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I'd say a handful were. Some people must go into teaching because they're driven by some sad form of narcissism. They get an ego out of having kids accept their every word as the gospel. The occasional oddball teacher would behave like that.
What does "into himself" actually mean and what are the specific characteristics that mark it?
I guess the OP hasn't seen this to answer it yet...the way I took it was, the teacher felt s/he was God's gift, so to speak, and far superior? Would that be right? And as though his/her class and specifically, his/her level of "genius" in the subject meant the kids were receiving an amazing gift of some kind?
I could be wrong, but that was my immediate feeling. I hadn't put it into words like that at the time so if this doesn't really make sense, I apologize.
I guess the OP hasn't seen this to answer it yet...the way I took it was, the teacher felt s/he was God's gift, so to speak, and far superior? Would that be right? And as though his/her class and specifically, his/her level of "genius" in the subject meant the kids were receiving an amazing gift of some kind?
I could be wrong, but that was my immediate feeling. I hadn't put it into words like that at the time so if this doesn't really make sense, I apologize.
One thing I realize about my teen years is that I didn't really have a clue about understanding the motivations of adults. I simply didn't know enough about the adult world to read the signs correctly. "I didn't know their struggles." I didn't even know what the struggles were.
But these days I've been around, been through my own struggles, and I've seen some things. I've also worked with people through their own struggles and raised a couple of kids of my own into adulthood.
I'm not at all certain I had any ability to determine as a teenager what adults around me may or may nothave been "into themselves." A man who is nursing a wife through cancer treatment looks to people he can't confide in a lot like someone who is "into himself."
my teachers were pretty apathetic to me as I was to them. Some of my friends made good friendships with them.
One teacher spent all her time talking about when/how/why her bf (now husband) wouldn't propose. Then when he did in December, we got to hear all about the wedding plans. She would never actually go over anything in class. it was all you need to read the book on your own free time. She gave us mock AP tests where most of the class (besides her hand picked favorites) got 1 or 2 and failed. (on the actual AP exam I got a 5). She would never say what was wrong, rather "I don't like this".
I use to love any form of history. Before her, I thought I would major in history in college/gotten a PhD in it and then teach it where ever. She single-handedly killed that dream for me. It actually impacted a lot of my decisions.
I had one teacher like this - an English teacher - but I didn't let it affect me in any sort of permanently bitter way. I felt sorry for him. He was elderly, had never written the Great American Novel as he'd obviously wanted to and was stuck teaching bored kids. (Except for me. I've never been bored in an English class in my life, LOL. Not even one with a really, really bad teacher.)
He was a failure, at least as he saw himself, and he verbally pummeled me in retaliation, because he knew I DID have a future, while his day had come and gone. He stood in front of the class one day and made a little speech about people who wanted to be "stars," segueing into, "Indeed, in every class, every year I seem to have one 'star'. I think JerZ wants to be a star. What do you all think? Is JerZ the 'star' of the class?" The tone was caustic and his smile was very, very Snape (but not as handsome). I sat there and inwardly died while everyone giggled. From then on, this man never missed a chance. If I raised my hand to answer, he'd nastily ask, "Oh, does the CLASS STAR want to answer the question? We are so very fortunate." If I didn't raise my hand: "What? Nobody has an answer? Not even our wonderful little class star?"
I never scored less than an A on a single test or piece of homework in that class. But in my second semester he put me down for a B for my class grade anyway. I was mystified and went to him, trembling, for an explanation. He smiled and asked, "Who is the teacher here?" As a child of the 70s/80s, I knew there was no retaliation and no grownup in a position of authority over this man was going to do anything, and I didn't want the third and fourth semesters to be even more hellish, so I shut my mouth and took the B. It is the only grade lower than an A that I've ever received in any English course in my entire life...and I didn't even earn it. Technically, I earned an A.
I pitied him, but I kept loving English no matter how awful he was. And he WAS awful...the things he said/yelled to/at his kids would have had him fired today. He even specifically devised ways to have a "reason" to humiliate us; for example, one morning he stood in front of the class, reading an open newspaper. There was silence for quite some time; a hand or two rose, faltered, then went down. Finally a boy, who had always been very nice and never a behavior problem - ergo, he couldn't have "given" this man any reason to dislike him - asked softly with a little hesitant smile, "What are you reading in the paper, Mr. M-?" with one hand up and the teacher flipped the paper down onto his desk, smiled and ordered the boy to the principal for speaking out in class. The boy blushed beet red, took his books and left with his head down. This sort of thing was not unusual and the principal didn't want to hear our "excuses" if we complained; I'm pretty sure the entire school was simply waiting for this man to retire and finally go away.
