sucky teachers et...

[raine_naoe]

just wanted to share a couple of examples of people i remember from school that irked me. most of my teachers have been really good.

my fourth grade teacher was not meant to be around kids. during a Halloween party i was talking with a classmate while working on a worksheet she had passed out when she came over and yanked on me ear really hard. another time she called me up in front of class about a paper she claimed i had not turned in. when i said i had she went on about how i was a liar and trying to blame her for my irresponsibility. she threw the stack of papers at me, and i just looked through it and pulled mine out and handed it to her.

in high school we were required to run a mile twice a week during gym. at the time, my doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong with my chest ( i have pluresy, so basically i get sharp pains in my chest randomly when i breathe, especially if I'm breathing heavily) and was concerned that it was something wrong with heart, so I'm having tests done. during this she gives me a note for my gym teacher telling her that I'm not to run until they have it figured out. well, that's all fine for a while, until it comes time for the final and my gym teacher decides if they haven't found anything yet it must not be that serious and makes me run the mile then, timed even.

also in high school, i remember one time i passed out in class. the whole class saw me go down, and i went down hard. hit my head on one of the desks before hitting the floor. well, in the nurse's office i overhear her talking to my mom and she says, 'she thinks she might have passed out'. I wonder if she honestly thought i couldn't tell, of if she thought i was faking it.

[IT Grunt]

I had a few teachers like that during my time in hell.. er.. school.

The first one that I recall having issues with was my 2nd grade teacher. For whatever reason, she had it in for me since day 1. Problem #1 was that I had (and still do) a neurological problem that didn't allow me to get the signal that I had to urinate. I simply did not know that I had to go. If I /was/ feeling something, it was the pain that my bladder was about to unleash the dogs of war. So if I said I had to go, then I had to go. She was on me constantly about how I constantly went to the bathroom (less than normal capacity was also an issue), despite numerous doctor's notes and a visit from my mom explaining my condition. She was the only teacher in my entire school career to give me an 'F' in conduct.

Then there was my 7th grade reading teacher. In this case, however, she had it in for /everybody/, much like raine's first example. Every time she talked to you, she was snappish, rude, and condescending, and she loved calling you out on things in front of the class. I remember one time I had a muscle spasm in my stomach, because I'd had my appendix out just a year earlier. This was the first time it hit me though, so naturally I was scared. I'm in obvious discomfort, one hand on my stomach, the other in the air trying to get her attention, and she stares straight at me then goes back to what she was doing. Thankfully, the spasm eased after a few minutes, but I couldn't help but think, what if it hadn't? It came as no surprise that this teacher ended up being fired years later for hitting a student.

Also in 7th grade, the english teacher. Now I'm sure that everyone tends to be disorganized now and then, and I was no exception in middle school. Each classroom had guidelines up on the wall, with items such as 'Have your paper and pencil before each class.' and 'Turn in all assignments' , etc etc. Well, over the course of that year, this teacher wrote me up for forgetting my notebook one day, and having to borrow a few sheets from a friend, forgetting my pen in my locker, and having to borrow one, and then forgetting to do an assignment. So for these 'violations', I got 1 day of in-school suspension and treated just the same as the kids who were in there for fighting, smoking, etc. The principal even admitted that the teacher should have just given me an F on the assignment deal, and that the others could easily have been overlooked, but according to him he had no choice but to go through with it because she had gone to the lengths of writing me up. I'll never forget that day as long as I live.

[Severen13]

My 3rd grade math teacher was evil incarnate. I've blocked most of it out, including her name (I'm afraid of having a seizure if I ever manage to recall it), but I do remember her SCREAMING at me if I committed the felony of not understanding my homework or leaving it in my desk in the next class room. So take one shy, weird 8-year-old + one witch with a teaching license = Lifelong hatred of math. I hope a house fell on her.

[candyshopgirl]

I had some sucky teachers in my time...

