Humorous video exposes the nightmare of Korean teachers.

Comedian Lee Soo-ji's series of satirical videos has drawn attention in South Korea for reflecting the pressure and fear faced by teachers in the country, especially preschool teachers.

This is a comedy video about the job of a preschool teacher, starring actress Lee Soo-ji.

Late one evening, Lee Eun-ju, a teacher with eight years of experience in South Korea, called. On the other end was the parent of a kindergarten student. The mother said her child looked "unusually tired" that day and kept asking the teacher what had happened at school. The call lasted nearly an hour, even though there was no emergency.

For many preschool teachers in South Korea, such calls have become a constant nightmare. They are wary of every word and gesture they make with their students. They even fear that activities in their personal lives could become reasons for parents to file complaints.

This situation unexpectedly escalated and became the focus of public attention after comedian Lee Soo-ji released a series of satirical videos about kindergarten teachers in South Korea. What shocked many people was that the seemingly exaggerated details in the videos were actually acknowledged by the teachers themselves, who affirmed that "it's even worse in real life."

Reality is worse than a comedy.

In early April, comedian Lee Soo-ji uploaded a series to her YouTube channel. The series revolves around Lee Min-ji, a kindergarten teacher who constantly faces overzealous parents and an enormous workload. With just the first two episodes, the actress garnered nearly 10 million views, according to the Korea Herald .

The hardships faced by preschool teachers are depicted by actress Lee Soo-ji in a series of humorous and satirical videos.

In the video, parents complain about teachers using the wrong brand of wet wipes to clean their children after using the toilet. Another mother is furious at seeing the teacher at a playground at night on the weekend. One parent even complained about a teacher winning a game of rock-paper-scissors against a student.

In this series, one particular scene stands out. Specifically, the parent in the video, trembling, tells the teacher, "I couldn't sleep after hearing my child tell that story." To the average viewer, this might seem like exaggerated humor. But for many Korean teachers, it's a familiar reality.

A teacher with 14 years of experience said that the situations in the video are very common in real life, and in reality, they are often much more cruel. This person recounted witnessing parents demanding that schools use wet wipes with specific ingredients or blaming teachers when children were bitten by mosquitoes.

Similarly, despite having taught for eight years, Ms. Lee Eun-ju is still haunted by midnight calls from parents. She says that these late-night calls from parents happen so frequently that teachers are constantly on edge. If the phone rings after work, they immediately assume something serious has happened to a student.

"Most of the calls aren't emergencies. Some parents just want to ask why their child seems tired today," the teacher shared.

Many parents also interfere in the private lives of teachers. Some teachers have faced complaints simply for posting photos of themselves drinking beer after work. To protect themselves, many have to use separate social media accounts for work and personal life.

What exhausts teachers the most is the pressure to be tolerant. According to Lee Eun-ju, schools often try to accommodate most of parents' demands for fear of damaging their reputation and enrollment. In South Korea, many kindergartens rely on student numbers for government funding. Just one negative post on parent forums can cause a school's reputation to plummet.

"Parents often name teachers directly on online forums. We go along with it because we don't want things to escalate," one teacher shared.

Fear of being labeled a child abuser.

While Lee Soo-ji's videos drew public attention to the mental pressure teachers face, a recent report by the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) reveals an even more serious reality.

Parents in South Korea frequently file complaints and accusations against teachers. Photo: Yonhap .

According to the organization, nearly half of the violations of teachers' rights in the past year stemmed from parental complaints. Notably, allegations of child abuse are becoming the biggest burden on South Korean teachers, according to JoongAng Ilbo .

Of the 125 cases involving student discipline, 74 involved teachers accused of child abuse.

Many incidents have left the public in disbelief. For example, a teacher was accused simply for telling a student "don't come too close." There was even a teacher accused of psychological abuse for requiring a student to solve a math problem on the board based on their test results.

Another teacher, who told a student that they had “made enough mistakes for the whole school year,” was also accused of child abuse. Although the prosecution denied the allegations, the teacher still had to undergo a lengthy investigation.

According to teachers, the frightening aspect is not only the risk of being sued but also the constant feeling of having to be on guard in all teaching activities. Many are starting to hesitate to reprimand students, avoid discipline, and limit interaction for fear of being misunderstood or being filmed and posted online.

"How can schools function normally when even correcting a student's misbehavior can be accused of child abuse?" asked KFTA Chairman Kang Joo-ho.

Not only is there pressure from parents, but pressure from students is also becoming increasingly serious. The KFTA report notes cases of students writing sexually harassing messages about teachers on electronic whiteboards, threatening to "kill teachers with a knife" after being told to put away their phones, or openly insulting female teachers' appearance.

Teachers' organizations argue that the current measures by the South Korean Ministry of Education are insufficient to protect teachers. They call for clearer standards regarding psychological abuse, the establishment of a legal support system for teachers sued for their teaching activities, and stronger action against malicious complaints from parents.

Source: https://znews.vn/video-hai-boc-tran-con-ac-mong-cua-giao-vien-han-quoc-post1651422.html