Child Discipline, or Abuse?

One of my 10 year-old students (call him J) came into school today with a massive bruise on his right temple. He sat on my right side along the oval-shaped table, so I didn't notice it until another student pointed it out.

"Holy smokes, J! How'd you get that?" I asked him. He said it was from his father. "Hm," I said nonchalantly, and went on with the class. Questioning him further didn't seem like a good idea at the time.

After I'd had a chance to think about it, though, I was pretty bothered. Child discipline is one of those areas that varies according to cultural norms, but even so, I didn't think a smack across the side of the head like would result from deliberate "child discipline." Koreans generally do that with swats on the hands or calves with a switch.

This looked like it came from a burst of uncontrolled anger.

While the students were doing their wookbooks, I talked to my Korean partner teacher about it. She saw the bruise in the class period before me, and though it seemed unusual she urged me not to overreact. She lived in Michigan for about 10 years, so she knows how Americans view issues like child abuse and the way teachers can intervene, but that's not the way it works in Korea.

As she explained, schools rarely intervene in students' family lives, and government services aren't as ... shall we say ... pro-active as in the U.S. Rather, the extended family unit is trusted to solve its own problems, and its integrity is highly respected.

Moreover, I wonder if the Heizenberg Uncertainty Principle applies. Just like using a big thermometer to check the temperature of a spoonful of water itself changes the water's temperature, I wonder that if by "making a big deal out of it," the situation could end becoming a big deal. It seemed important to be ... delicate.

I didn't say anything during class time, but afterward, I spoke with my director. I said that although I understood the constraints teachers are under (especially in hagwons -- remember, this is a business), I still felt a responsibility to say something. I'm in a country with its own social rules, but I'm still a Westerner with a sensitivity to this issue, and I couldn't just ignore it.

Even if the schools' hands may be tied, I explained, it's still something I felt she should be aware of, if only to monitor. She agreed, and said she'd talk with J on Wednesday, when he has class again. I think that's the best thing. It may have been an isolated incident, but it's important to be just as diligent as we are discrete.

We'll see how it goes from there ....