RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Right, time for a proper rant against my CT and the Korean education system, what happened today is keeping me awake.

I need to start by saying that I'm not trying to blow my own trumpet. What I did was something any reasonable adult would've done.

The last class of the day are the 5th graders. In the class is one boy who has Impulse Control Disorder. At the beginning of the year I tried to find out what he was diagnosed with from my CT. She just said "mental disorder". I asked about the type of mental disorder as mental disorder can pretty much mean anything. She said she'd find out and get back to me. Since the kid was pretty quite and content with sitting at the back of the class drawing pictures, I kind of forgot to follow up when I came back to school the following weeks.

Today, I did an activity with the students which included splitting into groups, drawing a random item out of the mystery back and making a very short story about the item. I just filled the bag with random items we had in the classroom: plastic fruit, plushies, a ball, playing card and a tiny little water pistol (fits in the palm).

The classroom is fairly small and desks are crammed in with very little space between them.

As usual the kid in question was just sitting at the back, drawing. The group at the back left corner of the class drew the water pistol out of the bag and proceeded to examine it and play with it. I'd made my way to the front right corner of the class to get a boardmarker and heard a loud scream. I turned to find the special needs kid had seen them playing with the water pistol and had ran to the kid holding the pistol and was trying to force it out his hands, while screaming at the top of his lungs.

My CT was standing about 2m away from the fiasco, deer in headlights, doing absolutely nothing. I made my way past her, trying to move through the narrow aisles as fast as I could. I got between the kids and separated them, and the struggle the pistol had landed on the floor and my CT picked it up to take it to put it in her desk (obviously looking for an excuse to get out of the situation and save her hide). The SN kid goes ballistic, throws himself on the floor, gets up and starts throwing chairs towards the students!

By some miracle, he misses hitting any of us and I stop him from throwing another chair. He then proceeds to start throwing over desks and kicking them. I shout to the other students to move to the front of the class, but one girl is sitting nearby, with her leg in a cast. I get to him and resist the urge to restrain him to the ground and decide to try to stay near him, but talk softly and calm him down. He's still screaming a balling, but he's on the ground and I'm between him and the students. I tell my CT that we need to get him out of the class in into the nurses office to be alone and calm down, he could hurt someone or himself here. I tried getting him up to follow me out, but he doesn't want to budge and I'm not going to risk dragging him out. She's just standing there, doing absolutely nothing.

In the name of all that is incompetent, irresponsible and stupid, my CT finally responds and suggests we just leave him there to scream to himself, while we carry on with the lesson... <this little f*ck nearly cracked someon's skull with a chair, he's still trembling and there are at least 8 more chairs around him, you moron!>
I give her a firm "No!" and tell her I'm taking him to the nurse's office. She starts messaging the nurse... with the belief that we have all the time in the world, hoping she sees the message and replies. While this is happening, one of the students is telling the SN kid to shut up and this is refuelling the kid with rage. I manage to semi-pull him out the class before more chairs start flying.

In the hallway, I tell my CT to get him to the nurses office right now and I'll take care of the other students.

Now, this kind of thing has happened before (not the same kid and not too often, but it happens) and the reaction of whichever CT I've had has always been for self-preservation, never the safety of the students. They've always been slow to respond to an emergency and ALWAYS unsure of what to do. Exactly what type of training do they go through?

Furthermore, my best guess is that his specific type of ICD is Intermittent Explosive Disorder as he had an aggressive episode triggered by a specific stressor... Just best guess. Imagine I wasn't there? I know for sure that next week, the kid will be back in class as if nothing ever happened.

The following is not 100% serious

I think the standard reaction of many teachers to such an episode would be "Don't lose my pension, because anything I do will get me sued" This certainly can be a problem in the US where teachers don't know what to do so they just call in the School Resource Officer aka the cops. Then we get the joys of watching 15 year olds getting body slammed or 8 year olds arrested for cutting a piece of carboard into the shape of a sword and playing Lord of the Rings. 

Given these realities, kids with mental problems really should be sent to the funny farm. If you are going to have kids that can flip out and throw chairs and you aren't allowed to immediately wade in and deck them to get them to shut up and calm down, and virtually anything will bring about calls of abuse or discrimination, then this is just a no-win situation.

The following is not 100% serious

I think the standard reaction of many teachers to such an episode would be "Don't lose my pension, because anything I do will get me sued" This certainly can be a problem in the US where teachers don't know what to do so they just call in the School Resource Officer aka the cops. Then we get the joys of watching 15 year olds getting body slammed or 8 year olds arrested for cutting a piece of carboard into the shape of a sword and playing Lord of the Rings. 

Given these realities, kids with mental problems really should be sent to the funny farm. If you are going to have kids that can flip out and throw chairs and you aren't allowed to immediately wade in and deck them to get them to shut up and calm down, and virtually anything will bring about calls of abuse or discrimination, then this is just a no-win situation.

