<p>I left my Korean school for a variety of reasons, but a prominent reason was from bullying. I went there every Saturday. I left because…</p>
<p>-I wasn’t learning very well - only one or two very fluent students were learning well, and every other student was struggling a little less than me. I had only visited Korea once when I was 5, whereas other students visited every other year and vastly improved their fluency and cultural awareness. We were learning about ancient Korean history, which is great to know about, but the teacher was pushing the rest of the class too hard to keep up with the “star” students</p>
<p>-Harassment: There was one mentally disabled boy who would (sexually?) harass most female students - he would usually try to hug them, and he tried to kiss me when I was 14 and had still been a kiss-virgin. It freaked me out because I would see him every week.</p>
<p>-Bullying: I had been placed into a class in which most of my classmates were a year younger than me since my “kindergarten” class at the school - my parents didn’t know at the time. The school didnt really regulate it either, because at least 5 other students were my age and grade. I made “friends” with kids a year younger than me, and sometimes they wouldnt want to be friends because I was older. Other times, they would make fun of my appearance. Light shines off my face in a very shiny manner, and my “friends” would tell curious kids (my face was very shiny) that my face was very oily. I was 13 and going through puberty awkwardly. </p>
<p>-Cultural difference: I didn’t really know anything about Korean pop culture whereas the other kids did, and that was almost all that they would chat about. I’m sort of a tomboy and I don’t keep up with American pop culture a lot either, so mostly they would chat and I would follow and voice my input whenever I could.</p>
<p>Eventually, I became an outcast by choice. During breaks I would go outside to call other friends or listen to my iPod. the other kids didn’t dislike me, but understood that I didn’t exactly like them.</p>
<p>For the October column of my school paper I wanted to write about this unusual bullying incident, a backwards xenophobic bullying (because I’m more American than my bullies were). Do you think it’s too personal and attention-seeking? I just want to give a new perspective and story about how someone like me (straight-A student, have a solid group of supportive friends) and anyone else could be a victim of bullies.</p>