Violence in Gangnam schools and how it's being brushed under the carpet

[tredecimo.livejournal.com]

Article goes into the psychological bullying that schools in the upper scale neighborhoods of Gangnam are keeping hush hush about for the sake of the image of these prestigious schools.





One female high schooler named Sehee actually commit suicide from such bullying, but when police investigations were brought in, they determined that there wasn't enough evidence to prove she was bullied into death. This brings light to a deeper issue where 'school violence' is no longer being committed through physical fights but through psychological torments.

The truth was revealed in an exchange between Sehee and her friend right before her death.

Sehee: "I'm at the rooftop now. Will I die if I fall from here?"
Friend: "What's going on? Is something wrong?"
Sehee: "Just consider me someone who never existed. I don't have what it takes to continue moving forward. I'm sorry. I haven't been a good friend. Thanks for everything, I love you."
Friend: "Where are you? Sehee-ya, Park Sehee!"

Sehee's troubles started when she got into a minor fight with a friend. She then began seeing Facebook messages ambiguously targeting her and Kakao Talk messages from alleged seniors swearing at her, telling her to die, and making up rumors accusing her of being a kkot-baem and stealing the boyfriends of her own friends. She was then ostracized at school and was forced to spend her days alone.

Despite her mother's attempts to involve the school, the school blamed it on Sehee's low self esteem and said they couldn't do anything more. Sehee transferred to a smaller school of 50 or so students in the countryside and did well until she then had to move on to high school where the bullying began again.

She came home from school one night and confessed that her classmates were bullying her again, yelling at her if she tried to act friendly. Sehee then declared one night that she was going to drop out of school. That same night, she went up to the rooftop and commit suicide.

When the parents demanded the school to take responsibility, the school said that Sehee was merely upset at her classmates, causing her mother to retort, "Would a person end their own life over merely feeling 'upset'?..."

The school kept Sehee's death a secret in fear of the shock the student body would have to endure. They "checked" on who she hung out with at school and figured that she just wasn't able to fit in.

Police also concluded their investigations with there being "no assailant, no victim" in her death. They had surveyed her classmates and no one had confessed to her bullying. One on one meetings between the teachers and students were also had, but results were the same. A few of her junior high school classmates were charged for writing hateful things about her on SNS.

Police said, "It's important to check whether there was physical violence," to which the mother revealed, "Kids in Gangnam don't use violence anymore. Gangnam hasn't used violence in a long time. Kids rather mentally torment you, slowly."

"I've lived for over 20 years in Gangnam and I've barely seen articles about school violence. Of course, there are a lot of talks about how a kid dropped to his death at the Eunma Apartment or at the Tower Palace... but rumors like that make the neighborhood look bad so I figured people were staying quiet. I've always seen people make the victim out to be some pathetic misfit, or a kid from a poor household. This has all been building up inside of me, how could I keep it all in me now when I'm so regretful of my own child's pain? I need to fight. Her death won't be the last of it.... This reality is so frustrating. No one takes responsibility for anything. The school, the police, everyone just says they don't know. There's no hope. No hope..."

Unfortunately, it wasn't until after Sehee's death that her classmates began sending her phone messages. "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I knew everything. I knew what had happened at your previous school. I should've taken care of you. I'm so sorry. It's too late to say sorry now but I hope you accept it now. Don't hurt in heaven, don't be sad. I'll pray for you. I couldn't tell your mother the truth. I hope you'll be by her side. I don't have the right to. I couldn't tell her to find strength, to stop crying. Sehee-ya, be happy and live comfortably. See you in heaven."
-X-X-X-X-




1. [+3,868, -63] Something this tragic happened and the school ignores it and brushes it under the rug... who can people depend on then? One word has the power of an explosive... it can end a life just like that.

2. [+3,535, -119] I bet this article will be erased soon too... Gangnam isn't the Gangnam it used to be. It's just another average city with 600,000 people. Living in Gangnam doesn't make you superior anymore...

3. [+3,236, -41] Students should be forced to pay the consequence for their crimes

4. [+2,692, -39] I don't think school violence can ever be justified. Parents and teachers who are blindly protecting their kids without consideration for the pain of other students are what makes school violence grow.

5. [+2,242, -168] "Omo! My kid would never hit anyone!"

6. [+535, -9] So the b*tch who started it all is the one who posted on SNS in junior high. Her words killed Sehee... I wonder if she's enjoying life right now? I bet her identity will soon be revealed~ good riddance

7. [+530, -14] My school had a sophomore student commit suicide on September 13th by jumping from his apartment but there were no news articles about it. The teachers all kept it hush hush. The seniors were more worried about our school's image being tarnished and being rejected from colleges because of it;;; this is the reality of Korea.