The one that sticks out the most is my second grade teacher.She was a total bitch to me. Some background....
I couldn't talk or hear until I was 4 years old. Because of some ear problems,well after many surgeries I'm okay now. Well anyways of course I was behind the other students as far as a strong vocabulary. I still wish that I would have told my mom about this bitch,she was mean to me everyday. My mom is small but is scary when it comes to her children,like a mother lion. The incident that still sticks in my mind is when I had redone my phonics paper like three times(remember phonics) and it was still wrong.She wouldn't sit down with me or anything.She would just take out that red pen. Anyways the third time I took it up to her and it was wrong the third time. (keep in mind that I was only like 6-7 years old)She threw her arms up in the air and screamed god its still worng,what is wrong with you,why are you so dumb? I just went back to my desk and cried. I wish I would have told my mom.

Another was my elementary gym teacher.He was a ex semi pro wrestler. He was the devil himself.He would pick kids up and literally throw them if they didn't move fast enough. He picked one kid up one time so hard that the kids shoes fell off. The kid was talking during one of the morons "pep" speeches. He would make anyone that he felt wasn't trying enough during football or whatever sports we were doing do pushups for the full two hours of gym.Of course the precious (name removed) was his favorite.This was in the 80's,I looked it up and hes still at the school.So he must have mellowed out because with all the heilcopter parents out there he would get sued today.

Its a bit off topic but its still about teachers and school. In kindergarten I had this boy that would hit me hard enough to leave bruises.Well my mom talked to the school and pricipal and they wouldn't do anything.Keep in mind I said my mom is like a lion.Well my mom had seen more brusies when giving me my nightly bath and she had had enough. She arrived at the school early that day and waited for the little boys mother and cornered her.She informed her and I quote.
My daughter is being hit by your son and its leaving brusies.Now after today if my daughter comes home with brusies I'm not talking to the school anymore.I will come after you and I will leave some bruises on you.The woman was scared as hell.I never got another bruse from that boy again. He hit everyone but he hit me more then anyone.I didn't have to do/say anything. he would run across the playground and hit me.And it wasn't light hitting it was with fists.Now that I'm older I think my mom should have called child protection. Chances are he was beign hit and abused at home.$5.00 says hes in jail or is a wife beater.

[IT Grunt]

Another was my elementary gym teacher.He was a ex semi pro wrestler.

This reminds me of another situation I had. Gym at my high school was run by one teacher but typically all of the coaches assisted with it. During one semester, the wrestling coach thought it would be good to take us all up to the wrestling room and teach us all wrestling moves. All in all, the thing seemed like a big recruiting drive for the wrestling team rather than phys-ed. On top of that, I had problems with some of the other students making rather inappropriate sexual remarks about the various positions we had to take which I found extremely offensive, yet the teachers did nothing about. I ended up expressing these concerns to my parents who in turn came to school to discuss it, and it was decided that I had a choice not to go up to the wrestling practice room with them. Instead, I kept myself occupied in the gym with a basketball or something of that nature. However, the teacher got his revenge by giving me a C for the semester. Not much I could do about it, but it really bugged me.

[TheComputerError]

My third grade teacher was a shrew of a woman. She had a habit of yelling at children for mistakes on in-class work and dumping desks she deemed untidy. Many a recess in the third grade was spent picking up and sorting my papers and books from a pile on the floor and back into my desk.

Side story here: I still remember being in third grade and being taught about adverbs. This contemptible woman told us that "all adverbs end in -ly" and "all words ending in -ly are adverbs". I've always been the rebel, so I raise my hand and ask "What about ugly?" When teachers backpedal, it's hilarious.

After my third grade teacher, I never really had a bad teacher again until high school in my tenth grade (sophomore year) art teacher. He was the kind of person who would insist that, unless it was done his way, it was done wrong. I was taking an art class that inhibited artistic expression. To make matters worse, he spent the entire semester instructing us in pencil sketching in still-lifes and portraiture, then dropped our final project upon us: a painted landscape. He had given us no knowledge or skill sets necessary to complete such a project. Since he was the only art teacher in the school, I decided at that point not to take any more art classes and that stunted my artistic growth something fierce.

