Were you allowed to sleep in class?

[Grimne_Lothos]

So then we're all in agreement that just like back home, some students sleep in class and think it acceptable while some don't and think it's rude?

Pretty sure no Korean thinks its unacceptable and/or rude.

In Korea, the purpose of school is to help you maximize your future income..   I don't think they bother pretending that its really about making you into a better person who looks at the world critically and makes the world a better place and all that.  To that end they study in order to score higher on tests and thus get into a better school/ get a better job.  If English is not on the test that they plan to take then it actually seems to be to be a rational decision to sleep in English class and use that hour of sleep to sleep an hour less at night and spend that time studying something that is on the test.  I have trouble faulting children for making intelligent decisions.

China has a similar education setup (ie one big test at the end of high school pretty much determines your entire future) and high school english teachers there commonly have half of their class sleeping in the back.

[cowboy7]

I got plenty of sleep the night before all throughout elementary school so I usually was not drowsy during school.  As I got older, I got to sleep later and later just like most of the other kids but still I would not sleep in class, ever. 

Of course, university is different.  We were adults by then and naturally had so many more freedoms (tardiness, absence, pajamas).  Also, the lecturers and professors have so many students they usually don't care about individuals.  They get paid just the same.

[chasmmi]

In School no.

In Uni I worked full time whilst also doing a full time degree which meant I was sometimes very tired for classes that began in the early morning.

I would fall asleep sometimes and it would usually be let slide as they if a lecturer saw me, they also saw that I was trying to stay awake but it just wasn't working.

However there is one specific instance that comes to mind in one of my Korean classes. It was a four student class and the other three had not turned up and I was shattered. The professor was the one professor in the uni that I did not like as she was pretty much useless at everything and had no awareness of what her students were doing/able to follow.

This was proved when I fell asleep, only to wake up 30 minutes later to see her still talking and writing stuff on the board. Let me stress, I was the ONLY student there and she just carried on her class as planned.

[Niezen]

I'm not sure that 'allow' had much to do with it. I wouldn't wish my high-school self on any teacher today.

[ytuque]

Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union ran a survey last year of middle and school students and 65% said they have a RIGHT to sleep in class.  In the absence of a strict teacher, they are going to sleep.

[Frozencat99]

The ones that you have to consistently keep awake aren't learning anyway.

I don't really deal with this problem since I'm in elementary school. It's happened a single time and it was because the kid had the flu, had gone to the nurse at lunch, and was drowsy from whatever she gave him (he couldn't go home because both parents work in the next town over). So I moved him to the English library and let him sleep.

Also,  ::) as always at Horus.

[bobrocket]

I slept my way through high school, i passed everything and wasn't disruptive so no-one gave a s**t

[alyssa.callahan]

I remember in my high school, there was one awesome teacher who would pull jokes on sleeping people in his class.  One time, the guy behind me fell asleep and he got the entire class to stand up and leave the room quietly.  We went outside the school and watched him in the window.  When he woke up, he looked around and saw all the empty tables and looked shocked!  Then he saw us in the window and started laughing.  That teacher was amazing... he was a master at getting his students to pay attention to him, even if it meant that he climbed on our desks and walked around on them while he was lecturing!

[deweybeach]

I remember in my high school, there was one awesome teacher who would pull jokes on sleeping people in his class.  One time, the guy behind me fell asleep and he got the entire class to stand up and leave the room quietly.  We went outside the school and watched him in the window.  When he woke up, he looked around and saw all the empty tables and looked shocked!  Then he saw us in the window and started laughing.  That teacher was amazing... he was a master at getting his students to pay attention to him, even if it meant that he climbed on our desks and walked around on them while he was lecturing!

That's awesome!