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
When I was in first grade (2001) my dad made me go to school late so I was older than everyone in my class, and the teacher knew I didn't fell and I got straight A's, so she decided to make my life living hell. I remember she wouldn't let me go to the restroom and if anyone else ask she would escort them, I didn't know to tell on her cause I though it was my fault at that time. Well one day around lunch time I got really sick and went back to the classroom and fell asleep on the floor, She walked in and YANKED me up by my wrist, which she knew hurt me because I was always complaining about the pain in my wrist. She told me I wasn't really sick and that I needed to stop pretending to get attention and all this other stuff. at the time I was 8. Went to the hospital and they found out I had a cyst in my wrist and needed surgery, and Then at 13 I was hospitalized for an unknown illness that almost killed me, all because she told me that no one would believe me if I told them I was sick. Yea I found out she still works there.
I remember being in 1st grade back in 1979 and I wasn't paying attention. Mrs. Kravitz whacked both of my knuckles with her pointer. Paid attention every second since!!!!
when my son was in elementary school i had signed a waiver so that he did not have to wear the uniforms. Everyday the priciple took him in the office and harrassed him about not wearing the uniform even though she had the signed waiver on her desk and knew he did not have to wear the uniform. So imagine having to take you son to school everyday and hearing "i am just going to end up in the office, or why doesn't she like me or why does she have to be so mean, i just want to go to school". My son was in 3rd grade.
i had a math teacher that would call on me in class even though he knew i had sever soacal phobia even after my dr called and talked to him he still wouldnt stop i droped out because of him.also in 2010 my friends daughter was held back in kendergarden because her teacher said she talked to much true story now my sons in that teachers class
In first grade I was in private school. The teacher, Mrs. Janey Luke, used to pinch our shoulders and push down hard on that pressure point anytime we did anything wrong. One day my mom came to pick me up early and found me sitting on the hill, watching the other kids play, with my hands on my head. My mother ended up having Mrs. Luke fired and to this day I have shoulder problems because of her. If my daughter, who just started kindergarten, EVER tells me a teacher is hurting here, all hell WILL break loose. I've been the victim of teacher abuse and I'll be damned if I'll let it happen to my children.