Teachers need the skills and authority to handle these situations under protocols.
Schools need to provide the skills and authority, and also indemnify the teachers who take action under these protocols.

i've never worked in the uk school system, so i don't know if it's the same, but i've worked with many incompetent korean teachers during my time here (i've also worked with many good ones, too). i'm not saying i'm the best or most qualified teacher, but some korean teachers here just can't control the kids, or produce lessons that are wildly ineffective

considering the supposed competition for public school positions, i wonder how this happens*

*probably because they're graded through written tests rather than examined on practical teaching skills?

Someone keeps peeing in my building's stairwell, so it's really common for me to be walking into what smells like a rotten hamster cage these days. The owner comes in to clean the stairwell once a week, and we'll be good for maybe a day or two before the Mad Pisser strikes again.

It's been going on for around 2-3 months now, and the owner has put up signs about it, but there aren't any cameras in my building, so here we are. And with the weather warming up, the smell has only gotten stronger.

I personally think it's my fucktard neighbor, but I blame everything on him, and the answer isn't always 'C', right? Right!?

Someone keeps peeing in my building's stairwell, so it's really common for me to be walking into what smells like a rotten hamster cage these days. The owner comes in to clean the stairwell once a week, and we'll be good for maybe a day or two before the Mad Pisser strikes again.

It's been going on for around 2-3 months now, and the owner has put up signs about it, but there aren't any cameras in my building, so here we are. And with the weather warming up, the smell has only gotten stronger.

I personally think it's my fucktard neighbor, but I blame everything on him, and the answer isn't always 'C', right? Right!?

The culprit will likely be the same person who smokes in the stairwell. Why not just go to Diaso and buy a couple CCTV stickers and stick them around the patch your neighbor likes to piss.

Someone keeps peeing in my building's stairwell, so it's really common for me to be walking into what smells like a rotten hamster cage these days. The owner comes in to clean the stairwell once a week, and we'll be good for maybe a day or two before the Mad Pisser strikes again.

It's been going on for around 2-3 months now, and the owner has put up signs about it, but there aren't any cameras in my building, so here we are. And with the weather warming up, the smell has only gotten stronger.

I personally think it's my fucktard neighbor, but I blame everything on him, and the answer isn't always 'C', right? Right!?

The culprit will likely be the same person who smokes in the stairwell. Why not just go to Diaso and buy a couple CCTV stickers and stick them around the patch your neighbor likes to piss.

They also sell fake CCTV cameras that are stick on, and they cost around 5,000 won. It may be worth it to get one, but it will look suspect if they aren't at the building entrance and in other places.

The culprit will likely be the same person who smokes in the stairwell. Why not just go to Diaso and buy a couple CCTV stickers and stick them around the patch your neighbor likes to piss.

That would be my neighbor, lol. But there's never any evidence, so the building's stuck with him. Also, he never pees in the same spot. Sometimes it's hard to figure out exactly where it's been done because the smell just drafts everywhere, and the color of the walls and floor kind of masks it.

The owner already has plaques bolted to walls saying there are CCTV cams, but everyone knows there aren't any.

The culprit will likely be the same person who smokes in the stairwell. Why not just go to Diaso and buy a couple CCTV stickers and stick them around the patch your neighbor likes to piss.

That would be my neighbor, lol. But there's never any evidence, so the building's stuck with him. Also, he never pees in the same spot. Sometimes it's hard to figure out exactly where it's been done because the smell just drafts everywhere, and the color of the walls and floor kind of masks it.

The owner already has plaques bolted to walls saying there are CCTV cams, but everyone knows there aren't any.

you can one of two things, first, maybe your neighbour thinks he's a cat marking his territory, so all you need to do it piss all over the place too, marking it out as your territory.

or second, buy a tiger, and housetrain it to just hang around your block.  can't be too hard. 

or second, buy a tiger, and housetrain it to just hang around your block.  can't be too hard. 

Piece of piss

or second, buy a tiger, and housetrain it to just hang around your block.  can't be too hard. 

Piece of piss

right, a chair, whip and a few bags of 고래밥 should do it. 

or second, buy a tiger, and housetrain it to just hang around your block.  can't be too hard. 

Piece of piss

Classic

you can one of two things, first, maybe your neighbour thinks he's a cat marking his territory, so all you need to do it piss all over the place too, marking it out as your territory.

or second, buy a tiger, and housetrain it to just hang around your block.  can't be too hard. 

You think maybe I should just start pissing on his door? Squirt a few drops onto his keypad, too, for good measure? Either he'll finally get the message and stop urinating in the stairwell, or he'll declare war and start pissing on EVERYONE'S doors. But then I'd feel bad if it weren't really him. 

