Bad teacher's

I can sympathise with you. I had a stammer at school and one teacher would make a fool of me in class. Always wanted me to read and when I stammered would say, " I thought you were having speech lessons? Not working,are they? " As I got older I stammered far less but still annoyed me in certain situations like answering the phone. I went to a Dr who was a hypnotist. I have to say that teacher was no where in my head I didn't even think of her. When I was hypnotised Dr asked me about what it was like in school. I was straight back to that classroom with her ridiculing me. Dr said, " You are now not a child but the age you are now and you know teacher is wrong so tell her" And I did, all those feelings I didn't know existed came out I told the teacher exactly what I thought of her. When I came to I was in tears but it really helped me. We all want to go back and put these horrible people in their place and I felt I had done that. My stammer did improve after that,I think I gained more confidence. I still have lapses today but no one who knows me now would ever think I used to stammer a lot. Those teachers have a lot to answer to.

Callistemon bad /andor difficult teachers, certainly didn't sap my confidence, on the contrary they made me more determined to succeed, just to prove them wrong.

However I was always a member of the awkward squad.


I think I am a member too, although one teacher did terrify the wits out of all of us. However, I did learn to stand up for myself although some others may have completely lost confidence in themselves.

Another one just told me I was useless at her subject which made me determined to succeed in it (and at A level too, but not at school). She was in a permanent state of anger with us all because she was useless at communicating her subject, I think.

I went through all my school life coming across good and caring teachers as well as the opposite. 1980 - When my daughter started to struggle with her teacher in her last year of primary I stepped in to help her with her studies. I was then a secretary by profession but with a love of maths. Two years later I decided to change career. I did a 4 years B.Ed. Hons degree. Then in 1986 I became a primary school teacher. I loved the profession. The reward from seeing children succeed was tremendous. I became an advanced skills teacher, advising other teachers, then became a Deputy but still taught. The profession has changed a lot since the 1980s Teaching is an extremely hard profession these days with a huge amount dropping out after their first year or less. Working up to 16 hours a day + part of your weekend and quite a good part of the school holidays! puts pressure on your life. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to sing the praises of the excellent teachers I came across in my career and those wanting the best for the children in their schools. There will still be teachers who need support but I hope school managers look out for those as they should do. Don't forget grans and parents, every school has a parent governor. Contact them for any concerns you have. It can make a difference. Even become a governor. I did when I retired.

I was born and went to school on an ‘overspill’ estate, 10 miles outside London ... it was the toughest of the tough environment. My eldest brother was an adopted mixed race boy... then another brother one year older then me.... with an older sister , born before war . One teachers at our school tormented my eldest brother near to death( he was only black child in school) and in consequence us other siblings got the butt end of jokes, insults and racism. All kids in school had to take turn in picking up litter from the playground... intended to teach us NOT to drop it, but from the day my brother started school it became his job!! He kept it up for a fortnight and became so miserable I told my mum what was going on.... she marched or should I say rampaged round to the school ... pushed her way to the teacher in question..... made sure she had the right man by asking his name... he said yes... she floored him with one punch to the jaw. She was 5ft 1” and he was about 6 feet. People say violence doesn’t work.... but I’m afraid it did that day. From that day to his leaving school he was always treated fairly and courteously . ! So Dee, I do know first hand about nasty teachers.... thankfully nowadays these events seem never to occur. Pity you didn’t tell my mum ... she would’ve sorted the nasty oik out!!!! Nobody ever crossed that 5ft virago.

The very worst bully in my year at senior school - queen bee of the coven of bullies, went on to be a primary teacher. ? She was thoroughly nasty, so I've often thought of, and pitied, the poor children who ever came under her 'care'.

Camelotclub. I became a primary school teacher at the age of 36. It certainly changed me. From lacking in confidence at school, to flunking exams at school due to nerves, I became a confident fun person to be around as my family tell me. I fought for all children to have a voice in the schools I worked in. I continued to learn by listening to children. Perhaps I am peculiar then!

I know someone exactly the same Witzend She was a vile bully as a child and an equally vile bully as a teacher . My DDiL was unlucky enough to be taught by her .

When my son was at school his Maths teacher took a real dislike to him. He always gave him a really hard time and was very derogatory at the school open evenings. At one point he told my son that he was a waste of space and would never amount to anything. We were furious.
After he left school my son joined the Royal Navy and became an aircraft engineer.
After he won the award for the best trainee in his intake my Mum (his Grandmother) marched down to the school and tore a strip off the teacher and told him how well my son was doing. His response - he just simpered and said yes he knew he would do well in life - what a creep.
I wouldn't have given him the satisfaction of knowing that his behaviour had had any affect on us!

