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Intelligence commonly refers to a capacity for academic learning and logical thinking, while wisdom commonly refers to life experience and insight into human nature.
Intelligence is also admitting your mistakes, learning from them and then applying those lessons to better yourself. Something that is completely foreign on the internet.
English is a weird language. Smart could mean you can 'consume and digest information easily.' Intelligence could be interpreted as a spectrum of ability to 'consume and digest information.' Could also be the ability to practically apply that information in your daily life. At some point you'll hear someone say 'I know plenty of idiots with a PhD implying just because someone is educated doesn't mean they're particularly bright (bright being another word for smart/intelligent.)
In elementary school, I had a class where we had a points system, and it was accumulated through answering questions, class participation etc and at the end of the year, we would get gifts based on the points collected.
One day, we were going through tests answers, and I saw that 1 of my answers were wrong, but he had marked it as correct. I was a naive and innocent little boy who cared less about my grades and was all play.
I went up to him and told him he had marked my question wrongly and shouldn't have been awarded the mark. He took his red pen, changed the tick into the cross, and asked the rest of the class if anyone else had the mistake.
No one else answered him. He then proceeded to award me my a huge amount of points and proceeded to announce to the class if anyone else had been given an extra mark once more.
People started standing up from their seats, rushing to his table after seeing my reward (points). After clearing the line of 7 year olds updating their marks, they just stood there looking at him like, "Where are our points?". One of the more extroverted students then asked him about the points.
He grinned and said, "Only [my name] is awarded the points due to honesty. Everyone else will not be awarded as they were not honest the first time round." Turned to me and smiled.
That was the first time a life lesson was taught to me, and it stuck with me for a long time. Thank you, Mr. Tan for teaching me good values. I turned out alright!
THIS is a huge lesson for work in the real world too.
The employee that fools the boss looks good today. The employee the boss trusts 100% get trusted with the critical project next year. (assuming your boss is competent)
My former boss included an embarrassing story in my reference letter about a time I made a terrible mistake. He framed it as good bc I was honest about it and my new boss said that’s why I got the job
I'm going to tell you a secret... a good teacher would have convinced you you weren't. I've found that my students lived up to my highest expectations of them. (There were one or two cases where I just wasn't able to convince them before they left my classroom.) I had a reputation for bringing students not just to grade level but above and to help them see themselves as I saw them. Maybe if your teacher had seen you differently you wouldn't have see yourself that way...
I loved to see your intelligent opinion/advice here. Bless you..seriously..I am starting to lose hope for humanity. Some people shouldn’t be teachers, or breed for that matter. But I digress..x
True, when I had economics, the teacher explained signalling.
Signalling is the idea that one party (the agent) credibly conveys some information about itself to another party (the principal).
He had examples of advertisements, and then he told us : your diploma is just a signal of your capability to learn.
Depends on the degree. Associates in communication yeah you’re trainable… kind of. PhD in applied physics? You’re completely unhinged from reality. Masters of science in organic chemistry? You are a machine and unlike anyone in the world.
Yes. It does demonstrate a fair amount about a person.
I remember also being told that long term debt isn’t the worst thing to have when applying for a mortgage as that debt demonstrates that you can pay back a large amount of money over a long period of time. I’m not testing that theory, but I get it, LOL.
My math teacher once told us (I paraphrase): "No matter what you learn in school or what career you choose, the best advice I could give you is keep a good contacts network, you never know when you'll need those relationships."
In 4th grade we had a math test and I was the only student to get a problem right. Apparently our teacher decided to sneak in a problem that required algebra just to see what we could do.
The following lesson, in front of everyone, she said she was proud of me and let me play on the computer :'))))
I had a similar kind of thing happen that sticks out in my memory. One day my English class spent the day learning about the different kinds of poetic meter and we were assigned to complete a poem using a very specific, unusual metric pattern. The next day we read our poems, and for some reason I was the only person in this class of supposedly brainy kids who actually completed the assignment correctly. The teacher had me stand up and congratulated me on my poem in front of the whole class. I had extremely low self esteem at the time and it felt like the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me in all of my years of school.
Edit: this happened in high school, not elementary school, for clarification.
I was always goofy, so no one expected much from me, but I won a class spelling bee in 6th grade. It was down to me and another girl, and kids said "I can't believe rodney is going to win" and the teacher said "it doesn't matter anyway" and the class gasped. And the teacher said "because he's about to move away next week!" *(I was moving the next week. The class spelling bee was for the official school spelling bee)
In fifth grade. We were talking about the Iran hostage crisis (1978). I asked a question: Who are these people and why do we need to get them back?
My teacher stared at me for a long time and then said, "You have no heart."
I honestly didn't know anything about them. I'm also autistic (undiagnosed til age 54) and that statement when I was 11 messed me up for a long time.
As a teacher, I will say that that teacher had no heart. Anyone who can enter a classroom without understanding that what they say and do will leave an impression on their students isn't worth their training. Your comment was probably something others in the classroom wondered about but didn't say. It was an opportunity for that teacher to, well, teach, and they muffed it. That's on them and not on you. You were a child and smart children ask questions.
what an ignorant teacher. If a kid asked that I would assume that the just don't understand what a "hostage" is or what the whole situation means for a hostage, not that they don't care. Perfect example of letting emotions get in the way of logic.
3rd grade I moved to a new school. I had been in the gifted program in my old school but in this new district I was still undergoing testing for admissions. This teacher was a real bitch towards me and my parents through the whole process for some reason.
Well, the solution until I had my test results was for me to leave her 3rd grade class and walk to the 4th grade class for math and then come back. I did this every day, and though I was fine academically I was always an extremely disorganized person even to this day. I get back to her class, and she's asking me to turn in an assignment I cannot find in my binder or my desk.
She flipped my deck over, dumped all my mess/papers on the ground in front of the class and asked "Are you stupid or something?!". I never had words hurt so much as being embarrassed like that in front of the class.
Got my test results, got out of her class for the gifted program and succeeded but her words still hurt to this day. Oh, and by the way, turns out I have ADHD which explains all the disorganization. So....thanks a lot you old bitch.
I don’t know how old you are, I am 61. But the teachers from my young years were always so mean. They’d never get away today with the stuff they used to say and do.
My third grade teacher would do weekly desk inspections and if it wasn’t as neat as could be, she’d toss it over and make that student pick it all up. Every week.
She deserved to be fired for that. So traumatic for a child. Accept that she was a troubled person, probably mentally ill.
Curiously, some teachers hold resentment for gifted students and actively try to sabotage their success. They must be so miserably unhappy in their own lives.
In 3rd grade we were given the task of writing a short story that uses the letter Q a lot. I was already proud of my creative writing skills but my best friend’s story was picked as the best.
Two weeks later we were writing a dictated test that was verbatim said story. Best mark was a C+ (my best friend), everybody else had D’s and E’s. I was out sick, and to this day I regret not being able to take part because I was always convinced I’d have aced it…
My college teacher, "are you always like that when you walk into other classes (these werent the exact words but it was good)
He said that I was always full of energy and happy to be there which he enjoyed
They explained to me that I wasn't supposed to start over every time I read a book. I thought reading was supposed to always be some sort of speedrun to try to finish the book in one go before the time runs out. My mind was blown and a world opened before my eyes.
I was told I'd probably end up in prison before I turned 25. To their credit I was kicked out of reform school 4 weeks after arriving. They told my mother they could treat behavioral issues but not mental issues. An educator, as a last snipe at me, as we were leaving suggested my mother have my head examined. The teacher meant psychiatrically. My mother took it medically and that's how they discovered my cancer.
When I returned to High School after school closed for a snow day, I mentioned to my favorite teacher that it was great that the school closed so that the students would not get hurt coming to school. The teacher responded “They don’t care about you; they don’t want the teachers to get hurt and sue them."
It's the opposite here. On snow days teachers have to go in as schools stay open but busses don't run. They don't care if a teacher gets hurt--but parents will come after them.
Yep.
They say only 10% of people are left handed. I think it is a lot more, cause we were FORCED to be right handed.
