One of the challenging, if not most challenging, aspects of being a teacher is something you can't exactly be trained in. Similar to a doctor's bedside manner, being able to convey stern, gentle control while displaying your passions to students is something you're either born with or you're not.
Sometimes, not every teacher is good at it, and they're clearly in the wrong profession.
Reddit user, u/obligatoryFail, wanted to hear about the most terrible teachers when they asked:
What is your most traumatic experience with a teacher?
Keep Students In Mind...But Not Like This
So when I was in kindergarten I didn't make it to the bathroom in time and wet myself. Went to the nurses office got new clothes but instead of panties I had to wear a pull up, not a big deal. I guess it was a school policy for kids my age I don't really know.
When I get back to my class my teacher loudly says "oh good the baby is finally back" or something like that. She also knew about the policy and asked if I was wearing a diaper so every other student could hear. I was 5 and felt a ton of shame and humiliated.
I started crying and trying to get out of school a lot because of it. My teacher often referred to me as a baby for the rest of the year. Also she would constantly ask if I needed to potty or if I was wearing a diaper, like I was a toddler or something.
Be Aware Of Plagiarism...But Not Like This
Got accused of plagiarism over a paper I wrote (and didn't plagiarize) that I was really excited about because of how well I thought I did on it.
Enthusiasm fully destroyed.
Create A System To Use The Restroom...But Not Like This
One time i was on my period and I asked the teacher to go to the bathroom multiple times, she refused to let me go. Eventually I stained my uniform and the chair I was so embarrassed that I started crying, when my mother found out she made the school fire that motherf-cker.
Monitor Behavior...But Not Like This
When I was in high school I got a lot of nose bleeds. Like a lot. So I got one in the middle of class and I asked the teacher for a tissue, she said she didn't have any so I asked to goto the toilet to get one then she said no. Soon I asked again when blood what dripping from my hands and she yelled at me for 'repeating myself' which is apparently bad.
Soon a puddle of blood was on the table then I got sent to isolation for 'disrupting the class'.
I was then suspended for 'acting inappropriate during class'. She was then fired for putting my life at risk. I gotta say when you get a nose bleed like that, you really see how much blood is inside of you.
You Want To Relate What You're Teaching To The Students...But Not Like This
We were discussing Jean Vanier and L'arche. For context, Jean Vanier decided to invite two intellectually disabled men to live with him and started setting up homes for them so they wouldn't be in asylums. The teacher looked right at me (I'm disabled) and said: "oh yeah, Vanier created those homes so you people wouldn't be bothering people because the handicapped don't function in society." My friend I left just to talk it out.
He got fired a few years later because he did not have his licence up to date. Cherry on top: his wife was the vice principal.
Calling For Whole Class Participation...But Not Like This
My 4th grade teacher had a reputation for making one boy in her class an unpopular scapegoat each year. Lucky me. In previous years I'd been just another kid in the playground, but within two months the other kids wouldn't play with me during recess. One day I refused to go outside for recess.
She asked why, and I foolishly told her that the other kids didn't like me. When they came back in, she marched me to the front of the class, and asked for a show of hands, who didn't like me. Fourth grade kids (mostly) did what fourth grade kids do.
I broke down that night and told my Mom what had happened and what had been going on al along. She marched into school the next day, got a meeting that included the principal, and tore the teacher a new a--hole. I was still stuck in that class, but the teacher moved on to a new victim.
Funny thing how self esteem influences academic performance. My school used to give us a Stanford Binet IQ Test every year. My score dropped ten points from third to fourth grade, then rose twenty points in fifth grade when I had a nurturing teacher. If you are still alive, F-CK YOU...
Again, Monitor Behavior...But Not Like This
My algebra teacher in 8th grade threw scissors across the room, at a kid. They went over my shoulder and stopped on the table behind me inches from another kid. She was (and is) kind of crazy, but it wasn't on purpose.
She just had the scissors in her hand and made a very eccentric gesture, which caused them to fly out of her hand and at the kid.
Inspire Your Students To Achieve At Their Level...But Not Like This
One of my current teachers actually. I wouldn't necearally say she's a bad teacher/person but she does and say some pretty messed up things. One of them would be when she once asked me with a serious face if I'm gonna drop out of school because I didn't study for a test in front of the whole class. And I was 12 at the time and dealing with some pretty rough things in my life.
