Video Transcription
School Iife
There are just a few bitchy people that ruin everything. Yeah. I feel like that’s what high school is: a few bitchy people who ruin everything. When I hear the word “school,” I think of exams and how much I hate them. For me, school is enjoyable right now because I’m at a point in Year 12 where there’s a respect between me and my teachers.
Since I come from a typical Asian family, my parents wanted me to spend my Year 11 and 12 studying. A lot of the teachers that I had really, really helped me when I didn’t feel comfortable talking to other people. I couldn’t go back to high school and do that again. That pressure to be one of those boys, that pressure to be masculine and to like sport—I really felt the pressure to try and fit in.
Moving from Kenya to Australia was difficult, so I was just being this really awkward person. They were like, “Can you get out? We don’t want to be friends with you.” They said it in the meanest way I think anyone could say that.
Hi, my name is Sophie and I’m from Sydney. The HSC was horrible. I put a lot of pressure on myself. But in the end, everything’s going to be okay. Don’t stress about the little things; don’t stress about school. School is not the most important thing in the world—there’s so much more than school.
I used to get bullied all the time when I was in school. People calling me “Abbo,” people saying I was “good for nothing.” That really hurt me, and I changed schools for that, and that was something that, yeah, I struggled with. I used to be very short, so they would pick on me because I was short. I wish I spoke more about my feelings of inferiority sometimes.
I went to this school which was all boys, and there was this whole mentality that “boys will be boys.” They’re just teasing, but that wasn’t normal.
Hey, I’m Alex, and I’m studying media. I definitely have regrets. I definitely got caught up in schoolyard bullying and also stood by when I saw it happening. I have deep regrets for not standing up and saying, “This isn’t the right thing to do.” It’s horrible looking back on it now—the sort of damage you can do to a person, even at that age.
You must reach out. You might feel like you’re alone, but trust me, everybody has these problems.
Video by Reach Out
