#school bullying #cyber bullying #vocabulary For dark mode users,
Hello, reader! Today, we are covering: Index Trending News Celebs Outed as School Bullies Zoom In Where School Bullying Comes from Today's Vocabulary Iljin (일진) This Week's Recommendations Once Upon a Time in High School (말죽거리 잔혹사) Don't forget to leave your feedback below!
Celebs Outed as School Bullies
* The picture shows Jinallae, a contestant from the popular audition program Miss Trot (미스트롯), crying before she announces her decision to step out from the show amid allegations of school violence.
[Photo by TV Chosun] Recently, Jindallae, singer and contestant of the second season of a popular audition program, Miss Trot (미스트롯), was accused of bullying classmates 20 years ago. The bullied victim said that she was physically violent and forcefully took money from them. The singer first denied the accusations but later admitted that she was indeed a school bully. Since then the rising star had to face massive criticism for her past behavior. In the end, Jindallae had to leave the show, even though she was about to proceed to the semi-finals. The show is currently airing on TV Chosun without her. There has been a significant number of other celebrities, including K-Pop idols and indie band members, at the center of identical or similar controversies. Being outed as a school bully, along with gambling and drunk driving, is one of the most common reasons for a celebrity’s career to come crashing down. A celebrity accused of bullying is usually forced to either quit his or her career or stop for a short period for “self-reflection”. If they are a member of a band or a group, many people expect them to quit. Agencies sometimes terminate their contracts with accused celebrities, too. As such, a past of being a school bully can heavily impact a star’s career. The heavy criticism against school bullies shows that many people do think that school bullying is a serious issue. In 2012, when the number of suicide cases in Korea spiked and stories of young students taking their own lives dominated the headlines, bullying in schools emerged as one of the major social issues in the country. School bullying seems to be closely related to the teenage mortality rate in Korea -- according to a CNN report published in the same year, over 30% of the victims of school bullying felt suicidal. While the government and schools have introduced many measures to curb school bullying since then, there still are questions and concerns about their effectiveness in practice. A recent study shows that bullying still happens in classrooms. As schools shut their doors and carried out virtual classes in the wake of the COVID-19 spread, in-person school bullying has transformed into online bullying. A survey (Korean link) conducted by the Ministry of Education showed that cases of cyberbullying have increased by 3.4 percent. It also revealed that most of the bullying off campus happened in online spaces. The same survey suggests that students see cyberbullying as one of the most stressful types of violence. It has become more prevalent in Korean society since 2011. As more people have access to smartphones, cyberbullying has become even more widespread -- people can use messaging apps, such as KakaoTalk, or other social media platforms to bully someone. This type of online bullying is a serious social issue (Korean link) in modern-day society. Investigating and punishing school bullying generally consists of two parts: 1) protecting the victim student and 2) punishing the bullies. Students who fall victim to school bullying are offered protection and provided compensation for injuries from the bully’s legal guardian. If the victims want a faster remedy, they can also ask for support from government-appointed medical institutions and the victim’s municipal education bureau. Also, bullies are banned from going to the same school as the victim. For example, a victim and a bully, both in middle school, won’t be able to apply to the same high school after graduation. Personal protection services are provided to the victims during their commute to school by facilities appointed by the superintendent of education. These measures are taken according to the decision of the Working Committee for Countermeasures against School Violence (학교폭력대책위원회), depending on the severity of the case. The working committee is established within each individual school and must hold a meeting if a student or their parent wants it, or if there is a reported case of bullying at the school. By law, more than half of the committee members must be parent representatives. Bullies are obligated to go through psychological therapy sessions. They may be suspended from school or be forced to transfer to another school, or even expelled if they refuse to undergo compulsory education. Also, perpetrators’ participation in school bullying will be documented in their student records, which may affect their future applications to middle schools, high schools, and universities. A Futile Effort? Efforts within Korea to fight against school bullying have received international recognition. Kim Jong-ki, a campaigner whose son took his own life due to school bullying, received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, which is considered the Asian version of the Nobel Prize. Kim and his foundation carried out a systematic campaign against bullying, running hotlines and offering counseling to students who suffer. However, concerns surrounding the effectiveness of anti-school bullying measures remain unresolved. Since school bullying leaves a permanent mark on the bully’s student records, court rulings often allow excuses or exceptions for the students. In 2020, the district court of Incheon nullified a school’s disciplinary actions for three boys who ranked girls by their appearance in their private chat room. The Department of Justice ruled the school’s disciplinary measures invalid (Korean link), saying that the school needed to be cautious in what is recorded in the student records (even those of the offenders), since it may affect the students’ future lives. In another case, a school bully was given a suspended sentence because the committee against school violence within the bully’s school had broken rules when selecting their panel (Korea link). The school bully’s parents filed a lawsuit against the school and eventually won the case. Whether or not the student did participate in bullying was not addressed. Furthermore, the system of documenting engagement in school bullying on the bullies’ student records has been implemented rather reluctantly. For example, the Ministry of Education stated in an enforcement ordinance effective since the spring of 2020 that “minor” cases of school bullying that were followed up by a written apology or by assignments of bullies to volunteer work within the school would not be registered (Korean link) on student records. In cases where bullying behavior seems mutual and there is no clear distinction between a victim and a perpetrator, the recording of the case is to be deferred. Despite various measures and laws regarding school bullying, rooting it completely out is infeasible without a fundamental change in the overall school environment.
