"Corporal Punishment of Love" vs "Corporal Punishment Ban" Teacher Imprisonment, What Do You Think?

Corporal Punishment of 'Lying Face Down' for Reading a Novel During Class
Court Recognizes 'Emotional Abuse,' Sentences 10 Months Imprisonment
Bereaved Family Expresses Anger Over Lack of Sincere Apology

Classroom. The photo is unrelated to specific expressions in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seunggon Han] A teacher who was sentenced to prison for allegedly scolding and humiliating a student for reading a novel during class, leading to the student's extreme choice, is at the center of intense controversy.

Although this is a tragic incident stemming from corporal punishment, some argue that the prison sentence is excessive, while others claim that the public humiliation during the scolding constitutes abuse. There is also an opinion that since corporal punishment is legally prohibited, it was illegal from the start, leaving no room for debate.

According to the court, Teacher A was charged with corporal punishment for making student B, who was reading a novel (light novel) during a third-grade self-study session at the end of March last year, lie face down for about 20 minutes in front of other students, accusing him of "reading an obscene book," and making a classmate find the obscene parts in the book.

Afterward, student B stayed alone in the classroom, left a suicide note in his textbook stating he was being bullied, and took his own life. The court judged that the teacher committed emotional abuse and sentenced him to prison.

On the 27th of last month, the Pohang branch of Daegu District Court sentenced middle school teacher A from Pohang to 10 months in prison for violating the Child Abuse Punishment Act. The court also ordered 40 hours of child abuse treatment program completion and a five-year employment restriction at child-related institutions.

The court stated, "Although the novel B was reading was popular among middle and high school students, the teacher did not verify this and assumed it was a prohibited book containing provocative content, punishing the student in front of others, which caused humiliation. This is sufficient reason to conclude it was emotional abuse harmful to the child's mental health and development."

It added, "Considering the gravity of emotionally abusing a child, the victim's family's plea for severe punishment, and the absence of prior criminal records, this sentence is imposed."

The photo is not related to any specific expression in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]

However, some believe the prison sentence is excessive. They argue that teachers inevitably resort to corporal punishment while educating students.

C, a worker in his 30s, said, "The situation of the victim student is very unfortunate," but added, "In the past, corporal punishment was practically assault. However, the current social atmosphere does not tolerate such levels of punishment. I believe teachers are providing guidance appropriate for the times. I think reasonable corporal punishment can be part of the educational process."

On the other hand, there are opposing views that no corporal punishment should be accepted. D, a worker in his 40s, emphasized, "The perspectives of the person administering corporal punishment and the student receiving it are completely different. Therefore, it inevitably causes problems."

There is also an opinion that corporal punishment is fundamentally illegal. Although it was once allowed in limited cases as unavoidable in education, it has not been permitted since the revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in March 2011.

E, a worker in his 30s, pointed out, "Corporal punishment is illegal first and foremost. This is not a matter of right or wrong." He added, "I think we just need to consider why corporal punishment was banned by law. It's unfortunate."

Meanwhile, the bereaved family stated that they have not received an explanation or sincere apology from the teacher regarding the incident. In an interview with CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 28th of last month, the student's mother said, "After the incident, we wanted a four-party conversation with the teacher and the school to explain the situation and receive a sincere apology, but all we got was an apology without any explanation."

She continued, "We also thought the teacher scolded our child without anticipating such an extreme choice, and we wanted to hear from the teacher what the situation was that led to the child's decision, but there was no such explanation."

She added, "The novel the child was reading at the time was a fantasy novel restricted to readers under 15 years old, and it was not a book the child should not have read. However, the teacher took the book, showed illustrations to other children, asking 'Is this obscene or not?' and gave the book to another child to find more obscene parts, saying if there were more, the student would be punished more severely."

She further said, "After the incident was reported, malicious comments saying the child was too timid and mentally weak appeared, but the child was going through puberty and the school classroom was the whole world at that time. The child we know was active, sociable, and considerate, so such comments cause a lot of emotional pain."

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This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.