My niece's 4th grade teacher

[Kheldarson]

so all these friends are going through teachers college now to be teachers.
None of them WANTED to be teachers but they need a job that pays more than $8/hr.

I HATE that. I'm sorry, I WANT to be a teacher. I went to school to be a teacher. I hate having people tell me they're going back to school to be a teacher or are getting an education degree because they need a backup. TEACHING IS NOT A FALL BACK JOB!!! >.<

Does sound like the teacher in the OP treats it like one though.

[chainedbarista]

power trip is a good description, and i don't buy the hormones argument for a second; creating a set of absurd and problematic rules tells me that this woman has issues that have nothing to do with pregnancy and more to do with instability.

a formal complaint to the school board might get something accomplished, or not, depending...

as per sheldon rs:

She made me take it back out of the garbage and eat it in front of her. I felt a lot sicker after that, for some reason.

i'm surprised that hag still had a job after that stunt; foodborne illness and a lawsuit comes to mind, along with some sort of charges being filed (assault with a deadly sandwich??) for the enforcement of a halfwitted rule.

rules are useful if they make sense; none of those posted make one iota of sense, but for some reason, those in charge of these think tanks seemed to miss that point altogether.

[MergedLoki]

I HATE that. I'm sorry, I WANT to be a teacher. I went to school to be a teacher. I hate having people tell me they're going back to school to be a teacher or are getting an education degree because they need a backup. TEACHING IS NOT A FALL BACK JOB!!! >.<

Does sound like the teacher in the OP treats it like one though.

No im not knocking those that WANT to teach. It's a damn thankless job (my cousin teaches middle schoolers, 12 - 13 yr olds is there a WORSE age of kid to teach?).

I mean I KNOW I can't teach b/c im shitty at explaining something. I know ONE way to teach something MY way the way I learned it. and if you can't understand it how I do then you're S.O.L. cuz I can't help you. (I also have zero patience and can't cope with idiots lol can you see why I didn't go into teaching? I'd be fired in a week)

but yea if you wanna teach more power to you. thatll make u one of the GOOD ones that people remember all their lives (I had a few HS ones and my english prof in college were awesome).

[protege]

That really smacks of the power trip.

That it does.

Years ago, when I wasn't such a cynical bastard, my music teacher was like that. This asshole would *purposely* keep us late. Annoying as hell, because we then had to run to the main school building (the other activities--gym class, music, art, etc. were held in the former high school building across the street), and hope that the cafeteria could still seat and feed us. That asshole did that for years...until some of us (myself included), told him to go fuck himself and left class "early." Yep, we did get into trouble...but the principal backed off when parents complained

Unfortunately, that asshole is still there, mainly because of his connections.

[Samaliel]

what is that going to teach them? I always hated how when one or two kids would do something wrong, the rest of the class -- who were generally well behaved -- would get punished for it.

Just being the Devil's advocate for the sake of it: it teaches them that 1) life is unfair, and 2) sometimes the few will spoil it for the many.

After all, how many times on these boards have I read those two phrases?

I still strongly disagree with the method, and even more with the very reason that teacher made such a threat.

[Misanthropical]

MaggieTheCat, this drives my children completely nuts! They think it's not fair that they get punished for the misdeeds of others. I agree with them on that.

My little guy brought home his class rules. One of the rules was when they come in to class they are suppose to smile and cheerfully tell their teacher "Good Morning, Miss. Dumbass, not her real name, of course) The little guy hasn't said a word about it, so I don't think it's enforced that much, otherwise I would have to have a talk with her about forcing my child to smile. No one should be forced to smile if they don't want to do it.

[MaggieTheCat]

No one should be forced to smile if they don't want to do it.

Like my niece's mom said, what if something sad happened recently, like the kid found out a pet/relative recently died? Obviously they're not gonna wanna smile then, and FORCING them to is just...kinda...sadistic, y'know?

[KellyHabersham]

I'm sure my sister and her husband could relate to this, as they recently had issues with their son's first-grade teacher. I don't have time to get into great detail (nor do I wish to out of respect for their privacy), but let's just say this woman was a stickler about only allowing students to use the restroom during recess, and "Jordan" is one of those kids who kind of plays with himself if he has to go and can't do so immediately. And apparently it created some kind of misunderstanding where the teacher sent him to talk to the on-campus police officer, and she hadn't informed either my sister or her husband before doing so.

[Mottom24]

I had a crazy art teacher in highschool who shouldn't have been working there anymore. her rules made no sense, she gave us art projects that were on par with kindergarten (noodle pictures...) and completly lost her mind.

