Published on 12, July, 2020
I saw something today, which prompted me to ask this question: Did any teachers single you out, or treat you badly at school? I was in school from the 1970’s, and things were different back then.
I recall being singled out at age 6, and forced to stand on the table during the lesson as an example of a stupid child. I was often ridiculed, and she said things like it’s typical for me to be stupid because ‘people like you’ are. (Because of my skin colour).
At 11 I was constantly picked on by my maths teacher. She would ask me questions when she knew I wouldn’t know the answer. She picked me despite others putting their hand up to answer. She tried to make me recite my times tables or give her answers to some when she called them out. She told me that I should be able to answer them, as all children my age can, and what was it that was wrong with me that I wasn’t able to learn them. And other things when I didn’t get all questions answered in the time frame, or got poor marks in a test. I wasn’t ever ‘stupid’. My auditory processing is slow, and I can’t work under pressure if I’m also anxious.
All of the time. My Chemistry teacher said that there were 2 exams (we were the first year for GCSE 1988 ish?) and that we needed to attend both of them, then he added, "except Alan who only needs to turn up for one".
I didn't realise he was being sarcastic and I did, of course, only turn up for one, this resulted in me getting a D; probably would have achieved higher had I gone to both of them.
What is wrong with chemistry teachers? I did the exams at 16 when there were two separate exams 'O' level and CSE - the best mark at CSE was equivalent to a C pass at 'O' level. I did not get on well with my chemistry teacher, for some reason she thought I was less able at the subject than I was. In the run up to the exams she told me that she was entering me for the CSE, not the 'O' level. I then became unusually assertive. I had come third in the mock 'O' level exam in her class, which was the top set in the year. I asked her if she was only entering the top two scorers from the mock exam. This proved not to be the case, so I insisted that I be entered for the 'O' level. I ended up with a much better grade than C, proving my point.