#bully teachers

[nllick]

“Ms. Philips is such a hot teacher!”

“No Mr. Galloway is!!”

Neil.

[theyearofrisinglight]

Wowowow except for the homeschooling and religious cult things, this could have been written by me. My classmates never picked on me. I was mostly ignored thankfully; I don't know if they mocked me behind my back and if they did, who cares by now? At least they had the delicacy to not humiliate me in front of everyone and since I didn't see it didn't hurt me. But some of my teachers didn't show the same tact. I still remember some of the humiliating things my fourth grade teacher would make me go through. Like sending me to the nurse's office because she thought I had lice and was talking about me with another teacher and making disgusted faces in front of the other students. What I had was just a bad case of dandruff. And in high school one of my teachers mocked the fact I came from a low income family and had worn out notebooks and my sloppy writing. And every time I had to read out loud she would always criticize me and the fact I supposedly read too fast. Like these, there were other instances where some teachers mocked me, berated me for no reason, and were annoyed by my sole presence or my poverty. Classmates bullying another is sad and terrible but a grown-up tormenting a needy child or a child with an abusive or inadequate home life like the author's is just disgraceful and it's sad this keeps happening.

[kxtsukibxkugou]

Bully Teachers

Teachers - Never, ever, tease a student.

Never, ever, repeatedly call out a student when they are NOT the only one doing something - or obviously not involved. Please.

My Science teacher constantly scolds the student who sits by me. I know for a fact that most of the time he is not doing anything. It makes him hate her and the class, and it makes him stop listening, therefore lowering his grades. Two days ago, my Algebra teacher made me and another girl in class actually cry. The other girl couldn't see the board because we had gotten new seats and she was sat in the back. She asked if she could walk up to the board when the teacher asked her to sit in the back. The teacher said no. She asked if she could sit in an open seat in the front. The teacher said no. Later, she asked a question about why X wasn't outside the parentheses when we factored it or whatever. Keep in mind we were only JUST NOW learning this, it was the first day of the unit. The teacher acted as though she had said something completely idiotic, and responded in an extremely condescending manner. (Honestly, the Algebra teacher is always very condescending.) She was frustrated and was honestly just having a bad day, and started crying.

The teacher ignored it and continued her lesson.

Later, the same girl cried in English, and the English teacher comforted her. (The English teacher is amazing.)

I was doodling on the side of my paper in the same Algebra lesson - not because I didn't care. I understood how to do the problems, and the teacher was going slow so I got bored. I WAS listening to her. She called on me to do a problem, and I began to work it out. She did something she does with every student - she prompted me through the question. But I didn't NEED prompting. It only pressured me and made me confused with something I KNOW how to do. Her pressuring me made me mess up the numbers, she scolded and embarassed me, and I messed up the question even more. By the end, I had started to cry. Usually, I wouldn't do this. But she was rude and condescending, and I felt as though I was dissapointing her and myself, or that I lied to myself by saying I knew how to do the problem.

I promise I tried to explain to her, but speaking on the spot is not my strong suit. I tried to explain to her I only needed a few seconds to count, to divide, to look at all my numbers and get them straight in my head and write it down on my paper. She said she was "prompting me through the question," which I understand, some students need that. I don't, though. She only got more mad at me, and it didn't help I was crying the whole time. When friends sitting nearby tried to comfort me, she scolded them and said, "You can comfort her after class, do your exit ticket!" (My best friend said the teacher is on her hit list and my shit list. Get yourself some friends like her.)

I was still crying when I arrived to my Gym class afterwards, and the gym teachers said nothing.

Calling students out without cause, pressuring them, and ignoring them - these are all toxic behaviors, especially with the kind of power dynamic held by teachers and students. Students should look up to their teachers for guidance, and it is extremely harmful when teachers turn into bullies just as bad as the student's peers. In fact, being a bully teacher is worse than being a bully student. It's sad but true that at this point we expect a certain degree of bullying from our peers, but we don't expect it from our teachers.