Sub-Par Behavior
Most of us have had a bad teacher.
It might have been a college professor, who caused four long years. Maybe five. Perhaps you suffered in high school under a real tyrant—and I’m not talking about your junior year girlfriend.
Possibly, like me, your worst memories are of substitute teachers. I remember some real stinkers. One woman used to hand out detentions more often than the principal in The Breakfast Club. Another creepy sub I remember would stare habitually at the girls’ legs … in seventh-grade.
But I don’t recall any of MY stand-ins saying the things this 81-year-old sub recently did.
School officials in Maryland’s Prince George’s County revealed that he will never teach in their district again after his alleged recent response to a high school Spanish student’s statement that she didn’t understand something:
“Why? Is it because you were born out of wedlock?”
Not exactly a nurturing teacher. Probably not a finalist for substitute of the year.
Now this isn’t the first time the octogenarian’s mouth has gotten him into trouble. Previously, after being corrected upon mispronouncing a student's name, he reportedly replied, “Oh well, it's all pronounced the same in the ghetto.”
And I thought that the KIDS lacked manners these days.
This incident brings to mind many issues. The following questions are among those people are discussing at water coolers everywhere:
What are the appropriate limits on teachers’ speech? Should schools be hiring teachers older than eight out of nine Supreme Court justices?
And can Prince George’s County finally get around to hiring some teachers who were born out of wedlock in the ghetto?
posted by David Amulet @ 5:05 PM
24 wisecracks
24 Comments:
I'm surprised that no one hit him.
I had a college professor ask me once... in front of the class... if my mother had beaten me as a child or abused me sexually... because I seemed to have a real problem with women... but yet seemed to get along with her husband just fine.
I said... in front of the class... "No I don't have a problem with women... but I do have a problem with dumbasses... perhaps that is an alternate explanation for why I like your husband better than you."
Man. She was a bitch.
I feel better for having typed that - you're check for psychiatric services is in the mail.
Also, I should probably invest in a spell checker. I can't spell very well - probably because I was abused by my mother when I was a child.
I had a substitute teacher in high school who looked like he never washed his hair and he wore the same sweater almost every day. Oh and several girls claimed he hit on them and he was probably in his late 40's.
I also had a substitute who fought in WW2. He was actually a great teacher. One day he brought in this brick that he kept in a wooden box. He said he got it from a bunker where Hitler had stayed although this brick came from the bathroom wall of this bunker. After telling that this teacher passed the brick around the room and said "Who knows maybe 'ol Hitler rubbed his greasy hide on that brick". That vision has been stuck in my mind ever since.
Yeah but that is still not as bad as 40 year old high school teachers sleeping with her students. Let's just say there were two of them in my school.
What about that teacher in Clearwater, Florida, that made a student use a pissbucket in the closet instead of letting him go to the restroom. It is a question of human dignity. If you have none then you don't deserve to be teaching our youth.
My third grade teacher changed me from being right handed to being left handed by either whipping my ass or swatting the back of my hand with a ruler.
These Hatefilled teachers who strangle the love of knowledge by twisting young hopes, should be weeded out. The sooner the better!
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David -
having experienced the overwhelming joy of living in the D.C. area for three glorious years (cough,cough,choke,choke), I'm very familiar with many of the 'characters' that inhabit the Prince George County area. This old codger seems to be a perfect fit for the community at large. Perhaps he was trained in his tact and technique of dealing with the public by the fine, upstanding members of the PGC police dept. We all know their reputation for dealing with suspects and citizens in a 'fine' manner on all occasions.
As if self-esteem isn't already an issue for kids ... let some narrow-minded old codger spew his vile prejudices in the classroom.
I know that PGC isn't the greatest place to be - but, give these kids a chance to get through school and get out of PGC if they can!
the subs never cared about us
I'm both gald to know I'm not alone and sad to know I'm not alone in my negative sub experiences. Amy, Mark, Andy, Fuzz, Kitty, Siren, and Adriana: Sorry to hear that you have similar stories.
But there is some good news. I just saved a lot of money on my car insurance by swtiching to Geico.
No, actually the good news is from MC2, who seems to have no trauma from a substitute!
-- david
When I was a freshman in high school, we had a substitute take over our pretty rowdy class. The students were pretty loud and just ignored the sub's order to be quiet. Finally, the sub got so angry and said something about wishing he wasn't in a room full of "black monkeys."
One of the kids told the principal after class, and the guy never taught at our school district ever again.
Man, I had this teacher my Freshman year, and she had these bad ''headaches'' you know. And I think she would take toooo much medicine sometimes. One day she fell off her stool.
But to answer your question..a teacher should show the student every bit as much ( or more ) respect as he/she would expect from the student. Teach by example.
If you act like a slob, you get treated like a slob.
That kind of language is absolutely inappropriate in a school setting, but I'm still wondering what the kids did to warrant it.
I'm starting to be a bigger and bigger proponent of bringing back corporal punishment in schools. I bet if they did bring it back, then the 'respect' factor both ways would cease to be an issue.
fuzzbox, i know what you mean, my kindergarden teacher made me right handed when i told her i wrote with both hands. she made me use a "grippy" to force me to hold my pencil correctly.
sometimes i write with my left hand for fun, but i can't do it that well.
it may seem silly, but i am still a little sad, if i ever happen to think of it, that she made me right handed.
It's definitely time for that old timer to retire. I don't recall having any terrible substitute teachers.
I did, however, have some awful teachers that I wish would have just been subs.
Teachers really do need to watch what they say. They should be held accountable, and when they go overboard like that old guy, they need to be tossed out.
This comment is posted by a shameless comment seeker named Jamie Dawn.
I had a teacher blackmail me once. Looking back, I could have had his ass thrown in jail and wish I would have.
I have selective memory block. I can't remember any subs...let alone any of my actual teachers, save a few.
But, I do remember my favorite line from The Breakfast Club:
Does Barry Manilow know you raided his wardrobe?
Dave PG county is notorious for being on the news EVERYDAY, for killings, the police dept. is shady and whack it seems like the entire community is in need of some serious attention, the teacher is no where in the right for saying things like that. There needs to be checks & balances on the teachers too. I stood up to many teachers, when I felt there comments were ill-mannered and wrong...I was in 7th grade and my teacher hit on me, I freaked out on him and told him that he was a major perv and if he ever did it again I would get his ass outta there.
I didn't realize that former Atlanta Braves pitcher, John Rocker, had pursued a career as a substitute teacher! ;-)
I've got nothing. I've got a million bad teacher stories. I'm afraid to get started. Thanks for visiting me. I like your stuff too. I'm adding you to my list...
I've also got nothing for you. I only remember one teacher from all my years at school. I don't remember subs at all.
I suppose we should be happy tha these creepy folks in your comments (or the original story) are substitute teachers rather than substitute baseball players or substitute Hollywood actors. According to the monetary measure of worth in our society, I guess our society has judged that the latter jobs are more importnat than teaching.
-- david
I wish teachers were better paid and held to high standards of accountability. Our kids would be better off for it. My kids had some excellent elementary/middle school teachers. My son had one that I didn't care for at all, but mostly both kids had good ones.
I have homeschooled them for the past four years, and my daughter graduated last year.
Since I was their teacher, I wish I could get some money for the job. I didn't say stupid things like that old man, and my kids even know how to do algebra.
Actually, one of the fringe benefits of being 81 should be that you're not concerned about getting laid and generally don't give a crap about speaking your mind to people. This is an outrageous story, but it's kinda fun.
I admire anyone who has the patience to not only raise their children bot also homeschool them. Hat's off to you, Jamie!
-- david
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