Asking students to provide answers to questions is a cruel way to teach, if you think about it. (NEOSiAM 2024+/Pexels)

Disclaimer: While this article is based on well-studied facts, it also contains some satirical doodles that would look nice stuck on your fridge door.

School is not always fun, and learning can be an unpleasant process, but does asking students to solve problems amount to abuse? One brave parent in South Korea recently took a stand and accused a middle school teacher of emotional abuse, suing because the child was asked to solve a problem on the board in front of the class and was unable to.

“Sure, it’s not fun to get a wrong answer in front of the class, but I always thought that unpleasantness was just part of learning,” said an educator about this story. “However, this parent has opened my eyes, and perhaps we shouldn’t be asking students for answers to questions. Now that I think about it, it is a rather archaic way of teaching.”

Other parents have called for the school to stop asking students any questions that have a right and wrong answer. “If my child answers a question, then whatever answer he gives should be considered the right answer,” said a perceptive parent. “It’s unfair to ask him to answer a question where there is a risk that he could be wrong. What is this, the dark ages of the 20th century or something?”

Perhaps any answer that a student gives should automatically be considered the correct answer, as long as that student doesn't go on to design buildings or treat patients. (George Becker/Pexels)

Last year, the same parent filed another complaint against the same teacher. In that instance, after the child fought with a classmate, the parent asked for the two students to be separated into different classes, but the teacher said the rules were that a school violence report must first be filed, which the parent wouldn’t do. “It’s like that saying, The parent is always right,” said an American parent about this story. “Or is it that the customer is always right? Either way, teachers are supposed to obey parents, no matter how bad it is for the educational process.”

Local police recently decided that the teacher did nothing wrong and is cleared of all accusations. The local teachers union warned of unfounded accusations against teachers that can stay with a teacher and impact them even if the charges are found to be false. In this case, the teacher is reportedly still recovering from the ordeal, and is perhaps considering switching careers to a less dangerous field of work, like boxing or no-holds-barred street wrestling.