In 6th grade, we had an English teacher who was beloved by his students (mostly because the whole class was a big party with ridiculously easy tests). Anyway, he would often pick on one kid in particular and would refer to him as a “retarded flea”. We’d laugh and laugh. He also would sit at his desk and have 2-3 of the girls massage his neck and shoulders while teaching from his desk. On top of that, he would regularly kiss the pretty girls on the cheek. Everyone thought he was nicest funniest teacher in the school.
In 10th grade, we had a male History teacher who proclaimed: “90% of American women are beautiful. The rest live in New Jersey.” Again, we laughed while the girls pouted (we were in NJ).
Also in 10th grade, we had a female English teacher who referred to the one east-Asian kid in our class as “my little sumorai [sic]”. She meant samurai, but her stupidity was clearly not the issue.
In 11th grade, we had a new AP Physics teacher - a Cornell PhD no less - whose zipper was unzipped on about 50% of the days. Every time, someone would have tell him to zip up. What made it worse was that he had this habit of putting one leg up on a chair while he was lecturing standing up, so no one had to ever guess the color of his underwear. Being somewhat naive, we just made fun of him until one of the other teachers told us that she thought it was intentional. We were all like :eek:. If so, he played the absent-minded professor schtick very well. Thinking back, I do wonder why a Cornell PhD would decide to teach high school Physics.
I can’t believe that you didn’t think about reporting number 4. The mere possibility of seeing teacher “junk” would’ve put me over the edge.
In 4th grade, I had a teacher who smoked in class and told us that she wanted a leather briefcase for Christmas. (She didn’t make it to Christmas. Several kids told their parents that she smoking in class. Even in 1978, this was frowned upon. )
In high school, one of the female gym teachers spent far too much time monitoring students’ showers.
Also in high school, my AP American History teacher, an African-American gentleman, confused two kids’ names. And then he said, “Well, all you white kids look alike.” Although that was hilarious, because we did all look alike – sun-streaked hair and various levels of suntan/peeling. No one reported that because he is a GREAT teacher and a great guy generally.
We had a literature teacher in my high school years ago that put together one of those search-a-word puzzles with authors names in it. She also managed to get several swear words into the puzzle as well. Way too many to write off as a coincidence. Several of the students found them in there, and at least one parent was alerted to it. The principal, superintendent, and school board were not amused, and she wound up taking a “sabbatical”.
My 10th grade history teacher spent most of the class time talking about his family and things they did. It felt like he was advocating his way of life rather than doing his job - it was just creepy and uncomfortable in his class.
In 9th grade, I went from Catholic school to public school, so my mom enrolled me in CCD (religion) classes one evening a week. My class was taught by a college student who spent much of the time reading her poetry to us - it had nothing to do with the supposed curriculum. Then she declared that she didn’t think there was anything wrong with masturbation. While I can’t disagree with that now, at the time, I was embarrassingly naive and in my dictionary, masturbation = “self-abuse” - I didn’t know what that was, but it sounded bad. It bothered me enough that I told my mother, and she, thankfully, pulled me out of that stupid class. I never had to go back. Yay!!
I remember my 5th grade teacher made sure we were Nixon supporters. She’d have us compare the two presidential candidates and give us all these horrible facts about McGovern.
In 11th grade, the band director told us he had to resign so he could go support his uncle’s farm in Nashville. Turns out he had gotten caught in a hotel with the current and previous drum majors as “Mr Raines, wife and daughter.”
Everyone thought my Sociology teacher in 12th grade was gay, but it turned out he wasn’t. He was fooling around with a couple of girl seniors and getting them to loan him money from their copious allowances.
Lots of racism in elementary school. 6th grade teacher called Martin Luther King a bum just days before he was killed. Plenty of other minor racism and sexism. I think the kids and their parents were worse than the teachers.
I had a science teacher in 5th grade who seemed to delight in picking people who missed questions. If you answered something incorrectly she’d stop and go ‘Wrrooooonnnnnggg!’ and then just keep going.
Had a professor in college who would spend class time going on and on about the things the school administrators did that he didn’t like. Only he had a schedule he kept with his class presentations (all on overheads) and wouldn’t go back and cover things he didn’t have time to get through in the previous class. Once he was moving and spent a week repeatedly hinting that anyone with a truck or van who helped him move would be taken care of. I took a class on Sat mornings from 9 to 12 to avoid having him again.
In 7th or 8th grade our government teacher, who was a coach, had us listen to a recording of some right wing radio show discussing the evils of music with emphasis on backward masking. While the show was entertaining I did wonder what it had to do with anything relating to government.