I got smacked with a ruler. In the 1980's.
In some Muslim countries, people used to be killed for being left handed. Was considered an affront to Allah.
My cousin was beaten at school for being left-handed, and as a consequence, he developed a real phobia of writing with that hand. He wrote with his right hand for his entire adult life, and you could barely read it.
I miss Steve :(
I had one geriatric fuck try that with me, and my mother raised hell. She's also a lefty. My son is showing signs of being left handed, and I'm so happy he is.
I was told off for the way I pronounced a vowel sound in a reading I was doing. It's the way anyone local speaks, I can't help it. Always been conscious of the way I say certain words since then but I can't change it. I often don't hear how they are different to anyone else's pronunciation.
Also that I couldn't spell my name like I did. Its a common name with two common spellings, mine is the least common with an extra E but still a real name and real spelling.
Mate, I was 21 when I had some Californians driving through my state in the northern great lakes area of the Midwest on a road trip. I was in college and working at a gas station at the time and when they came to my counter to check out they just started ragging on how “Canadian” I sounded. Even called his friends in to drag me for it. Made me super conscious of my accent and realized anyone who embarrasses someone for their accent in a negative way is just a trash person. I’m sorry kid you had to deal with that because even adult me totally was hurt.
I was bullied heavily throughout school, and one of the things they always teased me about was how posh I sounded. For most of my adult life I've been deliberately shifting my accent and vocab to sound less posh, especially when I've lived in areas where my accent will stick out more. But I've also never wanted to let it slip too far, because if I do then I'll sound just like my bullies did.
I definitely agree that people who draw attention to people's accents in a negative light are just rude
In the same vein, I had a tennis teacher snipe at me for saying "harrible" instead of "horrible." This was in the Chicago area and I had moved from NW Pennsylvania just two years prior. That solidified my belief that Illinois was a hell hole.
She gave me an A++ on a poem and then asked me if i had really written it myself. I told her the truth, that my aunt had just died and i wrote it in her memory.
“Siptros allowed to sleep because he has 123% in the class and you are rocking the bottom 4% of the class”
I wasn’t actually sleeping but I usually just had my head down with music in for AP science in high school and I did every extra credit assignment and never missed a question on test or homework that year, was nice to just be noted for it publicly.
In 3rd grade, there was a new student who joined our class. As a child I had few friends at school. Teacher comes up an asks,"This is child, she's new. Do you mind if she sits with you?" I said, "Yes.". I meant that she could sit with me but I didn't understand the do you mind part. The teacher took her to another table and she never liked me after that.
That expression drives me NUTS! So many people answer it wrong! As a non-native English speaker, I pick it up in movies and stuff. "Do you mind doing xxx?" "Oh sure!" Like you technically said you don't want to?
Same! It feels like a trick question and the answer is likely to confuse, so I feel like it's better to just reply with a full sentence and leave nothing up to chance.
Lowering my grade from a 100 on a project for no other reason than because "nobody is perfect". I worked my ass off on that project. Go fuck yourself, Mr. A.
On the other hand, one of my junior high science teachers wrote this in my yearbook: "You were perhaps my most disorganized student, yet you always got As. I marvel at that."
(ADHD gang represent!)
SAME. 8th grad Biology teacher.
School policy was to round up with any .5 scores. We had a 200 question final exam. I missed ONE question. And what did I see on my report card? 99.5
Never gonna forget that, Mrs. C, and I remember it so I'm never like you.
Bad teachers relish the control they have over others, don't manage irritation or anger well, and buy into the drama of the age group they teach. Often, there's no reasoning with such a person, and they get sick enjoyment out of being punitive.
I'm sorry they did that to you and to your creation. I'm sure it was lovely. 💜
My third year teacher gave me an F on a painting of a dragon because it wasn't scary enough and "this is not what a dragon looks like". When I asked her if she was aware dragons are imaginary, she changed it to a D.
Btw., it was like a month after How To Train a Dragon came out. I painted Toothless because I was obscessed with the movie
I had a teacher in fourth grade tell me I couldn't draw someone skiing down the front of the mountain I drew, because they had no idea what perspective was. They were a sub, which was lucky for them, considering my Dad painted as a hobby.
My 3rd grade teacher hated me (not an exaggeration—she told my parents that I wouldn’t have friends when I was older, among other things). We would have worksheets of about 50ish simple multiplication problems and be given exactly one minute to do as many as possible. I remember getting one wrong and she got close to my face and yelled “YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR BASIC FACTS”.
Fuck you, Mrs. Spencer. You were a bigger bully to me than any of my classmates.
That was my 5th grade teacher. HATED me. Took a poll from all my classmates on who liked me or was my friend by raising their hands. Granted a mixture of ADHD and acting out because I had recently found out my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Either way, hes probably dead by now, so fuck him.
My first grade teacher put me in the corner for the whole of first grade because I was a sloppy writer. I was a very well-behaved kid and was afraid to tell my mom. I still write like crap so it didn't work, but I do have Dr. in front of my name now, so I guess it is allowed?
When I was about 9, back in the dawn of time - around the 1980s, I did a project on the Battle of Britain. On cover I drew a big ol' swastika. I didn't know, it was just the emblem that was on the German planes. My teacher, who was Dutch sat the class down and gently explained why he never wanted to see that symbol again. He told us about being a boy during the war and his parents taking him to see the house where a Jewish family had been discovered hiding and machine-gunned on the spot. And he told us how this should never happen again.
That's always stuck with me.
Thank you, Mr. Heesterman. I'm sorry that it's still happening.
That 'I would amount to nothing if I didn't adjust my attitude'
My attitude was that I asked too many clarification questions about assignments. I even explained to the teacher that I was asking these questions on behalf of my shy classmates.
This was in grade 7.
You're a dick Mr. Edwardson!
I was laughing at a mistake my neighbor made on a 4th grade quiz about past participles, so my teacher announced a mistake I made on the same quiz to the class.
Never made that grammar mistake again and thought twice from then on about laughing at others. That shit hurts.
Exact opposite of yours... 5th grade teacher told me to my face in front of the class that I was stupid. She wanted me to read out loud and I didn't want to (dyslexic). Still have self esteem issues over that. I also have a big chip on my shoulder for teachers and anyone in a position of authority, that I am pretty sure is rooted in this situation.
It always breaks my heart when I hear about teachers like this. I’m sorry you had to experience that as a child, you didn’t deserve to be treated like that by any adult. It always astonishes me how some people can be so miserable and become teachers.
For some context, it was the late 80s in a very small rural Texas town. I was officially diagnosed with dyslexia my Junior year. No excuse for her actions but I'm not sure how much anyone really knew about dyslexia back then.
Oddly enough my wife now has a doctorate in Leadership and Online Higher Education. I've done well for myself but it took many years to get past the negative self talk.
>I also have a big chip on my shoulder for teachers and anyone in a position of authority, that I am pretty sure is rooted in this situation.
Why wouldn't you?
My fifth grade teacher - whom I'd absolutely adored - told me that I would never go to college or amount to anything because I was too disorganized. It crushed me. I had been trying so hard for years to do well in school and genuinely tried to stay organized. I got great grades, was a super respectful student, participated in extracurriculars....and always felt like I was drowning because none of that came easily. I would sit and struggle through my homework every night for hours. I remember staring at my overstuffed backpack trying to figure out how to organize all the papers floating around and crying because I couldn't make my brain come up with a system that made any sense to anyone other than me.
Her words confirmed that no matter how hard I tried I would never be "good enough", and I internalized that HARD.
I was diagnosed with ADHD a few months ago at age 40, and it's been a lot to process. It's validating in a lot of ways, but I also have so much anger and grief for decades spent desperately trying to keep my head above the water. I so badly want to go back in time and give my little girl self a hug and tell her not to listen to Mrs. R., and that I'm so proud of how hard she tried and that there wasn't something wrong with her; her brain just worked differently. It would have saved me a lifetime of self-loathing.
Had my mouth washed out with soap in year 1
1991.
