Share your stories of Teachers Abusing Students (counselor, professions, county)

[austinsmom]

Wow! I haven't heard of anything like these happening in my part of the district. I'm in Gaston County, NC. I'm sure in some other areas where the students are 'rougher', teacher behavior is as well. We LOVE our son's elementary school and his teachers so far have been wonderful. There are those that are not as emotionally involved as others and some that aren't as good as others but nothing horrendous. The only thing I can think of is when I had some time off b/w jobs back in September I went in to eat lunch with him quite often as I don't get to when working. There is one little boy in his class who seems a tad slow, nothing major but not quite to where the others are. He's a very sweet boy. All the kids would fight over who got to sit with us (I sit at the table with the class) and he got ready to sit down one day. I swear the child had not even opened his mouth and a teacher assistant (the teachers get to eat in the lounge and take a break) told him to go sit at the end of the table by himself. He asked what he had done and she said nothing yet but I'm sure you will. I wanted to punch her! If the child had done something, it's one thing to punish but not when he hadn't done anything at all! My son calls her "the devil" and said she is very mean. Thank God she's not in his class or she'd have heard from me by now. I actually fell really bad b/c I should have said something to their teacher about it and stood up for him but didn't.

I know those of on here have our children's best interests at heart but I really hate this attack that everyone seems to be on regarding teachers. Some teachers thoroughly enjoy their jobs and do everything they can to make sure our children are educated. Teachers deal with horrible kids who are being taught nothing from their parents. A lot of kids aren't taught to respect teachers or any other adult for that matter. Teachers aren't allowed to punish kids anymore b/c no matter what they do, it's wrong. Spanking is inhumane (all they had to do was threaten me with a paddling and I straightened up...that was my biggest fear: a paddling by the principal) and anything they do in front of other students is considered embarrassing. So what are they supposed to do? So many parents are on the bandwagon to "improve" education (complaining about punishments) but all they are doing is taking away what little control teachers have in their classrooms. Little Johnny knows if he gets in trouble and gets punished (made to eat lunch at a special table or anything other kids see) all he has to do is run home to Mommy and she'll be at the school telling them how wrong they are. So Little Johnny has no reason to straighten up and then he makes it impossible for the teacher to teach the other 20 kids in class. Extreme behavior is wrong and if any teacher ever shook, hit, or ridiculed my child, you bet I'd be up there in a heart beat defending him. But I also support the faculty at my son's school. Children need limits and it's getting harder and harder for teachers to enforce them.

[pegmomof4]

This is not an attack on all teachers. My mother and two sisters in law are educators, and great ones at that. To me, I have just lived in a school culture where adults are not held accountable for misconduct. Hold children accountable....ABSOLUTELY!

But let's start with the adults, and model self discipline, respect, and not tolerate the abuse. I see both sides of this. I have all too often seen kids backed into a corner and punished for nothing.

Another example told to me last night, a teacher in my county called a 7th grade girl a "lesbian", not sure why, and when she responded to the teacher who called her that name, she was suspended for disrespect. The mother did get some resolution from the principal, and I hope that it was handled, but the girl did serve her suspension for reacting disrespectfully to a teacher.

How do you even begin to expect a 7th grader to react to that? Lower your eyes and say "thank you" ???????

[HighlandsGal]

Woh. Schools sound pretty crazy in the South! I have taught in Michigan and Colorado and if stuff like that happened in my school....the teacher would be fired for sure! They don't seem very sharp.

Now, what about teachers being abused by students and parents?? I could tell you some of those stories too.

[Hasdrubal]

She abused her student

[RoaminRed]

As a child, I went to a series of small parochial schools. All of them allowed various forms of physical and emotional punishment of the students. This included but was not limited to:

1: Being given a shovel and forced to dig a hole of a specified size behind the school. This could be in any type of weather.

2: Being locked in the dark supply closet for failure to correctly repeat from memory the daily set of bible verses.

3: Writing thousands of sentences for opening your eyes during the school prayer.

4: Being compelled to stand up in front of the class and hold your nose to a small dot drawn on the chalkboard for up to 1hr at a time.

