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Child Item

Teachers that bully kids

Offy

Im posting here rather than in the Education section because Ive noticed that this subject tends to get locked rather than discussed in the Education section.
Think back to your school days, do you remember any teachers that used to bully their students? I remember been canned in primary school after it was banned, been punched by teachers in secondary school and on one occasion I had my head slapped of a wall for leaning against a rad on a cold wet winters day. A generation later one of my children reports been hit by his headmaster (the same headmaster taught me and he is heavy handed) and a younger child reports been singled out and ridiculed because she has problems with spelling. I failed my leaving cert because I have trouble with languages yet I have two degrees in engineering so whats the problem with bad spellings? When they grow up they can use a spell checker!
Why do some teachers think it is acceptable to bully children and what can parents do to stop this practice? All comments and ideas are welcomed even if they are yore ma! Suggestions anyone?

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bonerm

I had one I still remember.

Spike, you'd better hope our paths never cross again little man.

Wolfe Tone

biko wrote: »

I had a teacher push me into the water when I didn't want to go in because it was too cold (outdoor pool).

Im sorry but I laughed!

CatFromHue

Offy wrote: »

I had a word with the teacher this morning, I was very calm and nice which was difficult to say the least. I simply said I was concerned about my childs grade dropping so much over the past few months and was there and suggestions the teacher could make to improve the situation. The answer: more homework! I told this teacher that I did not agree with that, my daughter is 11 and like me when I was her age I had great difficulty with spelling to the extent that I failed my leaving cert., with that the teacher claimed that it was imperative that my daughter try harder of else how could she possibly get a college education later in life? I then pointed out that I have two degrees even with failing my leaving cert.
She stopped in her tracks with that comment and asked if I was telling her the truth. I suggested that she ignore my daughters bad spelling as its not really going to hold her back. After the confused look passed from her face she smiled and said she was sure college life would be a lot easier for my daughter if she worked harder. At this point I determined that I was wasting my time. I pointed out that my childs spellings were never a problem with any of her previous teachers and I informed her I would take the issue up with the headmistress. I have to see the headmistress at 2 today. Hopefully the headmistress will have a different attitude.

i dont know the history of the story nor do i know your full situation but on reading this post alone i would say im on the teachers side.

if you ignore the kids bad spelling its not going to get better by itself. spelling whether we like it or not is important.

SuperInfinity

phasers wrote: »

I had a teacher like that, he hated me for some reason and always picked on me and screamed at me for nothing. Once he whacked me with a map, when I gave out he told me to shut up whinging cos he was only messing :.wanker.

Once in secondary school there was a teacher who used to often be on my case... though he wasn't so bad, he did show me where I wasn't being organized when I should have been and was more of a good influence than a bad influence I think.

But once he hit me on my head with my own badminton racket. :eek: I was at the very first desk, and he noticed that my badminton racket had gone about half a foot in front of being completely under my desk, and he took it and hit me lightly with it in front of the class and said something and laughed.

I felt really horrible after that incident, and I wasn't even sure why it made me feel so bad. It's just like he was demeaning me, he wouldn't lift up someone's property and hit them with it it in reality. In fairness, maybe it was just boredom, and lack of foresight that caused him to do this. But I do think it was bullying that time whether he meant it or not. Badminton has a tenuous enough position in Ireland. I should have taken the racquet and hit him back the exact same way.

You know that guy I mentioned in the other post though, our headmaster? Every couple of days at the most, he would go on long lectures talking about how sad he was that he was no longer able to hit the bejesus out of us and how he would love to beat us, and it would set us all straight etc. He used to go on and on about the merits of "corperal discipline", and about how "professors in the colleges today are pulling their hair out, and it's all because of a lack of discipline and a lack of work". I know it might be funny to charicature people like this, but this is no exaggeration, this guy was the genuine article!!!

Sometimes he would smash a duster off the wall/board as hard as he could to try to frighten students as much as he could without actually hitting them. Once he broke a "meter stick" made out of metal, lol. During the time we were there, he also started to bring in this big bit of mala/plasticine that he would squeeze and push during class.... probably something suggested by a psychiatrist or something, lol. And then on the outside he was the most unassuming, timid little man (about 5 foot 8 tall, really short).

And his WIFE... that we saw when we were singing hymns for church? Jesus, we only saw her once or twice ever, and in that time she actually cut me by squeezing my arm so tight. She was so fat and strong, and like an evil wild animal. You couldn't make this stuff up. Word had it also that he never owned a tv except for when TG4 came out, and he got a tv man to come around and make it so that only TG4 was tuned into it. I think that was probably just a joke though, but he definitely didn't have any more than 4 channels.

