RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Wife told me about an incident yesterday with a problem class of hers. A few students were basically trying revolt by completely ignoring any instruction my wife or the CT would give them. A few of the students were basically looking for rules to break. Things started getting out of hand and one of the girls was getting physical, breaking school property etc. (My wife claims that this girl is a massive bully, 6th grader at 175cm and solidly built and has a history of hitting other students...hard)
the CT said she was going to get the HR teacher and ran out the class.

What happens next?
Class gets more and more out of control and my wife is struggling to deal with it. CT ends up staying out the class for the remainder of the period (30min). After class, where does my wife find her? Hiding in the library... HR teacher wasn't notified either.
Students were potentially going to get violent and someone might've gotten hurt, and a teacher with nearly 20yrs experience decides to run away, leaving a co-worker who doesn't speak Korean to deal with a potentially dangerous situation.

I don't think modern day SNS really helps.  You check Instagram or Facebook and the photos are of grinning wonderfulness of your 'friends' or those you follow.

That's a big problem. You have 100 friends, and let's say 14 or 15 of them post something pretty cool on any given day, which is completely within the realm of reasonable. Now you are seeing a weekly roation of amazing things from all your different friends. Meanwhile, you're only having a couple of pretty cool experiences every week. It's not representative of real life. You're not seeing Samantha cry by herself after her breakup, you're only seeing the amazing ice cream that she's scarfing down to make herself feel better. You're not seeing Greg blowing gauges at the airport because they lost his luggage, you're only seeing him at some temple in rural Thailand with a big grin on his face.

All those cool pics on instagram represent a fraction of life, but due to the revolving door that is our follow list, we imagine that EVERYONE is having the best time without us.

I haven given up FB, Insta and Reddit for this month. I want to see what happens, because I can honestly say that these apps have become a bloody thorn in my side. It's not envy, like discussed above, it's just a constant use and checking up on things and it's a massive waste of time. I really am curious to see how I feel in November.

Wife told me about an incident yesterday with a problem class of hers. A few students were basically trying revolt by completely ignoring any instruction my wife or the CT would give them. A few of the students were basically looking for rules to break. Things started getting out of hand and one of the girls was getting physical, breaking school property etc. (My wife claims that this girl is a massive bully, 6th grader at 175cm and solidly built and has a history of hitting other students...hard)
the CT said she was going to get the HR teacher and ran out the class.

What happens next?
Class gets more and more out of control and my wife is struggling to deal with it. CT ends up staying out the class for the remainder of the period (30min). After class, where does my wife find her? Hiding in the library... HR teacher wasn't notified either.
Students were potentially going to get violent and someone might've gotten hurt, and a teacher with nearly 20yrs experience decides to run away, leaving a co-worker who doesn't speak Korean to deal with a potentially dangerous situation.

What a POS. Your wife should go to the HRT and tell her exactly what happened.

Wife told me about an incident yesterday with a problem class of hers. A few students were basically trying revolt by completely ignoring any instruction my wife or the CT would give them. A few of the students were basically looking for rules to break. Things started getting out of hand and one of the girls was getting physical, breaking school property etc. (My wife claims that this girl is a massive bully, 6th grader at 175cm and solidly built and has a history of hitting other students...hard)
the CT said she was going to get the HR teacher and ran out the class.

What happens next?
Class gets more and more out of control and my wife is struggling to deal with it. CT ends up staying out the class for the remainder of the period (30min). After class, where does my wife find her? Hiding in the library... HR teacher wasn't notified either.
Students were potentially going to get violent and someone might've gotten hurt, and a teacher with nearly 20yrs experience decides to run away, leaving a co-worker who doesn't speak Korean to deal with a potentially dangerous situation.

That's so shitty.

Did your wife do or say anything about it? What the hell.

CO2: I haven given up FB, Insta and Reddit for this month. I want to see what happens, because I can honestly say that these apps have become a bloody thorn in my side. It's not envy, like discussed above, it's just a constant use and checking up on things and it's a massive waste of time. I really am curious to see how I feel in November.

Don't use Instagram or look at Reddit, but last year just after New Year's I deactivated Facebook and didn't use it again until summer vacation.  It was actually fun again to scroll through and catch up with people's lives.  After some vacation photos and messaging with people I'm back off it.  I'll go on again at Christmas then back to deactivation. 

Wife told me about an incident yesterday with a problem class of hers. A few students were basically trying revolt by completely ignoring any instruction my wife or the CT would give them. A few of the students were basically looking for rules to break. Things started getting out of hand and one of the girls was getting physical, breaking school property etc. (My wife claims that this girl is a massive bully, 6th grader at 175cm and solidly built and has a history of hitting other students...hard)
the CT said she was going to get the HR teacher and ran out the class.

What happens next?
Class gets more and more out of control and my wife is struggling to deal with it. CT ends up staying out the class for the remainder of the period (30min). After class, where does my wife find her? Hiding in the library... HR teacher wasn't notified either.
Students were potentially going to get violent and someone might've gotten hurt, and a teacher with nearly 20yrs experience decides to run away, leaving a co-worker who doesn't speak Korean to deal with a potentially dangerous situation.

