RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Stop yelling, stop running around like an idiot and clean up your bloody mess. This isn't revolutionary.

I was talking about this with the 1st-grade headteacher last week when we were in Boseong with the students.  We were staying in a lovely Hanok house with all the students, and mainly we, the teachers, were cooking and the students were eating.  Only two students helped out with the washing up after or any tidying.  The rest of the students sat around eating, chatting or using their phones.  I love my students very much, but like your comment, it gives you a view of what they have from their home life.  I know they're high school students and as such don't have a lot of free time, but still.  The one student who always helped, their parents came to the provincial contest with heaters, hot chocolate, and blankets for the students because we played two games three hours apart, and a day before a typhoon so it was pissing down.  Obviously, this student has lovely selfless parents, and that's rubbed off on them.   

Stop yelling, stop running around like an idiot and clean up your bloody mess. This isn't revolutionary.

I was talking about this with the 1st-grade headteacher last week when we were in Boseong with the students.  We were staying in a lovely Hanok house with all the students, and mainly we, the teachers, were cooking and the students were eating.  Only two students helped out with the washing up after or any tidying.  The rest of the students sat around eating, chatting or using their phones.  I love my students very much, but like your comment, it gives you a view of what they have from their home life.  I know they're high school students and as such don't have a lot of free time, but still.  The one student who always helped, their parents came to the provincial contest with heaters, hot chocolate, and blankets for the students because we played two games three hours apart, and a day before a typhoon so it was pissing down.  Obviously, this student has lovely selfless parents, and that's rubbed off on them.   

Yeah, a lot of my own students are super entitled and spoiled. Good kids deep down, but they have a lot of ideas about what they shouldn't have to do, thanks to their parents, lol. They feel it's every adult's duty to clean up after them, even if the adults aren't their parents. And then they become adults who think the same way, but it's harder for them to get away with it.

I force every single student to help, and I always get a ton who drag their feet, give me looks, and try to get away with doing a piss poor job because they don't think they should have to help. They think it's my job to do it for them, lol.

Nope. If you made the mess or ate the food, you're going to clean up after yourself. If you don't do it right the first time, I'm going to make you go back and do it again until you do it right. This includes clearing the tables, throwing away the garbage, and washing your own dishes. I'm here to teach and to keep you safe while you're with me.  I don't get paid to be your nanny.

I don't get paid to be your nanny.

I always remind the students of this if they're being dicks. "I'm not your mom." I don't love you and it's not my job to take care of you. I will respect you if it's mutual and I'm here to teach you English. That's it. 


  Put that in the garbage.

  *shoves garbage into desk*

  Like, wtf are you doing?

I don't get paid to be your nanny.

I always remind the students of this if they're being dicks. "I'm not your mom." I don't love you and it's not my job to take care of you. I will respect you if it's mutual and I'm here to teach you English. That's it. 


  Put that in the garbage.

  *shoves garbage into desk*

  Like, wtf are you doing?

Gawd, this brings back memories of an old school. The desks in the English room were STUFFED with garbage from over the years. Absolutely compacted in. You wouldn't think it would be possible to stuff more garbage in, but students apparently managed it, or they tried pretty damn hard.

First thing I did was to get a cleaning crew assembled from students who were being disciplined, and I made them dig that shit out. And they literally had to dig. Everything they managed to get out filled three large garbage bags.

I have no ****** idea why the KTs in charge of the room before me allowed the kids to get away with that bullshit, but nah, you can't trust these kids to their own devices and expect them to do the honorable thing. While some will because they're being raised right and don't have their bad behaviors excused away with "they're kids" or "they have to study a lot", a ton won't.

why, in the freshest of hells, do schools insist on buying those desks with drawers under them?

My biggest problem are kids who act like they don't know that what they're doing is wrong. No matter how much you try to convince me, shrugging your shoulders and saying "I didn't know (that stuffing garbage in the desk/punching my friend in the chest/saying WHATTHEPUCKYOU) is wrong" just makes you look more stupid.

Own up to it and I'll give way much more respect. You can't convince me that you don't know what a friggin garbage can is. Not at the age of Grade 3 and higher.

My biggest problem are kids who act like they don't know that what they're doing is wrong. No matter how much you try to convince me, shrugging your shoulders and saying "I didn't know (that stuffing garbage in the desk/punching my friend in the chest/saying WHATTHEPUCKYOU) is wrong" just makes you look more stupid.

Own up to it and I'll give way much more respect. You can't convince me that you don't know what a friggin garbage can is. Not at the age of Grade 3 and higher.

2 possible reasons I've hypothesized:

1 - In Confucianism, there's no honor in admitting one's mistake and apologizing is the lowest thing you can do.

2 - The truly have not been taught a damn thing at home.

I can't decide which is more disturbing.

