For hardworking public school teachers of fine moral standing, a happy Teachers Day may have included several carnations and a warm-hearted chorus of thanks from kids and their parents.   But, reports the LA Times, these days it is another tradition lying beneath such thanks that the government is trying to stamp out.

Bribery of teachers, called chonji, can become a cash and luxury gifts bonanza for public school teachers (and to a lesser degree for hagwon instructors), as kids hand over sealed Hallmark cards with extra padding or mothers hand over Godiva chocolate boxes wrapped in Hermes silk.   Gone are the days of plain envelopes (it’s not classy) as gift exchanges are concealed in plain sight by ensconcing them in Hyundai Department Store bags. 

Some teachers have come to expect this as part of the perks of teaching.  At the very least some view this as a tradition that no single teacher would try to reverse at the risk of alienating themselves from others.  At worst, others view such bribery as an entitlement that they and every other teacher deserve.   

A scene in the 2003 comedy Teacher Kim Bong Du illustrates what could happen if teachers actually took the bribes seriously and  dictated their treatment of students based on the quality of the gift.  The teacher Kim forces a chubby student to run circles until collapse because his mom couldn’t or wouldn’t fork up the bills.  The movie was as much a humorous satire of the education system as it was a factual artifact of education culture.

It does not occur to parents who bribe that giving such bribes has virtually no effect on the teachers’ attentiveness toward students.  For instance, to use a corollary, studies have shown that when parents give bribes to their children for good grades there has been little improvement in performance.  The money either becomes a fascination, preoccupation, or distraction.  It does not become the enabler that parents think .

For the teachers getting gifts during this short period of recognition, where their very existence and hard work are acknowledged, it must feel pretty good.  However, no amount of money will change the teacher’s workload, nor will the funds magically create the resources teachers really need to give each student more time or attention.  The fact is, whether luxury shoes or a card full of cash, the gifts are at once appreciated and then immediately forgotten by overworked, stressed out teachers. 

Suffice it to say that the parents may have better success by paying more tuition to send their kids off to Switzerland.

More at the [LA Times]

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