Imagine if you went to live in South Korea knowing no Korean at the age of 9

[Herman Munster]

You have no or little social network with people from your own culture. You have a bad family situation with parents who either abuse or emotionally neglect you. You have to learn Korean in school and are constantly ostracized for being different. You withdraw as a defense mechanism and don't talk cause if you talk you get more abuse. The cycle repeats year after year after year. You get older. You become interested in girls, but are unable to communicate in any way to express your feelings. You become sexually frustrated. You become more and more distrubed. Year after Year the cycle continues.

[terip64]

1. The parents can be loving and still if you don't know how to read and write in your first language

you will struggle with English forever. No one understands this or cares. The stronger the first language the stronger the second language will be. Many kids lose language and are misunderstood and end up in Special Ed which they are not. The educational system can't even deal with these kids language needs and it is a sin.

[LisaL]

6. The younger you are, the easier it is to learn a second language.

You should try it when you get older-now, that is a problem.

[terip64]

21. That may be true but if you have no written language and are expected to learn how to speak and read

a second language it will take time. I used to teach English as a second language and most school systems don't give these kids enough time to learn before insisting that there are 'other' problems.

[Annces]

2. Yes, this is what it looks like to me too

He had to deal with an exorbitant amount of stress, and it twisted him and distorted him.

I also find it curious he majored in English, since he had animosity growing about the world around him.

[LisaL]

3. Hell, I am an immigrant, and I have not killed anyone yet.

[Herman Munster]

5. well

Not everyone can be you! I think of myself leaving the U.S. at 9 and everything I've ever known to live in a foreign country where I don't know the language or have any friends and I think I would have been horrified.

[LisaL]

8. I was horrified to come to US. But again, I have not killed anyone

nor do I plan to. I am also around many, many immigrants and they have not hurt anyone, even if they are having trouble adjusting.

[SayWhatYo]

20. Had they stayed in Korea perhaps the headlines would be "SNU Massacre" instead

[Deja Q]

4. What does being Korean have to do with it?

Your description qualifies quite a lot of people; under many different scenarios - not all of which are violent despite a childhood of being the recipient of violence, and the person as an adult doesn't end up being violent either.

[Herman Munster]

7. it was just an example

Cho is Korean so I used that. But you can fill in the blank with any country of your choosing.

[El Supremo]

Wrongggggg.

That may be true of an American moved to South Korea, but it sure ain't true of the other way around. Here in Denver we have a huge Korean immigrant population. They all have extended families, go to Korean churches and help each other quite a lot. And they are very intelligent.

It has also got to be true in DC.

[aquart]

9. Kids do it all the time. They pick up the language in months.

9-year-olds will completely lose their accents. It isn't until puberty that it becomes difficult to learn a new language.

The language is an inappropriate excuse. I've met and taught those children. Korean and Chinese, almost right off the boat. Children LEARN. That's what they're good at.

[LisaL]

14. Exactly.

Children have it easy-they get rif of the accent. I will never get rid of the accent because I came to US when I was older.

[regnaD kciN]

19. I arrived in Switzerland when I was 8, not knowing a word of French...

...(the official language in that part of Switzerland). I was enrolled (at my own request) in one of the Swiss public schools where all instruction was in French, rather than at one of the English-language "international schools" for the benefit of Americans and Brits working there. Within six months, I could speak French as well as anyone in my class, and had no trouble with schoolwork, social relationships, etc.

Ironically, the problems I had came when I moved back to the U.S., where I was ostracized, literally for years, by my new classmates for my foreign accent (which I had acquired over three years abroad) and European mannerisms, which, in their opinion, made me "weird" or even a "fag." Could it be that the problem isn't language per se, but the peculiarly U.S. tendency to look down on anyone who doesn't come across as "100% Amurrican"...? Where I lived in Switzerland, it was accepted that people of different nationalities would be coexisting peacefully -- in my initial school classes, I had classmates from Italy, Spain, Poland, Australia, and Trinidad, none of whom were picked on for their nationality. In the U.S., though, it was more like, if you weren't exactly like the average boy in every characteristic, you were "queer" and therefore fair game.

[SoCalDem]

10. 99% of all immigrants face the same issues.

Before people immigrate, these things should be thought through and considered.

[Stu DeBeouf]

11. Your lame attempt...

to appear thoughtful, is disgusting.

[treestar]

12. To make the analogy apt

There are a lot of other Americans around. At only 8, your ability to absorb the new language is pretty good and you will probably speak it with no accent. By the time you are 20, you will be acculturated as Korean. Even though your parents speak Korean with an accent, you are acculturated and generally accepted in society.

IMO, the immigrant experience has nothing to do with it. That is usually undertaken by strong people and they make it a positive experience, and their children generally have even less trouble than they do when it comes to the language and culture.

[Blue Diadem]

13. He had problems before he and his family left Korea,

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=704251&mesg_id=704251

Yes, going to a foreign land, heck, even moving to a new state or going to a new school would be more difficult than usual especially for someone who has problems originating very early in his life.

[ben_meyers]

15. Cho was and ENGLISH MAJOR!

How could he not have known the language? How could he not have communicated?

[Marie26]

16. Oh please

Immigrants are probably the most well-adjusted segments of American society. They tend to have very strong families, extensive networks, and strong drive. Finally, children of immigrants pick up another language very quickly & are fluent within months. This attempt to garner sympathy is just lame.

[LisaL]

17. Exactly. There are many immigrants in US and they are

not grabbing guns and going on killing sprees. Furthermore it's much easier for a child to adjust than for an adult. The older you are, the harder time you are going to have.
Children usually adjust incredibly fast.
Older people are ones having problems.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

18. If every picked on, frustrated person committed mass murder

There wouldn't be anyone left on this earth.