Teen Ink

HIGH SCHOOL BULLYING

When I entered Aviation High School, little did I know that those 4 years would be the worst years of my life even to this day! I came back from death in those years of pain. When you hear rumors of Aviation High School in Middle School, you hear mostly that there are mostly males and people who go to that school are/or turn out to be gay. At least, those were the rumors I heard before entering high school. That rumor however, turned out to be a false claim. However, what no one tells you are that, the school kids makes you an outcast if you are a Muslim, especially to those with the name Hossain/Hussein, such as me. After I went into high school, I was immediately out casted from the students of the school. In the beginning of high school, within the first few months I made sure the school students of who I affiliated myself with knows who I am as I always do in every school I go to. While getting to know me everyone started creating their own stigmas, and beliefs about me. Just like people found me easy-going and easy to pick on in the past, it was no different in high school. In the 9th and 10th grade, people got to know me and called me names such as gay, dike, pu**y. All of this and more, just because I was a pacifist that never looked for a fight and to them I was a weakling. Therefore, as always I just let the bullying continue like it always has. There was one specific class, called Shop Class which, every student is forced to take that lasted more than one period than other classes. The numbers of periods you are in a shop class depended up on what grade you are in. The most bullying I saw towards me every day of my life was in shop class. Since we were learning about air planes and it was about the mechanics and engineering of airplane parts, I had a hard time with the class especially with all the bullying occurring. Furthermore, this was a mandatory class up to the 12th grade that everyone is forced to take. When it comes to technical stuff, I am bad at performing in anything that has to do with technical things. So, I was stuck in shop class for almost 4 years being forced to take Shop Class just like everybody. The Shop Class was also the class I did worst in every semester of my High School years. At least up to the end of the 11th grade. In the 12th grade I finally got the choice of dropping out of Shop and going to a program called Boces. I was also a cadet in Aviation High School's Air Force Junior Reserved Officer Training Corps Program. Most people might have asked to themselves by now, why I did not change schools. A few reasons. I did not have the grades to get into a better school, and more importantly my only goal of coming out of that high school was to get the training of a cadet so I can one day join the Air Force Reserve as an officer. I had the choice to change schools, but I did not due to the dream at that time. And even if I had changed school, I would have gotten bullied in the school I transferred to. By this time, I had realized my personality and everything I learned as a child never worked out with society in my education. Therefore, no matter what school I went to or which kids I affiliated myself with, they all had bullied me. I was what one might consider “socially awkward”. Sometime in the 10th grade, there was a particular day where I was absent from school because I had an appointment with my dentist for my braces. That night I kept getting a call from the deans of the school telling my dad and me to come to school the next day. Apparently there was some serious matter. However, every time the dean called the house phone I hanged up in fear and ignorance. Then I got a call from the police or at least some form of law authority figure that finally told me what happened in my music class that day. Somebody made up a fake rumor about me being absent because "I was going to blow up the school". After understanding what happened I told my dad and we went to school the next day like we were told to by the deans. If my dad had not shown up, I would have been suspended. The fake rumor that was made about me was just crossing the limits in my mind and was astonished as to how far these kids went to try to get me out of the school or get me in trouble. Over the next few days, I was investigated in the sense that getting to know if I ever had any intentions of such, if I had any affiliation with Saddam Hussein. My dad and I explained to the deans that, the kids bothered me and picked on me saying that Saddam Hussein is my father. After a few days, I had to give in names of people who use to always bully me and the. I never heard anything back about this case. In the end, I never got to know what happened with that fake rumor. During this time when I could no longer handle the bullying and the other personal problems I was going through, I was seeing a Child Psychologist. I eventually had come to a point in my life in the 11th grade where, I could not handle the bullying, my own personal problems in my domestic environment, etc... And became not only severely depressed but also suicidal. For some reason I told my counselor and basically a Sex Ed teacher who also handled such things that I wanted to suicide and cannot take it anymore. I was sent to the hospital for the night. In the summer of 2009, I was a Student Ambassador for the People to People Student Ambassador Program started by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. Therefore, I was able to go to Europe for 20 days that summer. My parents had decided to stop with the Child Psychologist every week because they felt it was no use when I returned from Europe. Therefore, I stopped seeing the child psychologist. When I returned from Europe, I was getting ready for my senior year in high school. From all the years in high school, this was the best year of all the years. My dad had put me in Martial Arts classes; in which I was learning Tae Kwon Do. By learning Martial Arts, I finally had the courage to man up face to face with all the bullies in AV. Therefore, in my senior year, the bullying was at a minimum when everyone saw I was no longer scared to go face to face with them. Every time, someone tried to bully me, I showed that I am no longer scared of them and can defend myself as well. That year, was the end of me being a victim of bullying.