is it okay for a teacher to use a student as a bad example?

r/

a couple of months ago, my teacher was giving my group guidelines for an audition. she proceeded to reference a mistake i(17f) made last school year BY NAME as an example of what not to do, not once but twice. my friends there sensed i was uncomfortable, and it was very embarrassing.

the mistake i made wasn’t good, i know that (i missed a part of the audition because i got distracted šŸ§šŸ¾ā€ā™€ļø) but i feel like she could’ve just said “a student” instead of name dropping me šŸ™ is this a normal thing for teachers?

(dunno if it matters, but she seems to pick certain favorites. i once greeted her while volunteering at a school event, and she said a quick, blunt “hi” before rushing to the more “popular” kids and having a full blown convo. idk.)

Comments

  1. AgentElman Avatar

    No. Teachers should not embarrass students. They should not use them as bad examples. That is unprofessional.

  2. DrunkGandalfTheGrey Avatar

    She’s being unprofessional in my opinion. Great way to lower your confidence.

  3. Express_Hyena5992 Avatar

    Very unprofessional – Have you talked to your parents about it? Or school counselor?

  4. blergargh Avatar

    It’s not cool to single people out like that. At all.

  5. SleepyKoalaBear4812 Avatar

    She was completely wrong for doing that to you.

  6. Impossible_Emu5095 Avatar

    Never, ever call out a student by name. That is incredibly unprofessional.

  7. thesoundofpetrichor Avatar

    This is illegal for a manager to do in the workplace. It is just as bad for a teacher to do.

  8. Gestromic_7 Avatar

    Very unprofessional. This teacher probably hates you or something because of the blunt hi you mentioned. Talk to the teacher privately him/her that it wasn’t very nice to do that. Maybe they will feel embarrassed and not repeat that. If you are not comfortable with that, just talk to the consuler.

  9. ShakenOatMilkExpress Avatar

    Nah. I had one teacher in HS that used my paper as an example of what not to do then handed it back in front of everyone. I left the room and cried. It’s just rude and unnecessary to publicly shame kids.

  10. HemetValleyMall1982 Avatar

    “Praise in public, correct in private.”

    This is true in any group setting, especially family, school, and workplace.

  11. ID_Psychy Avatar

    It’s difficult to say because I had teachers and school staff that said and did FAR worse.

    A kid I grew up with never did his work — ever. When the teacher had enough, she told us the importance of doing our work was to ensure that we won’t be out selling drugs like (insert student’s name).

    Another kid got slammed to the ground by the principal because he wouldn’t let the teacher take his Game Boy.

    The one I will never forget was the time a teacher from the next room cussing at another kid for misbehaving — as this dude always did. Thing was, she spoke to his father about it many times before, and the last time they spoke, we were told by his friend that his dad told the teacher to call him next time he starts his BS. Well, she did…

    His dad came up to the school and beat his ass with a belt for 10 minutes straight — right in front of everyone. You could hear the kid crying on the other side of the school. He didn’t act up anymore after that one.

    So, when I hear about stories like yours, I have a difficult time siding with either you or the teacher. