1. Unpopular Scapegoat
My 4th grade teacher had a reputation for making one boy in her class an unpopular scapegoat each year. Lucky me. In previous years I'd been just another kid in the playground, but within two months the other kids wouldn't play with me during recess.
One day I refused to go outside for recess. She asked why, and I foolishly told her that the other kids didn't like me. When they came back in, she marched me to the front of the class, and asked for a show of hands, who didn't like me. Fourth grade kids (mostly) did what fourth grade kids do.
I broke down that night and told my Mom what had happened and what had been going on all along. She marched into school the next day, got a meeting that included the principal, and tore the teacher a new one. I was still stuck in that class, but the teacher moved on to a new victim.
Funny thing how self esteem influences academic performance. My school used to give us a Stanford Binet IQ Test every year. My score dropped ten points from third to fourth grade, then rose twenty points in fifth grade when I had a nurturing teacher. If you are still alive, curse you, Mrs. Ericson.
ImGumbyDamnIt
2. Superb Classicist
I had a first year lecturer in classics who went out of his way to terrorise the class. His first words to us were, "I suspect as many as half of you cannot read." He then administered a test, which two-thirds of the class failed. He was not shy about voicing his rather gleeful displeasure.
I did well enough to avoid his wrath, and, annoyingly, get singled out for praise. He would routinely throw questions at students who weren't paying rigorous attention -- in a three-hour lecture on Friday morning -- and then berate them for not knowing the answers.
His comments on papers were beyond trenchant: "Are you illiterate?" "Do you imagine this makes sense?" "This is childish." etc. The unfortunate part is that he was a superb classicist. A close second was a novelist-turned-writing-prof who hurled a girl's manuscript out of his office door -- nearly hitting me in the hall -- as he shouted "THIS. IS. NOT. WRITING."
She came out to pick up her magnus opus moments later, weeping.
Great writer, self-confessed crap teacher.
varro-reatinus
3. The Bowlcut
I had a huge bowlcut in middle school. Like the kid from the shining, but not as long. I got my haircut the day before the first day of school and it looked pretty good. However, the next morning I woke up late and didn't have time to shower.
My cowlick was out of control and was standing straight up. Instead of going to school with a hair boner I grabbed some hair gel and put quite a bit on to keep it weighed down. It felt crusty but I figure nobody else would notice.
The hair gel was very cheap. The kind that starts to break up as it dried out.
While on the bus to school, a kid behind me noticed all the white flakes in my hair, and screamed about how much "dandruff" I had. I was terrified as all the kids gathered around to see. I tried my best to explain but those kids were brutal.
I had been identified already as the kid with bad hygiene.
Later in the day an 8th grader loudly exclaimed that I had jizz in my hair. I had no idea what jizz was and tried my best to explain. Thank goodness nobody else was really around. I’d rather be the kid with bad hygiene than the kid with jizz in his hair any day.
A few years ago I found out my nickname was second head due to my bowl cut. I used to think my haircut was awesome.
Man, middle school was terrible.
fap_like_a_sir
4. The Accusation
My literature professor brought me in to tell me my paper was flagged by the software for being plagiarized from over 180 other student papers from around the country. Not websites, not public articles, student papers from other schools. Longest chain of "plagiarized" words was 6.
I laughed because I thought she was pointing out how ridiculously sensitive the software was. She was offended that I laughed at her.
I asked her if she really believed that I tracked down almost 200 students to steal 3 word phrases from them and stitch them together into a paper, which would take 50x the effort that it actually took to write it. Not in those exact words.
I really thought I wrote a great paper. Got an A but I think it was because she felt dumb.
InTooDeepButICanSwim
5. Sworn Into Silence
The girls in our elementary school were given proto-ed before the boys. The basic puberty stuff, your body is starting to change, you might develop breasts, sweating, all that stuff.
They made a huge stupid deal about keeping it quiet. It's the girls' little secret. Don't go spreading it around school. (It only occurs to me now that that... is kinda dangerous in the wider scope of things.)
Anyway, my best friend was a boy and naturally, I skipped right off to tell him why suddenly half the class had an assembly all by themselves. My teacher heard about it, got me alone, grabbed me by both arms and shook me. "Keep your mouth. Shut."
She was my favorite teacher up til then. Totally a great thing to teach a kid.
erinkjean
6. Getting Me Down
Senior year in high school, one of my classes was AP Calc. It was the week before the AP test. My teacher was saying how in the last so-many-years every single kid had gotten a 5/5 on the test. She then came up to me and said (quiet but loud enough for everyone to hear) "Are you going to pass this test? Because honestly I'm not so sure."
That didn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence in me as a student. To hear your teacher say after 8 months of straight studying for ONE TEST to get college credit.
I ended up with a 5 and found the test really easy, but still. It wasn't that she was mad at me...she was more disappointed. And that was worse. Humiliating for all of my friends/classmates to hear that.
upandb
7. Math Test
The one and only detention I ever received occurred in somewhat related (though decidedly less horrible) circumstances. I was in third grade, and had a math teacher that had this stupid policy that every math test, after she had graded it, needed to be brought home and signed by our parents and returned to her within 2 days.
During that school year, my mom got in a terrible car accident, in which she got hit head-on by a semi-truck. She almost died, was permanently crippled, and spent several months in the hospital. We had a math test a couple days after her accident. My step-dad spent the whole week in the hospital by my mom’s side, no doubt stressed out of his mind and not knowing if she would pull through. He didn’t want to bring my brother or me to the hospital, as he didn’t know if we could handle seeing my mom in that condition.
My brother and I were left home alone all week, with neighbors occasionally checking in on us to drop off meals.
Anyway, I hadn’t seen either of my parents in days, and obviously couldn’t get either of them to sign my test. When I tried to explain the situation to my teacher, she cut me off and said she “didn’t allow excuses” or some similar crap, and gave me detention the following day.
Since I didn’t have anybody at home who could pick me up, I had to walk the 2 miles or so home from school after the detention.
A week or so later, when my brother told my step-dad about everything that had happened, he showed up to pick me up from school (which he’d never done before, as we took the bus to/from school) and absolutely tore the teacher a new one, almost bringing her to tears.
The teacher never apologized to me, or looked me in the eyes again, for that matter, and I forged signatures on every other test that year. Also, FWIW, I had gotten 100% on the test that led to my detention.
swayzaur
8. The Bully
So when I was in kindergarten I didn’t make it to the bathroom in time and wet myself. I went to the nurses office got new clothes but instead of panties I had to wear a pull up, not a big deal. I guess it was a school policy for kids my age I don’t really know.
When I get back to my class my teacher loudly says “oh good the baby is finally back” or something like that. She also knew about the policy and asked if I was wearing a diaper so every other student could hear. I was 5 and felt a ton of shame and humiliated.
I started crying and trying to get out of school a lot because of it. My teacher often referred to me as a baby for the rest of the year. Also she would constantly ask if I needed to potty or if I was wearing a diaper, like I was a toddler or something.
[deleted]
9. The Nun
So back in 1st grade I was at this private school and despite not enjoying reading I actually loved school and had a ton of friends and it was great, got along with everyone.
One day my sister stayed home sick and my parents dropped me off and as I was walking in I said hi to the nun that taught the other 1st grade class. She said hi and I kept walking.
As I was approaching the end of the hall she dropped her keys, I heard so I turned around and looked, in between her and I were 2 4th grade boys I recognized from my sister’s class.
They started to approach her to pick up her keys when she lost it and started screaming at me, that I was rude and awful and some other terrible things. The boys were confused, I was confused, they were closer, and going to help but she was furious that I didn't help her.
I got pulled out of class to talk to the principal that day. Between her and the nun I really thought I did something horrible. I was punished and made to feel like I murdered this nun.
When my dad picked me up that day I just started to sob. I didn't stop until we got home and my mom and dad and sister held me. I was having a full blown panic attack, my moral values were being questioned and I was horrified at myself. My parents were furious and they called my teacher demanding to know what happened. All she said was she was unsure and that I seemed to have a run in with the nun.
My parents went in the next morning for answers and we got an apology from the principal but not for the nun. And I remember standing at the counter with my big sister, terrified and sad and this nun walks in and starts being rude to me again. My sister is standing there horrified.
The front office secretary is shocked. My mom ripped this nun a new one. The nun hadn't seen my parents there.
My parents went to the head father at this parish and read him the riot act, when he tried to defend the nun they went to our bishop, he clobbered the whole school.
But by then the damage was done, I was a target to the nun, everything I did she had a problem with. I stopped being myself at school, I became very insecure and quiet.
My sister and those boys took it upon themselves to check on me as often as possible, they became targets too.
So at the end of the school year my parents pulled us and we went to a new school. I never got my confidence back.
And in 6th grade a new boy joined our class, immediately I recognized him as being one of my best friends from 1st grade, he was in the nun’s class. He immediately recognized me and his first words was "sister Thomas was a real witch. Huh?" Which for private school kids was a big deal to say.
We ended up staying at the same school throughout high school and at graduation when our elementary school group got together for a picture he said "you never really found yourself again after that. You should try to find it, you have always been amazing you just gotta find it again".
Sightofthestars
10. Fencing Response
We all had to put up with a bully (Kaiso, he only caught up with me once, but I saw his work from a distance too often.)
I learned early to keep out his way. Typical bully, never forget the huge grin he liked to stick in everyone's face. He was one of those freak kids in secondary school, bigger than a lot of the teachers.
He had a thing for a guy I only knew as Barry. Barry shouldn't have been in our school in my opinion. He has special needs. A happy soul without an ounce of harm in him. Barry was bigger than Kaiso but, well you know how this goes.
He made a point of torturing him because it looked better for him picking on somebody bigger than him rather than us plebs. Barry put up with this for about six months, then snapped.
There was an open corridor between two buildings where he caught Barry (basically a roof with 2 sides of wire reinforced glass.) Barry decked the punk out, then proceeded to boot him through a pane of glass, Kaiso tries to crawl away on the other side, Barry, having none of this, runs through the door and continues the job on the other side.
First time I'd ever seen the 'fencing response.'
Mistakenot51
11. Wasp’s Nest
I had a pretty bad wasps moment at school. We were having sports, playing some kind of variation on hide and seek in the nearby forest, involving a ball you had to try and kick when the seek person wasn't looking.
Anyway, I had taken refuge in a bush, perfectly close to the ball and also dense enough to obscure me from the seeker. Bear in mind that this was only second grade, so I could easily hide myself in something as big as a bush.
About fifteen seconds after I'd made my way to the center, I started experiencing a stinging sensation.
I wasn't completely sure what was going on, but next thing I know I'm running out, screaming at the top of my lungs (I know, not the best idea at hide and seek, but I didn't care at that point). Turns out there was a wasp’s nest right where I had decided to put my head.
Naturally I was brought to the school nurse, who had to remove three wasps who were still tangled in my long curly hair, stinging all the time. But it didn't end there. Later when I was brought back to class, I complained that I could still feel one stinging in my hair. Back to the nurse, but she didn't see anything. Back to class.
After about half an hour, I broke out into tears and insisted there was still a wasp left. This time the nurse looked closer, and sure enough, one of the critters was still trapped in there.
Needless to say, I've been pretty terrified of wasps ever since.
divinesleeper
12. Breaking The Rules
My son's first grade teacher was a horrible sort of creature. She handed out coloring sheets without directions, and my son colored his pig blue instead of pink. This wretched woman told my son that she was going to show his paper to every single class in school and that all of them were going to make fun of him for it. He told me that he was struggling not to cry in class.
As a side note, He's my only kid, and I have no intention to have more. Because he didn't grow up in an environment rife with name-calling, I worried about his ability to handle it from other kids his age, when he started school.
It sounds a little silly, but I playfully called him things like 'snot-nose' and 'boogerlips' when he was four, in an effort to desensitize him to that sort of thing. I felt bad about it when he was in kindergarten and I greeted him one day with, "hey, boogerhead," and got a lot of angry stares from other parents.
So I decided to stop, and he tearfully asked me one day why I didn't call him that stuff anymore. He thought I was angry with him or somehow had started to love him less. But he wasn't bothered by other kids saying things about him in school.
On our walk home that day, I reminded him that artists like Picasso became well-known for not following the rules, when it came to art. I pointed out that one of his favorite books, Green Eggs and Ham, wouldn't exist without some rule-breaking for what was normal.
The next day, he told his teacher before class started, "My mom said Dr. Seuss and Picasso didn't follow the rules all the time, either. So I'm going to color how I want." A few hours later, he was happily scribbling with crayons and she tried to mock him again. He looked up at her and said, "We've already been over this," and went back to what he was doing.
