Classroom Anarchy

School atmosphere is deteriorating before my eyes. It's a fascinating, frustrating and utterly exhausting time to be here. Watching my classroom flood with running, screaming children, then seeing a 5th grade (11-year-old) student scream "What the fuck!" as he reaches his desk, I once again question the possibility of leading a civilized lesson in English. In the class preceding this one, I told two girls to cease talking, as one was turned around in her desk to chat with her friend during my lesson. The girl glanced at me for a moment, then immediately turned back around to continue her conversation.  When I made her stand up, she gave a martyred expression as if so to say "How dare you punish me? I've done nothing wrong". Though they continued to stand during my lesson, they also continued their conversation until my co-teacher spoke to them in Korean, telling them to be quiet. The girl told her in Korean "I'm a human being, I can't be quiet". What was further shocking was that she had previously been one of our better students.

I escorted the student who shouted the profanity to his homeroom where he vehemently denied that it was he who had said it, though I witnessed him doing so. Apparently, he even broke down crying for being wrongfully accused...until other students returned and verified that it was, in fact, he who had said it. I'll readily admit that I was no stranger to lying when I was a student, but do remember having a respect for all authority figures and have a fear of punishment. Though I might not have like my teachers (Mrs. Maloney, I'm looking at you) I did fear recourse for my actions. Here, or now, it seems, there is no sense of consequence. The reason is, frankly, there is no consequence. Success in school is entirely exam-based. There are not grades for behavior, participation, homework, et cetera. There entire future hinges on how well they do on their exams, thus, if they learn in a private academy, then don't need my class. Even if they do need my class, they are not held accountable for their behavior within it. My two examples are just what has happened today. Everyday, I am faced with classrooms full of students who absolutely refuse to be quiet, to obey and to respect others. Another co-teacher witnessed a 6th grade homeroom class in utter chaos, running around the room, fighting each other and laughing at the teacher as she yelled at them to sit down and be quiet.

What can we do in the US? Or rather, what could be done when I was a student? For my first offense, my name was put on the board. In itself, this is not a punishment, perhaps it would shame me, but it doesn't particularly hurt me and ultimately wasn't much a deterrent. With enough 'checks' on the board, I would then have to skip my recess after lunch. This was undesirable, but no other authority figure was notified (namely, my parents) so it didn't scare me greatly. As a non-homeroom teacher, I can't really ask for students to come to my room after their lunch...they probably wouldn't come anyway. The next thing would be to be sent to the principal and/or be kept after school. For the former, we cannot do such a thing, as it, in essence, tells the principal and the school that we are unable to control our own class. Visiting the principal is not part of the school system here and neither is cooperation and teamwork, but all-against-all mentality (maybe not in a true Hobbesian sense). Older teachers regularly pass off their own work to younger teachers, due to an 'emergency'...the emergency is usually that they don't want to do it. The latter is also unavailable as nearly all of these students have scheduled academies and sports until late into the evening. Parents would not tolerate it.

Next our parents would be called. As a non-Korean speaker, of course I cannot do this, but it's becoming more and more apparent that this wouldn't work anyway. Teachers were held in great respect here in the past, but, it seems that that is no longer the case. In the era of child-worship (as prevalent here as elsewhere), children can do no wrong and teachers are merely 'out to get them'. Parents constantly lobby for special attention to their child, but turn a deaf ear to complaints. One student was caught cheating last year during their final exam (in a their homeroom, not in mine). The teacher called the parent, who's only response was to ask "Why do you only call about my child for negative things?" One parent this year, who's student is quite a handful, upon hearing a complaint about his noisy behavior, told the teacher that she must learn how to deal with children like that. In the not so distant past, corporal punishment was used by teachers and now those children are grown up with children of their own. I wonder if their own experiences of abusive teachers who had taken advantage of their position leads them to distrust and disrespect all teachers, which in turn leads to their childrens' own disrespect. Finally, there was suspension and expulsion, neither of which seem to exist here. Students were suspended for fighting when I was in school, but here I witness it regularly. The fight is merely broken up and life returns to normal.

As I reached later grades in school, the alternative for names on the board was to be forced to leave the class to study in the hallway. Ultimately, this isn't a terrible punishment for the student, but removes their ability to disrupt class and prevent others from learning. I am  disallowed from doing that here. They have the 'right' to be here, and  thus I infringe on their rights by doing so, even if they are disrupting  my class to the extent that I am unable to teach others who also have  the right to learn. At first, I took this seriously, and left punishment up to my co-teachers, but now, with no recourse, I've begun sending students out of the class in droves. Basically, I just say "Get out of my class". Essentially, if you don't want to learn, that's fine, but you are not going to ruin the experience for those who do or are willing to. Perhaps I'll one day be reprimanded for this, but at present, my only concern is teaching as best as possible for those willing to listen.

I don't know what the future holds for the school system. Perhaps we've just gotten a bad batch of kids. Some teachers who have been teaching for 25 years have stated that the 5th grade class (7 homeroom classes) is the worst group of students they have ever taught. Maybe it's just extreme bad luck. I do feel, though, that in attempting to modernize the school system (elimination of corporal punishment) they forgot that alternative forms of punishment were necessary, not as revenge but as a deterrent. I hope things improve, but I won't be here to see it.