Alan was a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer and a good friend in Korea. He invited me to visit him and his Middle School in Seoul. I left Chun Cheon on a Saturday morning with my camera and a small bag of belongings. When I arrived at his school he was just finishing up his English lessons. Alan asked me to wait in the teacher¡¯s room for a few minutes until his class was finished.   
I introduced myself to the vice-principal and met some other teachers. After a few minutes, a young boy-student entered the teacher¡¯s room and stood in front of the P.E. teacher¡¯s desk. I didn¡¯t have anything else to do, so I watched the student. It seemed strange to me, because the teacher ignored the student. I¡¯m sure that he saw the trembling student, but he just shuffled papers and joked with fellow teachers. The student stood at attention in front of the teacher¡¯s desk. His black uniform was out of place in the room full of teachers.
After ten minutes or so, the PE teacher began to shout at the student. I couldn¡¯t understand the words but I understood the anger. The teacher would yell out a question ending with EH? and the frightened student would whimper an answer. The teacher got red in face and finally began to hit the student with a blackboard pointer. Most other teachers were looking on and grinning. I looked away for a while, but looked back as if witnessing a traffic accident. The PE teacher got out from behind his desk. He grabbed the little student by the shirt and belt and hurled him like a bowling ball. BANG! The student hit some steel lockers and remained on the floor shaking. The teacher picked him up and smacked him in the face. Again he hurled him against the lockers. Again there was a loud bang as head hit steel.
In my heart I knew that the student was being mistreated. I felt that I had to intervene. My Korean wasn¡¯t very good and I knew that my words would not have stopped the beating. My camera was around my neck, so I took it in my hands and walked to where the angry teacher could see me. I pretended to take a picture of the out-of-control teacher. I took a few steps back and pretended to take another picture. The PE teacher looked puzzled then he took a few steps toward me. Two fellow teachers took him by the arms and I quickly left the room.
I waited outside for Alan, sitting on the front stairs. My adrenaline was still pumping when he met me several minutes later. I asked if he was in trouble with his principal. He said that the principal was mad at him, but not to worry about it because I had done the right thing. Alan told me that the seventh-grader was being punished because he held a part-time job. Alan told me that it was against the rules for any student, no matter how poor, to work in a shop. When he told me that, I said ¡°In that case, I¡¯m glad I brought my camera with me today.¡±