Ashley’s teacher gave the students a few chinese words to write as homework yesterday. Then today, the kids have to do ting xie (Chinese spelling) on those words they did yesterday.
Ashley has 2 mistakes and she left 2 spaces blank because she doesn’t know how to write the words.
She came home and told me that her teacher smacked her hand twice with a ruler because she did not study at home, hence the mistakes. The teacher also threw her book on the floor. She did the same thing to a few of them who made mistakes 🙁 Then Ashley took a paper and drew a picture of her teacher.
She used a ruler and smack the drawing *shake head*. I told her that she cannot do that and she said it’s pretend play. She said her teacher didn’t do her homework so she smacked her *sigh*
I am not against punishment in school especially when the children misbehaved but physical punishment when the children do not know how to do their work is not right. This will instil fear in the kids, especially those who have just started going to a big school. Ashley has been saying that she doesn’t want to go to school because her teacher is fierce 🙁
Is physical force the only method to punish children in school? Discipline isn’t about punishment. It is about teaching and guidance.
oh no! *sigh*
well you know me, I am not a fan of their punishments..
Oh man, that really sucks. I totally don’t believe in this sort of punishment. So darn similar to Mrs. Vincent’s way of discipline. No wonder I hated school.
Hey Dawn, Mrs. Vincent was in primary? Her name sounds familiar but I can’t remember how she looks like. There were a few whom I really dislike 🙁
The teacher is rude.
Chinese schools are always more strict than other type of schools.. that is why they excel? Anyway, to instill fear is not right, as u said..
Barb, yes, that Mrs. Vincent from primary who always wears the butterfly dress and a big fat sanggul on her head! Remember her now? 🙂
oh yeah..now i know who she is. arrgghhhhhh…nightmare!
Haiz .. chinese school is like this lo … I am not fond of it, but really if one can survive this crazy system, you shall be ok … hang in there…
Haha..I like the way Ashley express your disagreement about her teacher. At least, she found a way to express it.
I too disagree with the physical punishment to young children especially at the beginning stage of primary school.
Sorry, there is typo error at my statement. Let me rewrite it:
Haha..I like the way Ashley express her disagreement about her teacher. At least, she found a way to express it.
I too disagree with the physical punishment to young children especially at the beginning stage of primary school.
Poor girl.I too disagree with the punishment carried out in certain schools, especially chinese schools. My niece in a famous chinese school in kl town told me that if there is mistake, the teacher will cane based on the number of mistakes. If there are 3 mistakes, she will be caned 3 times.
sigh…
I am keeping my fingers cross because from std1 till std2 now, JL hasn’t got any bad punishment for not getting 100% in ting xie…
i heard so many bad punishment in Chinese school. Now i started to get worry abt Jeremy going to Primary next year . U know, boy is boy, they r active, playful and sometime at kindy the homework also messy … not well done .
I think teacher should used a proper punishment not just to make the students scared and phobia … 🙁
Hope ur girl will slowly get used and catch up with the school work and so on …… I had one fren, her girl also being cane and stand by teacher when she was in Primary one, just becos she forgot to bring ‘something’ that teacher ask . Doesn’t that too much …..
Barb, I remembered my time. My parents are bananas.
From Std 1-3, it was like honeymoon years. But I speak no chinese. I was always in Group E in a class. The worst group. But I guess I did managed to pull through Std 1-3. Also my time, Std 1-3, standard subjects. No introduction of Science, Kemahirana hidup, etc.
In Standard 4, that’s the turning point. I couldn’t comprehend many things cos never had tuition and my parents were cool towrads me having a free-will education. One fine day, I really mess up cos I coulnd do the work (because I dont know) and that trigger the teacher. In front of the entire class, she smack me and ask to see my parents. Those days, if teacher calls for parents is sure humiliation already. And I was still cool about it. I didnt even told my parents that teacher wanted to see me. But my other friends (being kpc) went to tell my grandma who picks me up from school. Even so, my grandma told my mom and YET, the next day, I told my parents not to go. (rebel kan)… the teacher went MAD and of course, my grandma went later to meet her.
After their discussion, I had to SKIP my break everyday and go to the teacher’s office. She will coach me. and what she did was ALL MEMORISING WORK. but amazingly, all memorising work paid off. Also, failure to memorise will result in beating (ruler or cane) hit the palm.
