Friday, November 19, 2004

Teachers can be bullies, too

We've been talking a lot about bullying in my education class, and recently, we discussed the idea that a teacher can be a bully, too. Most students think about bullies as the kid who smokes or wears a leather jacket, etc., but in fact, I think most of us know that bullies come in all shapes and sizes. Which brings me to the focus of my blog: Teachers can totally and definitely be bullies, too. It's so MEAN! I semi-tutor this one guy from my church because he needs help in English. Unfortunately, he hasn't been doing well, so I had him go ask the teacher what he could do to improve his mark. She basically told him quite bluntly that he would never get 80%, and that 70% was also impossible. He said that he had always been a bad writer, and she basically agreed with him. Gee guys, correct me if I'm wrong, but somewhere along the way, teachers are, GASP, actually supposed to TEACH students. I mean, I know, some kids are slackers, and I'm not going to defend my kid any, but come on, she seems so MEAN! I totally and honestly think she's a bully. She totally belittled this kid and basically told him he sucked in English and that he'd never succeed. Way to empower the student. Sigh.

I'm glad we talked about teachers as bullies. It'll make me more careful not to be a bully to my students.

Mean bully teachers are so bad!

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