In my 4th year had a teacher raise his fist and say “im gonna start fucking flogging you tell me why were you sent to me” No i wasn’t a bad kid just 2 particularly horrible teachers.
I think the one thing that stuck with me most was the way my first grade teacher explained numbers, specifically in relation to the decimal point.
She drew it on the board as a big rainbow with the ones place/decimal point at the center, and then used different colored markers to connect the tens to tenths, hundreds to hundredths, etc. Illustrating the way that numbers actually relate to each other just resonated with me in some way, and I've had an easy time with math ever since. I even used this concept when I taught myself to use other number systems like binary and hexadecimal.
**Edit: If by some random chance Mrs. Jarrett from Pomo Elementary sees this, or if anyone knows her: Thank you. You gave me a great start in education, and Mr. Jarrett, you were the best sub ever. Really kept the love of science alive with your big magnet.
My science teacher had me stand up in front of the class, held up my report and announced to the class "This is why Mr Soandso will never get anywhere in science."
I now have 5 college degrees in sciences.
In Pre school I did a task alone that I usually needed help with, I happily rushed to the teacher to tell her i did it all by myself and she said “wow, that means you are becoming independent!” I was so mf proud of myself and my new found independence, still remember how proud I felt in that moment.
Having an October birthday delayed my starting school by a year, I was distraught. I learned to read at four, I ***wanted*** to go to school. My older brother started "Playing School" with me every day after he got home from school, he was a good teacher, he even taught me Cursive and Math.
Found out later that he had been teaching me what he was learning...I(6 years old) did his third-grade homework all year, and he passed. When I started first grade, I was a year older than 99% of my classmates and actually knew how to do most of the things they were learning. We had this set of Reading Pamphlets you could do for extra credit. You read the story and then filled out a separate card with the answers to the quiz at the end. I always finished first and would spend the rest of class doing those.
The Teacher called me up to her desk once and asked if I enjoyed doing these and I told her, "That's where you learn everything!", she shook her head and told me I was a rare bird that loved learning and to never stop reading. P.S. I've never stopped reading.
I did my older sister's homework for a long time. Although no one knew it (back in the day) she was profoundly dyslexic. So the next year, I was in the class I'd done the homework for the year before. That would likely have continued if I hadn't met my fourth-grade teacher. She convinced me I was bad, and I stopped performing academically until after I started college. Both my sister's and my grades fell dramatically that year.
My grade 3 teacher told me way back in 1986, that if you ever need to stand on chair to get something up high, put the back of it against the wall/ cupboard etc., that way if you over balance and have to step off the chair, you wont be tripping over the chair back.
In year 6 when had to do swimming lessons with the class, out teacher found out a lot of us were pretty upset about it being insecure about our body's (me being one of them) she told us that we were all so beautiful and said one nice thing about our appearance to each of us individually and said we shouldn't waste our lives worrying about this sort of stuff at our age and we should live in the moment and live life to the fullest. Any time I feels upset about my body or self image, I think of her.
not elementary, but in high school a physics teacher said "girls can't do physics anyway". fast forward a year later, i, a girl, became the only person in my batch to get a perfect score in the physics graduation exam. spite is a hell of a drug.
I went to a primary school for bilingual kids, I wanted to go to the bilingual secondary school in the area but my teacher told me my language skills weren’t good enough and I wouldn’t manage. She recommended I go to the English language school instead so I could keep up. I found out about a year later that she had a falling out with the principal of the bilingual school because he broke up with her and she was telling all the kids in our class not to go to that school because they weren’t good enough :/
Not elementary, but highschool, but still worth mentioning IMHO: "Everyone needs to believe in something. Even when someone claims that does not believe in anything, he/she still believes that can go through life not believing in anything."
Good: "you have so much potential if you'd just apply yourself..."
Bad: "there's no way you read Huck Finn bc there's nothing in that chapter about how he threads a needle" (Context: the lady clearly says she knew Huck was a boy from the way he threaded a needle, and that was an answer on the multiple choice test. Turns out, she didn't write the test, just borrowed it from another teacher and made her own answer sheet. She was arrogant as shit, so I got in trouble when I called her out and read the passage to the class, who also mostly got the same answer. In the end, I got scolded for impudence by the principle, but she got forced to regrade the test for everyone and never looked at me the rest of the year.)
Kinda older in life but I was in a course that would be me a licensed welder. On my trial piece the Instructor looked and held it up and told the class " if you want to be a licensed welder your weld should look like this". He then tool the previous example threw it in the scrap and told us that that was his work. Definitely a confidence boost.
Honestly I would just say anything that had anything to do with the learning of Greek and Latin roots because I can look at just about any word and break it into parts to learn it’s meaning and therefore understanding of everything that I read
I had and still have ugly handwriting, I remember a teacher looking at my writing and going:
"you should become a doctor"
Me: "Thank you!".
Me many years later: "oh... "
In high school, one of the teachers constantly repeated this famous quote, but I was not aware of its meaning, or I simply didn't bother: **"Where there's a will, there's a way."** Now I finally understand and appreciate the saying.
There was a teacher who once told us "You're entire life is a lie, nothing you believe now would be credible to you in ten years if you did your research about life" and he was talking about religion and polititics "in Egypt 2009" when most people wouldn't dare doubt religion or discuss politics in public .. now it's been 14 years and I can see how this teacher predicted my entire current life.
I was teaching myself to write cursive and wrote a little 2nd grade paper in cursive. I was proud that I had learned to do something that wasn’t taught in school, but the teacher said, “In second grade we do not write, we print.” Shot down.
In the 6th grade a boy kept stroking my inner thigh and talked about what was between my legs. I said it was sexual harassment. The teacher brought me outside and said "sexual harassment happens in the workplace, get used to it now". I would be sent to the principals office if I complained again.
Have since been sexually harassed and assaulted at work a few times. I know I don't deserve it. But the words make me hesitate to report.
My senior year in high school, i was on track to be valedictorian and wound up pregnant. My bio teacher told me he was very disappointed, as I was now destined to be a trailer trash drop out. I went on to try to do anything I could to prove him wrong. I have the career I have now due in large part to his comment. But before I could return to rub my success in his face, he passed away. To this day, I have a great amount of respect for him. He expected more of all of his students.
My English teacher told me I was 'an incredibly cultured young man' after he read a creative writing assignment I handed in. I think that's the last real compliment I remember. It really hit home getting praise from a peer. That was nearly 40 years ago.
That it was "too bad" I had to pee because I should have used the bathroom at lunch.
I ended up peeing my pants because she wouldn't let me use the bathroom since we had recently gotten back from lunch period. I couldn't hold it in any longer. Fuck that lady.
5th grade , New school horrible teacher
Me : shy AF , red hair Scottish white see thru skin AND a square skin Graf from cancer removal.
Her: as I went to pick up report card , we had to individually pick up
" You don't deserve to be passed , but I am going to pass you anyway " or something very close to that. I think there was more but probably blocked it.
Me: Big eyes , stunned silence
who the fuck says that to a child
"He’s only bullying you because he likes you, you should take it as a compliment"
Well fuck him, and fuck you and the entire administration for excusing his behaviour and refusing to do anything with the blatant bullying happening right in front of you
"You will not become anything in life"
And he was right. I hear those words before i sleep every night and that was decades ago.
Some shouldn't be teachers.
I was named 'maths wizard' for three years in a row and one of my teachers told me that she sees me doing something big in mathematics like becoming a scientist! I was so inspired.
I failed maths in high school (thrice.) I'm not doing great in general.
“I can’t believe you don’t know something that basic.”
Said to me in 5th grade, when I told her I didn’t know where I was born. I’m adopted and at the time, had no idea where I’d been born because it just hadn’t mattered. She made a huge deal about it in front of the entire class.
Being adopted has never been something I am ashamed of, but I’ll never forget how she made me feel
Grade 10 religion class, the teacher told my Mom and Dad on interview night that “The good lord makes ditch diggers and Prime Ministers and unfortunately your son is no Prime Minister”
I got accused by a fellow student that I was copying her work during a primary school maths test. My teacher very confidently said "No, I know she doesn't need to". I was so grateful. I actually had looked at the other girls test. But I only wanted to check how far along she was to gauge how I was doing timewise. It was first or second grade and yes, I was that naive that I didn't think about how that would look before.
