I have mentioned that I am volunteering at a children orphanage by teaching Basic English to nine third graders. Unfortunately, due to the increasing moral hazards among the young students I was forced to punish a boy for disrupting the class.

It was not a pretty scene, but it was necessary. Many of the third graders poke each other, make jokes (which are tangent to the class material), and sometimes yell at other students during class time. I have been very tolerant for their behavior, because first, they are young, and second, they are doing their best to study the material, despite what it seems to the contrary.

Many times, the yelling and the screaming among the students get out of hand, and in the past I have threatened them to kick anybody out for excessive distracting behavior. But because I have never actually kicked anybody out, the children seemed to develop a theory that I might not follow the penalty regardless how disruptive they are.

So, I had to stop class and tell a student to get out. He was under emotional paralysis, but I had to act firm, so I told the class that I would not resume class until he got out. He stayed glued to the seat, perhaps waiting for a possible pass from the teacher, and I just waited without teaching until our class time ran out.

This was a very effective punishment, because many others in class have told the student to get out, so that they can continue learning English (which clears the notion that the punishment was arbitrary and unfair). I talked to the student alone after class and told him not to disrupt class again. I really did not want to punish a student for misbehavior, but the moral hazard levels were approaching beyond my tolerance.

Well, it was a good experience nevertheless.

Here is a video of my class when they are mostly working hard.