Teachers’ groups call for legal safeguards, while critics say classroom conflicts should not be treated like criminal cases "Teach You a Lesson," starring Kim Moo-yul (left) (Netflix) Newly elected Gyeonggi Provincial Education Superintendent Ahn Min-seok on Sunday called for a public debate on creating a teachers’ rights protection bureau, turning a fictional agency from Netflix’s hit drama “Teach You a Lesson” into a real-life policy proposal.The proposal has pushed the drama’s central question into the real world: whether schools need stronger institutional protection for teachers, or whether a punishment-centered approach risks further damaging the trust among teachers, students and parents.“I watched all 10 episodes of the Netflix drama,” Ahn wrote in a social media post. “The exaggeration and violence were unsettling, as the series is based on a webtoon, but I think it reflects the serious reality that our schools’ functions have been broken.”The Netflix series, based on a popular Naver webtoon of the same name, follows the fictional Teachers’ Rights Protection Bureau, a government-backed agency that intervenes in troubled schools, often through force and other extreme methods.The show ranked No. 1 on Netflix’s global top 10 non-English TV shows chart for the first week of June and amassed over 6.4 million views in its first three days.But reactions at home have been mixed. Some viewers said they found it cathartic to watch abusive students and parents being punished, while others said they were disturbed by scenes of adults — and state authorities — using violence against minors.Teachers see reality behind violent fantasy A parent (left) in Netflix's hit series "Teach You A Lesson" visits and scolds a kindergarten teacher outside of her office hours and files malicious complaints. (Netflix Korea) “The drama shed light on the reality that teachers cannot be protected from malicious complaints by parents, but it is still heartbreaking and sad that this continues to take place in classrooms,” Song Uk-jin, a sixth grade teacher at Jeonju Misan Elementary School, told The Korea Herald.Song said most of the cases depicted in the drama — from malicious complaints and false child abuse reports against teachers to bullying, drug abuse and gambling — appeared to be based on real-life cases.“I think most teachers would have thought the cases depicted in the drama were either something they had experienced themselves or something that was happening in the classroom next door,” Song said.Song’s school made headlines in May after the homeroom teacher of one class was changed six times in a year following repeated complaints filed by two parents against teachers. A probe later found that the parents had violated teachers’ rights.The drama has also inspired calls for real-life measures. When North Jeolla Provincial Education Superintendent-elect Cheon Ho-seong visited Song’s school on June 12, Song and other teachers asked Cheon to create a body specializing in the protection of teachers’ rights, drawing directly from the drama.Cheon reportedly accepted the request.Teachers’ groups said the drama resonated with educators not because of its violence, but because it showed a system stepping in where individual teachers have long been left alone.The Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations said it shares the drama’s sense of urgency, even as it acknowledged concerns over its violent portrayal of schools and private punishment by teachers.“We share the drama’s awareness of the problem,” KFTA said. “It lays bare the dark side of education sites, from collapsed classrooms and serious violations of teachers’ rights by some uncontrollable students to the despair of teachers whose hands are tied as they suffer from malicious complaints.”The federation stressed that what teachers need is “not fists, but legal safeguards.”It called for practical measures, including a state-backed litigation support system for teachers, a requirement for superintendents to file counterclaims in malicious legal complaints against teachers and revisions to the Child Welfare Act.Concerns over promoting violence, framing students as villains Teachers' Rights Protection Bureau official Na Hwa-jin, played by actor Kim Moo-yul (right), beats up a student in Netflix's hit series "Teach You a Lesson." (Netflix Korea) Meanwhile, student rights group Asunaro told The Korea Herald that it has the same concerns about the Netflix series as it had about the original webtoon.In 2021, the group criticized the comic for portraying violence against students as a form of justice and accused it of defending physical punishment in schools.“Physical punishment instead reinforces a violent culture in schools and teaches students that violence is permitted against the weak,” it said at the time.Parent groups echoed similar concerns, warning that school conflicts are increasingly being treated as legal disputes rather than problems to be resolved within the school community.“They are judicializing schools,” said Jang Ha-na, head of parent group Political Mamas.“As an activist and as a parent, what I think is most important is the recovery of the school community,” Jang said. “But the culture right now is that people are trying to solve school problems as if they were criminal cases in society, without proper reconciliation.”Jang also criticized Ahn’s proposal, saying the retributive punishment depicted in the series is not what schools need.“Focusing only on the protection of teachers’ rights will lead to the destruction of the school community and the spread of individualism,” Jang said.She added that it is wrong to cast students simply as villains, saying power imbalances can exist in multiple directions — between teachers and students, among teachers and among students.“What schools need is not stronger punishment, but a way to restore relationships and rebuild the community,” Jang said.Meanwhile, 11 teacher organizations and parent groups gathered on Tuesday to launch the National Movement to Recover Trust in the School Community, with the aim of fostering respect among all members of the school community and promoting students’ holistic growth.“The drama asks our society a big question,” the groups said in a joint statement. “The success of this series clearly depicts how deeply damaged our school community is.”“That is why 11 parent, teacher and educational organizations that are deeply concerned about this situation have come together to start a new national movement,” it added.