Yahoo Lifestyle 25 Teachers Who, I Kid You Not, Are The Most Problematic Educators Out There
Reddit user u/Ara-Rat asked the community, "What did your teacher do that made you call them the 'worst teacher ever?'"
Unfortunately, people had some pretty horrific experiences. They revealed some of the cruelest, most disrespectful things their teachers ever did to them back in the day.
Their experiences were so eye-opening that they inspired our BuzzFeed Community to share their own bad teacher stories.
Here's what they had to say:
Note: Some submissions include topics of verbal abuse, sexual harassment, suicide, eating disorders, and threats of violence. Please proceed with caution.
1."My third-grade teacher was awful. She originally came from a high school where she had been fired for 'allegedly abusing' three autistic kids. Well, she needed a job, SO LET'S PUT HER WITH THE THIRD GRADERS. She tortured us. She refused to believe I was good at math (when in reality, I was very good). She forced me to count out loud or on my hands because she was convinced I had a calculator somewhere (????). If I didn't, she'd smack me on the back of the head so hard I developed chronic headaches. My mom figured it out when I kept smacking myself in the head and calling myself 'stupid' (which was strange behavior for me) and put two and two together for my sudden headaches. Upon learning that my teacher was abusing me, she went to some fellow parents who had similar stories. They assumed their kids were exaggerating, but eventually, they went to the school board."
"And this is where it gets worse. This woman convinced her friend, who worked for Child Protective Services, to go around individually to each of our houses to threaten our parents with the following: 'If you truly believe that [X] is abusing your children, and you willingly sent them to school, I will have to take your children from you as you are willfully endangering them.'
My mom pulled me out of that class ASAP, as this woman already had papers with my name written up to take me.
I was homeschooled for the rest of the year, and no joke, this woman went on to teach for another 15 YEARS. We eventually moved towns."
2."I was identified as a 'gifted student' from a pretty young age (I believe the official test was in first grade, but I had been pulled out of class since kindergarten). I was also a fairly well-behaved student and was nice and friendly, so most teachers liked me. Anyway, I have ADHD and anxiety and didn’t know it at the time, so when timed math multiplication table tests started in third grade, they were extremely hard for me. I knew the math, but when I was timed, the math facts would just leave my head, and I couldn’t concentrate. Flash forward a few tests later, and I hadn’t moved up the levels as fast as I should have. My teacher began drawing frown faces on my tests and writing that she was disappointed in me. She had spent the entirety of this math testing peering over my shoulder so she knew that I knew the math because I was testing at a sixth-grade level in third grade. She thought that I should be able to pass the math facts faster."
"I eventually told my parents because I couldn’t understand why she didn’t like me, and I hated not performing to standards for adults.
My parents had a conference with her and worked on timed math tables with me at home, so I eventually passed all the levels, and the notes stopped, but I don’t think the school ever did anything to the teacher.
I wasn’t the only kid she picked on, and I still have timed testing anxiety (especially in math) to this day."
3."My first-grade teacher would throw our workbooks across the room if she didn’t like your work. I once got hit by a book she meant to throw at another kid. In third grade, a teacher refused to let me into the classroom because I’d forgotten to have a parent sign a test (which most of the class failed, but I had passed). The school secretary found me wandering the halls in tears because I didn’t know where to go or what to do. In fourth grade, my teacher kept us all after school until the janitor was about to lock it up, refusing to let us go to the bathroom. I had to leave quickly when she released us to avoid being locked out. I then wet myself on the way home. My mother called the school and called my teacher out — the next day, she stood in front of me in class, calling me a liar."
4."My high school choir teacher put up a picture of two 'overweight' women on the board during class. She proceeded to point out everything she thought was 'wrong' with their bodies. She laughed at their 'rolls,' made fun of what they were 'probably choosing to eat,' and even went as far as to ask us how they could get married when her sister couldn’t. There were multiple girls in the room, myself included, with eating disorders. She knew this because she signed off on my 504 plan."
