A student called the police on a teacher that punched him during my class

[zachmokpo]

I was teaching my first class of the day yesterday when behind me I heard a student on a cell phone and my coteacher, a Japanese language teacher with pretty limited English, shouting at him to get off the phone immediately (from what I understood in Korean). When the student was done making his call, the teacher scolded the student and they both left the class in a hurry. I was at the front of the class with and never saw what happened between the teacher and student. The other students in class told me that the teacher asked the student to be quiet then punched the student. The student then got up, went to his locked, grabbed his phone, and called the police on her. The remainder of class was continually interrupted by teachers coming into class and asking students what happened.

I was later called down to the main office by my actual coteacher and was asked what happened during my class. I told her I wasn't sure because I was facing away from the teacher and student when the incident happened. She then told me the school felt this was slightly my fault for having students work in groups instead of on their own and wanted me to no longer have students do group work in my classes.

Has anyone ever had something like this happen in their school before?

[Gillod]

This happens at my friend's middle school all the time- If a teacher says something like "You wrote on the desk!" and the student is adamant that they didn't write on the desk, they'll call the police and accuse the teacher of lying. She says it happens like 2 or 3 times a week.

[zachmokpo]

Really? In my three years of being in Korea, this incident was the first time I heard about anything like this happening. That's nuts that students are calling the cops three times a week at your friend's school.

[Ollie84]

I She then told me the school felt this was slightly my fault for having students work in groups instead of on their own and wanted me to no longer have students do group work in my classes.

Has anyone ever had something like this happen in their school before?

Have the school officially told you this or warned you? Group work is not the problem here.

[zachmokpo]

I She then told me the school felt this was slightly my fault for having students work in groups instead of on their own and wanted me to no longer have students do group work in my classes.

Has anyone ever had something like this happen in their school before?

Have the school officially told you this or warned you? Group work is not the problem here.

Cass,

I know it's not the problem. It's just the coteacher and the school trying to deflect some of the fault onto me.

[ToniV]

Wow! That sucks that you have been told group work is no longer allowed. Guess that means no more games for the students... as usual, the students are the ones that lose out.

[swizzle]

The police came to my school Wednesday morning because someone called them and said a girl was crying for no reason.  They searched the school, couldn't find a crying girl and left. 

I wouldn't stop using group work in class simply because some idiot teacher punched a student.  Why make the student's suffer for the teacher's inability to control her temper.

[pinny]

thats nuts!

im guessing the student called the police cos theres a rule now that the students can;t be hit by the teachers, but it still goes on obviously and ive not had any experience of teachers having the police called on them?

weird that they are saying no group work and trying to blame you somehow. ridiculous.

what a crazy situation! I'm bemused

[zachmokpo]

Wow! That sucks that you have been told group work is no longer allowed. Guess that means no more games for the students... as usual, the students are the ones that lose out.

I only have 25 teaching days left at my boys high school and I plan on continuing to do group work. The school suggested I have students do individual work from here on in. There's no way I'll be able to make sure that 38-41 students per class are doing their work. Group work is the most effective way to keep a class in check and I'll keep doing what works for me.

[ISangHae]

Is your co-teacher psycho?

[zachmokpo]

Is your co-teacher psycho?

My main coteacher or the one that hit the student?

[Yu_Bumsuk]

Wow the police must really have nothing to do. Just play dumb, say whatever the superiors may want to hear, and carry on the way you were before.

A few years ago I saw a teacher who caught a high school student loitering in the corrider pinch her by the cheek, literally give her head a shake, slap her across the head, and yell at her to hurry up and get to the multimedia room where she was late fore a presentation. And what presentation was this that was so important she couldn't miss the first couple of minutes? A presentation by the local police about the prevention of violence towards women.

[michelleh]

Yeah, this happened at my school last semester. A P.E. teacher was making some boys run laps or do push-ups. They called the police (who are right beside the school), and were punished for about two weeks afterwards for wasting police time/general disobedience.

[Andyroo]

Wow! That sucks that you have been told group work is no longer allowed. Guess that means no more games for the students... as usual, the students are the ones that lose out.

I only have 25 teaching days left at my boys high school and I plan on continuing to do group work. The school suggested I have students do individual work from here on in. There's no way I'll be able to make sure that 38-41 students per class are doing their work. Group work is the most effective way to keep a class in check and I'll keep doing what works for me.

I would definitely not do group work for that particular class.

It's only 25 days and even if you have to do useless lessons (like have them do a find a word for 20 minutes) and phone it in, it will avoid the residual tension.

[confusedsafferinkorea]

I She then told me the school felt this was slightly my fault for having students work in groups instead of on their own and wanted me to no longer have students do group work in my classes.

Has anyone ever had something like this happen in their school before?

Have the school officially told you this or warned you? Group work is not the problem here.

I am gob-smacked......... the nerve of trying to pass the blame onto you...... I am speechless !!!!

 

[poppy]

The school and co teacher are trying to save face by putting the blame on the foreigner, your an easy scapegoat.  Just agree to what they say and then go back to teaching your classes they way you were before, group work and everything.  If they say anything more just act like you didn't understand the first time and didn't realize they meant all group work.  Chances are it will never get mentioned again.

[pinkynj]

Your school has no problem in saving face for the teacher who actually abused the child and could not care less about the native teacher.

I have only been teaching in Korea since the end of February and quite frankly, the politics are absolutely stupid and backwards. I have not experienced a teacher causing physical violence to a child but other stuff and in all honesty, I am dreading the remaining 10 months to the extent where I might skip out in August/September.

It’s the BS and ‘blame the foreign teacher’ policy nonsense that I personally can’t deal with. Sorry OP but like you said, you have 25 more teaching days. Good luck and carry on teaching they way you do 

[wafflebunny]

Aww, HELL NAW! They blamed this on you?! I understand that there is a trend for foreigners to take the blame but this is just ridiculous! And that student did the right thing and called the police! If I were you I would have said, "No it's not my fault! I don't hit students." If they took that as you being rude, screw them! Forget cultural sensitivity. This is just plain wrong!

[goulash]

Yeah, this happened at my school last semester. A P.E. teacher was making some boys run laps or do push-ups. They called the police (who are right beside the school), and were punished for about two weeks afterwards for wasting police time/general disobedience.

Where's the "Like" button?

My wife use to teach at a highschool renowned as being the worst in the province. They would have the police up there a few times each month. Usually because the kid had something against a teacher and just wanted to get them in trouble. (Sometimes cause the kids had gone postal on each other and put another kid in hospital...)

[CeilingofStars]

Sometimes it certainly is a case of 'blame the foreign teacher', but like you said in this incident, the other teacher was foreign too (Japanese, right?).  I think it has more to do with saving face for the other teacher and for the administration.  A lot of times administration officials feel the need to 'correct' or 'advise', even if they don't really know what they're talking about or there's not really anything that needs to be done.  This is just as true in America as in Korea.  The only difference is usually the content of that 'advice' or the way it's delivered.  Just in my opinion, I think an American would be more likely to give attitude or mood advice ("You need to work on promoting an atmosphere where students don't get out of hand enough that the other teacher feels the need to resort to physical punishment") and leave the specifics up to the employee, whereas in Korea they are more likely to give specific instruction ("No more groupwork").