When I was in first grade, that sort of thing would have - and did, in fact - break me. I might not have done him any favors by essentially telling him to ignore his teacher, but I'm still so proud of him for refusing to let her bully him.
lydsbane
13. Pettiest Of ‘Em All
Family was always in a rush in the morning so I would eat breakfast in the car on the way to school. My mom would put my drink in a sipping cup to avoid spills.
Apparently my kindergarten teacher somehow saw me drinking from the sipping cup even though I would always leave it in the car before getting off to go to school. One day the first thing in the morning the teacher starts drawing a baby bottle on the board and starts talking about how only babies drink from bottles and then in front of the class asked me if I was a baby because she saw me drinking from a bottle and how I should stop drinking out of the bottle.
This made me obviously not want to go back to school and that made the teacher dislike me even more since now I was a student being uncooperative because he felt uncomfortable at school.
Pabsxv
14. She Hated Kids
In kindergarten, the teacher's rule about bathroom was to hold a "1" up. I did this for about 10 mins but she ignored me, even after seeing me once. My tiny bladder was finally starting to fill up and I went up to her and asked her. She said "What did I say about bathroom break?", I said "I followed the rule but you’re not looking". She got really mad and said "come up here again and I will send you to the principals office". I was too young to understand that I probably would've been better off going to the principal's office than staying, but it was scary for some reason. It felt like punishment.
I went back to my seat, raised my finger for another while. She KNEW I needed to go and still did not look up. Finally she let me go and I was trying desperately to undo my pants, when I wet myself, the floor and eventually made it in the toilet.
I cried because I felt I was going to get in trouble and I tried to clean up as much of the floor as I could with toilet paper.
When I came out, I went to the teacher and told her that I peed myself. The bathroom was in the classroom but it was in the back, the teacher's desk was in the front of the class. So the walk from the bathroom to the teacher was very shameful.
The teacher rolled her eyes and said "how old are you now? You couldn't hold it? What’s wrong with you? Go to the principal's office and get them to call your mother for pants''.
I went and asked to call my mother and I just remember the looks I got from the staff that heard me, when I told my mother everything that happened. Back then I thought it was disgusting, but now looking back I'm pretty sure it was shocking.
I ended up being taken home rather than just given a new pair of pants.
j2ez2
15. Enlightened Kid
In the 8th grade I had a book report to do for 4 books all due on the same day. That was way too overwhelming to do at the time. I had some serious domestic violence going on at home between my parents. I spent all my time taking care of my younger brother, cleaning up the house, cooking, and crying from all the stress.
It was worth 20% of my grade and the day before it was due, I broke down and told my teacher everything; down to the time when my brother bled from his head from being hit by my dad, to the most recent attempted murder upon my mom.
If I had ever received a B, my dad would've beat the crap out of my mom for giving birth to a stupid kid.
He called child services, my parents received the call, and gave me the silent treatment for 3 days. They told him I lied just to get out of the assignment. The social worker told my teacher what my parents said and made the rest of my year a living curse.
He treated me with such pettiness after that and threatened to call my parents whenever I had either spoken too loud in class, or whenever I was not participative in the gym.
He called my parents for my "bad behavior". Home life got significantly harder after that, and my parents told my entire family continuously how stupid I was for telling him. They laughed at me when I cried or got upset about it.
Years later after repressing everything I was diagnosed with severe PTSD from childhood trauma as a witness and victim of domestic violence, attempted murder thrice, and it took me 3 years in therapy to get over it - it was quick, but it was tough as it was during my university years and I ended up having to take an extra year of school to catch up mentally.
I was ready to speak up about my struggles again when I couldn't function anymore as the traumatic flashbacks occurred twice a week for hours at a time. I couldn't do a single thing except tremble and live in fear. I was 18 by the time I was ready to reach out for help.
Curse you Mr. Gentle, your name is creepy as crap, and I really do wonder if being a petty 33 year old to a 12 year old child made your quality of life better. I hope that there's proper procedures put in place to protect children from such experiences.
250809841
16. Better Visit Him
I was being consistently targeted by my teacher. It was endless, just one thing after the next. He took my stuff, went through my stuff, punished me extra and targeted me for random bullcrap. End of the year, we went to “outdoor ed” camp (three day ‘coming of age’ camp for moving into middle school) and there was a poetry workshop thing, workshops comprising your whole day.
This was a Christian school, and being a Christian and feeling like I didn’t belong anywhere, I wrote a poem where the synopsis was “Despite my difference to others, I am love and cherished by God and still hold value”
He read it later, and sat me down with my father, calling me names and shaming me for being a disgrace to God and the faith and was one of many teachers that recommended me for medication and danger watch.
He was later (5 years) arrested for possession of child pornography. Curse you, Justin.
crawl_of_time
17. Believe It Or Not
The whole thing about what you choose to wear on your first day sealing your fate... that was our school too. We had 4 elementary schools feed into one middle school starting at 6th grade.
I was a skinny, nerdy, choir girl and also new to the district in 5th grade. Most of the kids already knew each other well because they attended summer camp together, but I was pretty anonymous.
Well in 5th grade, I developed a healthy crush on a popular boy named Chris. And when I crushed, I crushed hard. Names in hearts all over my binders, practicing kissing on my hand and calling my hand Chris... everything. Chris, of course, had no clue who I was, at least not until the first day of 6th grade.
My best friend at the time knew of my love for him and as a joke, called me the night before school started, pretending to be him. She was an alto, we hadn't reached puberty yet, so it was more than believable.
I totally fell for it. The fake Chris confessed his love for me and said that starting tomorrow he wanted to tell everyone I was his girlfriend. I was on cloud nine.
Instead of my signature bell bottom jeans and Tshirt (I hated anything girly), I chose this putrid white dress covered in bright blue and green flowers, and a complimentary white jacket covered in bright pink and orange butterflies (you know, because butterflies like flowers, so 6th grade me thought it totally matched) and sauntered into school in the morning.
I immediately found my new boyfriend Chris, who was standing with the group of popular kids, and latched onto his arm and told him good morning with a big cheesy grin on my face.
He pulled away from me like I was a leper and with a horrified look on his face asked me what was wrong with me. My heart stopped, my face flushed, I was frozen in terror and embarrassment.
