My daughter was not a very good student in elementary school and her class mates made fun of her for making mistakes. It was very hard on her. She had an excellent teacher in 4th grade and it made all the difference.
My grandmother attended a one room school back in the early 1900s. She was up at the board, when the teacher’s boyfriend showed up. He broke up with her. Then the now angry teacher resumed teaching, and my very sensitive grandmother was asked a question. She could not respond as the class had heard the angry exchange. The teacher launched into her and then berated her as dumb.
From then on when a child failed to answer correctly, the teacher would ask, “Are dumb like Ethel?” My grandmother grew feeling awful about herself and felt she must dumb. (Since it was a one room class, this went on for years.)
She became a strong Christian and said the hardest thing she ever did was to forgive her teacher.