Of course, five years after I graduated, he was arrested for beating his daughter's softball coach with a metal bat over her suspension from the team. Why was she suspended? Because she had decided to go to her boyfriend's prom after knowing that she would be suspended for missing the game that same night. Needless to say, he's no longer teaching art (or anything at all) at my alma mater, but he's working construction for his brother. Worst part? He has another brother who's currently the mayor of the city I live in.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Anyhow, my story comes from first grade. It was a winter day, and during morning recess me and some classmates were screwing around and one of them threw a snowball at me.

It hit me right in the eye.

It had a big piece of ice in it.

And this was before I had my glasses.

Yeah, really really horrible, icky PAIN.

Bawling, I went right inside to tell the teacher I was hurt and would need to be sent home. It turned out we had a substitute teacher that day. I guess she asked to look at my eye, but I couldn't show her, the pain was so bad I couldn't open it.

So she decided I was faking it and told me I'd have to stay in class. I guess my moans and whimpers of pain weren't convincing enough.

I went to the principal's office a couple of times begging to go home, but they did the same thing the substitute teacher did--asked to look at my eye and sent me back to my classroom when I couldn't show them.

Somehow I made it to the afternoon, and at last recess I decided to just leave and walk home without telling anybody. (I only lived 4 blocks away from school). I got caught and sent to the principal's office again, and he threatened to give me a spanking. And since he was a rather big man that scared me enough to get through the final hour or so of school.

After school, me mom found me wobbling across the playground, holding my eye and trying to find her car. She took me right to the eye doctor, who bandaged up my eye and gave me something for the pain. Then mom wanted to return to school to give the principal a piece of her mind, but I begged her not to, remembering the spanking I was threatened with. So she returned a different day and tore the principal a new asshole while I wasn't in the office with her.

My regular teacher was very very apologetic and said she'd never have forced me to stay in school when I was in such obvious pain.

I still have problems with that eye to this day.

[LadyAndreca]

My sister had a substitute teacher in third grade that scared the whole class. She marched around yelling and slamming the desks with yardsticks to scare them into behaving. She repeatedly told them all how stupid they were and if she were their regular teacher she wouldn't let them get away with all of their shit (cursing and all).

Then she wouldn't let the class leave at the end of the school day 'because of their behavior'. A good third of the class missed their bus home and had to figure out how to get in touch with their parents or their friends' parents to get home after school.

And she did the whole 'if you tell anyone I WILL come and find you'. I think the only reason anyone found out is that one of the girls in the class was my teacher's daughter, so her mother was at the school waiting for her. When her youngest daughter came out of the class crying, she got the whole story out of her and took it straight to the principal.

Last I heard, the substitute had to go through a year of counciling and therapy before she was allowed to be near kids again. But she got a job at a day care in the area when that was over...

[Setsunaela]

I had an overall good experience with my school years, with a few exceptions.
The absolute worst, though, was my high school geometry teacher.
I learn math with equations, and sometimes word problems. With Geometry, some people also apparently learn by drawing the shapes, making labels, looking at it that way. I can NOT learn that way. Unfortunately for me, that's the way my teacher taught. All day long in class, we drew shape after shape after shape, wrote labels, copy copy copy. I hated it. Also, she would many a time copy an equation out of the book wrong, and I made the sad mistake of correcting her once, and she had it out for me ever since. I rarely had any of my homework finished, not for lack of trying. She would openly mock my lack of understanding, and actively encouraged other students to mock me for it as well, which they did. She was also totally unqualified, in my opinion, to teach high school level maths at all. Another student stole her answer book and she was helpless. For two weeks we did worksheets while she waited for the company to ship her a replacement.

[Muses_nightmare]

I never really had a bad teacher again until high school in my tenth grade (sophomore year) art teacher. He was the kind of person who would insist that, unless it was done his way, it was done wrong. I was taking an art class that inhibited artistic expression. To make matters worse, he spent the entire semester instructing us in pencil sketching in still-lifes and portraiture, then dropped our final project upon us: a painted landscape. He had given us no knowledge or skill sets necessary to complete such a project. Since he was the only art teacher in the school, I decided at that point not to take any more art classes and that stunted my artistic growth something fierce.

