Worst Teachers

12th grade honors english - Old lady, big belly, bird legs, chain smoker. Came to class most days and handed out the assignment and then went to the teachers' lounge to smoke, came back with 5 minutes left in class. Would dictate to us what specific things meant and/or would lecture on why certain works of literature were so great.

8th grade science - Old man, alcoholic. Would disappear into the storage room and come out pounding chest and clearing throat. We knew he was in there drinking booze. We had him at the end of the day and his eyes were often bloodshot.

9th grade college-prep English: she graded papers based on whether you agreed with her opinion or not.  Agree=good grade.  Disagree=bad grade.  Didn't matter how well you argued or defended your position.  It was all about her!

12th grade substitute teacher/volley-ball coach: He was 30 and handsome.  I was 18 and willing.  Enough said!

Eh, had some eccentric ones during public school, but didn't get bad ones until college.

The worst was Calc II, in which we were supposed to learn power series,  Fourier and LaPlace transforms.  The guy was brilliant, but couldn't teach a fish to swim.  My boyfriend (now my hubby) had to teach me power series (he was in a much better class).

Let's see, 3rd grade teacher who snapped her gum while she talked, to the point where it was hard to understand her, and pronounced her last name MartiNEZ instead of MarTEENez like most people...

HS chemistry teacher who was probably at least 100 lbs overweight, and he just sat at his desk, gave us busy work, and chain drank Coca-Cola all day (he had flats of them stacked up behind his desk and he would go through about half of one in a day - warm).  No wonder I flunked college chem!!

HS physics teacher - she had the class teach the rest of the class.  I think she actually taught about 3 days.  Made a cool straw tower though.  And had lots of cool computer equipment, but very little was gained from playing with it.

College honors Scientific Inquiry - an interesting concept, but unfortunately, I was unqualified to read professional journal articles on astrophysics or chemical geology.  The tests were surprise essay questions, over none of the material we had covered, and wanted facts to back up our statements.  I was so completely lost in that class - but I did gain the insight that just because it makes it into a professional journal doesn't make it true, and that science changes.

Master's level Speech Science course - she was a new professor, and had no idea what she was doing.  Again, one of those "let the students teach each other", had us reading articles that no one understood, etc.  Her tests were surprise material - no one ever knew what would be on them, or if it would be something we actually covered in class.

College Chemistry 101. I am no genius and my teacher made a point of announcing it every day to all the other students. He made me feel awful and if I ever missed class he would also announce my name and say its no wonder Im so dumb in chemistry. It was extremely humiliating.

Fast forward 3 years. Same teacher is on my boyfriends floor hockey team. He comes up to me and says "Oh yes, I remember you. you never understood ANYTHING. I would tell all the other chemistry teachers how dumb of a student I had in my class and we would all laugh at the answers you gave on my tests".

I cried. and I was pissed. My boyfriend at the time and him were like BFF. Boyfriend says "awww he didnt mean any of that. hes just teasing you"

Not funny.

Original Post by alaskanmama:

12th grade substitute teacher/volley-ball coach: He was 30 and handsome.  I was 18 and willing.  Enough said!

That's awful he took advantage of you like that. I hope you reported him!!! That is very very serious. 

A History of Science professor in college - actually he may not have been a bad teacher at all, but his grooming was appalling and when he lectured, there were these little balls of spittle that gathered in the corners of his mouth.  The whole time. 

I was so disgusted (yet mesmerized) I had to withdraw from the class, I just couldn't stay in it.

Cultural Anthropology - required :p

She was a member of a victimized ethnicity and gender. I was a member of the oppressive ethnicity and gender.

She was an intellectual ant that graded based on whether or not you agreed with her, however I refused to take credit for everything that was wrong with America.

I received poor scores, so I took it to the dean and mentioned that they might have a problem on their hands.

Dean read my papers and agreed that the low scores were unwarranted so he had her adjust my scores up.

The thought that to this day she probably views that incident as proof of her being victimized makes me smile and facepalm at the same time.

Had to take a "freshman seminar" class last year, and for some reason thought that the honors dean who was teaching the honors section might have something more interesting to say than the normal teachers who taught it.  Note that this class was supposed to be about adjusting to college life and setting goals etc.

No.

