Troubling teachers
Along with students who become the subject of bullying at school, there remains a multitude of bullied students who may not realize bullying is occurring. Potentially, students may become the subject of bullying by a teacher, but choose not to report anything because they feel as though no one would side with them, which may remain. “There was a girl I had a class with. She said the teacher constantly got on her. His job is to correct students, so that’s why I think no one said anything about it, but he directed most of his comments only to her. She later told me that she felt he was targeting her but she didn’t say anything to other teachers because she felt like they wouldn’t believe her and also it would cause more problems,” freshman Coleman Powers said.
April 14, 2022
Students face verbal, emotional, and sometimes physical harassment from their teachers every day. While there remains less than a handful of sources that demonstrate statistics on bullying in schools done by teachers, it remains a constant situation for students who must deal with the problem. Teachers bullying students simply portrays an abuse of power.
Incidents happen constantly in schools, where the teachers decide to build more of a connection with other teachers instead of their students. Teachers potentially bullying students includes a multitude of things teachers do that students truthfully perceive as rude, disrespectful or harmful. Teachers and administrators in schools must maintain a type of connection or trust in order to work together, similar to co-workers in other workplaces. Yet, when teachers, along with other people, start to grow a bond with one another, they start to trust each other more than an outsider.
“Teachers and administrators build close connections with each other all the time. While this might be good in some cases, it can be detrimental to connections with students, as students may feel that teachers “gang up” on them due to the bond they have,” freshman Addison Hill said.
A problem also occurs when students tend to manage their way onto a teachers’ bad side. When problems happen with teachers, the administration might believe that students do not appreciate the way that teacher teaches, or something specific about that teacher. Until family becomes involved, the administration usually treats complaints like casualties.
In 2011, at Miami Trace Middle School, a teacher-student bullying case arose. A 14-year-old special needs student informed her family of an incident that occurred at school. When the girl explained that someone bullied her, the family thought the bullying happened amongst or by other students at school. Soon they found out one of the girls’ teachers bullied her. When the family addressed the situation with the school administration, they suggested that the girl lied about the harassment and bullying. To prove that she did not lie about the situation, the family made the girl wear a hidden tape recorder underneath her clothing. They heard the teacher saying terrible things to the students.
Amongst saying crude statements to the girl, the teacher also forced the student into physical punishment. The school held a room with a treadmill in it to refocus children if they needed it. The teacher forced the girl to walk on the treadmill for answering a question incorrectly. Later the teacher declared that the girl broke the treadmill, and encouraged her to run in place.
This situation proves that the administration in schools will not bring justice to a problem unless the family involved becomes aware of the situation. Enforcing strict rules towards teachers, about students, remains just as important as student rules. Schools must do better and improve awareness of situations within their walls.