I was a very shy child, never answered back and tried to be invisible. However, one teacher seemed to take a dislike to me and was continually telling me I would never amount to anything - if I was lucky I would end up working in the cigarette factory but more likely the sack factory (consider one of the worst jobs only done by those incapable of anything else).

One day I had a new client wanting to make her rather complicated Will - it was the nasty teacher. She had no idea who I was and after the Will was signed and everything sorted she said how pleased she was with the service and she was happy to have found someone so professional - I then pointed out to her who I was and what she had said - she was suitably embarrassed.

Success is the best revenge!

I’ve had two experiences with nasty teachers. The first was in infant school. We were having an art lesson and a friend and I used our hands instead of a brush to paint and the teacher went ballistic and dragged us to the washroom and gave us both a good hiding. Fifty eight years later I still remember how we both sobbed as we washed the blue paint off our hands. I also remember the teachers name and what she looked like. The second incident happened in secondary school and one particular teacher had it in for me from day one. One day she hauled me in front of the class and told each pupil to say something about me, good or bad.
Needless to say I was mortified and only remember the classmates that said something good. I also still remember that teachers face.

WadesNan - I loved your story !
I remember those awful dance lessons at school , I was a fat girl even then and the teacher teamed me up with the fat boy in class . It was a tango or something and he was as lumpy and as embarrassed as me - the teacher stopped the class and made us do it in front of everyone . I saw her at my gym the other day she was bow legged , limping and looking really old but I still gave her a kind hello and she did too . I still can't dance , the thought of being held by someone makes me cringe .

Not in the same league but an art teacher put me off art for life by telling me I was rubbish

Write her a letter . Either send it or burn it. Some people are vile. As a child you had no power but as an adult you can see it for what it is. You a good person she isn’t.

The connection running through a lot of these posts seem to be that the teachers were bullies and perhaps had been bullied themselves, no excuse of course, for their appalling treatment of their pupils. I wonder if the teacher training manual in those days encouraged would-be teachers to "wallop a couple the little blighters every day to keep the rest in order"
It's nice to see some new names coming up by the way, welcome one and all!

Good on your mum, Saggi. Our bullying headteacher was battering one child round the hall at dinner time when a mum outside at the bus stop, who’d just commented that some poor child was getting it, heard her son’s name. In she charged all guns blazing, and gave that horrible woman a taste of her own medicine. We children were delighted we were all there to see it!

Dee1012
One of my teachers delighted in showing up pupils. I went to a secondary modern (mixed) and this was a male teacher who had a terrible temper. In the days of blackboards and those big blackboard rubbers he would literally throw it at any boy who he thought was misbehaving, usually catching them on the head. Also put a couple of boys across the desk and beat them with the large blackboard ruler. The headmaster was supposed to discipline the boys and headmistress the girls, but he was a law unto himself, and taught by fear and not respect. His particular subject was maths, not my strong point at all, made worse by my fear of him and his cruelty to the boys. At every opportunity he found fault with my work, would send me out of class for talking when I had simply asked the girl sitting next to me if it was ok to turn the page of the shared textbook we were reading, or something else we had to share, endlessly given lines, or kept in at break. Then horror of horrors he was our class teacher the next year. In that year my younger brother died, and I had a lot of time off school, my maths became worse still, and he simply told me that if I attended school more often I would understand the subject. Heart of stone he had and should have chosen a different career. On the plus side I had some lovely teachers who made it a pleasure to learn, and have fond memories of them. Hope you can try and put this to the back of your mind. I resented this teacher for a long time after leaving school because of his cruel streak, but now I think of the better teachers who improved my life and encouraged me along the way.

Being an ex teacher myself I am shocked by some of the stories on here. How dreadful for teacher's to pick on children. I had some teachers at secondary school who did not like me but with good reason as I was not interested in learning and prefer to play the fool until I got to Fifth form when I decided enough was enough. My head always had faith in me though much to her credit.

Gladly things like this are rare these days, and I'm relieved. It sounds like you had an awful experience. My grandma used to tell us stories of her school days and I used to wonder how she stayed sane.
I was regularly told I was useless and would amount to nothing by a certain teacher. I rubbed her face in it when I had an A star and the highest per cent achieved in the county.
But, it still hurts. I still remember.

