Outcasts

Once upon a time, my friend, Amber and I were watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid. We laughed and pooh poohed this whole bit about the cheese:

Sadly, in Korea, the cheese exists. It has to exist somewhere in the far reaches of the playground. It just has to. It is the only way I can explain the fact that in every single class room there is a poor kid who is ostracized. If this kid has to sit next to you, you shove his chair to the far reaches of the desk and you put your chair as far away as possible. Many times the poor kid is shoved back and forth because he/she is stuck in the middle between two people. That kid's stuff cannot touch any one else's. One teeny, tiny mistake on any thing and the rest of the class taunts him/her. Their pictures are scratched out. Any thing that can be done to torment the kid without physically touching them is practiced regularly--I have a feeling that even physical violence is sometimes used.

I say there has to be cheese because I can never figure out how these children are picked as outcasts. Maybe it has to do with families, I don't know. But handicap children are accepted into groups, the little runts are accepted, and most of the time the fat kids or those kids who have reached puberty faster are all accepted. I am greatful that the children take care of the handicap children and accept those kids that are different, but I don't understand why they shun one kid that appears perfectly normal.

I know of course, this goes on in the United States, but this is my first encounter with it. It makes me very sad and quite disapointed! Especially since I feel so sorry for the poor kids that I want to make them teacher's pet and that will just get them beat up (at least it would in the U.S.).

On a lighter note, I went had to teach in the students' home rooms these last couple of days. It was a nice change for all of us. Their home room teacher could go outside and relax, I got to see some other walls, and the students were so happy to show me their things. I was bombarded with "Teahcer look at my pencil case! Teacher look at my math book! Teacher look, this is my drawing. Teacher look, this is my potato!" It was very cute and it was amazing how great their English became when they were excited, plus the constant fear that their homeroom teacher might come back kept them pretty quiet. I actually didn't start class until well after we were supposed to because I figured that the students were speaking more English than they usually do, so why stop. And they were asking me how to say things in English, like mask, or a certain plant, etc. So the last couple of days I have been feeling like an awesome teacher. We'll see how long that lasts!