That's so shitty.

Did your wife do or say anything about it? What the hell.

Stories like this make me long for the days of the "discipline officer" with the nightstick. Harsh? Maybe, but sometimes you need to lay down the law.

I would think better.  Not in a life changing way, just it can suck your life away with the constant checking, and when you remove it, your focus comes back for more important, fulfilling things.  Like drinking everyday on holiday, it's nice, but it kind of takes away your normal self and can becomes a habit, then you stop drinking for a bit and you find yourself doing more useful things and feeling better on holiday.  Bad analogy, maybe. 

Doing that for October, too. haha

Speaking test time.  Some students are inevitably absent during the class so they'll come to the office later on at random times to take the test.  So they wander in, I'll stop what I'm doing and ask them to write their name down, student number and we'll start the test.

Me: Question 1
Student: "No"

Me: Question 2
Student:  "No"

and so on.

Why go to all the trouble of coming to see me just to sit there and reply "No" to every question?  Jesus, it bugs me.

Speaking test time.  Some students are inevitably absent during the class so they'll come to the office later on at random times to take the test.  So they wander in, I'll stop what I'm doing and ask them to write their name down, student number and we'll start the test.

Me: Question 1
Student: "No"

Me: Question 2
Student:  "No"

and so on.

Why go to all the trouble of coming to see me just to sit there and reply "No" to every question?  Jesus, it bugs me.

is it because they'll still get 7/10 for doing absolutely nothing? used to happen at my old school

Speaking test time.  Some students are inevitably absent during the class so they'll come to the office later on at random times to take the test.  So they wander in, I'll stop what I'm doing and ask them to write their name down, student number and we'll start the test.

Me: Question 1
Student: "No"

Me: Question 2
Student:  "No"

and so on.

Why go to all the trouble of coming to see me just to sit there and reply "No" to every question?  Jesus, it bugs me.

is it because they'll still get 7/10 for doing absolutely nothing? used to happen at my old school

In my first school/s it was like that when I done it.
At my current schools, I'm the one that gives them their grade, and my co-teacher won't change my grading; or if she does, she hasn't told me :p

Speaking test time.  Some students are inevitably absent during the class so they'll come to the office later on at random times to take the test.  So they wander in, I'll stop what I'm doing and ask them to write their name down, student number and we'll start the test.

Me: Question 1
Student: "No"

Me: Question 2
Student:  "No"

and so on.

Why go to all the trouble of coming to see me just to sit there and reply "No" to every question?  Jesus, it bugs me.

is it because they'll still get 7/10 for doing absolutely nothing? used to happen at my old school

In my first school/s it was like that when I done it.
At my current schools, I'm the one that gives them their grade, and my co-teacher won't change my grading; or if she does, she hasn't told me :p

God I still remember one year, my coteacher was worried about the students' scores being too low so she changed the grading system to move in increments of five (100,95,90,85,80) instead of ten (100,90,80,70,60).  So even if a student said nothing they would still score 80 

Speaking test time.  Some students are inevitably absent during the class so they'll come to the office later on at random times to take the test.  So they wander in, I'll stop what I'm doing and ask them to write their name down, student number and we'll start the test.

Me: Question 1
Student: "No"

Me: Question 2
Student:  "No"

and so on.

Why go to all the trouble of coming to see me just to sit there and reply "No" to every question?  Jesus, it bugs me.

is it because they'll still get 7/10 for doing absolutely nothing? used to happen at my old school

In my first school/s it was like that when I done it.
At my current schools, I'm the one that gives them their grade, and my co-teacher won't change my grading; or if she does, she hasn't told me :p

God I still remember one year, my coteacher was worried about the students' scores being too low so she changed the grading system to move in increments of five (100,95,90,85,80) instead of ten (100,90,80,70,60).  So even if a student said nothing they would still score 80 

That irks me so much. Especially when some teachers wonder why we can't motivate these kids.

Speaking tests are the worst.

The frustration and boredom I go through kills me a little every semester.

Speaking tests are the worst.

The frustration and boredom I go through kills me a little every semester.

There aren't  many things that really drive the disappointment home for me like speaking tests do.

  What's this? (picture of an apple)

  (Gr 4 Student) 뭐?

     This was the only real point of contention between myself and my old school: the fact that students couldn't fail the speaking exams no matter how hard they tried (and some of them tried so hard that I almost wanted to bump their scores for the effort they put into failing (or rather, not failing...)). After a year of my complaints, the head teacher and I finally had a good sit down and came to a compromise: I couldn't give students a big shiny 0%, but I could go as low as a 40 rather than the 60 that was the minimum previously.

    Now, a few years later and a few years wiser (it works like that, right? Wisdom increases linearly with age?) I'm more aware of why the school fought so hard against my constant whinging suggestions:

A) in middle school, a 60% *is* considered a fail. Grade inflation has basically turned any grade other than a high B or an A into crap. Getting into a good highschool with Cs on your report is gonna be pretty tough: basically, you need to be a president's kid...

