When Teachers Bully Students

With all of the bullying in society today I have touched on bullying in the workplace and now want to touch on teacher bullying. Kids are not just bullied by their classmates, I have seen many teachers bully students and it is wrong. These young people need their teachers to care about them, to nurture them. They do not need the teacher to also be a bully. I wrote this article several years ago and wanted to share it here on my blog. 

As Bobby walks down the hall, the other kids taunt him and tease him. They call him names and make fun of him for how he looks. Sadly, though, the torment does not end there. He is constantly bullied when he enters the classroom too, but not by the other students, this time his tormentor is his teacher. The one person at school who is supposed to prevent bullying, is tormenting students.

Teachers may not be aware that the way they sometimes treat students is bullying, but it is as tormenting to kids as being bullied by other students is.

Bulling is defined as repeated acts over time attempting to create or enforce one group or persons power over another. Some teachers do this very thing to students on a daily basis, and may not even be aware that what they are doing is bullying and can be very damaging to some kids.

When a student is late to class, many teachers have the other students taunt and tease him as he enters the classroom. The teacher will stand in front of the classroom saying "oh everyone, look it’s Johnny, he's late. Say hi to Johnny." The kids will laugh and tease him. Some kids may not be bothered by this, but there are kids who feel very intimidate when treated this way. Sometimes they become very anxious about going to class and may even be late because they are so anxious. There are also children who may reach a point where they have panic attacks and are unable to attend the class at all. The teacher may think that this approach is going to stop the tardiness, but it is only bullying to some students who feel inferior already. The teacher should point out that Johnny is late to him by having him stay after class. It is not the other students business and the teacher should not use them as a disciplinary tool.

Teachers tend to think that embarrassing students will make them do better in class. If a kid does poorly on a test, many times the teacher will tell the class that everyone did great on the test except for Johnny. The teacher will embarrass Johnny not really knowing whether or not Johnny tried his best. This makes him feel stupid and many times he will never try again. He will just shut down and feel inferior to the other students.

There are students whose parents are very involved in their education. They talk to the teachers and try to stay informed. Some teachers do not like to be bothered by parents. They use this against kids and tell them that their mom called in front of the other students, they say this because it annoys them that the parent is involved. Or the teachers spout off personal issues about the student in front of the other students. Some kids do not handle this well and it is a form of bullying to them. Teachers do need to remember that all information about each kid is confidential and they should not use it to discipline. It is not discipline, it is bullying.

Some teachers make it a point to embarrass students every chance they get. They never stop to think that these are just kids and maybe they are feeling insecure and scared. The might just need one person to be nice to them, to actually care. There may come a day that of the kids who is being bullied by the teacher might have thoughts of suicide because he is also mistreated by other students. If the teacher bullies him, then he just might go over the edge and end his life. Teachers do need to discipline students but not to the point, it becomes bullying.

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