But to be sure, I tried to quietly whisper to him, "but I thought... you wanted to tell everyone I was your girlfriend today..." (confused, horrified look from Chris, hyena cackling from the popular girls) "...you know, you called me last night...?"
To which he responded, "I would NEVER call you, ugh! Go away!"
As I ran to the bathroom to cry my eyes out through the first block, I heard one of the skanky popular girls (who wore TANK TOPS with SKINNY STRAPS that skank) say, "Ew and what is she wearing?" (More hyena cackling).
And that was my most horrifying moment in school. Oh except for the day my bra padding popped out of my shirt on the bus during a field trip. I was sitting on my knees with my arms on the seat-back and my friend (the same one who prank called me) told everyone to look instead of quickly pulling me down and helping me out.
Now that I think of it, that girl was such a brat.
EstellaHavisham3
18. Bad Support
My senior year of high school, my mental health took a steep dive. I was dealing with a lot of instability at home, one of my closest friends had become a relentless antagonistic bully to me, and the only thing that made me feel better was playing bass guitar in the jazz band class. Or it was, until our band teacher left.
The replacement - Mrs. Rath - was just terrible. I think she tried, but she was not good. My bully ran that class and Rath encouraged it.
My bass guitar skills "weren't good enough" so I ended up being banished to play triangle and jingle bells. It's a small miracle I didn't take my own life throughout that year, because Lord knows I wanted to.
I'll never forget the day she asked us our opinions on a specific piece we were playing (which was objectively horrible). She called on me and I said that I didn't like it.
She then yelled at me for being negative and "being the worst member of the band" until I cried (fortunately, that was not long). She made me play songs faster and harder until I permanently scarred the tendons in both of my wrists, and whenever my bully decided to lash out at me, Mrs. Rath would watch and laugh.
So yeah Kathy, curse you. I'm glad you got banished to elementary school teaching. I hope I never see you again. Step on Legos for the rest of your life.
Castorei
19. Lashing Out
I had a religion teacher in high school named Mr. Nguyen, who was working on becoming a Jesuit priest and was a really cool guy. He always had a smile on his face and did his best to make class a fun experience for everyone.
There was a kid in my class who was a really annoying smart pants, but Mr. Nguyen was always really patient with him, until one day he pushed him too far. I forgot exactly what the kid said, but it definitely crossed the line.
Mr. Nguyen slammed his fists on his desk and shouted, "Why can't you EVER shut the heck up!" He then picked up his stapler and chucked it at the kid, missing his head by a few inches and leaving a huge dent in the wall and then stormed out into the hallway.
Even though I wasn't the one that got the stapler chucked at him, that was still something crazy to experience. I had never seen a teacher blow up like that and I definitely never expected it from him.
-eDgAR-
20. High Sensitivity
In grade one I had the worst teacher. There's a few times it was really bad. One time I went out for lunch with my grandparents who were in town visiting. After we ate, my grandma took me to a store. She bought me new coloured pencils (I was obsessed with drawing and coloring).
So she drops me off at school and I'm late. I'm not sure how long (I was 6/7) but all the kids in my class had gone to gym. I put my new pencils on my desk but quickly opened them to look before I left.
My teacher came into the class and started yelling at me for being late. I didn't know and she didn't realize but my grandma had followed me and was actually in the hall listening.
So my grandma comes in and starts getting mad at her. I can't remember what was said but it was upsetting and I was bawling by this point.
My grandma told me to get my stuff and took me out of school for the rest of the day. That woman was horrible and should have never been allowed around young kids.
novakanet
21. It Was Supposed To Be Fun
Sixth grade, my class went on a field trip on a boat that sailed down the river I live next to, which was then followed by McDonald's (the more exciting part when you're 11.)
That morning, I was given $20 for McD's and, in a move I will regret forever, I decided against wearing a bra because a) all of mine were dirty and b) I believe I was still wearing training bras, so it's not like it would be very noticeable if I didn't wear one.
After the boat part, we were all very hot and sticky. We were at a park next to the river, and the sprinklers turned on. Instinct kicked in and we all ran through the sprinklers like children will do, me included, having completely forgotten that I was wearing a white shirt without a bra underneath.
After getting completely soaked, my classmates were quick to notice that you could see right through my shirt. Everyone saw everything there was to see.
All the girls in the class had to stand around me in a circle, while all the boys were grouped together about 20 feet away (a group that of course included my biggest crush and his friends).
In that circle, in the middle of the park, I changed into an extra shirt that someone else was lucky enough to have with her.
Then we went to McDonald's, where I discovered that my $20 was gone. Nowhere to be found. I was most likely keeping it in my pocket, and it must have fallen out.
I had to convince another girl in my class to buy me something to eat, which considering what had just happened, was absolutely humiliating. (In retrospect, where were my teachers for this part?)
This was one of the worst days of my life. This school was also full of terribly mean girls who did not let me live this down. I spent grades 7 and 8 at a different grade school (not entirely because of this incident).
pyrokineticplatypus
22. No Way
I had a pre-k - 4th grade Chorus teacher. Let’s call her Mrs. C. (By the way, Chorus in my school wasn’t optional, you had to take it for those years.) She was honestly the most rude bossy person I had ever met, but the traumatic experience happened when I was in either 2nd or 3rd grade.
It didn’t exactly happen to me but the way she reacted terrified me. Basically every year lower school all together do a performance together to honor people in the military/retired military.
Anyways we were in a rehearsal and we were standing on those bleachers. These were HIGH bleachers. There was a kid on the top row who was fiddling around while we were practicing. There was a loose bar protecting the top row.
He accidentally bumped into it, and the row fell. He fell off and hit his head, he started bleeding and everyone started screaming. We were evacuated into the MPR (Multi Purpose Room,) where the teachers basically just brought them back to their class.
Mrs. C. was there and told us, it doesn’t matter if he hit his head. He’s so dumb anyways. I. Literally. Barfed. There’s no way she, a teacher who is supposed to be nice, just brushed this kid's pain off, and “it doesn’t matter.”
I still see the teacher in the hallways, and she gives me chills everyday. I also used to take piano lessons with her, but that’s a story for another day.
fawuyikes
23. She Tied Me Up
In third grade I had a teacher tie me up to my chair and tape my mouth shut. I was a super smart and hyper kid who had just been prescribed prednisone for my asthma. Which will make you crawl out of your skin.
My original teacher died in the beginning of the year and we had 4 temps before Ms Keeney. She was 25 no degree and should not have been teaching.