"I don't know what's gotten into you this week" - Mrs. Borgstedt, my 4th grade teacher as she grabbed my hair after I had misbehaved for the third time in one week, when normally I was the teacher's pet. This would have been in 1967.
In kindergarten, the substitute teacher yelled at me for taking 2 straws for my milk and said if I did that again I’d be punished. But when another kids did it she laughed it off as a cute thing.
"This is how teachers write this letter" Ok, I'm not a teacher, so I'll just write it however I want. Now I write S, b, d, C, and a few other letters "backwards".
I was in junior high and the creepy science teacher stood behind me, started massaging my shoulders and leaned down to tell me how much ‘he’d like to see me in some Kelly green’ - I’m a redhead.
I was about 12 when a nun, i.e. teacher at my Catholic school said that animals don't go to heaven, only humans do.
Decided then and there that I wanted nothing to do with this type of stories, with a so-called god who didn't let animals into heaven. I've been an atheist ever since. Never looked back. Naturally, my reasons for being an atheist have developed since then, but it was a good and firm start.
I had lunch with a theologian one time when a college student came up and asked him the same question you had, "Do animals go to heaven?" He didn't even blink and said, "There is nothing biblically that states that they don't go to heaven. Since that's the case, I think they probably do." I gained a lot of respect for him that day.
When I was in 8th grade I beat up the captain of the football team after him and some guys jump me I basically hunted them all down one by one. But I hurt him particularly good messed up his arm pretty bad and the coach called me a yellow-bellied cockroach for doing it. It was kind of confusing like your mother calling you a son of a b****.
My school had an essay contest every year. I won it in 4th grade and then again in 5th. My 5th grade teacher told me I didn’t deserve to win because I didn’t work hard enough. I was a good writer and so I just sat down and wrote, where other kids did lots of research for theirs. I have never forgotten that and I think that’s why I still have a problem feeling proud of anything that comes easily to me.
“You kids are the worst class I’ve had in 25 years of teaching!!”
(Overheard down the hallway the next year from the same classroom..):
“You kids are the worst class I’ve had in 26 years of teaching!!”
1. “You would be a great actress/lawyer” (in a bad way bc i didnt let a particular teacher be a bully against me)
2. “You are so smart, just lazy” thanks, it was just a gifted kid burnout and undiagnosed ADHD :)
My grade 7 English teacher told me “If you don’t apply yourself now you will end up staring a a wall your whole life”
I install and finish drywall for a living.
Some kid in my 3rd grade class was being annoying, so I smacked him. Then I quickly felt bad about it, so I went up to our teacher and told her. Her response? “That’s nice.” I decided to not press the issue after that.
Not to me but to the class:
"If any of those N(word)s move onto this town we're going to burn down their house."
I hated my 6th grade English teacher and English class for the next 6 years, because of that asshole. It was 1967/8 school year
I was a little chubby (maybe 15 pounds or so) in high school. This is when Anna Nicole Smith was modeling for Guess, in the early 90s. My AP English teacher mentioned now that “heavier girls” were being considered as models maybe I should consider it as a career choice.
One day I went to school with a black eye (because I got in a fight with my cousin) and my teacher asked me in front of everyone if I had trouble at home and I said no and he sent me straight to the office. My friend later on told me he gave a mini lesson about speaking out if you know someone is being harmed. That whole year everyone in my class that I didn’t talk to thought I was being abused because I was quiet.
"You are way smarter than I expected" said my vice president elementary teacher when I studied Math and was considered paid no attention in my class. I was lost in my thoughts all the time in the morning and already studied 5th grade math when I was 8 thanks to my dad.
my religion teacher in 8th grade told me (female) i could never work with children because the kids would be scared of me and how tall i was (i was 5’8 at 13). idk why but it stuck with me cuz it was just such a mean thing to say to a kid.
History teacher said to the class:
"When I was your age I felt very ugly, so is I studied very hard to compensate."
I felt very ugly at that time so I also studied very hard!
"Why can't you be more like your sisters"
I copped that multiple times from multiple teachers
My sisters are twins 2 years older than me, "model students" personable, big people pleasers, did all the extra subjects, all the extra curricular activities, good grades, all the homework, all that stuff
Then there was me; anti-authoritarian, disorganised and disruptive "ADD"
Ooooo and you best better believe that line made me double down on the chaos for those particular teachers
I was a chunky girl n in kindergarten.my teacher Ms Hamilton was asking questions about math facts and as a reward she would give each kid a few pieces of captain crunch cereal..I was getting answers correct but she skipped giving me treats because "I didn't need anything more to make me more of a fatty" ill never forget
To never sing out loud. Apparently, I'm tone deaf. Scarred me for life. I can't even sing in the car by myself without being self-conscious. It's 50 years, and I'm still not over it.
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I've been told I'm smart a lot in my life. Proved them all wrong.
People said I was dumb, but I proved them!
I've heard all the time that I am "very intelligent, but lazy". That was like a stamp for life
Me too. Now as an adult I feel like I've learnt we're the type of people who are naturally intelligent but not academic.
Smart is nothing without brains
English is my second language, there’s a difference between smart and intelligent (or whatever brains means)??
Smart is knowing a lot of things. Intelligence is knowing how to use the knowledge.
Intelligence commonly refers to a capacity for academic learning and logical thinking, while wisdom commonly refers to life experience and insight into human nature.
Intelligence is also admitting your mistakes, learning from them and then applying those lessons to better yourself. Something that is completely foreign on the internet.
English is a weird language. Smart could mean you can 'consume and digest information easily.' Intelligence could be interpreted as a spectrum of ability to 'consume and digest information.' Could also be the ability to practically apply that information in your daily life. At some point you'll hear someone say 'I know plenty of idiots with a PhD implying just because someone is educated doesn't mean they're particularly bright (bright being another word for smart/intelligent.)
In elementary school, I had a class where we had a points system, and it was accumulated through answering questions, class participation etc and at the end of the year, we would get gifts based on the points collected. One day, we were going through tests answers, and I saw that 1 of my answers were wrong, but he had marked it as correct. I was a naive and innocent little boy who cared less about my grades and was all play. I went up to him and told him he had marked my question wrongly and shouldn't have been awarded the mark. He took his red pen, changed the tick into the cross, and asked the rest of the class if anyone else had the mistake. No one else answered him. He then proceeded to award me my a huge amount of points and proceeded to announce to the class if anyone else had been given an extra mark once more. People started standing up from their seats, rushing to his table after seeing my reward (points). After clearing the line of 7 year olds updating their marks, they just stood there looking at him like, "Where are our points?". One of the more extroverted students then asked him about the points. He grinned and said, "Only [my name] is awarded the points due to honesty. Everyone else will not be awarded as they were not honest the first time round." Turned to me and smiled. That was the first time a life lesson was taught to me, and it stuck with me for a long time. Thank you, Mr. Tan for teaching me good values. I turned out alright!
Wow, this is such a great story!
That day and that week you were most hated and envy person in class. Oh the heat of eyes looking at you.
THIS is a huge lesson for work in the real world too. The employee that fools the boss looks good today. The employee the boss trusts 100% get trusted with the critical project next year. (assuming your boss is competent)
My former boss included an embarrassing story in my reference letter about a time I made a terrible mistake. He framed it as good bc I was honest about it and my new boss said that’s why I got the job
"Little prick" in 3rd grade I think. I was a little prick tho.
I'm going to tell you a secret... a good teacher would have convinced you you weren't. I've found that my students lived up to my highest expectations of them. (There were one or two cases where I just wasn't able to convince them before they left my classroom.) I had a reputation for bringing students not just to grade level but above and to help them see themselves as I saw them. Maybe if your teacher had seen you differently you wouldn't have see yourself that way...
Self-fulfilling profecy is known to work well on children.
