Have you gotten the "OMG, my kid got Such-and-Such Teacher, and I hear she's just awful" call from a friend yet? Just wait. Bad teacher stories are as much a tradition as big fish tales, and there's a chorus of them every year during back-to-school season.
Moms! Dads! Allow me to be the little voice of reason whispering in your ear. It won't be that bad. Really.
My daughter is headed into second grade this year, and we've already had two incredible women who came into our lives and helped us mold her little mind. I can't help but have high hopes for the year to come. Thinking anything less is just shooting myself in the foot.
Yes, there's always one or two bad apples that spoils the bunch, but teachers these days are mostly hardworking professionals who got into the gig because they actually like kids ... and education. The scary stuff that used to fly back in the day won't.
So just for a little perspective, The Stir asked around for some adults' worst teacher stories from the "olden days" ...
1. My homeroom teacher slapped me in the face in 10th grade.
2. Does being told in class that my parents are "poor dirt farmers" count? Sixth grade history teacher, class full of students, and all of my friends and I were so shocked we're still not sure what the context was ... just that he said it!
3. We had a teacher who literally yelled at the students in class, telling them they are stupid each time a student asks a question. Fast forward to test, everyone fails, then the teacher proceeds to literally yell at all the students calling them stupid because they didn't ask questions!
4. My fourth grade teacher smoked in class. True story.
5. My history teacher/homeroom teacher (later became superintendent) made us squat down, put our thumbs under our armpits, and walk from his desk to the lockers across the hall and back again for as many times as he saw fit for doing something he didn't see fit. He also made us stand in a garbage pail in the hall outside of his room and added books to the top of our head to hold on to!
6. We had an ancient math teacher, who was in her 47th year of teaching, who wore the SAME dress every single day and threw pieces of chalk at kids' heads when they didn't have the right answer.
7. I was slapped in the face and yanked up by my arm by one of my teachers when I was younger for trying to help another kid pick up his crayons that fell on the ground!
8. One male teacher told me in front of the class that the only way I would ever be rich is if I won the lotto or married rich.
9. My fifth grade teacher announced in front of the entire class that I'd failed a test because she didn't like smart girls, and I usually had all As.
Really, do any of the stories about your kid's teacher measure up to these? I didn't think so!
Do you feel better about the silly stories you've heard about your kid's teacher? Do you have a bad "back in the day" story to add?
Image via cogdogblog/Flickr
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Comments 58
oh, then there was the third grade teacher who told me in front of everyone that my mother, who struggled to work odd jobs because no one would hire her full time with MS, should have had more time to practice my fractions with me, since she doesn't have a real job.
and the 6 grade reading teacher who threw staplers, desks, and stacks of papers at students. she terrified me to the point of skipping school. when my parents complained, the district's response was "well we've been trying to get her to go to anger management for a few years now." TRYING? she threw a stapler at a 12 year old's head! try harder!
Most teachers are creative and gifted individuals that care about your children. But they are also human beings and, being a parent of three and a teacher myself, children sometimes "misinterpret" events. I had one student that went home and told his mom that he had stolen some cookies. His mom "disciplined" him physically. She called me to apologize for his behavior and I had to explain that it was a game that we played in class where children took the object (a paper cookie) and hid it behind their back while the other children asked questions to figure out who had it.