When you are young, you are willing to try new things, even if it's not something in which you might excel.

For example, you might try out for your school's basketball team. While you are not very tall, have bad eyesight and have never really been interested in sports, it looks like fun. However, everyone you play one-on-one beats you. As you leave the gym, your classmates make snide remarks about your athletic ability. You feel hurt and want to disappear.

You are not alone.

In a recent report from the American Medical Association, about 3.7 million students in Grades 6-10 were found to engage in discriminating behaviors each year. Whether it is physical or verbal abuse, discrimination harms kids in many ways.

Four students at Noblesville Middle School recently shared their experiences with Y-Press about discrimination in everyday settings. While people have different ideas about what exactly it is, these four agree with the definition in Webster's New World Dictionary: partiality, or bias, in the treatment of a person or group.

Keegan Louks, 13, said: "I think discrimination is when someone's making fun of someone else for any type of reason, or just because they're not the same."

Nate Tatum, 13, agreed: "It's when they exclude people out of certain things because they're a certain race, certain height, certain weight."

All the teens except Keegan have felt the pain of discrimination but for a variety of reasons.

"I've been talked about because of my race," said Nate, who also used to be teased because of his height. "I used to live in Detroit, and I used to be one of the littlest kids on the block, and I used to get picked on 'cause I was little."

"I've been discriminated because of my weight and my height," said Amber Walton, 13.

"I've experienced name calling and sometimes physical abuse," said Cody Shaw, 13, who has an eye condition that severely limits his vision. "Sometimes people are like calling me 'bobblehead' 'cause my eyes move around. Somebody has told me that my eyes are fighting with each other. It could be funny, and then sometimes it could hurt."

These teens see or hear discrimination every day in their school. "When you're walking down the hallways and stuff, a lot of people are making fun of other people. And it's not really nice at all. It just makes everyone feel bad," Keegan said.

Discrimination rarely has a positive outcome. Even what seems like simple name-calling can be devastating.

Amber takes each unkind comment to heart. "I feel mad and angry and depressed. I feel like I wish I was in like a different school or home-schooled or something," she said.

Cody feels the same way. "Sometimes it makes you worry. If they say something about your shirt, you worry all day that you wore the wrong shirt," he said.

These kids also have been the perpetrator of discrimination.

"I have discriminated against someone in retaliation, and it made me feel good at the time to know that I made fun of them back. But it hurts after a while because it's not the person you really want to be," Nate said.

Keegan and Nate advised that retaliation is not a good way to deal with your feelings. "It's just a stupid way to try and make yourself feel better. It doesn't do anything," Keegan said.

If discrimination makes everyone feel down, it is hard to see why it continues.

Nate said people target others to make themselves feel better. Cody agreed.

"Sometimes they may be down in the dumps and they need something to get themselves going again, just to put joy in themselves again," Cody said.

He added that jealousy might be another reason.

"One day I had to go to the counselor, and I found out that I was eligible for free college. Then I came back into the classroom saying, 'Hey, I got free college.' Later on, people were name-calling and other stuff because they may have been jealous."

Amber thinks kids make fun of other kids to impress those around them. "I think they do it for attention," she said.

"It's because they think they're cool," Keegan added.

The teens say the media also play a role, both positive and negative. Many movies and magazines seem to set impossibly high standards regarding looks. Lyrics in songs on the radio can encourage love and harmony, but they also might include insults directed at certain groups of people.

"A lot of songs have stereotypes in them, like a lot of rap songs, and I think that when people listen to that, it might make them not feel so good about themselves," Keegan said.

Nate believes that musical groups like the Black Eyed Peas can have a positive effect on listeners. The Los Angeles-based multiethnic group promotes love and peace in its songs, such as "Where Is the Love?"

Being in situations where you are the victim of discrimination can be really tough. Based on their experiences, the Noblesville teens gave their advice about how to handle these situations.

"I'd tell them that everyone is their own person and not to listen about what other people say because they have defects about them, too, and everybody can't be perfect," Keegan said.

"Everyone's gonna criticize you on something. So just put it behind you, and it'll make you a stronger person," she added.

Nate emphasized that discrimination reflects more on the perpetrator than the victim.

"People are gonna be people. You know, they're gonna make fun of people. That's nothing you can really stop, but there is a way that you can keep it from disturbing you or troubling you," he said.

"Don't listen to what other people say about you," Amber agreed. "Just walk on and act like they didn't say nothing."

REPORTERS : Tara Wadelton, 13; Jenny Schaefer, 12; Meagan Gardner, 10; Mark Nishio, 11