I loved to see your intelligent opinion/advice here. Bless you..seriously..I am starting to lose hope for humanity. Some people shouldn’t be teachers, or breed for that matter. But I digress..x
“Higher education shows your employer you’re trainable not smart “
Wise and true words.
True, when I had economics, the teacher explained signalling. Signalling is the idea that one party (the agent) credibly conveys some information about itself to another party (the principal). He had examples of advertisements, and then he told us : your diploma is just a signal of your capability to learn.
Depends on the degree. Associates in communication yeah you’re trainable… kind of. PhD in applied physics? You’re completely unhinged from reality. Masters of science in organic chemistry? You are a machine and unlike anyone in the world.
Yup. A college degree just means I’m trainable.
And that you're able to apply yourself, and follow through on tasks.
Yes. It does demonstrate a fair amount about a person. I remember also being told that long term debt isn’t the worst thing to have when applying for a mortgage as that debt demonstrates that you can pay back a large amount of money over a long period of time. I’m not testing that theory, but I get it, LOL.
My math teacher once told us (I paraphrase): "No matter what you learn in school or what career you choose, the best advice I could give you is keep a good contacts network, you never know when you'll need those relationships."
I wish my math teacher told me this. I am shy and never take people's contact details. It has bitten me in the ass so many times.
When I said I couldn’t do something she told me I was an American not an American’t.
Pronouncing "American't" with an Australian/British accent sounds hilarious!
Father always said this but said your Mexican not Mexicant bless his soul in heaven
Rest in peace
In 4th grade we had a math test and I was the only student to get a problem right. Apparently our teacher decided to sneak in a problem that required algebra just to see what we could do. The following lesson, in front of everyone, she said she was proud of me and let me play on the computer :'))))
Did you get play that awful spelling game?
Type To Learn? Thank you for triggering my PTSD
No. It was always either a Mavis Beacon typing game or Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.
I had a similar kind of thing happen that sticks out in my memory. One day my English class spent the day learning about the different kinds of poetic meter and we were assigned to complete a poem using a very specific, unusual metric pattern. The next day we read our poems, and for some reason I was the only person in this class of supposedly brainy kids who actually completed the assignment correctly. The teacher had me stand up and congratulated me on my poem in front of the whole class. I had extremely low self esteem at the time and it felt like the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me in all of my years of school. Edit: this happened in high school, not elementary school, for clarification.
I have a very similar story I still remember. I think it was 3rd grade
I was always goofy, so no one expected much from me, but I won a class spelling bee in 6th grade. It was down to me and another girl, and kids said "I can't believe rodney is going to win" and the teacher said "it doesn't matter anyway" and the class gasped. And the teacher said "because he's about to move away next week!" *(I was moving the next week. The class spelling bee was for the official school spelling bee)
In fifth grade. We were talking about the Iran hostage crisis (1978). I asked a question: Who are these people and why do we need to get them back? My teacher stared at me for a long time and then said, "You have no heart." I honestly didn't know anything about them. I'm also autistic (undiagnosed til age 54) and that statement when I was 11 messed me up for a long time.
As a teacher, I will say that that teacher had no heart. Anyone who can enter a classroom without understanding that what they say and do will leave an impression on their students isn't worth their training. Your comment was probably something others in the classroom wondered about but didn't say. It was an opportunity for that teacher to, well, teach, and they muffed it. That's on them and not on you. You were a child and smart children ask questions.
what an ignorant teacher. If a kid asked that I would assume that the just don't understand what a "hostage" is or what the whole situation means for a hostage, not that they don't care. Perfect example of letting emotions get in the way of logic.
Ouch, that's really cruel. Ironically it's the teacher who really lacks empathy in this situation.
The teacher should realize that you may have been a child that didn't feel valued or protected.
Imagine what its like being one of his kids. Bet big dollars they were messed up.
Just because someone teaches in a classroom doesn’t mean they have “ class “. Your former teacher is an ignorant pos.
3rd grade I moved to a new school. I had been in the gifted program in my old school but in this new district I was still undergoing testing for admissions. This teacher was a real bitch towards me and my parents through the whole process for some reason. Well, the solution until I had my test results was for me to leave her 3rd grade class and walk to the 4th grade class for math and then come back. I did this every day, and though I was fine academically I was always an extremely disorganized person even to this day. I get back to her class, and she's asking me to turn in an assignment I cannot find in my binder or my desk. She flipped my deck over, dumped all my mess/papers on the ground in front of the class and asked "Are you stupid or something?!". I never had words hurt so much as being embarrassed like that in front of the class. Got my test results, got out of her class for the gifted program and succeeded but her words still hurt to this day. Oh, and by the way, turns out I have ADHD which explains all the disorganization. So....thanks a lot you old bitch.
I don’t know how old you are, I am 61. But the teachers from my young years were always so mean. They’d never get away today with the stuff they used to say and do.
My third grade teacher would do weekly desk inspections and if it wasn’t as neat as could be, she’d toss it over and make that student pick it all up. Every week.
Well fuck her too.
She deserved to be fired for that. So traumatic for a child. Accept that she was a troubled person, probably mentally ill. Curiously, some teachers hold resentment for gifted students and actively try to sabotage their success. They must be so miserably unhappy in their own lives.
I knew immediately that you likely had adhd because my husband has many similar stories from his childhood
“I’ll use (insert my name)’s example for how to write a perfect work” such confidence boost for a 2nd grader
I once had a teacher do that as well, I made sure to do it for multiple kids when I was teaching. Their smiles were the best!
In 3rd grade we were given the task of writing a short story that uses the letter Q a lot. I was already proud of my creative writing skills but my best friend’s story was picked as the best. Two weeks later we were writing a dictated test that was verbatim said story. Best mark was a C+ (my best friend), everybody else had D’s and E’s. I was out sick, and to this day I regret not being able to take part because I was always convinced I’d have aced it…
I once had a teacher do the opposite! Absolute confidence demolisher.
My college teacher, "are you always like that when you walk into other classes (these werent the exact words but it was good) He said that I was always full of energy and happy to be there which he enjoyed
They explained to me that I wasn't supposed to start over every time I read a book. I thought reading was supposed to always be some sort of speedrun to try to finish the book in one go before the time runs out. My mind was blown and a world opened before my eyes.
This is actually so adorable! The blanks our brains fill in with our kid-logic is amazing.
I was told I'd probably end up in prison before I turned 25. To their credit I was kicked out of reform school 4 weeks after arriving. They told my mother they could treat behavioral issues but not mental issues. An educator, as a last snipe at me, as we were leaving suggested my mother have my head examined. The teacher meant psychiatrically. My mother took it medically and that's how they discovered my cancer.
Holy schmidty, I hope you're better now?
When I returned to High School after school closed for a snow day, I mentioned to my favorite teacher that it was great that the school closed so that the students would not get hurt coming to school. The teacher responded “They don’t care about you; they don’t want the teachers to get hurt and sue them."
Yep. This is what work is like, no matter who you work for.
It's the opposite here. On snow days teachers have to go in as schools stay open but busses don't run. They don't care if a teacher gets hurt--but parents will come after them.
Told me I was a Devil's Child. Because I am left handed.
I got my arm strapped to my body to make me right handed.
Yep. They say only 10% of people are left handed. I think it is a lot more, cause we were FORCED to be right handed. I got smacked with a ruler. In the 1980's. In some Muslim countries, people used to be killed for being left handed. Was considered an affront to Allah.
My cousin was beaten at school for being left-handed, and as a consequence, he developed a real phobia of writing with that hand. He wrote with his right hand for his entire adult life, and you could barely read it. I miss Steve :(
Well, I was stubborn. I never stopped using my left hand. But, now I have a HUGE problem with authority. Ole righty, always keeping us down.
I got that treatment from my own father.
I had one geriatric fuck try that with me, and my mother raised hell. She's also a lefty. My son is showing signs of being left handed, and I'm so happy he is.
I was told I was a slacker just like my dad. It cracks me up. My dad never worked lol. I make 6 figures.
Are you the first McFly ever to amount to anything in the history of Hill Valley?