Another time was when she gave me a 4 (wich is like a D in USA-UK) because I didn't do my homework correctly even tho I told her that I didn't understood the lesson wich was based on the homework
Edit: Sorry if my english its bad because its not my first language
Teach Aquatic Biology...But Not Like This
When I was 6, we each made and painted a big paper mache fish and hung them up in the hallway.
The next day, my teacher, Mrs. Sitek, had me stay behind during recess.
Once everyone else was gone, she slammed the door behind her and began screaming at me about how embarrassing my fish was. I'll never forget the pissed off look in her eyes, too. The fish was pink and purple and had hearts, rainbows, and stars on it.
"Do fish have hearts and rainbows on them?!"
Well, no. I suppose its silly to draw anything on them... But I was 6! She didn't like the colors either and went on to yell about how everything of mine was pink, or purple, or rainbow, or had rainbows on it, or hearts, etc., and that she was sick of it while asking me what was wrong with me.
She then had me climb up a ladder and get the fish down, then told me to paint it a normal color.
I sat there sobbing and covered it in thick, dark blue paint. I never understood why she got as angry as she did over it.
Demonstrate Organizational Skills...But Not Like This
My 3rd grade SS teacher despised me. I was a smart kid and as far I remember this was an advanced class. I kept my papers in a folder but as I always rush from class to class I never kept the papers in the actual pockets, just held on tightly. One day, my teacher slapped the folder down in front of the whole class. Papers spilled everywhere and she yelled at me to pick it up. I was really antisocial and picked it up.
The memory is a little fuzzy but I remember it scarring my tiny child brain. She did some other d-ckish stuff, then died of cancer a couple years later. I had hated her for years and apparently she took out her terminal illness on me.
Use Appropriate Classroom Storage Space...But Not Like This
I was in fourth grade and had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) while I was in second grade. In grade school, I struggled with sitting still and at times couldn't even try to pay attention. I would play with the pencils, pens, markers, etc. in my desk and would get lost in day dreams.
My fourth grade teacher must have gotten fed up with me not paying attention. We had the kind of desks that were open at one end with the table part on top so we could store our things inside.
So she stopped whatever lesson she was teaching and turned my desk around so the opening would be blocked by another student's desk. I was very shy as a young kid, struggled to make friends, and hated any sort of attention. She took all of my school supplies away and kept it on the overhead cart (those who were in grade school in the late 90s and early 2000s would remember these well).
I was completely mortified and I probably cried, but I think I blocked out everything that happened after that.
Any time I need any sort of supplies, MY SUPPLIES, I had to ask her to use them. It was the first time I remember knowing I was different from others because of my mental disability. I became even more shy and withdrawn and got bullied the next year in school. Going into sixth grade, I had developed an internal self-hate that I never talked about. I felt I was made or born wrong and I was ashamed to be "messed up". It took me years to come to terms with having ADHD and it became more a normalized learning disability.
I can still see her short, spiky orange hair in my mind today and that's the only experience I can remember from my fourth grade year.
Keeping Student Progress Discreet...But Not Like This
The girls in our elementary school were given proto-sex ed before the boys. The basic puberty stuff, your body is starting to change, you might develop breasts, sweating, all that stuff. They made a huuuuuuuge stupid deal about keeping it quiet. It's the girls' little secret. Don't go spreading it around school. (It only occurs to me now that that... is kinda dangerous in the wider scope of things.)
Anyway, my best friend was a boy and naturally, I skipped right off to tell him why suddenly half the class had an assembly all by themselves. My teacher heard about it, got me alone, grabbed me by both arms AND SHOOK ME. "Keep your mouth. Shut."
She was my favorite teacher up til then. Totally a great thing to teach a kid.
...Yeesh...
When we were in art once, the teacher had to leave to go to the toilet. I was mixing the colors and wasn't supposed to do that. When she came back she told me: "Your parents didn't raise you well" and etc. I almost cried but managed to hold it in. I still go to that hell of a school.
Share Who You Are...But Not Like This
When I was in 2nd grade, my mom died. When i was in 3rd grade, the evil witch of a teacher held me back from recess one day for something. While it was just us in the room, she asked if I went to church. I said no. She then told me that I was going to hell and would never see my mom again.
I hated that b-tch.
... You Know, Maybe Pick A Better Moment Tim!
Technically it was the vice principal, but the day my brother died, apparently he thought it would be a good idea to walk in on story time (the teacher was reading to the class), set me on his lap and tell me in front of everyone that my brother committed suicide.
What's the worst interaction you've ever had with a teacher? Let us know all about it!
