Good educators significantly impact a student's life. But so can the bad ones.
Today's list continues Bored Panda's series of articles covering some teachers' irksome and unprofessional behavior. While a few submissions are laughable, others prove that not everyone is fit for the job.
Some of you may have had similar experiences, so feel free to share them in the comments.
#1 Teachers Need To Understand Students Don't Always Sleep In Class Just Because Of Laziness
Image credits: Phantom_Wolf52
#2 I Was A Teacher For 8 Years, And I Never Made A Student Feel Small After Asking For Help
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#3 "They Both Tried To Laugh It Off Like It Was All A Silly Misunderstanding And Never Apologized To Me"
Image credits: JoyAng
“Bad teachers are extremely rare,” according to decorated film producer, screenwriter, and English teacher Ellie Herman. But having seen her fair share of subpar educators, she found five common tendencies. One of them is having a noticeable dislike towards children.
“The number one quality I’ve observed in bad teachers is that they do not seem to like children very much. In high schools, this means they do not seem to find teenagers charming, funny, or interesting—ever.”
#4 Teachers Like This
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#5 It Took Him A While
Just for some perspective, I emailed him in my 2nd year of undergrad. I have graduated from my undergrad, have two master's degrees, and I'm in the 6th year of my PhD.
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#6 A Former Teacher Of Mine Publicly Ridiculing And Passing Judgement On Someone For Being Proud Of Their Sobriety
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Disinterest in the subject they’re teaching is another tendency among bad teachers, according to Herman.
“If asked ‘why are you teaching this?’ will you respond ‘because it will be on the test’? Every teacher has dud lessons from time to time (believe me), but what I sense in the classrooms of bad teachers is that they have no interest in their entire subject.”
#7 Apparently Enjoying The Workout Is Part Of The Grade
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#8 My Brother's Kindergarten Teacher Printed These Out For The Class
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#9 My 3rd Grade Kids Were Given This Ridiculous Project
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Beloved teachers have one trait in common: they care. They are genuinely invested in their students’ success. But some are already emotionally checked out, and Herman says it shows.
“A central quality in truly bad teachers is that they seem to have stopped caring; this lack of engagement is reflected not only in their interactions with students (or lack thereof) but in their seemingly random choice of lesson topics.”
#10 I Had An English Final Exam Today, And I Had To Describe This Image. Teacher's Copy vs. Student's Copy
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#11 I Had To Do A Survey For Math And Made It As Simple As Humanly Possible, But According To The English Professor, Hostel Isn't A Word
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#12 We Are No Longer Allowed To Yawn In My College Course, With Points Off Our Grade As Punishment
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Teachers have their favorite students; however, it won’t be an issue if everyone receives fair treatment. It becomes a problem when these biases become evident.
“The truly bad teachers I’ve observed tend to engage only with a small number of very compliant, eager students, ignoring the rest except to reprimand troublemakers,” Herman says.
#13 Apparently, My Answer Was Wrong Because The Teacher Forgot To Add An End Parentheses
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#14 This Typo Caused Me To Fail The Entire Assignment
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#15 So Rude And For What
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However, there are people who see some benefit in having their kids learn under bad teachers. Author Linda Flanagan is a mother of three teenagers, and here’s what she’s observed.
“An indifferent teacher can compel the self-motivated student to pursue his own interests,” she wrote in an article for HuffPost. “The teacher who spends class time devouring People while students fill out worksheets might not inspire, but she might prompt a little self-directed learning just the same."
#16 My Teacher Still Refuses To Give A 100% Score
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#17 My Son Then Told Him That Was Offensive, Explaining That Autism Means Seeing The World Differently And That Jesus’ Perfection Was About Being Sinless, Not Neurotypical
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#18 My Teacher Only Lets Us Go To The Bathroom 3 Times A Month
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Flanagan's example of a bad teacher is someone she describes as a "tyrant" and "petty dictator" who is more about control. She says having these people as mentors is a valuable experience when entering the real world.
"These skills will come in handy when it's time to renew a driver's license, contest an insurance payment, or dispute a cable bill. Having a tyrant for a teacher helps young people appreciate why abuses of power must be resisted throughout life."
#19 This Teacher Is Wild
Image credits: reddit.com
#20 I'm A Blind Guy, And My Teachers Tell Me They Don't Know Why I'm Not Looking Forward To The School Trip To The Museum. Can Anyone Guess Why?
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#21 I Would Hate That In My Classes
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Flanagan also experienced what she describes as “the idealogue” when her son’s seventh-grade biology teacher pushed his belief in creationism onto his students.
“It introduces kids to mankind’s endless capacity for self-deception. Warning: this lesson only applies when there’s a rational adult in the mix to provide a reality check.”
#22 I Did My Biology Assignment. It Counted Me Wrong Because I Put Their First And Last Names
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#23 My Teacher: "Go To This Link And Fill Out The Form"
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#24 Woke Up At 7 AM, Headed To Class In The Freezing Rain, Just To See "Class Is Cancelled" Written On The Whiteboard And The Door Locked. No Email Or Anything First
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#25 My Son Misspelled A Word, So The Teacher "Corrected" Him
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#26 My Teacher Printed The Video File On Paper
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#27 My Son’s First Grade Teacher Sent This Home Today
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#28 Our Driving Class Teacher Is Never On Time. She Should've Been Here 20 Minutes Ago
Things like this repeat all the time. Previously, we had to wait for her for 30+ minutes.
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#29 When Teachers Give Diagrams Like This
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#30 The Article For An Assignment In Class Is Paid
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#31 I Received This As A Grade For A Quiz
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#32 Online School Is Painful Sometimes
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#33 My Blind Child Came Home From School Today With This Homework
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#34 The Lines A Fellow Teacher Gave A 7-Year-Old Student To Write 20 Times As A Consequence
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#35 My Four-Year-Old Daughter's Preschool Homework. "Match The Pictures" With No Other Context
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#36 This Program Our Professor Wants Us To Use For Our Tests
The reviews all say it's spyware and that it ruins computers. In the past, we’ve used Honorlock, but this professor just had to be different.
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#37 Teachers Who Write Feedback Like This
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#38 This Sign Is On A High School Classroom Door
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#39 This Stressed My Son Out. Literally Impossible
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#40 My French Teacher Gave Us New "French Names" About Two Weeks Ago And Takes Off Points From Your Exams And Daily Participation If You Don't Refer To Yourself By Your French Name
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#41 Kindergarten Homework Is Kicking My Butt. "In Front" Or "Behind"? I Got -2 Points For This
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#42 My Kid's Science Teacher Assigned An 82-Question Packet To Be Done Over Spring Break
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#43 I Didn’t Know People Actually Covered Clocks In Schools
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#44 Teacher Not Happy With Marching Band Score And Award
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#45 No Point In Studying For The Final
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#46 All Of My School's Printers Are Auto-Configured To Print Double-Sided. However, My Programming Teacher Requires Code To Be Printed Single-Sided
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#47 I Really Hate My Teacher
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#48 The Way My Math Teacher Numbers His Worksheets
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#49 This Keyboard At My College. Teachers, Don't Let Us Clean It
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#50 My University Cancelled Class Today Due To The Weather (A Freezing Rainstorm Caused Thick Layers Of Ice All Over The Campus), But My Professor Still Wants Us To Go To Our Lab
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