Cat Melodeon

I'm not a teacher but I have worked in primary and secondary schools in resource and on research projects. The majority of teachers I've encountered have been professional and truly interested in their job and in doing the best they can for the kids in their class. But by christ when you meet the ones who are bad you wonder how can they be let away with it. I've seen complaint after complaint lodged against certain teachers and even after the whole Board of Management/Dept complaints processes have been gone through, the teachers continue on in their position. Once they get that permanent contract (which HAS to be offered if they have worked for 4 years in a school) there is very little they can do that would cause them to lose their job, be it complaints about bullying or general ineptitude. Unless there is rock solid evidence of physical abuse, nothing can be done (or so it seems at least in my experience).

I have to say I've only come across one primary school teacher I would consider to be below par - most of the problems seem to be at second level. I really think things would improve if all teachers had to do a proper dedicated 3 or 4 year teaching degree rather than a standard BA with a diploma tacked on. You'd root out everyone who only got into teaching because it was a cushy number or because they didn't know what else to do with their degree. If you want to become a nurse or an engineer, you generally can't tack a year's diploma on to a general Arts degree, so why should teaching be any different? In addition, all teachers should be required to do at least two weeks of full time continuing professional development every year during the summer break in areas like child psychology, bullying prevention, new developments in pedagogy etc.

twinytwo

Offy wrote: »

Im posting here rather than in the Education section because Ive noticed that this subject tends to get locked rather than discussed in the Education section.
Think back to your school days, do you remember any teachers that used to bully their students? I remember been canned in primary school after it was banned, been punched by teachers in secondary school and on one occasion I had my head slapped of a wall for leaning against a rad on a cold wet winters day. A generation later one of my children reports been hit by his headmaster (the same headmaster taught me and he is heavy handed) and a younger child reports been singled out and ridiculed because she has problems with spelling. I failed my leaving cert because I have trouble with languages yet I have two degrees in engineering so whats the problem with bad spellings? When they grow up they can use a spell checker!
Why do some teachers think it is acceptable to bully children and what can parents do to stop this practice? All comments and ideas are welcomed even if they are yore ma! Suggestions anyone?

tis a pity the schools i went to if the teachers tried **** like that they would have gotten their heads kicked in

biko

I had a teacher push me into the water when I didn't want to go in because it was too cold (outdoor pool).

CD.

my sister was bullied in primary school, but the teacher got other kids to do it for her, like telling them to punish my sister for things, like they didnt have to tell the teacher, they could just punish her if they thought she broke any rules. my mum complained then took my sister from the school as she reasoned the teacher set the other kids up with a mind set that my sister would be allowed be bullied without repremand. but, in saying that, apparently that teacher had a reputation for being a bitch/bully and nothing hda been done at all.

i was fine with teachers until 6th class, when a teacher held my copy book up and screamed at me in front of the class for messy writing asking me if i thought the secondry school i was going to would be happy to have me there if she showed them it, wouldnt stop until i agreed that they wouldnt want me there and then she threw the copy at me. i have dyslexia and mild dyspraxia which causes my writing to be bad/slow, i cant write for long periods without my hand hurting badly, the teacher knew this.

parents complained and it was all worked out in the end, she left me alone. it was difficult, they tried to sort it out with her first, she wouldnt meet with them so they wrote a letter to her to calmly explain the situation and what they thought could be done etc, then they had to get the principal involved because she was just being unreasonable and antagonistic about it. as soon as the prinicple was brought in, the teacher changed her tune completely.

MonicaBing

Thankfully, i also have never been bullied by a teacher but my eldest son was in 5th class. He has dyslexia and (had) a stammer and found it very hard to answer questions when asked in class. This particular witch thought it funny one day to imitate his stammer while he was trying to answer her and literally ridiculed him in front of his classmates. When i found out i went to school and confronted her in front of the class, in this particular school you have to make an appointment to see a teacher during school hours, so i slipped in the back door and up the back stairs to the class, knocked on the door and she nearly died when she saw me! Im a nice sociable gal who generally does not like confrontations, but this pissed me off no end.

I told her in no uncertain terms that i was making an official complaint to the HM and that if i heard of her ridiculing or imitating my son again she would be speaking with a stammer for real, she still teaches but is thoroughly disliked by staff and pupils alike.

languagenerd

Never had a teacher hit me or anything like the OP but was bullied by my Senior Infants teacher in the mid-90s.

