[Max in Utah]

I can recall two instances with two different teachers, in which I was ridiculed in front of the class who then laughed uproariously.

I hated them passionately. Forty years later I still feel like spitting when I visualize their faces. Grrrr!

[metmom]

Been there, done that.

I had an English teacher make fun of the topic of a paper I wrote in front of the whole class. “Hate” would be an apt word for what I felt.

[wintertime]

I hated them passionately. Forty years later I still feel like spitting when I visualize their faces. Grrrr!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thankfully, humans are resilient. Most do overcome their abusive institutional school experiences.

But,,,,shouldn’t we look at the system and recognize that it is abnormal to institutionalize children the way we do in prison-like settings?

[attiladhun2]

There was a JV football coach that I hated for years after I left high school. He was a bigmouth, obnoxious clown we called "Baby Huey". After he got me thrown off the varsity team (I flipped him off for being a jerk), my dad even called him up and threatened to whip his @$$. I resented this blowhard for years, until I found out he died not long after he left my high school for another coaching position. So for years I was resenting a man long in his grave.

It doesn't pay to hang on to "school-days" resentments. Most of the bullies and dictatorial teachers are not even the same people, or are even like the "Baby Huey" I just mentioned.

[tiki]

My husband had a cruel principal. He swatted them constantly and he loved it. He swore he was going to kill him when he grew up. Thankfully, he didn’t follow through with his threat.

[metesky]

My hs freshman homeroom teacher was also the assistant football coach. He knew I was an athlete and every school day for a year he made me do fifty pushups in front of the class.

I hate that SOB to this day and that was 49 years ago.

[7thson]

I moved to Staunton, Virginia back in 67. In Maryland, grades 1-4 in PG County, we were taught that the bathrooms were lavatories. In fact, I recall seeing that title on the door. My first week in the 5th grade, I asked - aloud - if I could use the lavatory. Everyone laughed - including the teacher.

Starting in the fifth grade class, when called upon to do problems on the board - I am terrible at math - and would get the problem wrong, the teacher would make fun of me. By the 7th grade, I would tell the teacher I did not know how to do the problem and would get sent up anyway. I would then just draw something and get sent back down. Eventually, the teacher never called on me.

I have other stories of bad teachers but needless to say, it did not take me long to figure out that the majority of teachers were no smarter than the students. When I hear the crap over and over again that the majority of teachers are dedicated professionals in a beleagured field - well, that is just crap and it makes me want to throw up. If it was only a few bad apples than we would not have such a major problem in our schools. If you want to look at a organization that is truly full of dedicated professionals with a few bad apples, than look at the military.

Someone mentioned earlier that the schools resemble miniture prisons. I remember the first time I saw an all-air-conditioned school - no windows. It was in DC and it looked like a prison. I remember Northside Elementry in Staunton. Darkened halls and unfriendly teachers and students. I came to believe - before I graduated - that the only purpose of the public schools was to condition children in working a 9-5 job for the rest of their lives. For 12 years, children are forced to get up in the morning, get washed up and go to school. Monday through Friday. Homework is nothing but reports due by the office boss. I am so glad I never had children because I would end up like the ones you read about where the school sic's the police on.

[CORedneck]

Sounds like my 5th grade teacher - Ms. Nelson. I had problems with one of the school bullies and when I tried to defend myself, she came to his defense. When I had her for class, she went out of the way to make me look like an @$$.

I found out several years later, she got p!$$ed that she cussed up a storm. I heard quite a few parents complained about her and did not want their kids in her class. I wonder where she is at today !