When Teachers Really, Really Suck
Michelle on Sep 28 2007 at 6:08 pm | Filed under: The Teaching
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So, things are going along pretty well at work, with the exception of the colleague I refer to as “Mr. Sir”. I call him that because his behavior is remarkable similar to the guy by that name in the movie Holes.
Mr. Sir is abusive. He gives me crap every single day, and I either ignore him or give it right back to him, often laughing as I do so. I can deal with it, even though it doesn’t exactly add sunshine to my day.
Last week, a student who had done very well in our program was ready to go back to his high school. He had been looking really forward to his last day. However, on Friday, he looked pretty glum. It turned out that his mother hadn’t attended the last mandatory parent meeting the day before.
My kids don’t always have responsible parents. Or perhaps their parents are responsible folks, but are overwhelmed by their minimum-wage lives. At any rate, none of this is the kids’ fault.
So, Mr. Sir walks into my room, sees the gloomy kiddo, and says, with a large shit-eating grin on his face, “So, I guess you won’t be going back after all! Looks like you’ll be here with us a while longer, heh heh.”
He turned around and left the room. The kids looked at me and said, “Did you hear that Miss? Did you hear what he said to Pedro?”
I nodded my head, and said, “Yeah, that wasn’t right.”
That story had a happy ending, as my principal has some sense and let the kid go back to his school rather than holding him on a technicality.
But…Mr. Sir continues to treat the kids with disrespect. This is BAD, because the kids are often in my school because they have shown disrespect to teachers. If there was an alternative workplace for disrespectful teachers, Mr. Sir would surely be in it.
One of my kids, JT, came back into my room from Mr. Sir’s math class shaking with anger and with tears in his eyes.
“I want to talk to Mrs. Principal right now,” he said. “I came this close to punching Mr. Sir right in the face,” he said, holding his fingers about a millimeter apart. “He told me that I was always going to fail and made fun of me for being in ninth grade again. I’m not going back to that man’s class.”
I told JT that since the chances were slim that he could speak to Mrs. Principal immediately, that he should write his account of the incident down on paper and that I would give it to her when I went by the office during lunchtime.
JT wrote an eloquent plea to not have to return to Mr. Sir’s class. I gave it to Mrs. Principal and let her know that I would be okay with JT staying in my room and working on that subject there. She said that it would be fine if it could be worked out between Mr. Sir and myself.
Later that afternoon after the kids had gone home, Mr. Sir came by my class, said some derogatory things about JT, and said that since Mrs. Principal was going to be gone today, JT would have to attend his class, like it or not. He said that there wasn’t going to be anything Mrs. Principal could do about it anyway. So, um, there wasn’t any “working it out” between ourselves.
I called Mrs. Principal after work and asked her what she wanted to do. After a few minutes of discussion, she said, “Well, JT is going to have to learn how to get along with difficult people.”
JT has been living with abusive, “difficult people” his entire life. I strongly suspect that is why he is in my program. My principal usually has both sense and a spine, but I suspect she is backed into a corner on this one. Mr. Sir is a bully, and he alluded to alerting officials that the curriculum wasn’t being followed if JT wasn’t forced to attend his class. What he meant is that since I am not certified to teach math, and he is, we would be out of compliance.
I wouldn’t want to be in either JT’s shoes or my principal’s in this case. I don’t like being in mine, either. I failed as an advocate. I stayed home today because I couldn’t bear to make JT leave my homeroom and go to Mr. Sir’s class to be berated yet another time in his life.
What to do???
By the way, usually when I make comparisons, I exaggerate, because it might be funny. Believe it or not, I am not exaggerating much with the Mr. Sir comparison. It is really scary.
ITK code for Singing The Sky:
He sounds like someone who is totally into the power he has over these kids, and is going to end up getting popped in the face. What a dilemma indeed! I have seen Holes many times; it’s one of Alison’s favorite movies. I would NEVER want to teach with or be around someone like Mr. Sir. I hope it can be worked out, Michelle!
we had a teacher like Mister at our school site a few years back. Thankfully, he ended up getting caught with Meth during a holiday break and was fired. There were a lot of teachers who wondered how he managed to get tenured in the first place. Some people have no business in the classroom.
I hate that motherfucker. I say let’s get him.
People who feel the need to exercise power over kids in this way are pretty small, pathetic individuals I reckon. It’s really sad that people like this have positions of authority over vulnerable young people.
Half the people I work with have borderline personality disorders and it is driving me insane that the main criterion for passing or failing our students seems to be whether the teacher likes them or not. I’m sure most of my colleague treat the students well though, and only exercise their need to put others down in the staff room. Half the time I sit there with my iPod or go find an empty room so as not to have to deal with them. But yeah, I work with a bunch of really bad teachers, I just need to make sure I don’t end up becoming one of them.
Glad you found me again btw. Not been very good at keeping up with blogs lately. I moved all mine over to wordpress a while ago and then deleted all the stuff on blogger. Seems like someone has taken my old blog name and by some bizarre twist of fate it seems to be in Japanese now!
What a jerk. It’s not necessarily your job to protect kids from him, but I’m glad you’re there nonetheless. Principal needs to get a clue and let this guy go/put him in his place. Argh.
You gotta love those who expect kids to give them respect without giving any in return. Fundamental failure of empathy.
Why does someone, who clearly doesn’t like children, end up as a teacher? The only rational explanation is power and control. Mr. Sir is an abusive prick & I hope that the powers that be will recognize this and take the proper course of action. Such a sad & tragic thing for children who have already been traumatized and victimized. Grrr.
Peace, JP
i’m not sure how i came across your blog, but its really interesting. i teach in the inner city in memphis and see a lot of the same things. i’ve worked everything from construction to factory to restaurant to adults w/ developmental disabilities and teaching is by far the hardest thing i have ever done. we are often not simply a teacher, but a parent, counselor, confidant, negotiator, babysitter, etc.
i find myself in a similar situation of being a teacher that, for whatever reason, the kids seem to relate better to. maybe it’s b/c i am not an authoritarian and i don’t remind them of the cops. the kids we teach are not going to be successful as long society simply leaves it up to us teachers to make them successful. it takes a shit ton more than a school to do that.
i ask myself on a daily basis why i am subjecting myself to this profession that comes with no respect from the outside. it’s draining to work so hard all day and then to start again at home with my daughter. i’m a single father of a 4 yr old so i understand the challenges of being a teacher and a parent. it’s really difficult to do both positions justice sometimes.
thanks for your writing. i’m enjoying it.