Edvenchers: Love Sticks

In Korea, it is illegal for a teacher to hit their students. However, hitting is standard practice here and can be witnessed daily despite its illegality. Also, Korean mothers, for the most part, don't care. I don't have the balls to ask a Korean teacher to let me film them hitting their students. I don't think they would let me anyway.

In lieu of the video, I bring you my collection of photographs of the sticks teachers use to punish their students' misbehavior, poor test results, and lack of completed homework assignments. The more recent photos have my cell phone in there to give you a sense of the size of the sticks used. Keep in mind that the sticks are used to hit the kids' hands on the palms. I've seen as few as 5 whacks to the hands and heard 10 from down the hall. Enjoy.

Maybe my favorite stick of all, the "Love Stick". There's a movie about the 1970's called "Dazed and Confused". In it, a class of high school seniors terrorizes incoming freshmen by running them down and spanking them with large wooden paddles that have been personalized with messages for the hunted freshmen. One of the really bad seniors in the film played by Ben Affleck had "FAH-Q" written on his. Everytime I look at the photo above, the image of Affleck's character enters my mind. Below is an image from the sitcom "Family Guy" when they spoofed the movie.

I've had a lot of fun with the stick above. It kind of looks like a magic wand from the movie "Harry Potter". So when I first saw it, I pretended it was a wand and began shouting lines from the movie. The kids really enjoy it when I either make fun of their teacher's sticks or hide them.

This white stick is the piece of plastic that holds together your office report in protective plastic sleeves. This particular teacher was new and possibly has not had the time to find a propper stick.

Above is what appeared to me to be a ruler covered in a green duct-tape. After inspecting it, I think it is a hard piece of rubber because it has some flexibility. No doubt the flexibility gives it a little more sting when it makes contact with the skin.