I wonder where he is today. Dead, I assume. He was in his 60s, I think, and this was 30 years ago. But I have thought of him often over the years, and even today I wish he could have given us kids a chance. I so wanted to love him; I loved many, many of my English teachers, out of respect for their knowledge. I was very sorrowful all that year and though he hurt me badly, I never hated him. I only felt pity.
But overall, it was easy, even as a young person, to see who was spiteful/bitter and who wasn't. I think we kids were always pretty clear on that. Kids are prone to using "the teacher hates me" as an excuse for any and every mishap in school, but they really do have good instincts for who wants to be there, and who has one hell of a grudge.
I am grateful that most of my teachers were NOT like the unfortunate and very angry Mr. M-. In fact, we kids had much more of a problem with teachers overall in younger grades. It seems as though in the 70s, young children were treated as non-entities by teachers. As we matured (and moved into the 80s) that changed, at least for me, my classes, and my schools.
English was my favorite, too, and my eventual undergrad major. I was always a good writer, and loved to read and analyze. I even loved researching and writing term papers. I was fortunate to only have one English teacher in all my schooling who was bad. She was also an embittered, soon-to-retire teacher who seemed to be a generally unhappy woman. She never targeted me, but she did others in our class. She mostly just didn't seem to want to be there at all, and her teaching was pretty rote and uninspired. For the most part, however, I had really great English teachers.
English was my favorite, too, and my eventual undergrad major. I was always a good writer, and loved to read and analyze. I even loved researching and writing term papers. I was fortunate to only have one English teacher in all my schooling who was bad. She was also an embittered, soon-to-retire teacher who seemed to be a generally unhappy woman. She never targeted me, but she did others in our class. She mostly just didn't seem to want to be there at all, and her teaching was pretty rote and uninspired. For the most part, however, I had really great English teachers.
I did too. Overall, my English teachers were wonderful and I had few real complaints about any of my HS teachers as a whole. This was the only "baddie" I had and as I said, it was easy to see how unhappy he was. I felt sorry for him and just got through the year...but the experience didn't kill my love of English.
One thing I realize about my teen years is that I didn't really have a clue about understanding the motivations of adults. I simply didn't know enough about the adult world to read the signs correctly. "I didn't know their struggles." I didn't even know what the struggles were.
But these days I've been around, been through my own struggles, and I've seen some things. I've also worked with people through their own struggles and raised a couple of kids of my own into adulthood.
I'm not at all certain I had any ability to determine as a teenager what adults around me may or may nothave been "into themselves." A man who is nursing a wife through cancer treatment looks to people he can't confide in a lot like someone who is "into himself."
Well, if you'd really like to know what the OP meant, you could always DM him/her. The rest is just guesswork on our part.
One thing I realize about my teen years is that I didn't really have a clue about understanding the motivations of adults. I simply didn't know enough about the adult world to read the signs correctly. "I didn't know their struggles." I didn't even know what the struggles were.
But these days I've been around, been through my own struggles, and I've seen some things. I've also worked with people through their own struggles and raised a couple of kids of my own into adulthood.
I'm not at all certain I had any ability to determine as a teenager what adults around me may or may nothave been "into themselves." A man who is nursing a wife through cancer treatment looks to people he can't confide in a lot like someone who is "into himself."
Here's the thing, though.
I've been a teacher. I've been a teacher going through a horrible personal trauma, a few different times. One relationship-related, another a health issue, a few instances of grief/loss. Just like anybody.
It would have been unprofessional to let any of those things affect how I treated students as a teacher, at the end of the day. You HAVE TO keep your personal baggage in check at the door if you are going to do your job well as an educator. Many don't.
I've been a teacher. I've been a teacher going through a horrible personal trauma, a few different times. One relationship-related, another a health issue, a few instances of grief/loss. Just like anybody.
It would have been unprofessional to let any of those things affect how I treated students as a teacher, at the end of the day..
I'm sure you're sure you did.
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