I’m not sure where to put this. This can go in the Teaching English section or the parenting section.
First a little about me, I was a wimpy shy kid who never fought. I never took part in horse play either, regretfully.
Anyway, I don’t know what is permissible west or east. Here are a few situations I need to run by you guys.
Small family run school: I’m out of the room talking to a student of my previous class. I come into the class to find a little girl crying. Apparently a boy took a wooden “Jenga block” and gouged the corner of into her foot between the big toe and the other toes.
This was no accident since there was flesh torn. The mother came to comfort the child. She did not want to complain to the mom of the boy or even have me complain.
[quote=“Taiwan_Student”]I’m out of the room talking to a student of my previous class. I come into the class to find a little girl crying. Apparently a boy took a wooden “Jenga block” and gouged the corner of into her foot between the big toe and the other toes.
This was no accident since there was flesh torn. The mother came to comfort the child. She did not want to complain to the mom of the boy or even have me complain. [/quote]
I’m with the mom. Because you were outside the room, I’m assuming you didn’t see what happened. That assumption is confirmed by your statement that “apparently” the boy did so and so. In other words, perhaps the boy viciously, maliciously, purposefully picked up the block with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm, strode across the room and slammed the block into her foot with no provocation while uttering, “that’s for your stupid uncle you little bitch.” Or maybe that’s not how it happened. Maybe the girl asked for the block, the boy reached out to give it to her but inadvertently crammed it between her toes, to his surprise and embarassment. Or maybe that’s not it either. Maybe she attempted to kick the boy for no good reason, missed and kicked a table leg instead, so she made up a story about the “jenga block” to seek revenge.
If you didn’t see what happened you definitely should not hold a grudge against the boy, much less punish him, because the version you imagine may well be wrong.
[quote=“X3M”]As a father of 2 fighting and (sometimes) foull mouthed bos, I have to side with MT on this one.
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A got a couple of them also. Younger son(Aikidoist) gets older brother in a very nice wrist lock then older brother punches him the balls.
It is just an opportunity to teach them something.
To younger son: “Nice ji fa but you have to protect the twins.”
To older son: “Don’t touch someone in anger who practices Aikido, dummy.”
To both of them: “Well, one of you is bent over double and the other can’t use his hand. See, fighting sucks because it hurts. So it would be in both of your interests not to fight because nothing good comes from being kicked in the balls or having your joints twisted unnaturally. So knock it off.”
I am more concerned with the foul mouths that so many Taiwanese kids have. Everyday I see something that lowers my respect for Taiwanese parents just a little.
I had that problem and told them to call their parents to come and pick them up. I never had it again from that class.
I’m exceptionally strict about somethings and one of them is my idea of what constitues decent behavior even if though the reality of it is that it amuses me. I think as an adult it is your job. Especially when you have some responsibility for the kids as their teacher. I have lost students with this approach, but it never bothered me.
The point is to never let the parents get the impression it’s coming from your school.
Same here, kids are kids, these things happen all the time, the serious problem arises when it happens maliciously, over and over with the same kid.
I think the OP is overeacting a bit here, but understandbly!
The real issue is parents education on how to educate their own kids. The Op asked:
Well, consider this for a moment, parents here actually ask the teachers to hit their kids in class if they are not “nice”. it show a complete lack of responsibility and care towards their own children. and it is very sad.
Amen. Kids fight sometimes. I used to administer atomic wedgies to my younger brother on a regular basis (thank God he’s now the father of three children–I was worried I’d permanently harmed him ).
If I were in Taiwanstudent’s position, I’d interview both kids (or have a Taiwanese co-teacher interview them) to try and figure what happened before drawing any conclusions. Kids need to be taught from a very young age to resist the impulse to solve problems with violence, but it is difficult to teach such a principle when you react in anger.
Taiwan Student here again and a bit calmer. The wound is still there but healing. I have a big Taiwanese family here. Three nephews of mine are just like the three stooges. They knock themselves silly laugh and doing again. The parents think nothing of it.
My daughter too sometimes acts like a bully. But drawing blood- that was a pretty deep wound. In eight years of being here I
While “boys will be boys” and all that . . . as Fox and others have pointed out, it is still necessary to educate the students on what is acceptable behavior and what will not be tolerated. I think they need to understand that violence AND bullying is UNACCEPTABLE in school. Several posters describe behavior, typical of kids (boys more so), but it occurred outside the classroom. School needs to be a safe place, not Columbine [reference to US highschool where bullied kids shot and killed their tormentors]. Kids are there to learn . . . . about English, math, etc. AND correct social behavior. The horseplay can happen at home or outside school, IMHO.
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