We were basically forced to write about how great the honors college is and how enviro-friendly it is (it's not) for half a semester, and also show up to listen to her prattle on and on about the same subject.  I learned zero college skills from that class, and every class period she'd say "Oh next class we'll do this fun activity, or go on this tour, or learn about the city..." NOPE.  NEVER HAPPENED.  She just talked the whole time.

High school music teacher named Mrs. Fluck.  She may have been so bad tempered because not a week went by without someone scraping the L out of her name on the door.  The janitor would be there painting it right back on.  I'm sure it wore her down.  She was an awful teacher.

Then there was a menopausal (I suppose, don't know for sure) teacher having hot flashes who opened all the windows wide in the middle of winter.  She taught Latin and Penmanship in my Jr High.  She was extremely cranky and would throw a real hissy fit if one of our parents sent a note that we needed to be kept warm.  I caught more colds in that class - I had it right after gym and would go in there all sweaty after a hot shower. 

Never really told anyone about this but being it's to people I don't really know I guess I can let it out. Not funny at all. I went to a Catholic school first and second grade. Sister Mary Carroll, the nun from hell, used to beat us with a ruler on the back of our hands and knees. remember my knuckles bleeding severl times. Scared the piss out of me, literally-- quite often--which made school miserable as a whole for me. That was back when they wore the long black dresses and long veils. She filled my nightmares as a kid and no one would believe that this respected nun was smacking the holy crap out of us. Yeah, teachers don't get much worse than her.

Wanted to get a hold of her as an adult and at least tell her what a monster she was to us but the school closed down and I never found her. Always hoped she went to an old nun's home where they treated her with the same good religion that she did us.

4th grade, had a teacher who was a perfectionist. I most definately am not.

high school English. Good teacher, but had a very bad habit of putting his arm around any female student who would ask him a question. Very creepy.  Several years after graduation he was charged with molesting a student (probably more). His daughter was a grade ahead of me and going with (later married and divorced our class valedictorian) his wife was the school secretary. What a mess.

College had an economics professor who I think only owned about 2 suits. He really knew his material, but was very hard for anyone not good at economics to follow.  Also insisted everybody refer to each other as Mr. Miss or Mrs so and so. I hate being called Miss *last name*. My name is Holly

Original Post by jcl76:

Original Post by alaskanmama:

12th grade substitute teacher/volley-ball coach: He was 30 and handsome.  I was 18 and willing.  Enough said!

That's awful he took advantage of you like that. I hope you reported him!!! That is very very serious. 

 No, I didn't report him.  I was eighteen and old enough to make the choice (albeit a bad one!) freely.  He didn't force or coerce me.  No need to make it into something that it wasn't.  We both live in the same area and I see him occasionally.  He's now married with children, as am I, and I'm sure it's as embarrassing a reminder to him as it is to me!  Life goes on!

My worst teacher was my 6ht grade science teacher and the guidance counselor (whom I later discovered was his wife). 

I dont recall how the discussion started but i mentioned that coke a cola had cocaine in it when it was first made.  He insisted that it did not and I insisted that it did.  He accused me of lying and I told him to look it up.  He kind of lost it then and walked to the back of the class, he grabbed me by the neck and forcibly shoved me so that I sprawled out on the floor and slid down the isle.  I smacked my head on his desk.

I left the class and went to the guidance counselor. I did not know that she was his wife.  She had a different last name.  Any way she told me that he could be "a little forceful and wrong headed sometimes" and basically advised me to ignore his behavior and stay out of his way.

Of course his actions were abusive and way over the top - but I told the wrong person and he never faced any disciplinary action.  My mother simply asked if  I had deserved it! 

Anyway - to his credit he did look up coke a cola and later apologized for not believing me, but not for smacking me around.

Worst (or best?) teacher: My current English professor.

He is on multiple meds, and often says so when he first walks into class. Within the first two weeks of class, we knew his whole life story: his aunt molesting him at 5 years old, his disgusting obsession with his mother, etc.

Class assignments always revolve around him. Our first written assignment was to read the book that he wrote, and write a review on it. And post it on Amazon.com. :) In-class writing assignments reflect his childhood or emotions. Our last in-class writing assignment was to write what you are ashamed about yourself.

His language in the class is full of vulgarity and cursing (fun most times, but akward and offensive at other times). Once, after a "steamy" discussion (including penises etc. etc.) a girl asked to go to the bathroom. After allowing her to go, she left the room, and my professor said, "Hmm.. I must have turned her on!"

