They do things differently over there
Japanese boy writes apology in blood
A Japanese teen cut himself with a razor blade in order to write a missive in his own blood. He was ordered to do this by his teacher as penance for falling asleep in class.
[High school principal Hiroaki Dan] said the boy was taken to the staff room of the school in Fukuoka City, southern Japan, after being caught asleep during a lesson. The 40-year-old male teacher handed the boy a box-cutter and paper and told him to write an apology in blood.
The teacher left the student, who then cut his finger and began to write an apology using his own blood.
Other teachers in the staff room did not notice what was happening, Dan said.
“To ask a student to write in their own blood is something I just can’t imagine,” he said.
The big difference between Japan and America? Although principal Dan “can’t imagine” asking a student to write in his own blood, said teacher will be resuming classes in a few days. Neither the boy nor his parents have asked for a new teacher. That’s absolutely stunning.
(Tip credit to Bumper.)
Wow, those Japanese teachers are tough! Sister Dorothy might have rapped my knuckles with a ruler to get my attention, but she never pulled out a razor blade. And I expect Father Bloom would have limited my penance to one or two “Hail Marys.”
This is a bit extreme… USA being at the other extreme side of the scale. Couldn’t a right middle be found? Right in the sense that you as a teacher should not abuse your position, but do what it takes to ensure proper respect from your students?
I remember a tale from my grandfather, whose mother was an “institutrice”, which was the french for primary school teachers (the became “primary school professors”, which is more PC…). At this time, she was living in a small town, and was the only teacher a few kilometers around (we’re speaking 1920/1930 here…). Let me just say she taught quite some people how to read, write, speak, and in a broad approach, how to think.
About 40 years later, she was stopped by a policeman on the side of the road for speeding. This policeman was of course one of our numerous students, and when he wrote the ticket, he made a grammatical error, which she promptly noted and corrected.
But because this man had always respected her, even years after she had retired, it never happened to him to ticket her for any disruptive behaviour: he just corrected his error, gave her the ticket, and paid a part of it for penitence for his mistake.
Now, just let the current students become policemen and policewomen, and I know more than a few teachers who not only will pay the bill up to the last penny, but will surely be invited for a free night in cell!