My biggest problem are kids who act like they don't know that what they're doing is wrong. No matter how much you try to convince me, shrugging your shoulders and saying "I didn't know (that stuffing garbage in the desk/punching my friend in the chest/saying WHATTHEPUCKYOU) is wrong" just makes you look more stupid.

Own up to it and I'll give way much more respect. You can't convince me that you don't know what a friggin garbage can is. Not at the age of Grade 3 and higher.

they probably get away with it at home, perhaps even with their homeroom teachers. i mean, do adults here ever own up to something? i've always been told admitting you're wrong or made a mistake is a sign of weakness. imagine that

Confucius himself said "A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake," so I'm not sure not apologizing or admitting to a mistake could genuinely be called a product of Confucianism.

Confucius himself said "A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake," so I'm not sure not apologizing or admitting to a mistake could genuinely be called a product of Confucianism.

K-onfucianism is different.

Confucius himself said "A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake," so I'm not sure not apologizing or admitting to a mistake could genuinely be called a product of Confucianism.

K-onfucianism is different.

K-On-Fucianism? Sign me up!

YO

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3314825425224207

To my girlfriend's great credit, she can be pretty hard on her kid. Daughter is 4.

She's essentially a single mom, for practical purposes. I'm in Anyang, she's in Cheonan, so I'm not there all the time and I'm not in parenting role yet. If she don't discipline the kid at this stage, no one will. My GF lays out clear behavioural things that she expects from the kid. (They're fair, in case anyone is concerned, she's not making crazy strict rules)

Touch the TV? Punished. There is no reason for anyone to touch a TV screen with their fingers. So don't do it.

Sit at the table and not eat your food? That's a scolding. (Kid can go 6 or 7 mins without eating and just talk and talk , while mom and I are finished our food)

I really, really hope this is gonna stick. She's a good kid and I think that that is DUE to the fact that she is disciplined rather strongly. Kids need guidance and they need to be averse to doing things that they are punished for. This is Behaviour 101, like I said in a post prior, this isn't revolutionary thinking. It's pretty damn basic.

If a kid touches the TV screen (ESPECIALLY on a flatscreen, those old tube ones, it wasn't so important, but now? Delicate as HELL) it's not good enough to throw your head back and say, "Oh, Dain. What a character! She shouldn't be doing that. Should you, Dain?"

NO. Cut that shit out.

Why don't people cover their mouths when they cough here? I mean...it's like the most basic of manners: don't cough in someone's face. Must happen to me at least once a week on the subway

Why don't people cover their mouths when they cough here? I mean...it's like the most basic of manners: don't cough in someone's face. Must happen to me at least once a week on the subway

Yeah, I don't get this. It's super gross.

And again, dead-to-the-point-of-decomposing-horse, but why do so many people not wash their hands?

Why don't people cover their mouths when they cough here? I mean...it's like the most basic of manners: don't cough in someone's face. Must happen to me at least once a week on the subway

And again... why do so many people not wash their hands?

"The whole thing smacks of effort, man."

Why don't people cover their mouths when they cough here? I mean...it's like the most basic of manners: don't cough in someone's face. Must happen to me at least once a week on the subway

And again... why do so many people not wash their hands?

"The whole thing smacks of effort, man."

That's unironically in my top ten Simpsons quotes.

Why don't people cover their mouths when they cough here?

Just one of those weird cultural differences. I do scold my students when I see them do this, especially when its about two feet from my face. Usually followed by a look of utter confusion.

It's similar to the adjeosshi spitting in street syndrome, I guess. They'd rather make their germs someone else's problem than keep it local (ingest the loogie, cough into their own hands, etc). 

Why don't people cover their mouths when they cough here?

Just one of those weird cultural differences. I do scold my students when I see them do this, especially when its about two feet from my face. Usually followed by a look of utter confusion.

It's similar to the adjeosshi spitting in street syndrome, I guess. They'd rather make their germs someone else's problem than keep it local (ingest the loogie, cough into their own hands, etc). 

the ol' "fuk everybody else but me" mentality strikes again

Why don't people cover their mouths when they cough here?

Just one of those weird cultural differences. I do scold my students when I see them do this, especially when its about two feet from my face. Usually followed by a look of utter confusion.

It's similar to the adjeosshi spitting in street syndrome, I guess. They'd rather make their germs someone else's problem than keep it local (ingest the loogie, cough into their own hands, etc). 

the ol' "fuk everybody else but me" mentality strikes again

I honestly just think it's a lack of education about how disease is spread. I don't think it's really fair to label that as cultural. I know lots and lots of educated, intelligent people here who still believe getting cold makes you sick. And lots of people practice good personal hygiene regimens, but then completely neglect other basic things, like the aforementioned mouth covering or hand washing.

Someone barging through a crowd to get a seat on a subway? Self-before-all-else mentality. Possibly cultural.
Not covering mouth or washing hands? Laziness or ignorance. Probably not cultural.