I was an above-average pupil at the time and I think she just didn't know what to do with a 4/5-year-old who could already read by herself and do the maths questions without problems. She'd constantly give out to me for no reason, make me stand in the corner of the room almost every day for any random reason (I was never disruptive, I was far too shy!), banned me from getting a library book like everyone else "because you don't need one"...

Once the two girls beside me started arguing and she blamed me and told me to stand at the back of the room. I started crying and then she asked the whole class "Did she cry this much last year?!". She made me stand up for an entire lunch break one time.

It was like she was trying to punish me for knowing more than the others and drag me back down.

I was particularly young for the class as well (only turned five that October) and I didn't know that this was not how teachers should behave, so I never complained...

Think she's still teaching/terrorising 5-year-olds. Hag. :mad:

admiralofthefleet

my woodwork teacher in secondary school hated me and i also had him for technical graphics. the wanker made me do ordinary level TG even though i sat through it bored because i was fully capable of doing higher. i did higher woodwork though. i felt great when he turned around to me on the day of the results and said 'ordinary wodwork isnt very hard, you could have done better' to which i replied 'it was actually a b in higher that i got, sir'. his face dropped, twat

Offy

kuntboy wrote: »

But they don't. The messers push the system to the limit, causing so much disruption, everyday, that by the time they get warned, suspended or expelled the year is half over and countless class time is wasted. There should be a zero-tolerance policy.

I agree and I'll add to that statement. There should be a zero-tolerance policy for teachers the bully children. I will demonstrate this to the headmaster that hit my son once my son finishes his leaving cert. and I bet AGS will equally demonstrate a zero-tolerance policy to what I will do to said headmaster! At the end of the day if I caught any adult hitting one of my kids I would kick his ass, why should teachers get away with it?

kuntboy

TheZohan wrote: »

A proper qualified teacher should be able to handle a kid that is "a bit of a messer", either on their own or by using established protocols.

But they don't. The messers push the system to the limit, causing so much disruption, everyday, that by the time they get warned, suspended or expelled the year is half over and countless class time is wasted. There should be a zero-tolerance policy.

Offy

themadchef wrote: »

If the head backs up the teacher do you know what your next avenue of complaint is? Never hurts to be prepared so you can let her know that's the road you will be taking.

As for what happened to your son, if that gimp of a teacher is still working there you have to get involved, if only to save some other family the pain you now feel. I know it can feel like your swimming against the tide, but there is support within the system, you just have to look for it.

Very best of luck today.

If that happens I write a letter to the board pointing out how her grade has dropped since this teacher started teaching her and notify them that I will be making a complaint to the Dep. of Ed.
As to my son, I'll get involved AFTER he finishes school, I owe that headmaster from 20 years ago, it will be interesting to see if he has the courage to raise his hand to me again, now that Im bigger than he is! I'll probably confront him in publicly in his school.

Ghost Buster

I had the pleasure of making my former career guidance teacher squirm a few years ago. He was one of those teachers for whom an academic third level college degree was the ultimate aim. However I was not remotely academic with consistently terrible grades especially in maths. I did however have an obvious flair for English, music and languages all of which i took as honours and did well. I was involved in the school musicals, art projects etc and dam good at them!
But this was in the 80's and Mr Career guidance was not remotely interested. I clearly remember him going around the class one day making predictions on everyone future....'John-Trinity.......Mary- UCG....... Mick- Family farm...... Sue- Bolton St..... Paul- family business........Ghost Buster.... he laughed and said DOLE OFFICE!!! The prick.
I have not been a day out of work since leaving school and am doing nicely in music and theatre. I met him a year or two back and reminded him of his comment.

themadchef

Offy wrote: »

I had a word with the teacher this morning, I was very calm and nice which was difficult to say the least. I simply said I was concerned about my childs grade dropping so much over the past few months and was there and suggestions the teacher could make to improve the situation. The answer: more homework! I told this teacher that I did not agree with that, my daughter is 11 and like me when I was her age I had great difficulty with spelling to the extent that I failed my leaving cert., with that the teacher claimed that it was imperative that my daughter try harder of else how could she possibly get a college education later in life? I then pointed out that I have two degrees even with failing my leaving cert.
She stopped in her tracks with that comment and asked if I was telling her the truth. I suggested that she ignore my daughters bad spelling as its not really going to hold her back. After the confused look passed from her face she smiled and said she was sure college life would be a lot easier for my daughter if she worked harder. At this point I determined that I was wasting my time. I pointed out that my childs spellings were never a problem with any of her previous teachers and I informed her I would take the issue up with the headmistress. I have to see the headmistress at 2 today. Hopefully the headmistress will have a different attitude.
As regards the headmaster that hit my son, well my son is finished school this Friday as he is sitting his leaving cert so I think it best to say nothing for the moment.

