In class, is everyone against you?
The kids in grade school tended to find me annoying and overall avoided me with a few who picked on me.
In middle school, virtually everyone picked on me, including all the teachers, driving me to the point of seriously considering suicide. I even suffered occasional physical attacks, particularly near the end of the year.
Due to the events in middle school, I did not take high school.
College is quite a different situation. Generally, the students are there to learn, not because they have to be, and certainly not because they're looking for someone to pick on. It's not that they like me any better, it's just that they've got more important things to concentrate on, so as long as I don't utter a word in class, don't look at any of them, and don't ask any questions to the teacher, I can manage to make myself invisible (though I did get a nasty comment on the fact that I needed a laptop in class when the other students didn't). As for the teachers, since I am a paying customer, the school actually cares if I am discriminated against, and thus, the teachers are afraid of doing the wrong thing and getting fired. They keep their distance, and that's just fine by me. Bringing home completed assignments to my parents with a 100% but nasty comments about my intelligence scribbled on them in red pen is not my favorite activity anyway.
One thing I've learned is that it isn't just about feeling cooler, it's about the desire to inflict as much pain and suffering on as many people as possible, an essential part of the cool image. If you make clear indications that their insults bother you, you signal to them that you are a great source for this. The solution is to simply not make a big deal out of it externally. You could do this by laughing along with them rather than retaliating, even though I'm sure nothing they say is particularly witty or clever. If they think it's making you happy, or at least that you simply don't care, it doesn't help contribute to their goal of spreading as much misery as possible, and they'll back off unless they have no one else to go after. Of course, that's all easier said than done.
As an example, the kids in 7th grade only mildly picked on me indirectly, until one day they started saying things in the hall to me that cut me so deeply I fell to my knees and wept. This was such a delight to them that I became the official target known all over campus and from that point forward, I could expect insults 10 times that severe at regular 5 minute intervals (and yes, in the middle of class as well, often by the teachers. This only made me more upset and made me cry more, and as their greed rose, the attacks started turning physical, doing things like tripping me, kicking me to the ground, and stealing my glasses. Then they got severely physical, such as punching me and kicking me in the stomach. Finally, they started talking about the best way to kill me right in the middle of home room, and while the teacher didn't participate this time, she said nothing even though she couldn't possibly be oblivious to the scenario. Perhaps if I had managed to hide my fears from the start, it wouldn't have gotten so far. Oh well.
When I was in school, lot of kids got irritated with me when I asked bunch of questions and they kept telling me "pay attention" everytime I forgot what the teachers were saying because I say "what?" or "What did you say?" It seemed like everytime I lsitened and no matter how hard I tired, words kept leaving my brain.