South Koreans are taking a stand against school bullies. Well, sort of.
According to reports, a new “Uncle Service” allows parents to hire a fake “uncle” for their child to protect them from bullies. The “Uncle Service” offers three packages:
The “Evidence Package” is where the “uncle” gathers video evidence of the bullying, reports it to the school and threatens to file an official complaint to the school board if they don’t “properly investigate.”
The “Uncle Package” offers an intimidating 30- to 40-year-old man to accompany the child to and from school so they can ward off any potential bullies.
The “Chaperone Package” has the fake uncle visits the workplace of the bully’s parents – yes, really – and among other things, he'll scream “A parent of a bully works here” in protest in front of the office building.
The first two services go for around $400-500 per day, while the last goes for a little under $2,000 a day. Not everyone is behind the effort – as Professor Kim Yoon Tae of Korea University sees it, the system that should be improved and “private sanction is just another form of violence."
So what do YOU think? Would you ever get SO frustrated by a school's inaction on bullying that you'd hire a "fake uncle?"
I was bullied in grade school and I remember my mom complaining to the principal and the teacher. But having the "bully" lectured by authority figures only made him feel more powerful. I just had to ride it out.