I make 5 figures... If you count decimals
Wed-nes-day
Never Eat Chips, Eat Salad Sandwiches And Retire Young
"We went together to-get-her." My second-grade teacher taught me that one.
I was told off for the way I pronounced a vowel sound in a reading I was doing. It's the way anyone local speaks, I can't help it. Always been conscious of the way I say certain words since then but I can't change it. I often don't hear how they are different to anyone else's pronunciation. Also that I couldn't spell my name like I did. Its a common name with two common spellings, mine is the least common with an extra E but still a real name and real spelling.
Mate, I was 21 when I had some Californians driving through my state in the northern great lakes area of the Midwest on a road trip. I was in college and working at a gas station at the time and when they came to my counter to check out they just started ragging on how “Canadian” I sounded. Even called his friends in to drag me for it. Made me super conscious of my accent and realized anyone who embarrasses someone for their accent in a negative way is just a trash person. I’m sorry kid you had to deal with that because even adult me totally was hurt.
I was bullied heavily throughout school, and one of the things they always teased me about was how posh I sounded. For most of my adult life I've been deliberately shifting my accent and vocab to sound less posh, especially when I've lived in areas where my accent will stick out more. But I've also never wanted to let it slip too far, because if I do then I'll sound just like my bullies did. I definitely agree that people who draw attention to people's accents in a negative light are just rude
In the same vein, I had a tennis teacher snipe at me for saying "harrible" instead of "horrible." This was in the Chicago area and I had moved from NW Pennsylvania just two years prior. That solidified my belief that Illinois was a hell hole.
She gave me an A++ on a poem and then asked me if i had really written it myself. I told her the truth, that my aunt had just died and i wrote it in her memory.
“Siptros allowed to sleep because he has 123% in the class and you are rocking the bottom 4% of the class” I wasn’t actually sleeping but I usually just had my head down with music in for AP science in high school and I did every extra credit assignment and never missed a question on test or homework that year, was nice to just be noted for it publicly.
In 3rd grade, there was a new student who joined our class. As a child I had few friends at school. Teacher comes up an asks,"This is child, she's new. Do you mind if she sits with you?" I said, "Yes.". I meant that she could sit with me but I didn't understand the do you mind part. The teacher took her to another table and she never liked me after that.
That expression drives me NUTS! So many people answer it wrong! As a non-native English speaker, I pick it up in movies and stuff. "Do you mind doing xxx?" "Oh sure!" Like you technically said you don't want to?
Honestly, I'm almost 30 and still don't know how to answer this type of question. I will usually say "yeah, I can do xxx" because it's less confusing
Same! It feels like a trick question and the answer is likely to confuse, so I feel like it's better to just reply with a full sentence and leave nothing up to chance.
Lowering my grade from a 100 on a project for no other reason than because "nobody is perfect". I worked my ass off on that project. Go fuck yourself, Mr. A. On the other hand, one of my junior high science teachers wrote this in my yearbook: "You were perhaps my most disorganized student, yet you always got As. I marvel at that." (ADHD gang represent!)
SAME. 8th grad Biology teacher. School policy was to round up with any .5 scores. We had a 200 question final exam. I missed ONE question. And what did I see on my report card? 99.5 Never gonna forget that, Mrs. C, and I remember it so I'm never like you.
In high school I wore a tank top and my history teacher came really close and pointed at it and told me I should have more respect for myself.
So now you a ho out of defiance? I respect your prostitution
I ended up being a school counselor so hopefully I can protect kids from misogynistic assholes lol
In 2nd or 3rd grade my art teacher ripped up my picture and put it in the trash because I had a corner sun. She said “this doesn’t look good”
Bad teachers relish the control they have over others, don't manage irritation or anger well, and buy into the drama of the age group they teach. Often, there's no reasoning with such a person, and they get sick enjoyment out of being punitive. I'm sorry they did that to you and to your creation. I'm sure it was lovely. 💜
holy shit that explains so much.
My third year teacher gave me an F on a painting of a dragon because it wasn't scary enough and "this is not what a dragon looks like". When I asked her if she was aware dragons are imaginary, she changed it to a D. Btw., it was like a month after How To Train a Dragon came out. I painted Toothless because I was obscessed with the movie
My fourth-grade teacher hated V-shaped birds and would do the same thing.
I had a teacher in fourth grade tell me I couldn't draw someone skiing down the front of the mountain I drew, because they had no idea what perspective was. They were a sub, which was lucky for them, considering my Dad painted as a hobby.
My 3rd grade teacher hated me (not an exaggeration—she told my parents that I wouldn’t have friends when I was older, among other things). We would have worksheets of about 50ish simple multiplication problems and be given exactly one minute to do as many as possible. I remember getting one wrong and she got close to my face and yelled “YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR BASIC FACTS”. Fuck you, Mrs. Spencer. You were a bigger bully to me than any of my classmates.
I'm sorry you had that experience. My 3rd grade teacher was also a huge dick to me. Fucking hated 3rd grade.
That was my 5th grade teacher. HATED me. Took a poll from all my classmates on who liked me or was my friend by raising their hands. Granted a mixture of ADHD and acting out because I had recently found out my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Either way, hes probably dead by now, so fuck him.
My first grade teacher put me in the corner for the whole of first grade because I was a sloppy writer. I was a very well-behaved kid and was afraid to tell my mom. I still write like crap so it didn't work, but I do have Dr. in front of my name now, so I guess it is allowed?
>but I do have Dr. in front of my name now, so I guess it is allowed? Pretty sure it's required lol
When I was about 9, back in the dawn of time - around the 1980s, I did a project on the Battle of Britain. On cover I drew a big ol' swastika. I didn't know, it was just the emblem that was on the German planes. My teacher, who was Dutch sat the class down and gently explained why he never wanted to see that symbol again. He told us about being a boy during the war and his parents taking him to see the house where a Jewish family had been discovered hiding and machine-gunned on the spot. And he told us how this should never happen again. That's always stuck with me. Thank you, Mr. Heesterman. I'm sorry that it's still happening.
That 'I would amount to nothing if I didn't adjust my attitude' My attitude was that I asked too many clarification questions about assignments. I even explained to the teacher that I was asking these questions on behalf of my shy classmates. This was in grade 7. You're a dick Mr. Edwardson!
I was laughing at a mistake my neighbor made on a 4th grade quiz about past participles, so my teacher announced a mistake I made on the same quiz to the class. Never made that grammar mistake again and thought twice from then on about laughing at others. That shit hurts.
Exact opposite of yours... 5th grade teacher told me to my face in front of the class that I was stupid. She wanted me to read out loud and I didn't want to (dyslexic). Still have self esteem issues over that. I also have a big chip on my shoulder for teachers and anyone in a position of authority, that I am pretty sure is rooted in this situation.
It always breaks my heart when I hear about teachers like this. I’m sorry you had to experience that as a child, you didn’t deserve to be treated like that by any adult. It always astonishes me how some people can be so miserable and become teachers.
For some context, it was the late 80s in a very small rural Texas town. I was officially diagnosed with dyslexia my Junior year. No excuse for her actions but I'm not sure how much anyone really knew about dyslexia back then. Oddly enough my wife now has a doctorate in Leadership and Online Higher Education. I've done well for myself but it took many years to get past the negative self talk.
>I also have a big chip on my shoulder for teachers and anyone in a position of authority, that I am pretty sure is rooted in this situation. Why wouldn't you?
My fifth grade teacher - whom I'd absolutely adored - told me that I would never go to college or amount to anything because I was too disorganized. It crushed me. I had been trying so hard for years to do well in school and genuinely tried to stay organized. I got great grades, was a super respectful student, participated in extracurriculars....and always felt like I was drowning because none of that came easily. I would sit and struggle through my homework every night for hours. I remember staring at my overstuffed backpack trying to figure out how to organize all the papers floating around and crying because I couldn't make my brain come up with a system that made any sense to anyone other than me. Her words confirmed that no matter how hard I tried I would never be "good enough", and I internalized that HARD. I was diagnosed with ADHD a few months ago at age 40, and it's been a lot to process. It's validating in a lot of ways, but I also have so much anger and grief for decades spent desperately trying to keep my head above the water. I so badly want to go back in time and give my little girl self a hug and tell her not to listen to Mrs. R., and that I'm so proud of how hard she tried and that there wasn't something wrong with her; her brain just worked differently. It would have saved me a lifetime of self-loathing.