If the head backs up the teacher do you know what your next avenue of complaint is? Never hurts to be prepared so you can let her know that's the road you will be taking.

As for what happened to your son, if that gimp of a teacher is still working there you have to get involved, if only to save some other family the pain you now feel. I know it can feel like your swimming against the tide, but there is support within the system, you just have to look for it.

Very best of luck today.

Irish Guitarist

When I was in sixth class I was caught writing on the desk. I was told to stop but I didn't hear the teacher. He then slapped my knuckles with a ruler. I dropped my pencil but he continued to beat the knuckles off of me.

This was in the eighties so it was long after the days of corporal punishment. I can't remember if I told my mother or not but I probably didn't. My parents never hit me so I can't imagine they would have let a teacher away with hitting my hand until it bled, although I didn't think that at the time.

TheZohanS

kuntboy wrote: »

Kids who are "a bit of a messer" ruin classes for those who want to learn and make it impossible to teach. They forfeit their right to be taught by messing, imo. Go to Asia and see how respectful kids are in school.

A proper qualified teacher should be able to handle a kid that is "a bit of a messer", either on their own or by using established protocols.

If I had kids and one of them was hit by a teacher I'd find out all the facts first, in fairness parents think that their little Johnny or Mary are angels. After ascertaining what happened and if the teacher was in the wrong I'd go through the proper channels like the Headmaster, Gardai, Department of Education and ask for the teacher in question to be reprimanded. After I was finished with all that I'd make a point of meeting the teacher and I'd give him such a slap that he'd never touch a kid again.

If it transpired that my kid was acting the maggot I'd put manners on him, a lot of parents think it's the schools job to raise their kids, it's not.

I have pity for the good teachers that have to take crap from assholes that play the system and threaten they with all sorts when all they're trying to do is teach. There are a lot of excellent teachers out there, but there are a hell of a lot of people teaching that really have no place in the classroom and they give the good teachers a bad name.

Offy

I had a word with the teacher this morning, I was very calm and nice which was difficult to say the least. I simply said I was concerned about my childs grade dropping so much over the past few months and was there and suggestions the teacher could make to improve the situation. The answer: more homework! I told this teacher that I did not agree with that, my daughter is 11 and like me when I was her age I had great difficulty with spelling to the extent that I failed my leaving cert., with that the teacher claimed that it was imperative that my daughter try harder of else how could she possibly get a college education later in life? I then pointed out that I have two degrees even with failing my leaving cert.
She stopped in her tracks with that comment and asked if I was telling her the truth. I suggested that she ignore my daughters bad spelling as its not really going to hold her back. After the confused look passed from her face she smiled and said she was sure college life would be a lot easier for my daughter if she worked harder. At this point I determined that I was wasting my time. I pointed out that my childs spellings were never a problem with any of her previous teachers and I informed her I would take the issue up with the headmistress. I have to see the headmistress at 2 today. Hopefully the headmistress will have a different attitude.
As regards the headmaster that hit my son, well my son is finished school this Friday as he is sitting his leaving cert so I think it best to say nothing for the moment.

flash1080

hondasam wrote: »

I wish people would stop pointing out punctuation and spelling here in AH. It is not an exam.

Congratulations, you passed.

kuntboy

padraig91 wrote: »

I remember back when i was in secondary school, in french class one of the lads on the first day was told to sit down the back of the class and anytime he tried to ask a question the teacher would shout at him "You dont exist in this class" now the lad was a bit of a messer and i can only assume that this spread around the teachers on the first week of school and the teacher just took against him before she even saw him.

Kids who are "a bit of a messer" ruin classes for those who want to learn and make it impossible to teach. They forfeit their right to be taught by messing, imo. Go to Asia and see how respectful kids are in school.

RachaelVO

easyeason3 wrote: »

Alarm bells ringing. I'm sure everyone can hear them.

They're louder than anything else on this thread!!!!!!!!

phasers

I had a teacher like that, he hated me for some reason and always picked on me and screamed at me for nothing. Once he whacked me with a map, when I gave out he told me to shut up whinging cos he was only messing :.wanker.