I'm relieved that my girls go to one of the best schools in the country and I have a good relationship with each teacher and the headteacher. When they go to high school all that will change. I'd hope it won't happen to them. If it does I hope they tell me so I can do something about it.

I could be wrong but I don’t think you would get the level of bullying teachers these days as you did in years gone by . Thank goodness . My DGD did not like her teacher and she did have some very questionable methods ( calling the children after animals being one example) but not sure you could describe it as being a bully.

My daughter who is now 22 had a really hard time at school with a lot of the teachers, she is autistic and often needs things explaining more and without long words.
During one maths lesson she got dragged out of her chair, thrown into the white board with the teacher yelling at her asking if she understood now, dragged back and pushed into a table and then back into her chair, she was terrified of going back to school, all the children were coming up and telling me at home time about it, went straight in to see why it had happened and to complain as bruises were already coming up on her, told it would be looked into.
Went in next day as daughter always went in at a side door as the main door with so many people frightened her, got called over by the receptionist saying no action would be taken as it was my daughters word against the teacher, all the children that had seen it all suddenly hadn’t seen anything.

My DD was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was 12. At high school, her English teacher seemed to delight in picking up every mistake in her work - sometimes her book would have more red ink on a page than black - and repeatedly telling her that she would never get anywhere...
DD worked very, very hard to overcome her difficulties, with the help of a wonderful tutor once a week and hours of work... She's now an adult with a family of her own.
One of the best moments of my life was when I met that English teacher at a social occasion a year or two ago; he asked (with a smirk) what DD was doing now, and I replied that she was a teacher - Head of English at a large, outstanding, comprehensive school in London...
Then I walked away - smiling sweetly - and savouring the gobsmacked look on his face...

I can't say I have fond memories of my third grade teacher, Ms Taylor. Upon returning from a long week's absence (Measles), her only comment was "What? You here again?!"

I was regularly sent out of the room for things like not using a sharp enough pencil, or crayon coloring the triangle on an all black and white math worksheet (a homework assignment). Often blamed for the transgressions of others and never once chosen for the coveted privilege of wiping the blackboard clean at the end of the day!

Never could figure what her problem was. I guess some teachers choose their pet students and others choose their scapegoats.

I should add that I was always a good student and all my teachers (and peers) liked me...everyone except Ms Taylor.

I had some awful teachers, but had a wonderful mum who stood up for me and taught me to so the same. My dad was in the RAF and we were always moving. In one school I was always being told off for not wearing the correct school uniform, we were only going tone there 6 months and then move schools. One day my mum marched into the classroom and up to the male teacher and told him that SHE bought my clothes and if he had anything to say about what I was wearing then to tell her and she didn't want to hear anymore from me about being picked on. Then she politely walked from the room. Never had any more problems with bully Mr Morgan.

There were some teachers that not only had gained a teaching degree but also in being nasty with no or little care of what they said or how it hurt .
I wonder (if she was still alive ) what she would be like now if you met her ? I'd guess she is still a sad embittered person as she has always been. But just once , for 5 minutes, it would be nice to tell her of the effect that she has had on your life for all of these years.
Someone once suggested to me that you write a letter to that person, telling them just what you think of them, then burn it. Supposed to get it out of your system ?

I had teachers I didn't get on with. Possibly I was a bit of a pain anyway - not naughty, just typical only child. Mostly, though, I think it was just a clash of personalities. Let's face it, I was one of a class of 45. You wouldn't expect to get on with everyone in a group that size, so there are bound to be some personality clashes between children and between children and teacher.
There's no doubt that there are very good teachers and some appalling ones, but most fall into the middle and are caring and conscientious.

I attended Secondary school during the late 50s and my lasting memory is wondering why many of the teachers had chosen that profession, as they genuinely didn’t seem to like children. One day sticks in my mind. Waiting outside the music room for the teacher to arrive, like all teenage girls, we were talking and laughing when the door of the next room flew open. Out stormed a male teacher and he pointed and shouted at my best friend and I, who happened to be at the front of the line, to Come Here. He then took us in and and made us put our hands up and belted us with all his might, in front of his class who were all boys..we were then to tell the rest of our class that they would all get the same if he heard another sound. I never forgot the unfairness of it all and many years later I happened to meet his sister in a social capacity and took great delight in telling her all about it. She was shocked and assured me she would be bringing it up with him.