B)Giving poor grades reflects poorly on teachers and the school, which can jeopardize a teacher's career advancement track, as well as funding for the school. Good grades obviously means good students, right?

So I recently just found out that one of the lowest level and biggest problem students in my school is actually from a fairly affluent and wealthy family.

He's still in middle school but he's supposed to be in high school (that's right, it IS possible to get held back a grade in Korea, but you've really got to make the effort, and this boy has apparently excelled).

His scores are literally at the bottom for every class, and he honestly and truly is as ignorant as he behaves, despite his family's background. He's actually very uneducated, almost as if he'd been kept locked up in a basement somewhere, but he's not stupid, and he doesn't have a learning disability of any kind. He doesn't have any of those disadvantages. He just refuses to learn anything, like, at all.

He honestly and truly doesn't fit the profile that most students with his kind of behavioral and academic problems have. I'd like to know what his story is.

So I recently just found out that one of the lowest level and biggest problem students in my school is actually from a fairly affluent and wealthy family.

He's still in middle school but he's supposed to be in high school (that's right, it IS possible to get held back a grade in Korea, but you've really got to make the effort, and this boy has apparently excelled).

His scores are literally at the bottom for every class, and he honestly and truly is as ignorant as he behaves, despite his family's background. He's actually very uneducated, almost as if he'd been kept locked up in a basement somewhere, but he's not stupid, and he doesn't have a learning disability of any kind. He doesn't have any of those disadvantages. He just refuses to learn anything, like, at all.

He honestly and truly doesn't fit the profile that most students with his kind of behavioral and academic problems have. I'd like to know what his story is.

Going by what you said, I'm guessing he's employing a defense mechanism.

He's able to save more face by refusing to do work than to admit or demonstrate that he's unable to do it.
He might very well have a mental problem or, his self-esteem might be in the mariana trench, thus making him believe that he's incapable of doing anything, so it's easier to refuse than to admit incompetence. 

The whole, grade 1s don't have to take exams this semester thing.
My grade 1s at my main middle school, are by far my favourite class but, they have slowly been getting a lot worse this semester because they know they don't have to take exams. >.<

Regarding my student, he definitely doesn't have a learning disability. I've found him to actually be quite intelligent, and, if you can manipulate him just right, he catches on to things just fine.

I'm pretty sure his problems can be traced back to his family. He's probably one of if not the youngest member of his family who ended up developing a rebellious streak early on, but instead of dealing with it his family probably chose to ignore both him and it, and at most they just try to hide him away where he can "stay out of trouble." He's definitely spoiled, tries to talk down to everyone, including the teachers, and he feels entitled to everything. Might explain why he's at my school (it's not a bad school, but a kid with his background wouldn't normally be here). One of my coteachers said that his family life is normal, but I'm very doubtful of that. It's normal as far as the family wants anyone to know, but the boy's lack of anxiety over any consequences for any of his behavior indicates some kind of major dysfunction in his personal background. So, lack of interest and discipline from his parents, is my best guess.

But it is still anyone's guess.

Regarding my student, he definitely doesn't have a learning disability. I've found him to actually be quite intelligent, and, if you can manipulate him just right, he catches on to things just fine.

I'm pretty sure his problems can be traced back to his family. He's probably one of if not the youngest member of his family who ended up developing a rebellious streak early on, but instead of dealing with it his family probably chose to ignore both him and it, and at most they just try to hide him away where he can "stay out of trouble." He's definitely spoiled, tries to talk down to everyone, including the teachers, and he feels entitled to everything. Might explain why he's at my school (it's not a bad school, but a kid with his background wouldn't normally be here). One of my coteachers said that his family life is normal, but I'm very doubtful of that. It's normal as far as the family wants anyone to know, but the boy's lack of anxiety over any consequences for any of his behavior indicates some kind of major dysfunction in his personal background. So, lack of interest and discipline from his parents, is my best guess.

But it is still anyone's guess.

Sadly, I've heard of many kids who fall into this bracket and taught a few of them. Usually, they're poor and/or the parents don't give a sh*t about the kid. The parents would dump the kid on the street if they legally could. I taught a kid whose mother never spoke more than 5 or 6 words to him a day for years. She'd lock herself away and watch dramas on her phone 24/7. The father just drank and went to PC bangs... Heard this from his HR teacher who was a good friend of mine.

Like many societies and cultures around the world, in Korea, it's traditionally the eldest son whose expected to shoulder the family responsibilities and live up to expectations, the eldest son is also the one who gets the most attention. This rings particularly true for wealthy families.

In Korea, face matters more than anything. Perhaps the family has gauged that the lose in face they'd suffer, from all the attention, trying to correct his behaviour would be far more than the cost of setting him up with some tenured position of no consequence where he can rack in a fat cheque.
According to Erikson, his rebellious nature (if it is that) is perfectly normal at his age. Between the ages of 12-18, Erikson argued that teens are essentially trying to find their own identity, oftentimes this includes a rebellious phase.

On the other hand, it's worrying that, as you say, he demonstrates a lack of anxiety, remorse or empathy (I assume) for his actions. These are clear indicators of antisocial behaviour attitudes, which could lead to him becoming a Sociopath.