With no due respect

Younger generation becomes aggressive toward teachers

By Kwon Ji-youn, Yoon Sung-won, Park Jin-hai

Every time Sun Ye-won, a high-school teacher, turns her back to write on the chalkboard, she hears a ruffle of papers and a series of whispers.

Then she takes a big breath and swings back around, only to see her students either sleeping or observing their pores in hand-held mirrors.

As Teachers' Day approaches, attention has turned to the relationship between students and teachers. On this day, students usually give their teachers small gifts or carnations as signs of respect and gratitude.

However, schools these days have often been tainted with the impertinent way in which students regard their teachers.

They seemingly have increasingly become aggressive toward them. If the older generation treated their teachers as venerable educators, it is as though the younger generation not only disrespects their teachers but also treats them belligerently, even violently.

In other words, the concept of teacher's authority has steadily been eroded. According to the Ministry of Education, the number of violations of teachers' authority increased from 1,570 in 2009 to 4,801 in 2011.

Cases reported to the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations also increased to 335 in 2012 from 287 in 2011.

A student decorates cookies to express thanks to teachers at the Korean Red Cross's volunteer service center in Sanggye-dong, northern Seoul, Monday. The Red Cross organized the event to help children of North Korean defectors mark Teachers' Day which falls on May 15. / Yonhap

Teacher's back then

A 59-year-old businessman told The Korea Times that teachers were highly respected during his schooling.

"To us, teachers were like gods," he said. "We questioned nothing about them. They were heaven ― as high as one can get," he said.

The businessman also said that their teachers were so respected that students "wouldn't even step on their teachers' shadows."

"We didn't dare ask them about their educational background. We were taught to unconditionally respect our teachers and to admire them from afar," he said.

However, the educational system has undergone massive changes since then. No longer are teachers treated like "heaven."

"Since I was a teacher at a school with boys, it was especially difficult to control them," said a former teacher, who used to work at a high-school in Gwacheon. "Being female myself, it is as if I can't win against them in anyway, whether it be by strength or sheer force."

In Sun's imagination, students would rush to their teacher and fight to pin carnations onto their chests, which they would proudly wear all day. But in reality, they're lucky if one student places a dying carnation on their desk.

"They don't respect their teachers," said the former educator. "It's largely based on the fact that, to them, teachers are just a medium to get to college."

"It's like they're a huge dictionary of information. Once they're done with it, they dispose of it."

Physical and verbal abuse

Some students have even physically abused their teachers.

A student had started snoring in Sun's class. Unable to conduct it any further, she slapped her hand against the blackboard and yelled at him to wake up. But more annoyed than embarrassed, he stood up, walked up to the teacher, picked up a box of chalk and threw it at her, leaving a scratch nine centimeters long on her neck.

Nor do the students refrain from throwing desks or chairs in shows of violence, which would have been unimaginable to their parents.

While some students physically batter their teachers, other students verbally attack them.

A 25-year-old teacher at a local arts school, who asked not to be named concerned over her career, claimed that some students would even score their teachers on their appearance.

"To the students, it matters how I look," she said. "They talk about it behind my back."
She claimed that the issue has gotten worse since physical punishment has been banned in schools.

"Other students would ask, ‘Miss, do you smoke?' or ‘Miss, did you study at all while you were at school?'" the teacher said. "Students are very blatant and daring in their opinions."

The level of respect is usually proportional to the level of popularity, according to the art teacher. Hence, students talk negatively of teachers they can't relate to and it's difficult to find a student who regards their teacher with sincere respect.

Reasons

The question, then, is why students of today find it difficult to pay their teachers due respect.

The art teacher said that this mirrors a society that puts undue stress on educational background.

"Part-time or irregular teachers are ranked in front of students by some senior teachers, and students seeing this, lose all respect they have for them."

She said that there are times when she feels as though public education is failing, especially when her art students choose college majors that are noted for easy acceptance or good for the job market.

"It is as though public education is only for good colleges and good grades, and therefore good jobs."

Students also disrespect their teachers because of the faulty relations they observe between them and their parents.

"The current state of crumbled relations between teachers and students, I think, stems from parents," said Kang, a teacher at an elementary school in Busan. "Parents keep watching the teachers and the school with wary eyes, and their main concern is whether their students suffer from any disadvantages."

A fifth-grade boy at this school had pushed a first-grader, cutting her head. The parents of the latter had conceded that part of the fault was their daughters at first, but a day later, they changed their stance, apparently after having been tipped off from someone that making a big fuss about the injury was the best way to obtain compensations from the school and the district education office.

The girl's father went as far as to send a text message pretending to be the victim's teacher in order to get as much financial compensation out of the situation.
She said, "If parents behave like this, what lessons will their children learn?"