He sounds like the art teacher I had in High School (grade 11 - 12). He picked favorites in class, and even though I despised him, and did my best to challenge him on a lot of things, he liked me. So while I wasn't personally harassed by him, I witnessed a lot of what he did to other students. We also never once saw any of his own work, something that I think is unacceptable if you are teaching art. He once told several students that they couldn't draw. and my favorite quote of his? "No artist could have painted while on drugs" I can't remember exactly who it was referring to though. He was pretentious and full of himself, one of the type of people I can't stand.

I also failed grade 10 math because of the teacher. In fact, 3/4 of the class failed, which was how I figured it wasn't just me not being good at math. He didn't seem to have time for anyone, when you went up and asked about a problem, he pointed to the book and went, you do this this and this. And if you asked him to write down an example he would tell you he didn't have time. Just Terrible.

My English professor in College was awful, he actually told the class that first year university students didn't get A's. The whole course was based on this book: http://www.amazon.com/Next-World-War...8516252&sr=8-1 Basically a book length essay on Ecological issues and such. While the premise of the book was pretty good, it's a pretty difficult one to get through, since it's so dry and there are a lot of references to other sources, none of which the class had read. All in all I think this would have been better in another type of class, not english. I think in an English course, at least a 101 course, we should have been going through a few different styles of writing. I also had this prof as a philosophy teacher. He's another one of those uber pretentious psedo-hippie type of people. (if that makes sense).

[Chanlin]

Some people just aren't born for teaching. You can be the most brilliant mind in your field, but that doesn't automatically qualify you as the best person to teach that field.

[HorrorFrogPrincess]

In college I had to take a Philosophy course for my Business degree. This woman was awful. The main example was the "3 Reasons God Can't Logically Exist" arguement. Every test was regurgitating what she spewed, and she mocked/docked points from anyone who challanged her. There were one or two people.

Me? I basically quoted her back to herself, and aced the class. So much for learning to think...

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

My kindergaten teacher taught us that black people were black because "Jesus left them out in the sun too long."

I wish I could go back and tell her off--or at least tell her that clay blanches when left out in the sun "too long."

She also taught us some stuff about being depraved with black hearts. Ahhh, nostalgia. No wonder I won't darken the door of a church again.

[Aethian]

Couple stories here, one from a favorite Mom likes to tell and then my own....of course.

Back when Mom was in late elementary school, around 1951/52 she was in a choir room. Now Mom doesn't have a ear for music, in fact she is very much tone deaf. It's scary when she tries to sing...

So they had the high school choir director for a week or so and the kids in the class were all scred of this guy. He was one of those who demanded perfection. Mom couldn't give him that perfection so he told her, "If your not going to do it right, then leave." So...Mom left. Walked right out of the room to sit in the hall way. Guy went apeshit over that and whacked her hard on the bottom and then cuffed her ear. Sending her to the principal he demanded to talk to her parents. Well Grandma at that time couldn't get to the school so they got Grandpa from the mine.

Grandpa came in and gave my Mom a cool look and then looked at the principal and then the teacher. Teacher had told him that Mom wasn't giving her best, screwing up in class, and then walked out of his class while he was teaching. Mom had stayed quiet and while the principal was talking about punishment Grandpa asked Mom if she did that. "Yes but he said if I couldn't do it right, then leave. So I left."

Grandpa gave the guy a level look and asked him if he said that, "Well uh...um...yes but she still walked out." Grandpa's look got cooler and he glanced at the principal beofre looking squarly at the guy, "So your telling me that your punishing her for doing exactly what you told her to do?"

Mom said the choir teacher got beat red at that point and couldn't swallow his foot and leg faster if he wanted to. She didn't get in trouble either, got to spend the rest of the year in the library instead of that class.