I don’t believe it was too long a after that that he was fired for sleeping with a student and getting her pregnant.
I guess most guys loved gym class and I was no different. So I brought my own bat and glove when I knew we were gonna play baseball. After one 4th grade gym class we were all headed back to the locker room to change I was bouncing the head of my bat across the tiled gym floor (elementary school) and the gym teacher hits me in the back with another bat chastising me for doing that. As much trouble as I got into in school I nevedr told my parents, but I sure should have because I have back problems today in the very area of my back where he hit me.
Many years later when I was an adult I read in the paper where he accidentally shot himself in the leg while cleaning a hand gum…Serves him right.
8th grade: Had a teacher that taught us nearly nothing about his subject (World History) but lots about the local real estate investing that he was involved in. He was very proud of his (late 1980s-era) cellphone, and once, when he was being mouthed off to by a young man, called the young man’s mama at work to tell her all about it, as the class gaped. It was widely known throughout the school not to tick THAT teacher off, as he would waste no time in calling your parents right then and there. He was a jovial guy, but could turn on a dime and get angry and vindictive.
Many years later, that same teacher wound up making national news for cutting the belt loops on a boy’s jeans with a pocketknife and slamming him against a wall. The kid reported him for bullying and threatening him, and he was fired immediately.
Third grade: The teacher mocked me in front of the whole class for my pronunciation of ‘math’, as we waited outside to go into the classroom. ‘“Me-yath”? I’ve never heard of “me-yath”! What’s “me-yath”?’ As a San Diego kid, I don’t know where I picked up the New Jersey accent. But in any case, I thought it was a very inappropriate thing to do. (I’ve watched my pronunciation and syntax in the decades since, so some people think I have an accent. I don’t; I just try not to be sloppy with my speech.)
Same teacher, third grade: It was storytime. Something about a young fox’s adventures in a forest. One night, the fox came to a strange trail and ‘two fiery suns’ were approaching rapidly. The teacher asked the class what the ‘two fiery suns’ were. None of us could answer. She started raising her voice: Come on! Two fiery suns! What are they? Are you all stupid? Yes, she called us all stupid. Eventually she became exasperated enough to tell us that it was a car approaching, and the ‘two fiery suns’ were headlights.
I almost… seriously, I almost said ‘None of us are old enough to drive.’ (Also, most of us had to be inside when the streetlights came on.) At eight years old, we didn’t have the life experience to answer her question, so we were ‘stupid’. I kept my trap shut because she was so wound up I didn’t want to get into trouble. I wish I hadn’t. I would like to have seen her reaction.
Had a nun in 5th grade who was sick of having to reprimand kids for swearing and gave an angry speech to the class about “I’ve been teaching for 15 years and you know what would happen to me if I said fuck, shit, or god damn!!”
In 6th grade we were returning to class with everyone pushing through the doorway and one kid was using the corner of his book to push the girl in front of him. Our male teacher saw and was so angry he grabbed the kid by the back of the neck and threw him to the ground.
8th grade gym teacher must have seen himself as a drill instructor and found every way he could to berate the chubby and weak kids. He even formed groups of “atheletes”, “average”, or “underachievers”. He made the atheletes his class pets who helped him bark orders at the average kids and had the underachievers go in the corner of the gym and spend the whole period running, doing jumping jacks, or try to touch their toes not allowed to participate in any sporting activites.
Major asshole.
I had an 8th-grade science teacher call me a god-damned liar, with great emphasis and fury. It was a complicated situation and I couldn’t tell him why he was wrong.
I had a high-school teacher - Jesuit priest - who would peg students, hard, with a chalk eraser for talking, not paying attention or even perceived smarting off. You could tell who had ticked off Fr. Henry that day by the yellow-white rectangle on their shirt or jacket.
And I had a fourth-grade teacher who was somewhere between socio- and psychopathic. Hated kids, hated her job, hated the school and made sure you understood she hated you whenever she had to deal with you one on one. Nasty, bitter, vicious bitch. I took some lasting damage from her as a student, and I’d bet she ruined more than one of my classmate’s lives.
OTOH, I had an English teacher my freshman year who would put on an Army jacket and take roll - you had to answer “Sir, here, sir!” or take fearful abuse. Mind you, this was NOT a military academy, and AFAIK, he had never served. It was just his personal ongoing joke.
One kid got him. “Flynn!” “Here.” (sound of breath being held all over the classroom) “FLYNN!” “Still here.”
But I won. I learned how to say it in a different language every day.