5."In fifth grade, there was a kid in my class who'd get very 'worked up' about any problems or subjects he didn't know. During tests, he'd talk to himself, and it was very obvious he was frustrated and didn't know the material. Instead of helping him, our teacher would make fun of him during the tests. I still remember one time so vividly — he was talking to himself during a math test, already on the verge of tears. Mr. [X] walks up, looks at his paper, and, as he's walking away, starts inserting his first name into fast food restaurant names. (Taco [X], Mc[X]). I had zero idea why. It wasn't funny, clever, or appropriate for the time. The kid got upset, and even moreso when other kids were laughing about it (all during the test). He eventually 'lost it' and started sobbing."
"I remember that day so well, thinking, 'Okay, this isn't okay anymore. He was a horrible teacher and was the reason so many kids transferred from the school in fifth grade."
6."I had a teacher in primary school that I didn't like. I remember one time we were doing some drawings for a competition, and I really needed the toilet. I kept on asking to go to the bathroom, and she was ignoring me. It got to the point where she literally gave me a note saying not to ask her again. I needed to go so much that I was crying, and I could barely walk by the time she let me finally go."
7."My 10th grade English teacher gave me a 'D' on a paper because it was handwritten, and he didn't like the way I wrote my capital 'G.' The paper was about some story or play we read that had religious overtones. And every time I wrote the word 'God,' he took points away because he said my cursive capital 'G' was incorrect. When I went to him nearly in tears after class to ask why, he told me I should have typed the paper. This was the mid-'80s — we did not have a typewriter at home, and my parents worked two jobs, so they didn't have time to take me anywhere to type a paper. I'd never had a bad grade in English before, and I was CRUSHED. I'm still resentful 38 years later."
8."When I was in seventh grade, my math teacher told me that I had to see a tutor for extra help during recess once a week because I was really struggling in her class. I didn't want to, but I went because I did want to do better. Then, after about a month of this, I asked a question during class because I didn't understand the teacher's explanation. Her reply? 'If you don't understand something as basic as this, it's no wonder you need extra tutoring.' I was so embarrassed that all of my classmates found out I was getting extra help. I was typically a really good student, so this was humiliating. I went to the bathroom and cried."
9."I had a high school history teacher who was quite open about the fact that she was out to get me. It was a small school, and she was the only history teacher there. I had her in ninth grade, and she bullied me nonstop. So I took 10th-grade history in summer school after 9th grade so I wouldn’t have to be in her class that year. Then, the next summer came along. I had one more required history course, so I tried to take that one in summer school. Well, I came to find out that she got the school board to prohibit non-failing students from taking summer school. So, I decided to wait for 12th grade to take my last history course since my course load would be mostly electives. Well, she retired toward the end of 11th grade. I thought I was in the clear, but on the first day of 12th grade, guess who came sashaying into assembly with a smirk on her face? Yup, she un-retired herself. Here's a list of 'bad things' I did, which she sent to the principal's office:"
"Sneezing, having muscle spasms while recovering from a car accident, bleeding onto my seat after she refused me permission to go to the bathroom, getting a 100% grade on a homework project that she had designed for us all to fail.The thing is, she held a lot of sway at the church, so she knew that my mother was the type of person to side with the teacher over her own child, no matter how ridiculous the charge.
She finally retired for real when I graduated."
10."In my fourth grade history class, we had to do a project about the state of Missouri using clay and marking certain things. The day it was due happened to be my grandma’s funeral. She counted it as 'late' because I had to turn it in late...because my grandma died..."
"Another time, we were doing the Oregon Trail, but offline. I was stuck with two boys, both of whom always bragged about how smart they were, and they pretty much put all the responsibility on me. I had no idea what I was doing.
I was called up to present whatever it was and got berated for not knowing what was going on. I was then forced to roll dice in front of the entire grade, which determined that I 'died' of dysentery.