Would probably work out anyway because I think the landlord would finally install cams.

you can one of two things, first, maybe your neighbour thinks he's a cat marking his territory, so all you need to do it piss all over the place too, marking it out as your territory.

or second, buy a tiger, and housetrain it to just hang around your block.  can't be too hard. 

You think maybe I should just start pissing on his door? Squirt a few drops onto his keypad, too, for good measure? Either he'll finally get the message and stop urinating in the stairwell, or he'll declare war and start pissing on EVERYONE'S doors. But then I'd feel bad if it weren't really him. 

or you and the tiger, who are now good mates and have a bit of camaraderie going, could do something a bit different.  in a well choreographed piece, you could wait outside for your neighbour, when you can see him, get your tiger to piss on the stairs at which point you give it a smack and wrestle with it a bit.  eventually, the tiger concedes. at that instant, as your neighbour passes, you look him deep in the eyes and say 'that's what happens when you piss on MY stairs'.  He'll scoot off, shit scared, probably pissing himself in the process.  job done. 

disclaimer-no animals were hurt in the making of this scenario

I'm feeling really unmotivated.  I know I shouldn't feel like this but I can't help it  ...

For the past five years I've taught early morning English classes every day (in the classroom before 8am) for a special program where the students get the chance to live and work in Australia.  At the beginning there was some coteaching but over the years that slowly stopped to the point where I am now.  I do all the planning, teaching, preparing them for their interview, even summer and winter camps are usually taught solely by me.  My coteachers handle the paperwork.

If the students pass (100% success rate so far since I've been here) my coteacher also gets the chance to go to Australia for three months to help with the program.  So far three have gone to Australia.

I can't help feeling a little bit bitter about seeing them travel to Australia kind of off the back of my work.  I know I shouldn't feel like this but I can't help it and it's getting me down lol

I'm feeling really unmotivated.  I know I shouldn't feel like this but I can't help it  ...

For the past five years I've taught early morning English classes every day (in the classroom before 8am) for a special program where the students get the chance to live and work in Australia.  At the beginning there was some coteaching but over the years that slowly stopped to the point where I am now.  I do all the planning, teaching, preparing them for their interview, even summer and winter camps are usually taught solely by me.  My coteachers handle the paperwork.

If the students pass (100% success rate so far since I've been here) my coteacher also gets the chance to go to Australia for three months to help with the program.  So far three have gone to Australia.

I can't help feeling a little bit bitter about seeing them travel to Australia kind of off the back of my work.  I know I shouldn't feel like this but I can't help it and it's getting me down lol

Yeah, I understand where you're coming from. I really hate seeing people get credited and rewarded for other people's hard work. It's a sore spot for me, too, and one of my biggest peeves about my job here because it's just so integrated into how the system works. I try not to think too much about it, but sometimes it's just so hard, especially when the person being rewarded isn't even making any effort to deserve at least some of that credit.

Who the #%$^ needs to have their alarm go off for a full hour in the morning and have vibrations on?!?!?!?! I can't hear a damn thing but my last hour of supposed sleep time was just laying there listening to the buzzing. Every while it would go off them back on again..... I just got over the flu (off Monday and Tuesday) and this was the last thing I needed.

Must have got a new neighbour because this never happened the last yr and 3 months. But it has happened on a few occasions in the past few weeks.

I just don't get the incessant need to be friends with the foreign teacher. If it looks like I'm busy, sleeping or just doing literally anything else, why force a conversation? Why do you need to know everything? Does it even look/sound like I want to be a part of the conversation when we start talking???

Especially today with a substitute who's only going to be here for like two days.

I get it. Culture of having to know all the details, but some days I would just like to have my conversations limited only to my students and CT in class time. Too tired for this *sigh*

Who the #%$^ needs to have their alarm go off for a full hour in the morning and have vibrations on?!?!?!?! I can't hear a damn thing but my last hour of supposed sleep time was just laying there listening to the buzzing. Every while it would go off them back on again..... I just got over the flu (off Monday and Tuesday) and this was the last thing I needed.

Must have got a new neighbour because this never happened the last yr and 3 months. But it has happened on a few occasions in the past few weeks.

This sounds like me. I did arrive here 3 months ago. I don't have the sound on, but I do have my vibration on, and it does go off every 10 mins, and I keep putting it off and then waking up and putting it off.  But this only allows me to do it 3 times.
And I doubt the person below me can hear it, but it is annoying.  Sorry! Hope you feel better soon.

Why do all the PA systems in every school I've taught at have to be cranked up to 11!
8:45AM, quietly listening to the birds outside and preparing for a free 1st period as the students are practicing for tomorrow's Sports day. An otherwise peaceful morning is interrupted by the obnoxious speaker "pffft! pffft! 아! 아! 아! 아! 아! 아! 아! 아! pffft! pffft! 아! 아! 아! 아! 아! 아! 아! 아!" blaring at insane volumes. Yes, it's important that every speaker in the school blares the VP screaming instructions to the students, on the field.