Not sure about now. BUt my days, to succeed in Chinese School means memorise work.
sorry for long comment
oh you went to Chinese school too? Well, now there’s no more honeymoon years.
pengsan…me also will have headache if J goes chinese school
Oh dear, I feel terrible now after reading this cos I whacked Chloe really hard with a clothes hanger yesterday when she couldn’t read one of the Chinese words after being repeatedly taught. Sigh, sometimes it’s not easy to be patient… what more being a teacher who has to deal with so many kids with similar problems. Imagine the stress!
Back to Ashley’s ting xie, how come no. 1 and 3 are the same? Smacking the hands is still ok for me but throwing the book on the floor is very disrespectful and I’m strongly against the teacher doing that!
Oh i didn’t notice the same words until you pointed it out. I was too heartbroken and was trying to calm her. She has been saying that she doesn’t like this school and she doesn’t want to go to school daily. She even cry sometimes. That’s why I was upset when this incident happened because she would be more reluctant to go to school. I know it is stressful to handle the kids but must they resort to physical punishment? Would they allow their children to go through this?
LOL @ Ashley’s expression!!
Punishment happens in SK too. There was once my girl kena whacked on her leg by her class teacher. I’m fine with moderate smacking, but like Chloe’s mummy, throwing books on the floor is a big NO-NO to me.
i can’t understand why the teacher has to throw the books too but what can i do?
I totally agree with Mummy Chloe.
Throwing books on the floor is really a very bad example to the students. I told my kids, nothing can be thrown on the floor.
I don’t have good patient too.I am quite harsh and stern to my two girls. April said mummy is the most fierce if compare to all her teachers. I also understand that it is quite tough for one teacher to handle so many students. I warn them before. If I know teacher smacked them, I will smack them again. I am a tiger mum. I keep telling May now, primary school’s teacher is very different from kindergarten’s teacher.
Dear Barb,
This reminds me again the story that I’ve heard from the conversation between 2 mummies when I brought my Leon boy to see paed dr few mths back.
It so happen mother A saw a Mother B’s dotter school uniform, then she ask :-
Mother A : Helo, ur dotter is in this chinese school?
Mother B : Yes.
Mother A : My son was there before but I’ve pull him out and now he’s happily study in international school as there’s one teacher got psyhco mental problem one lar as ar she only sides girls n hates boy very much.
Mother B : Oh yes ar? wht happen?
Mother A : She likes to punish student by throwing their books from 2nd floor as my son’s classroom was at the 2nd flr at tht time. i ask him why ur books always wet? then I know from there and after survey only apply to boys while girls will be safe wor…this teacher also hv story behind why she hates so much of boys & bla bla bla
While the mother B just keep quiet there…Dunno how true is the story ya…as my self also will register my Leon to chinese primary school later as since hubby n I also banana and we would like to give our son a opportunity to learn chinese.
FYI, the chinese primary school tht these 2 mummies talking about is one of the very well-known school in USJ 19 and every parents will try their efforts to enroll their kids there….
This is scary. Psycho teachers need not be teaching in the first place! I pity the children.
There was incidence where the English teacher threw a boy’s schoolbag out from the classroom simply because he forgot to bring his books several times. The boy was my boy’s classmate in std 1. Bad, huh?
I remember when my boy first started primary, we had this daily email exchange with parents from the same class for the first few months to compare the amount of homework the kids get so as to minimize any chances of homework/spelling test being missed out. They get Ting xie, spelling or Ejaan tests, usually each on a designated day. At the same time, I insist and check if my boy writes down in his homework notebook whatever homework he gets on a daily basis and that works pretty well for us. You may want to try it.
Wai Mann, we are doing that with a few mommies since the beginning of school. We compare notes and check their homework daily. Actually what’s wrong with not knowing how to write the words? The teacher give the Chinese writing words today and Ting Xie will be tomorrow. Not much time for practice? *sigh* She can give punishment like making them write the incorrect words 1 whole page instead of smacking.