Where School Bullying Comes from
[Illustration by 케이] The main factors that contribute to school bullying seem to be academic stress and intensive competition. In 2014, only 67.6% of Korean students said that they were happy, which represents a much lower rate than the average reported in the member-states of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 85.8% (Korean link). One of the reasons why Korean students are unhappy is academic stress. According to a 2015 study (Korean link) of elementary, middle, and high school students, a total of 91% of Korean students said that the academic pressure they were experiencing was overwhelming. As a way of coping with the stress they experience, some students seem to resort to bullying their classmates. Some even bully their classmates because they see them as competitors that they need to beat. According to a 2019 survey, 29.4% of Korean students said that school bullying is “just pranks”. 14.7% of students said that school bullying happens because of the personality flaws of the victim. In short, very few (Korean link) Korean students themselves take school bullying seriously. According to a 2013 survey (Korean link), 46.5% of Korean students felt that the prevalence of school bullying was mainly caused by insufficient punishment for the perpetrators. The strongest punishment a school can give a perpetrator is forced transfer (Korean link), which isn’t even enforced in many instances. Last year, a perpetrator of school bullying was only suspended for five days (Korean link), and a student who sent inappropriate photos to his classmate was only suspended for 15 days. 4. Inadequate Response of Teachers When school bullying happens in a classroom, homeroom teachers are required to submit as many as twenty reports and documents to the school. Korean teachers are busy because they have other administrative tasks to do, and many are reluctant to respond (Korean link) to school bullying because it is time-consuming. Therefore, many teachers skirt their responsibility by telling new teachers or contract teachers to respond to school bullying instead. Potential Solutions: 1. There is a common consensus among teachers and students alike that Korean society’s, and therefore the Korean students’, obsession with university admission is part of the problem. Some suggest that the competition in school exacerbated because it is becoming harder and harder for youth to get employed, which makes getting into a prestigious university all the more important. On the other hand, some say the competition is embedded in the family culture. Many, though not all, parents express worry about maintaining a good family reputation, which is inextricably linked to the university their children go to. Many professionals suggest that there needs to be a system through which students can cope with stress in a healthy way. 2. In 2013, OpenSurvey conducted a survey asking students what solution they felt was needed to stop school bullying. The most popular answer was the immediate suspension of the perpetrators, followed by the separation of the perpetrators and victims and hiring in-school police officers. The survey suggests that stronger punishment for perpetrators of school bullying and a simplified process that would ensure punishment might possibly prevent further increase in school violence. 3. Others suggest that school bullying should be the responsible for all members of the society, not just homeroom teachers. They argue that other professionals, such as members of the police, counselors, and officials of the Ministry of Education should be active participants in the prevention and punishment of school violence. Only 1% of Korean primary schools and 33% of secondary schools currently have a full-time counselor. Increased hiring of professionals who can quickly respond to school bullying may be the key to tackling violence among peers.
Today's Vocabulary Iljin (일진) Iljin refers to a student or a group of students who use physical or non-physical violence against their classmates. The word started to become popular among middle and high school students as school bullying emerged as a social problem in Korea. Usage: A: 조심해, 쟤는 학교 일진이야. A: Be careful, he’s an iljin. This Week's Recommendations Once Upon a Time in High School (말죽거리 잔혹사) (2004) It is a movie set in a high school in 1978. The main character of the movie transfers to a school that is notorious for school bullying. The movie has scenes involving iljins. For example, there is a scene where the main character has a showdown against iljins at the rooftop of the school. 👉Watcha
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