hunter-killer
Member
After reading about the murder of a 13-year-old boy at at RVHS, I felt powerless and depressed. My friends were worried — I always get affected by incidents like these. Especially so, when:
- My friends' friend committed suicide 2 weeks ago.
- Multiple teachers telling me that their students committed suicide during a recent dialogue.
- Ashlee's case.
- A suicidal girl who penned a letter to PM Lee.
- Last but not least... My case that went under the radar: bullied, misdiagnosed and denied an education.
The one thing that ties all of these cases together is the fact that mental health is a very real problem that is sadly going unnoticed in the larger MOE system.
Too many cases. Too little action. After much consideration, I decided to reveal my story here to show the harsh reality of cases that fall through the cracks of the system, i.e. outliers. This is going to be a long post, so bear with me.
My story
I attempted suicide back in 2011. Why? Because I was bullied by my classmates for the way I looked and talked. Yes, you heard it right; you can get bullied for being too ugly. Some also undertook a cyberbullying campaign attacking me, which my school simply dismissed as "you're being too sensitive" and "how can you be so sure they are talking about you".
I slowly developed depression which I eventually came to know as social anxiety. I also had a severe phobia of school that led me to skip classes most of the time. If I were to somehow attend school, I would actively avoid eating at the canteen because I was afraid of being bullied by my peers. I will spare you guys the details, and instead highlight some of the treatments I received - things that no school should ever do unto their students.
- Once, out of desperation, I wrote an essay about suicide for my English exam in 2012. Rather than receiving help, I was mocked by both teachers and students alike in public. Parts of my essay (regarding my suicide attempt) were read aloud in class and folks had a real good laugh about it.
- My school maintained the stance that mental health conditions do not exist and that it was all in the mind, and I was merely making life difficult for various teachers.
- I suffered a panic attack that made me hurt myself publicly. My teacher summarily dismissed the affair, insisting that I was just an attention-seeker.
I eventually came to view my school as a prison. The people there did many, many things that severely impacted my mental state of mind. There was no way out, especially with my traditional family upbringing believing that "the school is always right". Fast forward to 2014, my teachers used physical force to "coax" me into a room for some small chat. (Yes. They actually used those words.) Seeing that they refused to let me approach the school counselor, I called the police out of self-defense and begged for them to intervene. The school counselor subsequently blamed me for making matters worse, despite having not helped me a wee bit throughout my journey. On the other hand, the principal, who had always maintained that I was just a rebellious student and had no mental health condition, informed the police that I was mentally unsound and they need not come down to the school.
More at https://www.domainofexperts.com/2021/07/bullied-and-ignored-in-sec-school-i-was.html
- My friends' friend committed suicide 2 weeks ago.
- Multiple teachers telling me that their students committed suicide during a recent dialogue.
- Ashlee's case.
- A suicidal girl who penned a letter to PM Lee.
- Last but not least... My case that went under the radar: bullied, misdiagnosed and denied an education.
The one thing that ties all of these cases together is the fact that mental health is a very real problem that is sadly going unnoticed in the larger MOE system.
Too many cases. Too little action. After much consideration, I decided to reveal my story here to show the harsh reality of cases that fall through the cracks of the system, i.e. outliers. This is going to be a long post, so bear with me.
My story
I attempted suicide back in 2011. Why? Because I was bullied by my classmates for the way I looked and talked. Yes, you heard it right; you can get bullied for being too ugly. Some also undertook a cyberbullying campaign attacking me, which my school simply dismissed as "you're being too sensitive" and "how can you be so sure they are talking about you".
I slowly developed depression which I eventually came to know as social anxiety. I also had a severe phobia of school that led me to skip classes most of the time. If I were to somehow attend school, I would actively avoid eating at the canteen because I was afraid of being bullied by my peers. I will spare you guys the details, and instead highlight some of the treatments I received - things that no school should ever do unto their students.
- Once, out of desperation, I wrote an essay about suicide for my English exam in 2012. Rather than receiving help, I was mocked by both teachers and students alike in public. Parts of my essay (regarding my suicide attempt) were read aloud in class and folks had a real good laugh about it.
- My school maintained the stance that mental health conditions do not exist and that it was all in the mind, and I was merely making life difficult for various teachers.
- I suffered a panic attack that made me hurt myself publicly. My teacher summarily dismissed the affair, insisting that I was just an attention-seeker.
I eventually came to view my school as a prison. The people there did many, many things that severely impacted my mental state of mind. There was no way out, especially with my traditional family upbringing believing that "the school is always right". Fast forward to 2014, my teachers used physical force to "coax" me into a room for some small chat. (Yes. They actually used those words.) Seeing that they refused to let me approach the school counselor, I called the police out of self-defense and begged for them to intervene. The school counselor subsequently blamed me for making matters worse, despite having not helped me a wee bit throughout my journey. On the other hand, the principal, who had always maintained that I was just a rebellious student and had no mental health condition, informed the police that I was mentally unsound and they need not come down to the school.
More at https://www.domainofexperts.com/2021/07/bullied-and-ignored-in-sec-school-i-was.html