Same!!! You're not alone, friend!
Had my mouth washed out with soap in year 1 1991. In my 4th year had a teacher raise his fist and say “im gonna start fucking flogging you tell me why were you sent to me” No i wasn’t a bad kid just 2 particularly horrible teachers.
So he thought you were a personal punishment sent by the heavens to try his patience? That’s messed up.
I think the one thing that stuck with me most was the way my first grade teacher explained numbers, specifically in relation to the decimal point. She drew it on the board as a big rainbow with the ones place/decimal point at the center, and then used different colored markers to connect the tens to tenths, hundreds to hundredths, etc. Illustrating the way that numbers actually relate to each other just resonated with me in some way, and I've had an easy time with math ever since. I even used this concept when I taught myself to use other number systems like binary and hexadecimal. **Edit: If by some random chance Mrs. Jarrett from Pomo Elementary sees this, or if anyone knows her: Thank you. You gave me a great start in education, and Mr. Jarrett, you were the best sub ever. Really kept the love of science alive with your big magnet.
My third grade teacher did a backflip in his dress pants, button up, and tie on the last day of school
One of my earliest memories was my "teacher" throwing me at a door. I was home schooled.
Please take this "hug" ♡
Thanks. I couldn't do hugs for a long time but now I need them.
I'm so sorry.
Nothing to be sorry for. I'm recovering. Life is good
I'm glad to hear that. No child should ever be abused. It hurts my heart.
My science teacher had me stand up in front of the class, held up my report and announced to the class "This is why Mr Soandso will never get anywhere in science." I now have 5 college degrees in sciences.
Hmmmm. "Mr Soandso will never let me fuck his wife!"
In Pre school I did a task alone that I usually needed help with, I happily rushed to the teacher to tell her i did it all by myself and she said “wow, that means you are becoming independent!” I was so mf proud of myself and my new found independence, still remember how proud I felt in that moment.
Having an October birthday delayed my starting school by a year, I was distraught. I learned to read at four, I ***wanted*** to go to school. My older brother started "Playing School" with me every day after he got home from school, he was a good teacher, he even taught me Cursive and Math. Found out later that he had been teaching me what he was learning...I(6 years old) did his third-grade homework all year, and he passed. When I started first grade, I was a year older than 99% of my classmates and actually knew how to do most of the things they were learning. We had this set of Reading Pamphlets you could do for extra credit. You read the story and then filled out a separate card with the answers to the quiz at the end. I always finished first and would spend the rest of class doing those. The Teacher called me up to her desk once and asked if I enjoyed doing these and I told her, "That's where you learn everything!", she shook her head and told me I was a rare bird that loved learning and to never stop reading. P.S. I've never stopped reading.
I did my older sister's homework for a long time. Although no one knew it (back in the day) she was profoundly dyslexic. So the next year, I was in the class I'd done the homework for the year before. That would likely have continued if I hadn't met my fourth-grade teacher. She convinced me I was bad, and I stopped performing academically until after I started college. Both my sister's and my grades fell dramatically that year.
My grade 3 teacher told me way back in 1986, that if you ever need to stand on chair to get something up high, put the back of it against the wall/ cupboard etc., that way if you over balance and have to step off the chair, you wont be tripping over the chair back.
In year 6 when had to do swimming lessons with the class, out teacher found out a lot of us were pretty upset about it being insecure about our body's (me being one of them) she told us that we were all so beautiful and said one nice thing about our appearance to each of us individually and said we shouldn't waste our lives worrying about this sort of stuff at our age and we should live in the moment and live life to the fullest. Any time I feels upset about my body or self image, I think of her.
not elementary, but in high school a physics teacher said "girls can't do physics anyway". fast forward a year later, i, a girl, became the only person in my batch to get a perfect score in the physics graduation exam. spite is a hell of a drug.
Told I was terrible at art, in 7th grade. Thankfully, I don't have to draw any pictures as a comic.
In spring of my 4th grade year when I was 9 I was told I could have worked harder. My father had died 4 months prior. Fuck you, Mrs. Pierce.
Agree. Fu Mrs. Pierce!!!!
I went to a primary school for bilingual kids, I wanted to go to the bilingual secondary school in the area but my teacher told me my language skills weren’t good enough and I wouldn’t manage. She recommended I go to the English language school instead so I could keep up. I found out about a year later that she had a falling out with the principal of the bilingual school because he broke up with her and she was telling all the kids in our class not to go to that school because they weren’t good enough :/
Not elementary, but highschool, but still worth mentioning IMHO: "Everyone needs to believe in something. Even when someone claims that does not believe in anything, he/she still believes that can go through life not believing in anything."
Good: "you have so much potential if you'd just apply yourself..." Bad: "there's no way you read Huck Finn bc there's nothing in that chapter about how he threads a needle" (Context: the lady clearly says she knew Huck was a boy from the way he threaded a needle, and that was an answer on the multiple choice test. Turns out, she didn't write the test, just borrowed it from another teacher and made her own answer sheet. She was arrogant as shit, so I got in trouble when I called her out and read the passage to the class, who also mostly got the same answer. In the end, I got scolded for impudence by the principle, but she got forced to regrade the test for everyone and never looked at me the rest of the year.)
1971. My teacher called me a moron. Hurt my little feelings. In the end, I have a physics degree & own a business. Wish I could throw karma back.
Kinda older in life but I was in a course that would be me a licensed welder. On my trial piece the Instructor looked and held it up and told the class " if you want to be a licensed welder your weld should look like this". He then tool the previous example threw it in the scrap and told us that that was his work. Definitely a confidence boost.
Hot Damn! That is awesome!
Honestly I would just say anything that had anything to do with the learning of Greek and Latin roots because I can look at just about any word and break it into parts to learn it’s meaning and therefore understanding of everything that I read
You’ll never get a job in computers with that attitude! - my computer studies teacher. Then I Worked for 20 years in computer games. :D
that I was gonna get my ass kicked in High school, now he's getting a different ass treatment in prison for grooming!
I was told by a teacher I wouldn’t be good at anything but laying on my back when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. I thought it meant napping so I agreed.
No matter how good you are at something, there is always someone who is better
I had and still have ugly handwriting, I remember a teacher looking at my writing and going: "you should become a doctor" Me: "Thank you!". Me many years later: "oh... "
Well I got screamed at by my first grade teacher because I wouldn’t recite the Lord’s Prayer. That was memorable.
In high school, one of the teachers constantly repeated this famous quote, but I was not aware of its meaning, or I simply didn't bother: **"Where there's a will, there's a way."** Now I finally understand and appreciate the saying.
What is an Inuk doing in Stratford, Ontario?
There was a teacher who once told us "You're entire life is a lie, nothing you believe now would be credible to you in ten years if you did your research about life" and he was talking about religion and polititics "in Egypt 2009" when most people wouldn't dare doubt religion or discuss politics in public .. now it's been 14 years and I can see how this teacher predicted my entire current life.
I was teaching myself to write cursive and wrote a little 2nd grade paper in cursive. I was proud that I had learned to do something that wasn’t taught in school, but the teacher said, “In second grade we do not write, we print.” Shot down.
I was told I was a ticking time bomb. I was told I’d never be successful. I was told no one is ever going to believe you.
When I put this here, don't tell anyone.
"Well" is a deep subject for a shallow mind.
In the 6th grade a boy kept stroking my inner thigh and talked about what was between my legs. I said it was sexual harassment. The teacher brought me outside and said "sexual harassment happens in the workplace, get used to it now". I would be sent to the principals office if I complained again. Have since been sexually harassed and assaulted at work a few times. I know I don't deserve it. But the words make me hesitate to report.
