[Bread-Baking Typewriter] To You Who Think It's Okay to Hit Children

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seungseop] The author attended elementary school in the early to mid-2000s. The homeroom teacher met in the second grade emphasized a so-called ‘military-style’ hierarchy and a strict classroom atmosphere. The problem was violence. If you were late, dozed off, or caused a disturbance, a harsh reprimand would follow. Students were made to take off their indoor shoes while standing on their desks and then were hit on the soles of their feet.

If someone committed a serious mistake, everyone had to be punished collectively due to joint responsibility. The author vaguely remembers feeling unfair about this. At the age of nine, it was impossible to understand why people were being hit.

It didn’t take long to become accustomed to violence. The author began to think it was natural to be hit a few times for doing something wrong. As the body grew and the author advanced to boys’ middle and high schools, this mindset became even more entrenched. The intensity of violence increased, but the author became numb enough not to hate the person delivering the punishment. As an adult, when gathering with friends, incidents of severe punishment were sometimes recalled as amusing memories.

The book exposes the Korean society’s indifference to violence as it truly is. You wouldn’t raise a cane against an adult just because they are ill-mannered. You know well that doing so would lead to a police report and punishment for assault. But it’s different for children. Even though they are the same people, because they are young, corporal punishment is considered acceptable. Some adults even believe that children must be hit a bit to grow up properly.

Korea has clearly concealed violence under the name of discipline. The author points out that violence is abuse and has nothing to do with education. Discipline focuses on correcting wrong behavior, whereas abuse targets the child who did wrong. Discipline is about helping the child understand their misbehavior, while abuse is about making them pay the price for it. As the book and media highlight, abuse is not only about starving or neglecting a child. The ‘love’s rod’ is not love but abuse.

Abuse is even more dangerous because it is passed down through generations. According to a report by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, among 10,000 child abuse perpetrators, 536 had themselves been abused in childhood. Children’s self-esteem plummets as they suffer abuse. As a reaction, when they become adults, they torment vulnerable beings like animals or children. They try to satisfy their broken self-esteem through sadistic methods.

The author was also involved in a child abuse incident. Their child was abused by a teacher at a daycare center. That is why the author wrote this book. They studied and wrote about what behaviors constitute abuse, why we must be cautious about mental and physical violence toward children, how to recognize abuse, and how to treat children. The goal was to reduce the horrific child abuse that happens so casually, even if just a little.

Still, if you cannot agree with the obvious statement that you should not hit children, here is a diary entry to consider. It is a record from Shin Changwon, who committed numerous crimes and is serving a life sentence. ‘If my elementary school teacher had once patted my head and said, “You’re a good kid,” I wouldn’t have ended up here. In fifth grade, the teacher shouted, “○○, you didn’t bring money, so why come to school? Get lost quickly,” and a devil was born inside my heart.’

Your violence nurtures terrifying wounds in the hearts of children and in our society. Whether it is verbal or physical abuse, it doesn’t matter. No child deserves to be hit, no matter what mistake they make. There should be no child crying in the blind spots of abuse disguised as discipline. Please, stop hitting children.

No Child Deserves to Be Hit | Kim Ji-eun | Slow Media | 216 pages | 16,000 KRW

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