By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff reporter
Seven in 10 middle and high school students here have experienced physical punishment from teachers, a survey revealed Monday.
The National Youth Policy Institute (NYPI) surveyed 6,601 middle and high school students nationwide from June to July 2009 and found 69.6 percent reported receiving corporal punishment from their teachers.
“My math teacher lashes a student’s palm if he or she fails to solve a problem at the blackboard, in front of other students. I personally feel this is acceptable, because he has fixed criteria on the punishment and it’s for learning,” a high school sophomore who declined to be named said. “However, some teachers clearly exceed the limits. Once, my friend was slapped for opening the textbook slower than other students.”
About 28 percent of the students said they were punished once or twice a year and 22 percent received physical punishment one to two times a month. Some 7 percent were disciplined more than three times a week.
More boys were physically disciplined by teachers at 75 percent, higher than the 64 percent among girls.
About half, or 53 percent, said they received corporal punishment from their parents as well.
The state-run institute compared the result with a similar survey conducted on Swedish students in 2008. In Sweden, 98.6 percent of the 508 participants said they were never corporally punished by teachers and only 6.5 percent were physically disciplined at home.
Kim Young-ji of NYPI said advanced countries ban corporal punishment by law. “The logic of corporal punishment in educating children exists only in Korea, which is not convincing,” Kim said.
She emphasized the importance of the teacher’s role in disciplining students.
“We should think of creating an educational environment where teachers can instruct students in humane and democratic ways and concentrate on teaching students in a holistic manner,” she said.