Chinese School Smashes Students' Smartphones in Public Discipline Display

A viral video from Jinghua Garden High School in Chenzhou, China, shows a harsh disciplinary practice where confiscated smartphones are destroyed with a heavy hammer in front of hundreds of students. The event, described as a "show of power," aims to instill fear and deter students from bringing phones to school, which is strictly prohibited. The footage captures a person mercilessly smashing expensive phones while students watch silently, highlighting the extreme measures taken to enforce school rules.

This method is part of a broader trend in Chinese schools, where confiscated phones are sometimes submerged in water or otherwise rendered unusable as a form of punishment. School officials claim the destroyed devices were unclaimed for years and not retrieved by parents. In China, possessing a phone at school can result in confiscation for an entire semester, with release only possible through parental intervention, often leaving many phones abandoned at the school.

The practice has sparked international debate over whether such strict discipline constitutes necessary order or public humiliation and abuse. The school defends its actions as a deterrent to maintain discipline, but critics question the ethics of destroying students' property so publicly.