His grading is pretty fair, except if he highly disagrees with your opinion. In the book review assignment, one of the guys in the class said something like, "Although I feel bad that my professor had such a difficult and traumatizing life, it makes me more thankful of my calm, peaceful life." My teacher circled this portion of the essay and wrote, "Don't worry, life will catch up with you," and marked the paper down two grades. Bitter, anyone?

My kindergarten teacher REALLY hated me.  Instead of learning letters and how to write them, she focused in on cutting, pasting, and coloring.  Mind you, this was NOT preschool.

She scheduled a special parent/teacher/principal conference for me because I didn't hold scissors properly.  Apparently I still don't, but I personally believe I've been fairly successful using safety scissors since then..  She even wanted to hold me back and make me repeat kindergarten because of my coloring skills.  As soon as I got to first grade, I was always ahead of my class and they even made me go into those "special" classes for the "smart" kids to "exercise" my "abilities", I took honors and AP's in high school and graduated at the top of my class.

I still can't color in the lines.

Go figure.

Original Post by muttlover:

Worst (or best?) teacher: My current English professor.

He is on multiple meds, and often says so when he first walks into class. Within the first two weeks of class, we knew his whole life story: his aunt molesting him at 5 years old, his disgusting obsession with his mother, etc.

Class assignments always revolve around him. Our first written assignment was to read the book that he wrote, and write a review on it. And post it on Amazon.com. :) In-class writing assignments reflect his childhood or emotions. Our last in-class writing assignment was to write what you are ashamed about yourself.

His language in the class is full of vulgarity and cursing (fun most times, but akward and offensive at other times). Once, after a "steamy" discussion (including penises etc. etc.) a girl asked to go to the bathroom. After allowing her to go, she left the room, and my professor said, "Hmm.. I must have turned her on!"

His grading is pretty fair, except if he highly disagrees with your opinion. In the book review assignment, one of the guys in the class said something like, "Although I feel bad that my professor had such a difficult and traumatizing life, it makes me more thankful of my calm, peaceful life." My teacher circled this portion of the essay and wrote, "Don't worry, life will catch up with you," and marked the paper down two grades. Bitter, anyone?

Creepiest. Teacher. Ever.

Had a weird 8th grade teacher who sang songs to the girls in the class if they had a name there was a song for (for instance if a girl was named "Michelle" he'd sing that "Michelle--ma belle" Beatles song), would walk around inhaling from a tin of crayons and sometimes spent class time discussing his relationship woes with us 13 year olds.

Original Post by cptbunny:

Original Post by muttlover:

Worst (or best?) teacher: My current English professor.

He is on multiple meds, and often says so when he first walks into class. Within the first two weeks of class, we knew his whole life story: his aunt molesting him at 5 years old, his disgusting obsession with his mother, etc.

Class assignments always revolve around him. Our first written assignment was to read the book that he wrote, and write a review on it. And post it on Amazon.com. :) In-class writing assignments reflect his childhood or emotions. Our last in-class writing assignment was to write what you are ashamed about yourself.

His language in the class is full of vulgarity and cursing (fun most times, but akward and offensive at other times). Once, after a "steamy" discussion (including penises etc. etc.) a girl asked to go to the bathroom. After allowing her to go, she left the room, and my professor said, "Hmm.. I must have turned her on!"

His grading is pretty fair, except if he highly disagrees with your opinion. In the book review assignment, one of the guys in the class said something like, "Although I feel bad that my professor had such a difficult and traumatizing life, it makes me more thankful of my calm, peaceful life." My teacher circled this portion of the essay and wrote, "Don't worry, life will catch up with you," and marked the paper down two grades. Bitter, anyone?

Creepiest. Teacher. Ever.

You can say that again!

7th grade math- I'm naturally bad at math, but this teacher didn't help me at all! She can't teach to save her life. She'd go over the lesson, refuse questions and just say "go back through the lesson on your own" so she could continue drinking Diet Pepsi and eating Chips Ahoy at her desk. Needless to say, I did not pass that class.

7th grade health/gym- A male teacher. He was creepy...Enough said.

7th grade shop class- Another creepy male teacher

7th grade was a rough year for me haha.