Sibylla

I'm surprised to hear so many stories about teachers bullying students. The majority of my teachers were very helpful and worked hard at their jobs. In primary school the principal used to severely bully children it has taken a toll on quite a few students. I know for a fact complaints have been made but nothing has been done. Quite sad really as it's a remote area different schools are not viable options. It's almost a situation now where parents are afraid to complain in case it gets worse. In this instance where procedure is followed and it fails you have to wonder what parents are supposed to do to protect their kids.

ardinn

I left school partly because of my physics teacher, she just wouldnt stop "at" me, Singled me out every minute, - I wont say I was the best student or even a very good one, but I think I would have scraped my way through the last year had she just layed off a bit.

SuperInfinity

There was a running competition in our school every year, and the top about two out of every class would go through to the inter-school Cork Running Championships.

There were two guys who were not so great in our class, a little bit similar but not really. And our headmasters SOMEHOW mixed them up, and he put the wrong underachiever through, lol.

And then he seemed to not acknowledge his mistake, and one day this guy's father came in to the school. And sweet mother of god...

Our headmaster spent the entire morning, about 2 hours, getting verbal abuse from him, you could hear him shouting. When he came back our headmaster was visibly shaken. His arms were trembling, and his voice was lower than it usually is. It was brilliant, lol.

That family always had a tradition of runners, they were a farming family (with about 10 children!). I can just imagine the son telling his dad about how the headmaster let this other guy through instead by accident and intended on keeping it that way. And him going crazy and saying: "HE DID WHAT???? :mad:" An inspiration to us all IMO.

It's always great when a bully or wrongdoer gets told.

EverEvolving

PeakOutput wrote: »

it was both actually, I don't hold a grudge against the kids some of them ended up having a really hard time and im sure they werent having a great time themselves when they were bullying me but at the same time if I had of fought back I dont think i would have gone through what I did. I definitely hold a grudge against the teacher and as I said earlier there is a strong possibility I would spit on him if I ever met him (maybe thats macho talk it would be very out of character for me)

Hindsight is 20/20 so they say. If I met my national school teacher now I wouldn't even like to think what I would do incase my anger took ever, luckily she is now senile and doesn't know what is going on around her. Maybe god/karma does exist after all!!

Teachers should know better but a hell of a lot of adults are still kids in bigger bodies and have just gone through life doing what they were told, they then expect others to do the same. You get the exception to that, and they make great teachers.

Lone Stone

I remember when i was in school as a kid around 7-9 age bracket i had this teacher she use to torment me, poke the **** out of me she would take my lunch take my books take my copies take any toys i brought in and say to me im giving to my children then when my mother would where my stuff was gone id say the teacher took them of me and of course she would deny she took anything and then when i was in class she would like really freaked out with foaming at the mouth like a nut job. She was mental !!

PeakOutput

EverEvolving wrote: »

I'm delighted you got your own back on the young brats and to that I'd say you are right, if you stand up to a bully, they will usually piss off/or had a physique that's fearful of messing with.

oh i didnt ever hit them or anything they just left me alone in secondary school, a few of them were friendly and I guess tried to be friends but I was just friendly but never let myself become good mates with any of them

By your post it seems you got picked on by other kids, not teachers. It's a different kettle of fish when a kid - with no power whatsoever has to stand up to an adult.

it was both actually, I don't hold a grudge against the kids some of them ended up having a really hard time and im sure they werent having a great time themselves when they were bullying me but at the same time if I had of fought back I dont think i would have gone through what I did. I definitely hold a grudge against the teacher and as I said earlier there is a strong possibility I would spit on him if I ever met him (maybe thats macho talk it would be very out of character for me)

EverEvolving

PeakOutput wrote: »

that should tell you something dude.

there is only so many times you can turn the other cheek go home and ball your ****ing eyes out and hope the system catches up and does what its supposed to do.

i was a small skinny kid who got bullied, I never hit back eventually my dad was like 'look if they keep hitting you you have to hit back' I still didnt because I didnt want to hurt anyone.

I changed school grew to be a very tall skinny kid and then went back to secondary school with all the same people who were the bullies and guess what, I wasnt the small kid anymore I was a foot taller then them and they didnt say anything to me ever. they are cowards and if I had of punched them in the face the first day they started **** I bet you I wouldn't have had to put up with what I did.

I'm delighted you got your own back on the young brats and to that I'd say you are right, if you stand up to a bully, they will usually piss off/or had a physique that's fearful of messing with.

By your post it seems you got picked on by other kids, not teachers. It's a different kettle of fish when a kid - with no power whatsoever has to stand up to an adult.