Hello everyone!!! I just wanted to pop in and share a story my sister told me. My nephew is in 9th grade and usually has no problem understanding what is being taught. Well, this semester he has been struggling with Science. Early this week his teacher called on him to answer a question. He did not know the answer and the teacher continued to push him in front of the class to think about it. She became so flustered because he did not know the answer and chewed him inside out in front of the class. Then instead of teaching him the answer the way a teacher should, what a concept :roll: , she proceeds to verbally abuse.:x He told her he did not understand and she lost it and yelled at him, "You Idiot!!! What is wrong with you? We have covered this for weeks!" My sister and BIL hit the roof when they found out. They went straight to the principle's office and filed a complaint. The teacher was called in and admitted that my nephew was not being rude or disrespectful in any way. She was having a bad day! My sister told her she has no right to speak to any of the students like this. If she can't control herself when she is having a bad day, then she shouldn't be teaching. Then my BIL asked if she thinks that calling him an idiot helped him learn what he did not understand! They told her they expect her to apologize to my nephew and to do it in front of the class and in front of them because they plan on standing in the class until she does. She humiliated him in front of the class when he didn't do anything wrong so she should apologize in front of the class too. If she refuses then they are taking this higher up. So we will see what happens. What amazed me is that a teacher should help a student who doesn't understand; not belittle them so they feel more dumb because they do not understand. I am once again over joyed to homeschool! Patty
Oh I am so sorry that happened to your nephew. My daughter was in sixth grade and had her first male teacher for part of the day. He asked the class if everyone understood something he had just gone over and said if they didn't to please raise their hands. Crystal raised her hand and he came over and went over it with her again. Then as he started to walk away from her desk he said in a "oh I'm so tired of this" voice, Now do you understand Crystal? She was so humiliated she wouldn't raise her hand when she didn't get something after that. The same teacher would say to other kids, "What did she say?" when she spoke to him. He didn't have trouble understanding kids that barely spoke English but said her speech problem was hard to understand. He was the only teacher she ever had that said that. When we talked to him he was so nice and was sure it was all going to be fine but later we found out from Crystal that it didn't get any better she just wouldn't tell us. She said if you talk to the teacher they just are meaner and take it out on you later on. I am so happy not to have to put up with that any more. My boys are in high school and they never have these problems. One more year and they are finished. Yay!!!
OH wow! Well I can say that even dd was humiliated and singled out more than once and she was only in K. The same was done when she was in preschool- and that time I witnessed a teacher yell at her for wetting herself and did so in front of everyone. This was a Christian preschool too. Needless to say we pulled dd that day and the school didn't make us pay tuition for that month.
Patty I'm so sorry he had to deal with crap like that. I too am so very happy I can homeschool! Samantha went through a similar thing with one teacher in 4th grade - her last year at ps.
And I think we can always fine reasons we're thankful we homeschool lol. Though I didn't have a bad school experience myself and I went to a christian school from k-12th grade.
Imagine where this teacher's frustration level must have been to have spoken like that. Even so, it was wrong. I think the parents are right to show up every day until the teacher apologizes.
It does get frustrating for a teacher, because they're hardly allowed to discipline anymore, and the kids know that. So things can easily get out of hand, since the teacher has no resources to fall back on! So that just adds to the already frustrating situations. HOWEVER, a teacher should NEVER speak to a student in that way, and should NOT show their frustration to the students! It's not easy for them, but if that is their job, they need to do their job well and treat everyone fairly! They have NO right to take out their frustrations on the students! I remember some very frustrating days when I was teaching! One day a couple of the kids were just pushing and pushing me. I sent up a prayer---well, MANY prayers---and decided to totally change the subject. I racked my brain to come up with something positive about those two, who were notorious trouble-makers. Then I said out loud, "I now dub this APPRECIATION day! I'd like you to think of something nice about the student next to you (on the right or left, I forget exactly), and tell the class what is good about that person. I will start with ________." (one of the "trouble-makers"). Then that boy said something about the one next to him, etc. By the time it was through, we were all laughing and smiling. It totally changed the atmosphere! Of course there were a couple of comments like, "He doesn't stink so bad everyday." I'd just say, "Well, neither do you or I. So come up with something else that is positive and special about that person!" It felt good to the kids to hear someone say something good about them! Then we had recess (to help get the extra energy out), and when we got back in, things went better! That's just one thing. But that helped take the pressure off me, so I didn't "blow"! I wish teachers like that realized how hurtful those kinds of remarks can be! I'm sorry that happened, and hope it never happens again!
Oh, Deena, your Appreciation Day brings back memories but in a totally different way. Joyce had a teacher last year who made the class go around the room and say 1 NEGATIVE thing about this one girl. This is a child that is extremely sweet and good hearted but for some reason the teacher did not like her. I found out about it a few weeks later when I heard one of the parents apologizing to the other parent. I asked Joyce about it and she said she had forgot about it is why she didn't tell me. She said she didn't say anything negative because she had nothing negative (is that a double negative!LOL!) to say about the girl who she is very good friends with. Part of the problem was the kids in this class had had a teacher two years in a row prior to this that the kids adored but this teacher didn't care for and it seemed to trickle down onto the kids. This parent ended up hsing her daughter for the last half of the year and put her back in ps for this year. I talked to the mom a few weeks ago and the girl is adjusting well but this is a scar these kids and parents are going to carry. The previous teacher (her and I ended up being friends) was so upset when she heard this. I wish more teachers could work with positive feedback even in a negative situation!
Sounds like something that happened to me in school but the 3rd grade teacher busted my bumm with a paddle and in the precess of doing so hit my elbow, Im so glad I home school
The comment that she made was abusive (much less a form of bullying!) and her admission that she did indeed say it should IMHO be grounds for suspension pending an investigation (how many other childrern has she abused the same way). Oh my word! How horrible for any child to be put through that kind of treatment but especially in grade nine where peer pressure is unreal - I can't imagine what his peers thought of it! Counting my blessings that our boys have never been subjected to that treatment at the hands of teachers (and heaven help them if they ever did - I'd be all over them waiting for their job)!
I was reading a book written by two teachers about talking in a way the students will listen. I must admit I didn't read the entire book...jut got it out from the library and glaced through it. It is a decent book to some extent. Anyway, I was amazed to read how some of these teachers spoke to the children. I was surpised as to what this teacher admited she said to students and how she spoke to them. However, even at what was surprised at didn't even come close to a teacher calling a child an idiot. That is just terrible. I would have had a meeting with the principal and the teacher. That is unacceptable...bad day or not. What would she have said if another student said the same thing to this kid? I am sure she would have recognized how bad that was. I can even appreciate the level of frustration that occurs with dealing with children....but that is just plain wrong.
OMGosh your poor nephew! I had a highschool science teacher humiliate me so badly every day that I started skipping his class and got sent to all day detention for the rest of the year. He would say things like "Well, you won't know the answer because all that hairspray has killed your brain cells." I really think some teachers hate kids.
Patty that is horrible for him. Let us know what happens with the teacher and the apology. I am interested to know if the parents have to stand in the class...