Apparently, after that, I was supposed to write an essay about it. No one told me this beforehand, and I was again berated by my teacher for not knowing this.Interestingly, when I returned after graduating high school for the senior visit to the school, my history teacher refused to look at me."
11."It was the student's last day of school, and my kindergarten teacher had us sign a 'good luck' card to some other teachers. I signed it 'Amaamanda' instead of 'Amanda.' Well, she went ballistic on me and said I ruined the card. I was told I was going to miss recess for it. She made me stay in the classroom by myself with the lights off. I mean, there was plenty of natural light, but I felt more in trouble with them off. I know it’s easy for me to say this, not actually knowing how difficult it is to be a teacher, but that was one of many instances that showed I might have ADHD. I didn’t have the hyperactivity, so I often fell through the cracks. Screw you, Mrs. [X]."
12."This happened to me in ninth grade. My color guard teacher SUCKED. It was a very neurotypical environment that I was in (I have autism and ADHD, so it was very hard to learn all the moves). In the summer, DURING BREAK, we literally had to meet up at school for eight and a half to 10 hours a day while being 'promised breaks.' The neurotypicals there may have thought that was enough, but I needed to go home to relax. The kicker is when, on the first day of high school, because this woman moved so fast, I literally saw her offering this service to another kid. I asked her if she could watch me do the moves to make sure I had a certain part of the routine correct, as she looked like she was done helping the others, (or so I thought). She yelled, 'You're telling me to change the way I teach' and a bunch of other bullcrap. I quit that day. After that three-hour-long rehearsal, I went sobbing to my mom, and she and my dad basically did their best to support me."
—missmadeleinebellechristiansen
13."I was eight years old at summer school. We were allowed to have water bottles in our classroom. When I was a kid, I didn't like to drink water, and we weren't allowed to have juice or anything like that in class — just water. But one day, my mom found clear-flavored water, and she gave me a bottle of that to take to school. We put it in a normal water bottle so the teachers wouldn't know. But, the problem started during our morning. I quickly went back inside the classroom to have a drink and found three of my classmates by the bottles. They tried some of mine, sussed out it was flavored, and started ganging up on me. They spit on me and yelled, 'YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED FLAVORED WATER!" I didn't know what to say, so I just ran outside until the break was over. After, I went to my teacher to tell her what had happened. She gave me a sick smile and said, 'But you shouldn't have had flavored water."
"I stood there for a moment, stunned, and just sat back down confused as hell (I was a quiet student, btw, unlike the other three who ganged up on me). I never caused trouble, and I used to like this teacher...but after that, nope.
I get that I wasn't 'allowed' flavored water, but surely, what's more important? A quiet student getting spat on by three students or whether I've got plain or flavored water???"
14."I had really severe eczema on my hands as a kid. I used to keep them tucked up in my sleeves to avoid people seeing them and getting blood on my paper (yes, it was that bad). She called me out during a test and said to take my hands out of my sleeves because 'it’s not like that’s gonna help my grade.' I was a shy kid and silently cried through the rest of the test. Also, I was a straight-A, 'gifted' student, so why she was acting like I had a poor grade, I'll never know. I’ll never forget that woman being needlessly cruel to a child who was already in physical pain."
"It was extra weird because prior to this, I had never been in trouble in her class, and I liked her. Although I was socially shy, I was not shy in her classroom. I participated regularly in class discussions, answered questions, and volunteered to read. I genuinely got the impression that she liked me as a student.
After she embarrassed me like that, I completely wrote her off and didn’t care to participate or talk to her anymore. I’m almost 37, and I still remember exactly how I felt in that moment."
15."My teacher made a point of belittling me every single day for a year because my interests were different from the mainstream in a small town. It was nothing out of the ordinary, either — I was into pop culture (like the Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons). This was a place where there was no culture outside of football for boys or netball for girls. I'm over 40 now, and I still go back to that town a few times a year. That teacher is lucky I haven't gotten revenge now that the tables of relative strength have turned. He also used to wave his penis around in the changing rooms when we had swimming lessons...every single time."
