Journalist spotlights interview of school bullying victim in light of recent suicides

Article: "I was used as a sandbag at school"

Source: Oh My News via Nate

"I'm different from my peers. I noticed that my speech was slower compared to others at a young age, and I think that made me stand out. Ever since elementary school, I was bullied by the kids in my grade. They'd hit me nonstop or make fun of me and steal my supplies like pencils. The higher up the grades we went, more classmates started swearing at me.

I don't know why, but I couldn't say 'stop' whenever I was being bullied. I just held it in. My mom thinks it's because of my great-grandmother, who raised me until I was seven years. Because she had alzheimers, she'd often abuse me and I'd hide in fear. That trauma has stayed with me for life.

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I can never forget the torture I endured in junior high. In our first year at a retreat, a group of iljins took me to their room. They told me, 'Pull down your pants and masturbate.' At that age, I didn't have any knowledge about sex so I just did as I was told. I remember the kids staring at me and laughing.

After the retreat, the same group of iljins called me to the school bathroom. They told me to do the same thing that they made me do at the retreat. Soon, more and more kids started gathering around the bathroom to see me and the female students would walk by, swearing.

Eventually, the homeroom teacher found out. I honestly told him that the iljins made me do it but the iljins denied it. The teacher just said, 'You're still in the wrong for doing it.'

My father ended up quitting his job because of the rumors that spread out, and it was at the time that my mom's diabetes condition got worse. Eventually, our financial problems reached a point where it was impossible to keep the family together so my dad transferred me to another school and I had to stay at an orphanage.

There were still kids that made fun of me at school but it was worth handling. Fortunately, they never made fun of me about staying at an orphanage. There were even some who apologized to me after time had passed.

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Since March of 2011, when I entered high school, the bullying reached a point where I was miserable to the point where I could no longer handle it. My classmates looked down on me before even getting to know me. Once, I forgot the combination to a locker and asked a classmate to unlock it for me and he said he'd do it for $10. I thought he was joking so I didn't think much of it until he unlocked it and asked me for the money. I didn't have any at the time so he stole my bus pass. I had to walk home four subway stops that night.

After a while, it got worse. They used me as their personal sandbag to relieve their own stress. During break, a select number of kids would hit or pinch my arm or back. One time, a kid grabbed a piece of skin from my armpit and twisted it for about a minute. It hurt like my skin had been ripped off.

They had made it a game to see how often they could hit me in class without the teacher noticing. When I got brave enough to say stop, they'd beat me up even harder. During gym class, one of them would always kick a ball and aim it at my face.

Several times, they would hit me in front of the homeroom teacher, but the teacher would say nothing. It's as if he didn't know or care. I had the same homeroom teacher for my first two years and he never showed interest in the torture I was facing.

I hated going to school so I skipped about 10 days without a word. I lied to my father that I was just at the orphanage playing computer games because I didn't want him to know that I was bein bullied.

In my third year, when the torture continued and I no longer had anything left in me to handle it all, I broke down while on the phone with my dad and confessed everything that had happened to my orphanage instructor.

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The school held a meeting and investigated me and the three students involved in the bullying. One denied everything while the remaining two only admitted to a select number of charges. Eventually, they agreed that I was the victim but did not come to a conclusion on who the assailants exactly were. One told me, 'You don't have much time left in school anyway so let's resolve this matter peacefully.' My father reported the matter to the police, reasoning that it's impossible to close the case by having only a victim and no assailant. I was fortunately able to receive police investigations and unleash some of my regrets.

I recently heard about the high school student who commit suicide after being bullied. I could understand what he felt. How frustrated he must've been... No matter how much you tell others of the torture you're facing, you're never given a solution so you're instead faced with fear of the worst to come.

What I wanted the most was for the teachers to listen to and help me. I'm sorry to my teachers thus far, but there was not one teacher who listened to what I had to say. There needs to be more opportunities for students to have their voices heard. It's difficult to come out and say that you're being bullied to begin with...

I'll transfer to another school once investigations for my case are over. I can't return to my school because I know that the students who bullied me won't let me go this time."

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1. [+265, -21] To the students who are being bullied, school is like jail. The teachers are the prison officers and the students are the prisoners. Just like how the officers never listen to a word the prisoners have to say, teachers don't care at all about the students. They instead fire back by telling them to study harder and putting them down as human beings. Truly a jail.

2. [+246, -47] Whenever a school bullying problem comes up, the homeroom teacher needs to be fired and the principal needs to be put on probation. That's the only way school administrators will take an interest in their students. The teachers are so ambivalent to these issues. Something was burning up inside of me as I read this.

3. [+158, -10] I knew it was bad but I never knew it was as bad as this. I knew the students were going through a tough time, but never to the point of death. How can teachers live with themselves by knowing that their students are being tortured and telling them not to report it?! It's because the teachers are so lax on issues like this that the youth continue to die in our country...

4. [+25, -9] First time I finished reading an entire article ㅡㅡ Our nation's teachers are only worried about keeping their own feet clean and taking the bribes from parents -_- The bullies are bad but the teachers are worse in my opinion

5. [+24, -2] I don't understand how as a teacher you don't know that your own students are being bullied. Or are they acting like they don't know?

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