I guess the Chinese teacher is still the replacement teacher. I heard the teacher on maternity, who’s supposed to be Ashley’s class teacher resigned for good to take care of her new born. Bad news as she is one of the best among all That I have seen. My son still misses her story-telling, she likes to teach her pupils good morals through story-telling.
oh man…she resigned?? no wonder there is no sign of her. perhaps this replacement teacher will be turned to permanent 🙁 i have spoken to this teacher and she is ok…just that her ways of teaching like this is scaring kids like mine 🙁 i think i need to do more to help ashley do better in her ting xie.
TAH SIU YAN???? hahhaa GOOD ONE!
Sigh, i also dunno about this. That is the thing about chinese sch. Must be perfect. they stress , we also stress.
I’m ok if my kids get smacked on the hand (not head or face) if they misbehave (being rude/ being rebellious/ fight/ lie/ steal), but not for other trivial mistakes. Punishments like writing, doing odd jobs, and extra classes are ok by me. As for throwing books on the floor, that’s totally unacceptable.
QQ got smacked on the hand with a steel ruler once, for forgetting to bring her reading book. I went and see the headmistress, and the teacher apologised to QQ and me. Even with that, QQ cried and didn’t want to go to school for 2 whole weeks cos she said she’s afraid of the teacher.
But that’s kindy la, with HQ’s big school now, it’s not even easy to see the teacher :-(. So far I’ve not heard anything drastic from HQ’s school *touch wood*
oh poor QQ 🙁 that’s the thing about smacking. this would scare the children, like mine who has been saying that she doesn’t want to go to this school because she cannot understand Mandarin. i know Chinese schools are famous for punishments, etc. what to do when i have no other choice but to send her to one.
Oh, btw, love how Ashley drew and smacked the teacher! Her way to release stress ma… Good!
yeah, like what Sasha said above – “Tah Siew Yan”…hahahahaha
Barb, sorry I forget to mention in my earlier comment. If only the teacher smacked them with a reason of they were really naughty, then I would also punish them. Reading all your replies here, I feel really sorry to know that you have undergone so much stress recently. There are suggestions from mummies. I hope you are feeling a bit better now. Please also tell Ashley that not all teachers are like that. This teacher is over already, I reckon.
Thanks Sheoh Yan. The thing is, this teacher is her form teacher and the kids see her the most 🙂 She’s a nice lady and I kinda like her too. However, she turns into a different person in class? hahahaha
Barb, guess what my boy’s response was when I showed him this post? He said, smacked 2 times only ah? I was smacked 5 times ( his record) for getting 5 mistakes in my maths practice! LOL… Guess to be able to survive in a Chinese school, we gotta teach our kids to be tough cookies and thick skinned.. Hahaha…
Hahaha…poor boy. Believe me, I’ve told Ashley that it’s no big deal being smacked, be cool about it, study harder so next time she won’t get any or a lot of mistakes in ting xie…etc. i’ve tried everything like using reverse psychology, etc to calm her and not make it like a big deal. I even laughed abt it when she drew the pic and smacked the teacher. Today she said she wish she doesn’t have to go to school because of the teachers. *sigh* I really don’t know what to do.
I totally think that this teacher has used the wrong way in terms of punishment. Firstly, being a teacher, she has set a very bad example by throwing books on the floor and secondly, she should have council the student and advised them to make sure doing home revision for all future ‘ting xie’ instead of smacking them. And at the same time, get them to write again those words that they have made the mistake as a punishment.
*sigh* Barb, by reading your post and the comment already make me stress.
Call me selfish, that is the reason why i sent my boys to kebangsaan school instead of chinese school, i don’t want to get stress and imagine my stress will be x2!!! I think i will go to tanjung rambutan very soon.
Smacking still acceptable, but throwing books, really cannot accept!!
hahahha..Ashley so cute with her idea and she draw her teacher with a smiley face and not tiger face.
sigh… i worry when my turn comes but that’s how it’s gonna be like in a chinese primary. Some teachers are more ferocious than others and looks like she has a lion for a teach.
let her express out her anger, get her a cane to whack the little picture. LOL !!
Joke aside,, hang in there.. chinese primary school is very tough.. I don’t know if I can survive it too.
reminds me of mrs chong..
oh yeah…mrs. chong slapped me once and it wasn’t my fault too! i remember it till this day!!!!
Poor Ashely.. she must be unhappy thinking of going to school everyday…
When I was in Std 4, my maths teacher loved to throw books out of the window! Once, she even tore up our exercise books when we got our maths wrong. This, in a national school.