She screamed goddammit punk rock and tied me up. I then wouldn’t shut up, so she taped my mouth shut. 28 kids laughed at me, one kid drew scissors from his desk and motioned to cut the cord.
I remember making eye contact with Sean and shook my head no. Told my parents, got switched out of the class, and the teacher was fired. The other kids’ parents in the class threw the teacher a going away party because “that kid and his brothers were always trouble”
Other than my 3rd grade class I’ve told maybe 3 people about that. As I’ve gotten older it explains so much of some things in my life
Punkrockid19
24. Long Hike
We went on a field trip in middle-school when I was probably 11 or 12. The first half of the trip was a long hike through the desert, and it was a HOT day. Halfway through the hike I felt that I had to poop. I begged the park ranger to let me run off the trail and drop a squat but she refused. It got worse and worse until I finally just poop myself.
As we continued hiking in the hot sun, the sloppy feces dripped out of my underwear and down my legs. It began to harden in the sun until it formed a hard crust with jagged edges. It scraped and scratched my legs up as I walked.
The bus to pick us up wasn't coming back until the end of the day so I had to participate in group activities for an entire afternoon with hardened, stinky poop-pants. I got an apology letter the next week from the park ranger.
My teacher said "would you want her to come in to apologize in front of the class?"
Heck. No.
[deleted]
25. My Greatest Trauma
When I was 14 years old I was accepted into an arts magnet school. It was a pretty big deal in the city that I grew up in. Prestigious artists came in to teach young students that displayed promise, I guess. I was accepted into a creative writing department, one of only four freshmen to be accepted. It was the biggest deal of my life.
Within a few weeks this semi-famous and important 55 year old man began touching me. In front of his classroom. In front of everyone.
He didn't even bother trying to hide it. I was young and stupid and for a while I thought that the attention meant I was special, and when I quickly realized how awful it was I felt like I couldn't do anything because everyone saw it and no one was stopping it.
He made me believe, as a freshman, a 14 year old child, that men touching a girl in front of her peers was totally normal. So I stayed quiet for four months. My fingernails fell out. I began having intense panic attacks.
I finally spoke out and he lost his job and the school attorneys advised my parents not to open up a legal investigation because they said it would further traumatize me. When I initially came forward the director of the school refused to listen to me.
It was a nightmare. When I graduated school I moved out of the city and he found out where I lived and began stalking me.
He ended up kidnapping me and taking me back to his home studio and showed me a shrine he made of me. He continued stalking me until my friend's weed dealer called him and threatened to murder him on his front lawn. It all stopped.
I tried to move forward but it took seventeen years of suffering to finally go to the press. It was a complete freaking nightmare.
I came out with my story a year ago and I am just beginning to get better. I'm going to college for the first time and I'm getting my life back on track.
I haven't written anything substantial in the last 17 years because of his except some fan fiction because it's too painful and I'm still afraid to tap into those emotions.
[deleted]
26. Tons of Nightmare
My kindergarten teacher was cruel to me. As a child I didn't understand this, wouldn't let me use the bathroom or the drinking fountain, discouraged other kids from playing with me.
1st grade, middle aged woman never let me go to recess, encouraged the other kids to bully me, and punished me when another kid would bully me, refused to teach me directly and told me I wasn't capable of learning anyway.
It's really confusing growing up not white in a white community that hates anyone who isn't white.
Anyway, they built a new school across town and every parent with ''problem'' children moved them to it, and all the teachers were young transplants hired from universities out by the coast, never had a teacher treat me like that again.
Had some stupid comments from one teacher in high school, but he wasn't racist or hateful, he was actually very nice, just a bit ignorant, but really nice, never treated me differently in any measurable way.
[deleted]
27. The Other Version
It was the first day of school and I was just starting first grade. I was in a brand new school and I didn't know anybody so I was really scared.
About halfway through the day, I had to go to the bathroom. For some reason, even though my teacher was a really nice lady, I was afraid she was going to say I couldn't go to the bathroom. So I sat there and held my pee for as long as my little 6 year old bladder would allow me to, which was about 3 minutes probably.
Eventually I could not hold it in anymore and I peed my pants. It got on the floor and went under my desk. Somehow, no one noticed that there was dripping water coming from underneath my chair, so I sat there with my wet pants for a good twenty minutes.
Eventually the girl behind me raises her hand and I hear her say:
"Mrs. Teacher, I have water under my desk."
At this point I think I'm screwed and the teacher is going to call me out for peeing my pants and everyone is going to know and I'm never going to have any friends.
But luckily the teacher said she would take care of it later and then after the school day was over she called me up to her desk and says:
"Nkcetera, did you go to the bathroom in your pants?"
And at that point I just started crying because I was so embarrassed. The teacher was really nice about it though and she told me that it's okay and that it happens to everyone sometimes. We made an agreement from that point on that every time I got up and went to the bathroom to do my business, she would give me a Skittle. So it all worked out in the end.
nkcetera
28. Two in One
I was in the 2nd grade, maybe third, it's all kind of vague. I'm from the middle of nowhere Texas and we had barely enough kids for two classes of 14ish kids. So the 2nd grade teachers' rooms are connected by bathrooms between them. The bathrooms consist of two toilets, no urinals.
There are two connections between the rooms, one boy and one girl. I don't know if this was common for small crappy schoolhouses back in the day? But it's how our podunk school was built.
Soooo, I went to drop a deuce. These didn't have locks, I guess because we were little kids, I don't know. Anyway, unbeknownst to me we are about to watch a movie Teacher B's room.
That's awesome, except she forgot I was in there.. and had the kids line up single file to walk to the other classroom.
So pretty much what happened was... I'm pooping and all the kids are walking through single file pointing at me and laughing…
It was traumatic.
themanrightthere
29. The Board
I went on this sort of retreat/integration day when I was in 5th grade with my class. We were getting some lectures in this tiny classroom and the teacher left for a few minutes to talk to someone outside. Cue all 20 kids going crazy, starting jumping up and down and just being kids.
One of the girls decides at some point to go up to the dry erase board and erase whatever the teacher had written there, just to be annoying. Because it was the 5th grade and we were all super short, she had to jump up and down to reach whatever it was she was erasing.
Out of nowhere we hear a scream and the girl looks down to her stomach. You know how come those boards have the holder for the eraser? This one had a metal one, and was pretty sharp.
The girl sliced her stomach open when she jumped up. I just remember looking at her and looking at her open stomach and feeling like throwing up. All the kids start freaking out even more while she collapses to the floor and the teacher comes back and immediately grabs the girl, takes her outside, and calls 911.
She ended up being fine, had to go into the ER and got a bunch of stitches, but that's the first time I realized what was inside the human body. And it was terrifying.
mbalda
30. Stop Taking It
I have been a stutterer for my entire life. I'm not stammering over every word, but I do stutter more than the average person. As a youngster, I also got frequent headaches. My mother eventually left a bottle of Advil in the school office for times when I developed a headache during the school day.
My routine was simple: whenever a headache was coming on, I would ask to go to the office and I would be allowed to go for my advice.
In third grade, this routine happened maybe once a week. No big deal, I always went quickly and came back as soon as I got my pill. My teacher, Ms. Jerkface, however, decided one day that she knew better than my mother, the nurse, etc. The occurrence went something like this:
(During a lesson) Me: (head down, waiting for a good moment to ask for permission to leave the room)
Ms. Jerkface: thelustyargonian, why is your head down and why aren't you participating in class?
Me: I have a headache. May I go to the office for a dose of advil?
Ms. Jerkface: You know, thelustyargonian, I don't think you should go. Taking advil is very bad for you and your kidneys/liver will fail if you keep taking it.
Class continues, and I put my head back down. A few minutes pass.
Ms. Jerkface: Blahblahblah (insert random question) does anyone have an answer? (pauses). Well, thelustyargonian, what do you think the answer is?
Me: I d-d-d-don't know...
Ms. Jerkface: extremely condescendingly Well, I d-d-d-don't know is not the answer.
Basically, I was mortified. Not only had she made me suffer through my headache, but she also mocked 9 year old me for my stuttering in front of the whole class. Long story short, my mom flipped crap the next day on the teacher and the principal, several students ended up leaving the (private Catholic) school for similar acts of patronization, and the teacher was gone the following year.
I heard later that she had begun working with kids who had special needs/disabilities or something similar. The thought of her working with those people makes me sick.
thelustyargonian
31. D-Day
In 3rd grade I had a birthday. Now, I was a pretty excited dude. I loved attention, and birthdays were one of those days where I wanted everyone to be happy for me. I went to school acting enthusiastic as ever.
Unfortunately, my teacher was feeling crappy. I'm not sure why, because she was normally energetic and happy too, but for the first couple hours she was moody and snapped at the students.
This included me; I was constantly trying to answer every question while we were learning multiplication, and I was getting them wrong, and I imagine that she was on her last nerve.
Well we went to quiet work, and I had not received any praise for my birthday yet. This bothered me, because every birthday student got a song and cheer at the beginning, and I didn't want to miss mine.
I wanted this moment, so while we were working I walked up to the teacher. She looked even angrier than before, and without looking up at me, she grunted, "What?"
Confused, but not deterred, I boldly stated, "Just so you know, it's my birthday." Now, what I expected from this was her cheerful doting and beginning of the birthday cheer, but that wasn't my fate that day. At that point, she looked at me with the angriest eyes I ever saw in her, and shouted:
"I DON'T CARE! NOBODY CARES THAT IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!"
This was still in silent time, so the entire class looked up in fright. I strangely didn't cry - I was normally a crybaby - but I did pout, and without a word I returned to my desk and didn't talk for the rest of the day.
It is a pretty tame story, but it was the last time I tried to celebrate a birthday at school.
Blithon
32. Purple Onesie
For a few years growing up I lived in a really small town, and the elementary school, middle school, and high school were all in the same building. When the High School kids had their homecoming "Spirit Week" the entire school participated. Every day of the week students would dress up in some themed outfit (nerd day, twin day, etc). The first day was "pajama day."
I was six years old, in the first grade, and painfully uncool. Like, even for a first grader. Admittedly, I did it to myself: I was the teacher's aid, and a total goody-two-shoes. Also, my giant bug-eye glasses (tinted blue, which I thought was awesome) only added to the list of things for which I was constantly teased.
But pajama day was going to change all that. See, I had this super sweet purple onesie (complete with footies) that I thought would really push me over the edge, popularity-wise. People would see me in it and think, "man, that chick is so cool. Purple onesies are obviously the height of fashion."
This may be the time to mention that I was a chronic bed-wetter as a child. And the thing about being a bed-wetter is, you're embarrassed and don't want anyone to know about it (even your parents) so you learn to do your own laundry really early; you hide the soiled sheets/clothes until you can inconspicuously wash them yourself. But sometimes this leads to confusion...
I woke up that day full of anxious excitement. Suited up in my PJs, got on the bus and rode to school. Exiting the bus, two girls in front of me make a comment about the stench of cat pee, and that's when the panic starts to set in. Had I grabbed from the wrong pile of clothes?
Forgotten to wash? Hurriedly I dashed to the bathroom, locked myself in a stall, removed the offending garment and had a sniff.
What have I done? How did I not notice the overwhelming scent sooner? Should I try and wash in the sink? That won't work - no air dryers. Call my mom for a change of clothes? No way - I don't want her to be disappointed in me. Apparently going the whole day in pee-clothes was preferable to parental judgment.
So I left the bathroom, resolved to suck it up and tough it out. And then I look around at the other students.
No one is wearing pajamas. It is clearly not pajama day, or any other day of Spirit Week, as I got the dates wrong, the entire week. And there I am, in my urine-soaked purple onesie on a regular ol' Monday.
GraceDangerous
33. You Get What You Give
In seventh grade my class had become pretty close to our History teacher, so much so that most of the class time was spent joking about current subjects and making fun of Lewis and Clark's dog named Seaman (ya, we were that cool). Well one day, my friend dared me to hide under our teacher's desk while she was gone and scare her when she came back. Thinking it was hilarious, I agreed.
So after scaring her and having a good laugh, class ended and all was good for about a week or so.
Then came the call to the principal's office... The principal sat me down, asked me about the incident, lectured me on the rules of attacking and let me know that I would be facing horrible consequences once the school board hears about what I had done. Basically telling me to at least suspect suspension, but also that expulsion was easily on the line.
Walking back to class I was devastated, I had never done anything bad before and my parents were going to freak. Once I walked into the class, I looked at my teacher and said, "Mrs. Teacher, it was just a joke, I was only kidding" to which she replied "So was I", then winked at the principal and the whole class started laughing.
Needless to say, I learned my lesson and that teacher earned a cool place in my book after that. Crisis averted!
americanInsurgent
34. Spill Over
6th grade for me as well. My cousin informed me how to masturbate and I spent the rest of the summer smacking that salami. First Friday of the school year comes around and we have Catholic mass. I sit next to the hottest girl in my class. You could always see her bra through her white shirt.
They had just gotten big enough for all the guys in the class to notice she was first. I had a boner before we sat down. Fidget with said boner all of mass.
When the Our Father prayer came around and I held her hand. I managed to get a nice feeling pushing up against the pew in front of us. With the lack of blood to my brain I think it's a good idea to hump said pew.
We finish our prayer as I splooge the last week of future children in my pants. Quickly coming to my senses I ran to the bathroom. Brilliant thought on my end says just throw water on yourself and say the sink sprayed.
I dose myself and come back right during communion. Everyone sees my wet pants. I turn red. I cry. I never live it down till I go to a different high school 3 years later.
BABY_EATING_FORESKIN
35. Improper Topic
In elementary school, I was the smart girl that wasn't overly pretty (thinned out and got boobs later). When I finally got my first crush, I was a little shy about it--he wouldn't be interested in me.
Well the class A jerk in my class saw that I might have a crush on this boy. He turns to me, my crush sitting right beside me, and goes "You're a lesbian...right?" I was mortified--not at the fact that being gay is a horrible thing--but that this jerk is talking about my sexuality in front of my crush.
Well then it decides to continue. Our valedictorian, all star, decided to message me on MSN that night. She goes "SgC22, can I ask you a question? It's just that I've heard all these rumors going around that you're a lesbian. I just want to know because we have gym class together and I'd be really uncomfortable changing in front of you if you were."
SgC22
36. Door Banging
I was about 12 or so, and my mother was a high school teacher in another county. My school had been closed for the day due to adverse weather, but hers was still open. Not being able to find a babysitter on such short notice, she took me to her school for the day.
It was great for the most part, I got to hang out with her student aid and the other teachers who were her friends.
It was great, that is, until I needed to go to the bathroom. I left the classroom and went down to the bathroom down the hall, locked myself in a stall not made for a child as small as I was, and proceeded to do my business in peace.
That is until two large football players came in hooting and acting up, causing me to freeze in fear. With the door locked to the stall they started slamming on it as well as the wall of the stall, telling my to "hurry the heck up" and that they would "kick my butt if I didn't get out of there" I quickly finished and bolted out of there, them laughing the whole time.
I ran back to my mother's classroom and explained why I looked so freaked out. She sent a male teacher down to the bathroom who caught them smoking in the bathroom, leading to them getting suspended, but still to this day I get nervous when other people come into a public restroom that I am occupying.
Tirrus
37. Time of the Month
I was a social outcast in elementary school. People made up rhymes about me, pretended to be my friend just so they could humiliate me, and made the popular kid ask me out, just to say "just kidding four eyes" in front of all our classmates.
In junior high, that all changed. I got boobs, brushed my hair, put my glasses away and put on makeup. I also landed the most popular boy in the school as a boyfriend. I had it made. I also got a lot of attention, wanted or not.
Well, the summer before junior high started, I officially became a "woman", and was still learning how to deal with all that. One week we were having some testing of sorts, and I couldn't leave school. I started that "time of the month".
It was unexpected, and I was unprepared. I thought it would be smart to just ignore it, and go on with my day, how bad could it really be, right?? Answer; BAD.
By lunch, I was wearing a sweater around my waist to cover the stain on the back of my pants, and by the end of the day, I got my extra sweater to wrap around the front of me to hide the stain running down my legs in the front. To make matters worse, it was about 100 degrees outside, and I had to walk home. I was offered a ride home, but was far too embarrassed to get in the car, for fear they would either smell the issue, or I would stain their car seat.
I kept to myself that day, and I have no idea why I didn't ask one of my friends for something, but I was so horrified by how things went. I pretended to be mad at all my friends so they wouldn't be around me all day.
It was silly, and gross. Moral of the story, alway be prepared for any kind of surprise.
howweird7125
38. Too Much Fun
I vividly remember my worst moment in grade school. It was the 6th grade party and all the parents sent their kids to school with candy, cookies, cakes and soda. The school was celebrating the 6th graders who were "graduating" and leaving that year.
The party was really fun, from what I can remember. My friends and I were joking around together (all guys) and before you know it one of my friends dared me to do something awful. It was the last day of school, and I was like, "heck yeah I'll do it!" (but not saying heck, just however a 6th grader would say it)
He handed me a full cup of Sprite and said, "Go pour it on Jordan (the hottest girl in the school) it'll be really funny!" So with the support of my best male friends, I took the cup and confidently walked across the room to her sitting at her desk and poured the entire thing over her beautiful blonde hair.
It was not funny. At all. Nobody laughed, not even my friends. Immediately I wanted to die.
It was the worst moment I can even begin to describe. What was I to do? Say sorry? yeah right.. She just looked at me and didn't say a word. I wish she would've just so I knew what she was thinking, but she didn't.
The teacher rushed over and some of the other girls in class ran to the sink to get paper towels. And nobody was about to let me help. I'm 20 and I still remember this like it was yesterday.
jesus44
39. Broken Innocence
When I was in second grade I (weirdly) got really into historical fiction. Little House on the Prairie, American Girl, all of that. My class that year had a planned field trip where we'd go to this park of old houses and pretend to be pioneers for the day.
We had to dress up like people from the time and make butter, feed horses, whatever.
So during class the one black girl in my class, Ebony, sweet as could be, asked the teacher what she should wear. At this point I had a great idea. Since black people at the turn of the 19th century were slaves, she should dress up like a slave and be the class slave.
I raised my hand and said, "Ebony should wear rags and she should be a slave, since back in those times black people were slaves."
I meant this INNOCENTLY. At the time my perception of "slave" was just what a black person was. A slave was Addy from the American Girl books. They were strong noble people who made their escape. I had no clue what I had just said or as to the negative implications.
The teacher made such a show about it, she called me a racist in front of the entire class. I was what...7? I was so mortified. I cried every day for months because the class called me a racist and I didn't know what that meant.
I think it's a little messed up in retrospect, since I obviously meant it innocently. If I hadn't, the teacher could have used that as a teaching point and politely corrected me.
coquelicot_asleep
40. Running Man
7th grade basketball practice at 7:30am. I had eaten a delicious breakfast of cereal and fruit punch gatorade.
While running down the court on a fast break, I proceeded to projectile vomit on the court. At this point, coaches were an absolute curse to deal with so instead of stopping because I thought I would be yelled at, I continued running and slipped and fell in my own puke. Not only that someone else running behind me slipped and fell in it as well.
So there we are standing there covered in my red puke and I am mortified. I bolted for the locker room as fast as I could. At which point, I pass several 8th grade girls on the way, who proceed with the "Ewww, seriously, that is so gross" So I did what any other horned up adolescent boy would do...
I blamed it on the other guy who slipped and fell in it.
TinaEatTheHam
41. Accidentally Bad
In either 1st (or 3rd?) grade, there was a boy in my class named Michael who had a stutter. No one picked on him for it, we just let him be. One day, we were doing some worksheets, and taking them to the teacher as we finished. Teacher picks up the papers and reads off the names of the people who have finished. Michael finishes and rushes his paper up to the teacher, saying "A- a- and Mi- Mi- Mi-Michael."
In my head, I'm thinking "Oh, that had a neat rhythm!" and I repeat it to myself a few times in my head. "A- a- and Mi- Mi- MUH-Michael". Only I repeated it out loud once on accident, without realizing it, so the whole class thinks I'm imitating him to make fun of him.
Naturally, I get in trouble, and my weekly behavior gets sent home with an = instead of my usual + (on a scale of -bad, =OK, +good). I was so ashamed that I tried to forge my mom's signature, confident that I can somehow make my 1st-grade handwriting look like my mom's. I get busted, surprise surprise, and my parents punish me for that.
20+ years later, I still feel bad for accidentally sounding like I was making fun of Michael. I really didn't mean it :(
[deleted]
42. Beast Out
It was the middle of sixth grade. I was in a band as a percussionist. I will never forget this day.
So, band was my last class of the day. There I am, a little drummer boy, just playing along. All of a sudden I get that "I have to take a massive poop" feeling. Well my band instructor is very strict and rarely lets anyone leave in the middle of a song. So I decide I can handle the pressure and try to hold it in with all my strength. All is going well and I was 'holding the door shut'.
Then, close to the end of class, little farts start escaping and I feel the grip slipping away. The room started to smell a little bit and someone next to me asked, "did someone step in dog crap?" So we all check our shoes to no avail. Everyone had to know where the stench was coming from.
Now I am starting to freak out. The strain was getting more intense and I realized that I in fact was not holding it in.
A tiny stream of nasty poo water was running down my leg and my life flashes before my eyes. At this point I know it is too late and I tell the instructor I need to use the bathroom. The mother fudger actually said I could not go because we were in the middle of a song. That was not what I wanted, or needed, to hear.
So I stormed out with a vengeance and unleashed the monster of all beasts. I didn't go back to class for the rest of the day.
Stinkiest day of my life
[deleted]
43. Horrifying Film
When I was in 11th grade, we had movie day the last day of regular class before exams. One kid, we'll call him 'Rob' had brought a bootleg of Robocop (this was in 1988 while it was still in the theater). We watched it and as the end credits started rolling, it cut to the previous footage that was on the tape before Rob had copied the bootleg to it.
It was Rob, naked, on the living room couch, jacking off with a porn mag. He was loudly fantasizing about one of our female teachers who must have looked like one of the girls in the mag. He frantically tried to get to the front of the room to stop the tape and as he did, he fell over several desks and split his lip.
His 'footage' ran for a good 35 seconds before the teacher, who was next door, came in and pulled the plug.
Rob was sent to the nurse and was expelled. He finished his senior year at the other high school across town, but his 30 seconds of infamy followed him there. He was known as RoboCock. It really screwed him up. The last I heard, he spent some time in an asylum before moving to California and joining the Navy.
Ellis_D_Trippman
44. Pad of Nightmare
So little 8th grade me had just the night before had her first ever visit from Aunt Flo. Nowadays, they don't do so many scare tactics with us girl children. None of the "stay out of the woods, your lady parts attract bears" or "people can SMELL it on you" nonsense.
No, thanks to Judy Blume we're all super excited for that crap. It sounds great! Become a woman and all that. You kind of figure it's like a mild nosebleed, just in your pants. Yeah, not so.
Back to 13yo happy thoughts. Puberty waited until mid-high school to shape up, take back the acne and give me a waist between the gargantuan bum and tits, so at this point I was mostly target practice for future soccer moms.
Unbeknownst to me, as I stupidly did not tell my mom about this miracle of womanhood, I put the pad WAY too far forward in my underwear. I'd barely located my vagina at this point, let alone knew how to predict blood flow patterns.
So freshly-womanized me goes to school with my horribly-placed pad in my pants with a skip in my step and goes about my day.
I stand up at the end of algebra (thankfully my last class) and put my backpack on. There's some whispering behind me, but this is pretty much par for the course in my life and I ignore it.
Then this little witch, whose grave I will probably hunt down and spit on, shouted "HAPPY THOUGHTS BLED ALL OVER THE BACK OF HER PANTS."
I cried the whole bus ride home and immediately ran upstairs to change my pants, throw away my underwear and cry more. I switched to tampons and then Diva Cup and have never used a pad since.
happythoughts413
45. Wrong Person
I've always been a bit chubby, especially during my younger years. Looking back, I remember there were many girls significantly larger than I, but the class bully chose me as his main target.
Nearly every day he would make some oh so clever remark about how fat I was ("Aww, did you pull a muscle eating?"). It all came to a head when I was in sixth grade. I had developed a huge crush on one of the most popular guys in my class.
It was a small group, so my crush was definitely not unknown.
That day, my friends and I were standing around talking before class, and my crush came over to talk to me. OHDEARGOD. We had never really spoken before! So naturally, I was shocked as he said "Hey stars92, I got something for you." He brought out a gift-wrapped book from behind his back and handed it to me with a shy smile.
My heart plummeted into my stomach, as I unwrapped....The Dr. Phil How To Lose Weight Guide.
I remember the room started spinning and my eyes immediately filled with tears. I also remember hearing my bully laughing his head off with his jerk friends and high fiving my crush.
I ran out of the library and hid in the bathroom crying for about 4 hours, until my mum came to get me. 9 years later, and I still remember it like it was yesterday.
[deleted]