16."My English teacher would presumably give me a 50% on every essay because she didn't want to read them. So, I decided to try really hard on all of my essays for one semester and see if I could get better. I enlisted the help of my extremely smart older sister to help me write ALL of my essays (a girl who had received a 99% in this teacher's class in the past). Well, I still got a 50% on every essay. So, for the last essay of the semester, we worked long and hard on it, and my sister was sure we'd get a better mark. My teacher still gave me a 50%! My mom and sister went into the school and sat down with the teacher and principal and had it out with this teacher. She maintained that I was a 50% essay writer (on the English final, I got an 80% on my essay with 'blind marking'). Fuck you, Ms. [X]...."
17."I had a teacher who was standing up while talking to our class — everyone was quiet and either listening or at least wasn't actively disrupting things. He stopped mid-sentence, threw his coffee mug against the chalkboard, angrily said, 'Fuck it — learn it yourselves!' and stormed out. Everyone just looked around and was like, 'Who was talking? Was it you? No?' None of us could figure out what the hell set him off, and we could see him outside the room pacing back and forth, muttering something. Five minutes later, he came back into the class and started talking, acting like nothing happened."
18."In primary school, one of the kids had smeared poop on a cubicle toilet. So my teacher asked us to take a look at it one by one. Then we had to bend over, bare-assed in front of her so that she could look at all the boys' butts. I remember her smacking my six-year-old butt, saying, 'Nice bottom.' I tend to get flashbacks of some really bad parts of my childhood, and [this is one of them]."
19."My high school band director had severe anger issues and was easily set off. He once threw a loudspeaker at us during marching band practice and would yell at us after a competition if he didn't think we performed well."
20."A girl in my math class complained about doing a certain math equation. Our teacher turned around from her spot in front of the whiteboard and shouted, 'Well, it's not like I'm asking you to slit your wrists.' The girl complaining had a family member die by suicide a year earlier, and our whole class went off on this teacher. The teacher just laughed and said we were 'overreacting' while the girl sat and cried in the corner."
21."The first time I ever wore shorts above my knees, my Spanish teacher said I was disgusting for wearing shorts to school and slapped both of my thighs."
22."I had a teacher who gave me failing grades but never returned my assignments. We'd take a test, and then the following day, she'd read our scores out loud in front of the class: '[One student]: 98%. [Another student]: 90%. [my name]: 27%.' I was so frustrated because I was studying my butt off, and I didn't know what I was doing wrong. After fighting with the teacher and eventually having to involve the school board, it came out that the teacher didn't even look at the tests. She randomly gave scores based on how smart she thought the students were and how much she liked them."
23."I was five years old and hyperactive, and she tied me to my chair. She also held my hand during formation in the mornings and squeezed it so hard that my tiny knuckles would crack. When I’d instinctively try to pull my hand away, she’d hold onto it, smile at me, and ask me if it hurt."
24."I once had a high school theater teacher 'jokingly' tell me to kill myself in front of the entire class because I was crying about something unrelated. Everyone just kind of went quiet, like, 'Huh???' And then she got really offended that we weren't laughing about it. The tech theater teacher (an actual saint) called my parents that night to check on me and made sure they knew because he knew I wasn't going to stand up for myself on my own. Generally, teachers are fantastic and underappreciated, but that woman was something else."
25.And finally, "This was my math teacher, who was also the sex ed teacher and a coach. He was very determined to ensure that the girls in his math class knew that STEM was not for girls. He refused to answer questions in class from girls and said things like, 'It's okay if you don't get this — you won't need it after high school' (only to the girls). His sex ed class involved leaving us alone in the room to watch videos on sexually transmitted diseases and schizophrenia and to do self-guided busywork."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453(4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.