I'll post mine in a bit....gotta go get warm. BRRRRR

[wagegoth]

Teachers. Ugh.

Okay, I admit it, most of my teachers were good to great. But then there is evil, not just mean, evil.

I was a quiet, well-behaved kid, smart, doing work well beyond my grade level. Things went pretty well in my elementary school, but about a month before the end of 5th grade we moved from the suburbs to a rural area. I went from a school that was brand new when I started there to an old, run-down one, in the middle of nowhere. Getting teachers to work there was really difficult, because it was rural, so I'm going to say that's why there were problems. When I started at the school, it was an elementary school, but the next year, when I started middle school, they made that school the middle school, and many of the teachers just stayed and started teaching middle school. Some of them were NOT qualified to do this.

My fifth grade teacher became a math teacher. (The day I started 5th grade, the class was having to copy text from the dictionary for punishment. I've just walked in the class and I am required to also copy the dictionary. This was an omen.) I'm pretty decent at math, but I still need some help. She was a math idiot. She sent me home with a notice to my parents that I was getting a C- in her class in 7th grade, and that my behavior was terrible. My behavior was excellent, she was an incompetent cow who couldn't teach base numbers. When my mother came in for the parent-teacher conference with me in attendance, the cow screamed at me, had me in tears, and my mother did nothing. (I've never forgiven my mother for failing to stand up for me. My mother failed me this way several times. We haven't spoken in years.) In 8th grade, I got the cow again. But I had learned. I played that cow. I brown-nosed, I kissed ass, I did some of my early dramatic work in that class. Once or twice a week, a high school student from the advanced math class would come in and tutor me and a few other students, because the cow couldn't teach us what we were supposed to be learning. Unfortunately, he only came in part of the year, and I absolutely failed the section on statistics and probability. I couldn't understand it and she couldn't explain it. It was with great fear and dread that I opened my report card on my way home from my last day of 8th grade. I nearly puked from shock when I saw that she had given me an A- for the class. I hope she's dead.

Then my freshman year of high school, I got the "too good to be teach freshman even if it is advanced algebra" teacher. If you had a question, his response was, "It's in the book." If you told him you didn't understand it, he'd just say, "Go read it again." Then I beat his damned marble dropping machine, and at that point I was doomed. I'm really good at pattern recognition, and I played with the thing a few times until I figured out the pattern. Not hard. He didn't believe me. The other students who had watched me backed me up. I squeaked out of the class with a C. Between him and the cow I learned to hate math.

Right now I'm taking paralegal courses online from a community college a few hundred miles away. I never have to go in person, so it works out very well for me. However, this semester I have a teacher who can't spell, can't write, and does not seem to understand the simplest rules of grammar. These are failings for any teacher, but for someone who is a lawyer, teaching legal courses, they are completely unacceptable. She misspells legal terms. She also doesn't return tests, nor does she post the answers. I've scored As in all my classes to this point. Usually, if I miss something it's because I'm tired, or just being lazy. I normally put in a lot of time on my work. I also care very much about doing well. I want my paralegal certificate; I don't want to be a secretary forever.

Well, I got an 88 on my mid-term. I'm shocked. I must have spent a good eight hours working on it. (Because the courses are online, tests are basically open book, so the teachers usually prepare fairly difficult multiple choice questions and essay questions that just can't be copied from the book.) Okay, she's posted my score, but where's my test and/or the answers to the test? I finally had to write her to ask for them. Then she sends me this long email with the answers I missed and the sections in the book. I'm still trying to figure out why she didn't just post the correct answers. All my other teachers, even the elderly one who has since retired and never directly answered email, always either returned my work with comments attached, or sent an email with comments and corrections, or posted the answers to the multiple choice and true/false questions online. There are only five people in the class; it cannot take that much time.

To top it off, the book for the course is poorly written, leaving me rereading sections multiple times to find answers.

I'm NOT taking another class from her ever again. At least I have a choice.

If you've made it this far through this whiny rant, congratulations! You should consider a career in the law.