A teacher in Hunan has gained national fame as his unconventional method of punishment caught the attentions of China’s netizens last week.
After a number of students had continuously been chewing seeds in the classroom, one teacher had had enough. Mr. Zhang went out and purchased 15 kg of sees, paid for by money from his own pocket. He then ordered the students to sit in the busy hallway of the school and start chewing the punitive snacks. After the group of people had managed to bite their way through 2.5 kg and after apologising profusely for their misbehaviour, their young teacher decided justice had been served. However, what might have looked like the end of the story was but its beginning, as pictures of the students carrying out their sentence emerged online and within a few days went viral on the Chinese Internet.
Since then, the young teacher, who is in his second year in the profession, has been forced to apologise publicly and is waiting for the students to return to school to offer them an olive branch face to face. Thus, what could have been a great example of a more creative and painless disciplinary measure was denied the recognition it should have received.
The teacher’s efforts are commendable because they take a different approach to making the students see their error, and while slightly unorthodox, no harm came to the students.
Physical violence against children is still a large issue in China; while young persons should be protected under the Protection of Minors Act introduced in 1991, in truth the law which criminalizes violence against children has not been formally enforced until 2007. Even today it is incredibly common for parents, especially military personnel, to slap or beat their children, albeit it now happens more behind closed doors. Phrases such as “we were all hit by our parents” and “what else are you supposed to do, if a child doesn’t listen” are worryingly common statements made by people born as recently as the 80s and ’90s.
That is not to say the country has not made any progress in combatting such behaviour in the public realm. Nowadays, teachers are frequently reprimanded by schools and ripped apart by media, as reports of violent punishments in China’s classrooms surface.
The most recent case happened only a few weeks ago, as a teacher allegedly hit a six year old girl in Weinan city, Shaanxi province. When the young girl complained about feeling pain in her ear, her mother discovered blood inside the organ. The child claimed that she had been hit by her math teacher the day before for being disobedient. While both the school and the education professional in question are denying the allegations, an investigation has been launched into the cause of the injury, which saw the child hospitalised for 12 days.
Although violence in the classroom has recently seen a clamp down, mental abuse remains very common both in the public and private realm. Over the last few days a teacher in Shenyang was thrust into the unwanted spotlight for insulting students in the classroom, frequently calling them “stupid” or “idiots” and even telling them to “p*** off”; yet the irony is that insults aimed at a child’s intelligence can be heard regularly. What is worse, often the parents do not really mean anything by it when they call their child an idiot, and do not believe they are harming the child in anyway.
Then again, China is going through a period of rapid development, not only economic but also on mental and educational levels. More and more, debates about the harm done to children’s psyche through violent and abusive teaching methods are to be found on the country’s newspapers, TV channels, and social media sites. It seems China is ready for a new approach. Sadly, for our creative teacher from Hunan province, the country is not quite there yet; his unorthodox approach coming a little before its time.
