Hopefully, we’ve all had at least one good teacher in our lives who touched us, inspired us, or encouraged us to peruse a subject with enthusiasm
But it seems more common that we’ve all had a teacher who has done us wrong — and those stories leave scars.
Last week, Los Angeles-based animator Marie Lum posed a question on the social platform, asking people to share ‘something a teacher did that still makes you mad’. The query clearly struck a chord, with thousands of other Twitters users chiming in to rant about their own experiences.
Some stories can be chocked up to incompetent teachers who lack knowledge on a subject or the ability to impart that knowledge to others. Some are tales of insensitivity, dismissiveness, and even cruelty.
What all these ‘bad’ teachers seem to have in common is a stubborn steak, digging their heels in even when they’ve been proven wrong, simply because they hold the power.
Scarred: Thousands of Twitters uses are still angry about something a teacher did, even though it’s many years later
Prepare to be angry: They responded to this Twitter user’s request for stories about teachers doing infuriating things
Best revenge! After a teacher seriously overreacted to a mistake, this woman when on to become a nurse and is also attending medical school
Not the best idea… This teacher apparently didn’t read the studies that show doodling can help people remember things
Is that the gym teacher in Mean Girls? One sex education teacher gave out some very dubious information to students
Looks like the teacher failed! If an entire class performs poorly on an exam, chances are that the material wasn’t taught well
Just plain cruel: This Twitter user had to make a Mother’s Day card after the death of a parent
Too good to be true? Rather than praise this woman for her good work, a teacher failed her for being too good
Way to discourage ’em, teach! A teacher and a guidance counselor both failed this man
Purely awful: This woman’s teacher probably should not be allowed around kids
Priorities: This principal stuck his nose where it didn’t blong
Learn something new: This is one of several Twitter users who knew something her teacher didn’t — but instead of admitting it, this teacher insisted he knew everything
Seriously? One horrible teacher accused a talented artist of tracing with no proof
Rough: This woman’s teacher was insensitive to her feelings about animals
Take that! This woman went on to have a career in computer programming
How rude! To be fair, a top rule of writing is to always use the word ‘said’ — but that doesn’t mean this Twitter user doesn’t understand the vocabulary he uses
Look it up! It’s bad enough that an English teacher didn’t know the word ‘rapport,’ but much worse that it didn’t occur to her to use a dictionary
Real mature! This person’s first grade teacher must have felt really cool telling a six-year-old not to use ‘childish’ language
Ha! Not to be thwarted, he went on to write comics using the word ‘bunny’
Teachers know everything: Unfortunately, stories of bad teachers tend to stick with people in a more permanent way than those of good teachers
Wrong line of work: Quite a few of these teachers should have tried different careers
Manual labor: Playing the blame game rarely helps a situation