5: Paddling with a ping-pong paddle.

6: Public humiliation in front of school assembly for various wrongdoings.

7: Taunting (by the teacher and the class) of suspected homosexual children.

There's more, and none of it is pretty. I remember a good portion of the teachers as being just plain mean.

[tkdmom]

This was something that played a part in my decision to home school. When my son was in Kindergarten, he had a teacher that didn't like boys, being fidgity didn't help. Actually, I don't think she cared much for the girls either. Anyway, my son stepped out of line, on a very sweltering day, to get a drink of water, the teacher grabbed his arm and jerked him back in line and said ( he was 4 yo) "whats wrong with you, why can't you listen like everyone else". He said he raised his hand a bunch of times but she ignored him. My friend just happened to be an aide in the class that day and had seen what happened so she called me to let me know. At that point, I had to step out of my nice realm. I made it very clear to that teacher she would be spending a long stay in a hospital if she ever touched my kid again. Im all for accountibility, but let the punishment fit the crime, imo. And when educating very young children you need a certain level of patience and compassion.

Besides I thought learning was supposed to be fun, when did it take an ominous turn !

I know there are great techers out there ( several of my friends happen to be educators) and I know teachers get abused too and thats just one more reason I home school, I don't want my kid in an enviroment with juvenile delinquents or abusive kids.

Some would call this sheltering. What does it mean to shelter?
Protect, Defend, Guard, Preserve, Watch over, Shield, Safeguard. Yep, I guess Im guilty, but isn't that my job as a parent.

[dynimagelv]

Originally Posted by Hasdrubal

She abused her student

And she became my 14 yr old grandsons dream teacher........


He found a real g'friend.....thankfully.......

[sad delta]

While there are REALLY GOOD teachers out there, I'm sure everyone will agree, there are also those who REALLY DON'T NEED TO BE AROUND CHILDREN period!!!! And the sad thing is this.....that's not likely to change! My kids are grown now, but we fought the same problems you have mentioned. With the administration behind their teachers 100%, mostly out of blind loyalty, nothing will ever be done! Unless it's a sexual abuse a parent found out about, you don't usually have the support of the administration! Complaints from parents are on the bottom of the list of priorities for administration, even though they want you, the parent, to think differently! During all the school killings going on around the country 5 yrs. ago or so, my daughter was told by another student she wanted to "slit her throat". This was said to her after weeks of bullying her in full view of other students AND teachers! That was the final straw for my husband and I....we called board members and the principal! As it turned out, they only offered us an apology from the girl, IF we wanted it. In her defense, the principal said the girl was currently under a shrink's care and hard to handle. He also said he had a talk with her and she admitted saying it. The problem, the girl was the daughter of the high school English teacher. They didn't want to cause any attention to the school because of that incident. I refused the apology and withdrew my daughter from that school that very morning! What a shame.....really!

[bluebelt1234]

I am a teacher and I do think we spend way too much time being attacked by parents and other members of the community. I honestly think that if both parents and administrators would get behind their teachers 100% then the schools would be in much better shape than they are today. Parents spend way too much time attacking teachers and not enough time supporting what they are trying to do in a classroom. I know that there are some teachers who have "lost it" and they should just quit teaching and not be allowed to work in the classroom anymore. I honestly wonder how many teachers out there have been forced to tolerate abuse from students and administrators. I imagine there are quite a few of us out there. I have had to deal with students who brought lighters to school, one threatened to kill me, and one first grader threatened to throw a desk at me. I also had to deal with a first grader who pulled his pants and underwear down and showed the entire class. Gee, I wonder how many parents who spend all this time attacking teachers would be able to handle this job.

[sad delta]

There are teachers who do more harm with one word to a child...and there are teachers who can totally inspire a child with one word!! We all can look back and remember the ones who were terrifying and the ones who were inspiring!! I don't believe parents spend their time working out a well laid plan to attack teachers! But to pretend teachers DO NOT abuse is simply denial! The thread is about teacher abuse...no-one is denying abuse teachers have taken from students and parents, but that would be another thread! This thread is about teachers who abuse.....