One day she asked me up to the desk for something. so I come up and she slides a paper to me to sign. I dont remember exactly what it was, but it needed my signature. well, I left all my things at my desk, which was on the other side of the room, so i ask for one of her pencils to sign. keep in mind, it isn't one she is using. she has a row of about 20 pencils beside her, most of which can't be sharpened anymore. so what does she say "no, my pencils"... "but i only need it to sign".. "mine, you'll have to get yours"... "but my desk is on the other side of the class, you can watch me, I'm not going anywhere with it." ... "no, my pencils"... "you know, for a teacher, you're really juvenile". so i got my pencil and signed.

one day when we had a fire drill, I made sure I was the last one out. so i took the smallest, impossible to sharpen, and no eraser pencil i saw. it was nub worthy. and pocketed it to see if she noticed. what does she do when we get back. FLIPS OUT! "WHERE'S MY PENCIL! WHO TOOK IT!?" when she turns around i raise up the pencil. the whole table tries to stiffle their laughter. so i hide it when she turns and also join in on stiffling laughter to hide myself in the group... i hope she still isn't there.

sorry to hijack

[AriRashkae]

Worst teacher I ever had wasn't that bad, per se, but physics at 7:30 AM when the teacher only knows one way of teaching (explain once, assign problems. Test) it doesn't work too well. Newtonian physics made no sense to me, at least not the way he taught it. It took The Cartoon Guide to Physics and History Channel's The Universe explain gravity, for example. But at least I managed to average a low B.

Then, last quarter of the year, he met my boyfriend/fiancee, who went to a different school, and had that day off for in service. Sweety decided to pick me up. Teach doesn't like this one bit and tells him to get to class or get off the property. ( Notice, he didn't tell any of the other people picking up younger siblings the same thing.) My now-husband tells him, and I quote, "Maybe if you suck my left nut I'll think about it."

Yeah. I got an F that quarter, a 0 for my final (he refused to accept it - team project - even though the rest of my team went to bat for me.), and a 60 for the year. I didn't care. I already had my college acceptance letters, and physics was not required for my major.

[mariamousie1]

I'm guessing that maybe the first rule was made up to keep the kids quiet and have their hands to themselves? Still dumb, punishing a kid for not smiling. As for the second one, she should have at least apologized!

[PizzaDrone]

Is this teacher aware that a smile is meant to be an expression of happiness and not oppression? I would hate to ever see my kid forced to be a Stepford child.

I hated that thing that teachers would do if one child didn't follow orders or do something they were meant to and so we all got in trouble. What a way to alienate that child from all of their classmates. It rarely worked in my school as it would just start off friend's of that person jokily swearing at them to follow suit and usually ended up with everyone in the class following suit with the 'rebel'.

Has your niece's mother been to have a word?

[simplyanother]

Since the story is third and fourth hand, I'm willing to bet it's not as simple as it sounds.

Kids are notorious for getting stuff wrong, leaving stuff out, etc. I'm all about giving the benefit of the doubt. That said, I had some shitty teachers in the years I attended school. Most were pretty decent, but there were one or three or four who were just foul evil people who you could tell hated children, teaching, and possibly sunshine.

If my son came home and told me his teacher made him eat something out of the garbage...oh man.

If it were me, when I was a child, you'd all have seen my skinny assed mother on the national news.

I've got two in school, my oldest is in fourth grade (and I have a niece in 4th as well). School just started last week, so far so good. I like his teacher, I get a good vibe from her, she's not new at this, she knows what she's doing and she knows how to handle a class. My son comes home from school excited about what he's learned, and wanting to learn more. I haven't seen that sort of enthusiasm since Kindergarten. I mostly keep in touch via email, and over the years there have been many. Mostly the story I've gotten from my kid--turns out to be MOSTLY true--but with facts left out, and not because kiddo is intentionally leaving them out--just from his POV.



Now, my 4 year old is also in school. That's a whole new experience for both of us. It's really fun trying to pry information out of him--about how school is going. I don't rely on him, cause, ya know--he's ...four.

[elsporko]

Using peer pressure can be effective since young people often hold the opinions of their peers in high regard. You do have to be careful with it especially since you don't want to make him a pariah but often times a kid would rather not be hated then rebel. Of course if he doesn't care about his peer's opinion or is too upset to think straight you need a new tactic.

[Captain Trips]

Yeah, but REQUIRING the kids to take a position associated with Christian prayer and making them pretend to be enjoying it? I would have been screaming religious persecution, especially as I was raised Jewish! (The only thing worse, short of specific prayers, would be enforced kneeling.)

I'd say get the straight story (as you said, you heard it with multiple generation loss) and if it turns out to be the case then file a protest! Hormones will not excuse enforcing religious practices in school!