Students and Faculty of Virginia

Students and faculty of Virginia Tech along with the rest of our nation were sickened by the acts of Seung-Hui Cho on April 16, 2007. Cho, 23 yrs. old was a senior majoring in English, would kill 32 people, starting with Emily Hilscher, and Ryan Clark who were also students. He would then kill others at Virginia Tech’s Norris Hall before eventually killing himself. (Friedman, 2009)

“From the beginning, he did not talk. Not to other children, not to his own family. Everyone saw this. In Seoul, South Korea, where Seung-Hui Cho grew up, his mother agonized over his sullen, brooding behavior and empty face.” Family members would question his mental state as a child, wondering if he was mute or mentally ill. How does a shy, nonresponsive, often times invisible person, get to a place of retaliation and rage? (Kleinfield, 2007)

We go through a development stage from birth until around five years of age where we encounter different types of situations that help in our social and emotional development. We develop emotional and social characteristics when we are able to overcome obstacles. According to Jean Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based. The goal of Piaget’s theory is to explain the mechanisms and processes by which the infant, and the child, develops into an individual who can reason and think using hypothesis. (Simply Psychology, 2012)

As a child Cho did not have a lot of interaction with other kids his age, he would play alone and in his mind act like he was invisible, especially when others made an attempt to connect with him socially. It’s really hard to develop social skills and behaviors when you have little to no interaction with other children your age.

Signs of Cho’s Trouble

He was bullied in school and became a bully himself. He has been removed from class for being a disturbance,