Both my children went to Chinese Primary schools and they too, have their fair share of being punished for slight spelling or maths mistakes, been caned on the palms and buttocks by very fierce and strict teachers, not using ruler but the rotan. My daughter, especially, got the most canings when she was in Std 4 to Std 6. She hated her teacher and was glad to leave school after Std 6. I think you cannot escape such punishments if you are in a Chinese school. It is part and parcel of their education system.
Hey, I was chit chattin with a few mothers & YES her daughter suffered tru out Primary 1 til now 6 🙁 Shes in d same school as Ash. She got smacked on her hands many times, books thrown, stand corner & homework to be done outside d classroom! For boys, either ear squat or any of d above. Finally, she marched in & apparently d class teacher & School principal didnt like it .. her daughter was isolated 🙁
i agree too. smacking is fine and normal but its so rude of the teacher to throw the book on the floor like that!
So far Sherilyn hasn’t been beaten yet. But not sure if she will get beaten or not in future coz of her care-free attitude. I won’t mind if Sherilyn gets smacked as a form of disciplining her but I don’t like the idea of the teacher throwing books on the floor.
Wah, start to feel the stress liao. Chinese schools teachers are pretty strict, aren’t they?
yes very strict. this is just the tip of the iceberg..hehehe
Oh dear …. I really hate those smacking in school, what’s more throwing books in the floor???? Gosh … does the teacher knows that the students will picked that up from her?? Sad to say but that’s our Chinese school in malaysia!!! Even Angel’s kindergarten is like that just because the kids are making some noise outside the class …. 🙁 But we really don’t have much choice unless we want to sent them to private schools, etc. I heard from a friend that sometimes parents even report police due to excessive smacking and caused physical damages to the kid 🙁
That is their modus operandi, which is making me extremely nervous. On the other hand, millions of other children cope with it, so how leh??
maybe my kid is not like the million of other children. she told me that she doesn’t like school because she doesn’t understand Mandarin and that the teachers are fierce. She’s so paranoid that she will get punished that she checks and re-check her books to make sure that she did not leave out any homework 😛
i wanted to post up on fb the other day about smacking kids at school. RL has yet to kena for her ting xie or homework but only for her cutting her classmate’s hair episode. i felt sorry for her coz she was so careful all this while for not getting smacked but it’s a lesson learn in cutting hair and i feel she deserved it. 😀
but what got to me over a week ago was that she related to me how her classmates who gets wrong all the time for ting xie will get smacked. although RL comes home happy about her achievements in ting xie, i can see that she’s bothered about the smacking of other kids. i personally feel it’s wrong to smack the kids for getting wrong all the time coz human makes mistakes, full stop. not doing homework, i can understand but for making mistakes?
RL’s teacher doesnt throw books but i heard some other teachers do and i think your girl’s school is stricter as one of the girls at daycare also goes there and she cries everyday (yes, till now) that she doesnt want to go to school and this girl can also speak chinese.
RL so far has progressed well in chinese and although she says daily she doesnt want to go to school, i see her liking it as well. but if i do not see her progressing, i would also think of pulling her out. i think as a mom, we will be able to tell these red flags whether its really affecting our kids deeply or not. i’m just glad i wasnt in a chinese school. 😉
pray ashley will eventually accept her school.
I am against both caning and public humiliation. Their actions are sending out a very wrong message to the kids. Instilling fear will only impair a child’s capability to think out of the box, limits their creativity, discouraging them to speak up for their rights.
I emphatise the teacher having to manage a class of so many students but as the old saying goes, ‘sek dak ham yue, dai dak hock’, if one has no patience, has no love for children, please…do the next generation a favour by changing job.
Oh dear. Poor Ashley. Barb, why don’t you go see the teacher and tell her not to touch your daughter and how disrespectful to throw books! Ask her what kind of example she is showing to the kids!??? The child is terrified – it isn’t fair for her to be terrified. It makes them insecure. Do something. Let the teacher/principle know that you will not tolerate it. If your child is telling you that she is scared, and you do nothing, then what message are you telling her? Next time, if something else happens, will she bother telling you? It may be next month, it may be 10 years time…….if Ashley is scared for you to do something, then you must equip her somehow with the proper tools to not be afraid.