8. [+508, -13] My heart broke the entire time reading this. How painful it must've been for her. School culture needs to change. Bullied kids need to be protected. Schools need to show bullies just how terrible what they're doing is by going hard on punishments. Unfortunately, reality is that if you report something like this, schools will brush it off until the victim transfers schools. Sehee-ya, be happy in heaven. Don't be in pain anymore, just be happy...

9. [+487, -25] But she was doing better at a school in the countryside... did they have to force her to go back to a high school in Gangnam? Even when she hated it?

10. [+420, -24] The parents are frustrating... why did they make her go to that school when they knew that everyone in that neighborhood would be going there? They could've sent her to another school...

-X-X-X-X-


In a country where the class divide is very noticeable, where money talks, and where the media glorifies chaebols, iljins and "bad boy" images; I'm not surprised. Bullying begins from school years and goes on to college, work and (for men) military. Some of these top comments are incredibly daft, and I feel sorry for the fools who upvoted them; if there's a problem in society(/school) then fix the problem, don't tell people to run away(/relocate) from it.

Source | Naver via Netizen Buzz

Comments

[dalpaengi.livejournal.com]

I wasn't triggered by this article but many years ago this article would have hit me very hard. As a victim of bullying who still cannot walk into a school building without holding my s.o or sometimes even my moms hand....this is just incredibly sad, incredible chilling to read. My heart goes out to the victims. They gotta fix this.

[rennehollic.livejournal.com]

from alleged seniors swearing at her, telling her to die
this is just wrong and completely...I don't know, I don't even know what to say to be honest. This happened to me, and thankfully I had a great support, otherwise, I probably wouldn't be here.

I'm disgusted to see how the school is basically blaming her! How can you even do that? When will schools realize bullying IS a serious problema and has to be handled the proper way? I remember the principal of my last high school (I changed twice) he had a 0 bullying policy, and every time he knew a student was being bullied he would either expel the bullies or make them clean the toilets, serve at the canteen and do "comunity" service.
he was hated by many parents, but it was thanks to him, many of the victims managed to handle the hell high school was

[nana-the-dwarf.livejournal.com]

We need more teachers like this.

[phililen3.livejournal.com]

There needs to be a way of charging the school for this.

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

I went to prestigious schools with rich kids being the majority of students. Often I got semi-bullying treatment just because I stand out with my social awkwardness. The worst part is the difference between kids whose parents spent extra $ on school, like partially funding new gym hall and stuff like that. They can do literally anything and no one bats an eye. My math teacher kinda bullied me in last year of high school, she wanted me to fail math conpletely and stay for an extra year. I got a good tutor and at the end I had a pretty high score on final exams. The funny thing is that in my class there were like 5 other kids who did poorly on math tests but she only focused on me. Why? Other students either were rich and/or their parents took part in parents comitee stuff.
Here in Poland bullying got pretty bad because of change in schooling system. For a long time, schooling consisted of 8 years of secondary school and 4 of high school. Two decades ago they introduced kind of middle school (it's called gimnasium literally) and now it's 6 years primary school, 3 middle and 3 high school. Enviorment change happens in a crucial moment and it makes. 12/13 years old kids kinda do things they wouldn't normally to impress new classmates. In the past people spent more time with the same people and they wouldn't try to pull off weird stuff.
Whoa I didn't planned this essay, sorry.

[lechuza-yoya.livejournal.com]

in mexico thats the system , 6 +3+3, is like childhood is over and young teen star.

[oncloud999.livejournal.com]

psychological bullying is the worst.

[kevinmchale.livejournal.com]

they know it's going to reflect badly so why not do something to prevent it in the first place instead ugh i feel so bad for the victims :'(

[episkia.livejournal.com]

my cousin, who moved to one of the most prestigious schools in korea for high school (after middle school elsewhere) put it succinctly: 'every child in korea would want to study elsewhere if they were given the opportunity'. everybody hates the system, but it's the only way to live, so they have to deal. no fairytale ever afters there.

(i'm not saying there shouldn't be social change, no, i'm quite the opposite. but :| there's a genuine sense of frustration, and i can see why they're stuck between a rock and a hard place.)

[ponpirot.livejournal.com]

Why are these kids so angry?

[suxaholic.livejournal.com]

good question

[heyitsrocky91.livejournal.com]

At my cousins private school, a freshman boy got bullied by a few juniors and the school tried to cover it up. Apparently one of the juniors raped the boy, then started bullying him so he wouldn't tell. He ended up telling someone but his rapist's parents were also rich af and the school didn't want to lose the money his parents donated so they kept hush hush about it. It's quite disgusting how money can let people get away with shit. Although lbr he wouldn't have been taken serious anyway, Rape victims never are -_-