The Scarlet Letter

I've written before about the punishment levied against students here in Korea. Now for a new installment with new punishments.

Last week I saw a girl being punished by the gym teacher. While the teacher was berating her, she had to kneel on the floor with both of her hands up in the air. She kept her head down and was crying. I guess it's better than being smacked, kicked, and yelled at.

Today two male students had misbehaved. One was the boy who was caught smoking, the one from my first entry about punishment. I'm not sure of which rules were broken by the boys. Today they have to wear bright yellow sashes with blue and red writing on them. These mark that the boys are bad and break the rules. The sashes have anti-smoking slogans on them. The boys also have to sit in the hall at desks just outside of the teachers' office. Each time a teacher goes by, they have to stand up. They also tend to get yelled at all day long.

So, to sum up... you don't really want to break the rules in school in Korea. You will be broken down to tears by the faculty, you may get smacked or kicked, or you may be marked like a modern Hester Prine.