when the principal finds them smoking in the bathroom…
..and some pupils spend their classes catching up on comic books and
sleep.
In many ways, the debate over corporal punishment in South Korea is a struggle over the future
of education. Conservatives warn of a breakdown in discipline and declining academic standards
if liberals get their way.
Even teachers who support a ban on corporal punishment are worried about the lack of established
alternatives. Detention doesn't work when most students are rushing off to see tutors
after school. And some parents are accused of out-sourcing their child's discipline to their teachers.
And what do the
students themselves think of this debate? Well, many admit marks might improve with
more discipline, but no-one here is clamouring for the cane.
GEORGE NEGUS: The other side of
the story. Amos Roberts filming and reporting from South Korea. And tell us your reaction
and read more about the debate on corporal punishment on our website: