one time in sixth grade i did my math homework and then because i was excited that i had grasped the lesson so well, i did the next day’s homework too
the next day in class i told my teacher, and she looked constipated for a second, and then said dismissively, “well, then you’re not very good at following directions, are you.”
#I identify strongly with this#I got reprimanded on multiple ocasions for reading ahead and/or already having knowledge
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Cause tags are truth. Maaan ,that one time a teacher stole my encyclopedia cause it proved her wrong.
when I was eight and in public school, we could do a report based on any historical character who had a book about them in the school library.
I picked Harriet Tubman because Harriet Tubman, and I wrote about how her master had thrown an anvil at her head, leaving her with a permanent dent in her forehead. I know that the anvil part was definitely in the school library book.
My teacher circled the word “anvil” and took off points.
“I HAVE SPELLED ANVIL CORRECTLY,” I roared in tiny confrontation.
“No,” she said, and it transpired that she didn’t know or care that “anvil” is a word or that “anvils” are a thing.
And so despite my helpful attempts to explain what anvils were, including references to blacksmiths and the Roadrunner, I had points taken off OH MY GOD.
YES, I AM STILL MAD ABOUT THIS TWENTY YEARS LATER.
FUCK YOU, LADY. YOU ARE DOUBTLESSLY DEAD BY NOW AND I HOPE YOU KNOW YOUR STUDENTS STILL HATE YOU.ANVILS ARE A THING.
From “Daring Greatly” by Brene Browne:
“…85 percent of the men and women we interviewed for the shame research could recall a school incident from their childhood that was so shaming, it changed how they thought of themselves as learners.”
I think about this quote a lot when I think of school.
Sometimes you just see a combination of posts that really crystallizes something for you. thank you spcsnaptags for putting these thoughts together this way.
In second grade I used the word “boon” in a composition and my teacher marked it wrong because, she said, it was not a word.
I brought in the Chambers English Dictionary the next day to show her.
That was the same school where even after I had demonstrated to them that I could read by READING A PAGE OF A BOOK OUT LOUD IN FRONT OF THEM, I was judged to be in the somethingth percentile for learning to read. Boy, was that a fun two years in the American public school system.
In 7th grade we had to write a term paper. I chose migraines as my subject as it was something I was experiencing at the time.
I wrote an excellent paper that utilized medical language far beyond my grade level but I understood everything I wrote.
When I got the paper back I had gotten a C because the teacher didn’t understand the science in my paper. Like what the hell?
What’s scary is that this pretty much describes American public education. Like, these stories aren’t unique. This is a universal truth in our school system. I starts in preschool and lasts through high school. I was dealing with this shit right up until college.
And then if you point out the way you’re being disrespected you have a “problem with authority” and get singled out for worse treatment and told YOU’RE the ungrateful good-for-nothing for talking back to your teachers. Yeah, I’m not grateful. They DIDN’T DO ANYTHING for me to be grateful for!! I don’t hate teachers because they’re teachers, I hate when they refuse to DO THEIR JOBS AND TEACH.
storytime!! :’)) when I was in ninth grade my teacher called me a snob and a know it all for having written a book report twice the length of what was assigned, and then when I started crying (because surprise, it was in front of the entire class), he called me a little bitch and told me to stop the “crocodile tears”, and eventually to get out of his classroom. i left having trash and school supplies thrown at me by my laughing classmates
and people wonder why public education doesn’t work. what a mystery
i remember i fifth grade i had a horrible teacher she was pure evil and seemed to single me out now i have a neuromuscular disorder so cant do a lot of activity i lose my energy very quickly so she thought that she should push me harder than any other student wich made it worse and actually caused me to have to use a walker and ruined quite a few years of my life for how long it took me to get back to normal
As a student, whenever that happened, I was so pissed off. As a teacher, this enrages me.
The fact that grown ass adults feel the need to fuck over students that way makes me want to tear down the world.
I think you see a lot of people who were discouraged from learning in school rediscovering how much fun learning is later on with hobbies. Like my mom is SUPER into history. Like insanely into it. And so I grew up watching it, and when I would bring up stuff in elementary school that wasn’t in the book, I would get told off for doing so. So I learned to just never talk in class, even though I really liked history. But now that I’m not in that kind of school environment anymore, I’m rediscovering all the stuff I was super nerdy about as a kid.
So like, if you were into history, or if you really liked reading, start watching documentaries again, start listening to audiobooks during your commute. Go buy one of those junior chemistry sets or start drawing again.
Just because a bunch of asshole adults told us not to learn what we wanted in school, doesn’t mean we can’t start learning it again now
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