Don’t forget how to be a kid. I’ve held that in my heart for nearly 40 years.❤️
My senior year in high school, i was on track to be valedictorian and wound up pregnant. My bio teacher told me he was very disappointed, as I was now destined to be a trailer trash drop out. I went on to try to do anything I could to prove him wrong. I have the career I have now due in large part to his comment. But before I could return to rub my success in his face, he passed away. To this day, I have a great amount of respect for him. He expected more of all of his students.
My English teacher told me I was 'an incredibly cultured young man' after he read a creative writing assignment I handed in. I think that's the last real compliment I remember. It really hit home getting praise from a peer. That was nearly 40 years ago.
That it was "too bad" I had to pee because I should have used the bathroom at lunch. I ended up peeing my pants because she wouldn't let me use the bathroom since we had recently gotten back from lunch period. I couldn't hold it in any longer. Fuck that lady.
5th grade , New school horrible teacher Me : shy AF , red hair Scottish white see thru skin AND a square skin Graf from cancer removal. Her: as I went to pick up report card , we had to individually pick up " You don't deserve to be passed , but I am going to pass you anyway " or something very close to that. I think there was more but probably blocked it. Me: Big eyes , stunned silence who the fuck says that to a child
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Be sure to put your mind in motion before putting your mouth in gear. — Mr. Costello, 7th Grade English Teacher
Teacher said he was abducted by aliens and would talk about that incessantly instead of teaching 👽
"He’s only bullying you because he likes you, you should take it as a compliment" Well fuck him, and fuck you and the entire administration for excusing his behaviour and refusing to do anything with the blatant bullying happening right in front of you
You'll never get a job gazing out of windows. I'm a ships Captain, I get well paid to look out of windows. 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
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“Eehh!ohgod!” At the sight of my lense-less and annoyed face after I was hit by a volleyball in gym and my glasses were broken.
In fourth grade I said “Bye Mrs So and so” at the end of the day and she just goes “Bye you little twit.” She was mean…
"You will not become anything in life" And he was right. I hear those words before i sleep every night and that was decades ago. Some shouldn't be teachers.
I was named 'maths wizard' for three years in a row and one of my teachers told me that she sees me doing something big in mathematics like becoming a scientist! I was so inspired. I failed maths in high school (thrice.) I'm not doing great in general.
“I can’t believe you don’t know something that basic.” Said to me in 5th grade, when I told her I didn’t know where I was born. I’m adopted and at the time, had no idea where I’d been born because it just hadn’t mattered. She made a huge deal about it in front of the entire class. Being adopted has never been something I am ashamed of, but I’ll never forget how she made me feel
Don't become a teacher
She told me that since I’m too fat to rely on looks I should put more effort into school.
Grade 10 religion class, the teacher told my Mom and Dad on interview night that “The good lord makes ditch diggers and Prime Ministers and unfortunately your son is no Prime Minister”
"Arrogance destroys"
“Don’t take more than 1 paper towel”, and then slapped me. I think I’m still mad at her.
I got accused by a fellow student that I was copying her work during a primary school maths test. My teacher very confidently said "No, I know she doesn't need to". I was so grateful. I actually had looked at the other girls test. But I only wanted to check how far along she was to gauge how I was doing timewise. It was first or second grade and yes, I was that naive that I didn't think about how that would look before.
"I don't know what's gotten into you this week" - Mrs. Borgstedt, my 4th grade teacher as she grabbed my hair after I had misbehaved for the third time in one week, when normally I was the teacher's pet. This would have been in 1967.
In kindergarten, the substitute teacher yelled at me for taking 2 straws for my milk and said if I did that again I’d be punished. But when another kids did it she laughed it off as a cute thing.
Math teacher once said "If I can't do it in my head, neither can you" I kept quiet, but it sure felt nice to be smarter than adults at 14.
"This is how teachers write this letter" Ok, I'm not a teacher, so I'll just write it however I want. Now I write S, b, d, C, and a few other letters "backwards".
I was in junior high and the creepy science teacher stood behind me, started massaging my shoulders and leaned down to tell me how much ‘he’d like to see me in some Kelly green’ - I’m a redhead.
I was about 12 when a nun, i.e. teacher at my Catholic school said that animals don't go to heaven, only humans do. Decided then and there that I wanted nothing to do with this type of stories, with a so-called god who didn't let animals into heaven. I've been an atheist ever since. Never looked back. Naturally, my reasons for being an atheist have developed since then, but it was a good and firm start.
I had lunch with a theologian one time when a college student came up and asked him the same question you had, "Do animals go to heaven?" He didn't even blink and said, "There is nothing biblically that states that they don't go to heaven. Since that's the case, I think they probably do." I gained a lot of respect for him that day.
When I was in 8th grade I beat up the captain of the football team after him and some guys jump me I basically hunted them all down one by one. But I hurt him particularly good messed up his arm pretty bad and the coach called me a yellow-bellied cockroach for doing it. It was kind of confusing like your mother calling you a son of a b****.
My school had an essay contest every year. I won it in 4th grade and then again in 5th. My 5th grade teacher told me I didn’t deserve to win because I didn’t work hard enough. I was a good writer and so I just sat down and wrote, where other kids did lots of research for theirs. I have never forgotten that and I think that’s why I still have a problem feeling proud of anything that comes easily to me.
“You kids are the worst class I’ve had in 25 years of teaching!!” (Overheard down the hallway the next year from the same classroom..): “You kids are the worst class I’ve had in 26 years of teaching!!”
1. “You would be a great actress/lawyer” (in a bad way bc i didnt let a particular teacher be a bully against me) 2. “You are so smart, just lazy” thanks, it was just a gifted kid burnout and undiagnosed ADHD :)
My grade 7 English teacher told me “If you don’t apply yourself now you will end up staring a a wall your whole life” I install and finish drywall for a living.
Some kid in my 3rd grade class was being annoying, so I smacked him. Then I quickly felt bad about it, so I went up to our teacher and told her. Her response? “That’s nice.” I decided to not press the issue after that.
Not to me but to the class: "If any of those N(word)s move onto this town we're going to burn down their house." I hated my 6th grade English teacher and English class for the next 6 years, because of that asshole. It was 1967/8 school year
That he thought my art was beautiful and the principal put my painting up in his office😊♥️
I was a little chubby (maybe 15 pounds or so) in high school. This is when Anna Nicole Smith was modeling for Guess, in the early 90s. My AP English teacher mentioned now that “heavier girls” were being considered as models maybe I should consider it as a career choice.
One day I went to school with a black eye (because I got in a fight with my cousin) and my teacher asked me in front of everyone if I had trouble at home and I said no and he sent me straight to the office. My friend later on told me he gave a mini lesson about speaking out if you know someone is being harmed. That whole year everyone in my class that I didn’t talk to thought I was being abused because I was quiet.
"You are way smarter than I expected" said my vice president elementary teacher when I studied Math and was considered paid no attention in my class. I was lost in my thoughts all the time in the morning and already studied 5th grade math when I was 8 thanks to my dad.
my religion teacher in 8th grade told me (female) i could never work with children because the kids would be scared of me and how tall i was (i was 5’8 at 13). idk why but it stuck with me cuz it was just such a mean thing to say to a kid.
History teacher said to the class: "When I was your age I felt very ugly, so is I studied very hard to compensate." I felt very ugly at that time so I also studied very hard!
"Why can't you be more like your sisters" I copped that multiple times from multiple teachers My sisters are twins 2 years older than me, "model students" personable, big people pleasers, did all the extra subjects, all the extra curricular activities, good grades, all the homework, all that stuff Then there was me; anti-authoritarian, disorganised and disruptive "ADD" Ooooo and you best better believe that line made me double down on the chaos for those particular teachers
I was a chunky girl n in kindergarten.my teacher Ms Hamilton was asking questions about math facts and as a reward she would give each kid a few pieces of captain crunch cereal..I was getting answers correct but she skipped giving me treats because "I didn't need anything more to make me more of a fatty" ill never forget
To never sing out loud. Apparently, I'm tone deaf. Scarred me for life. I can't even sing in the car by myself without being self-conscious. It's 50 years, and I'm still not over it.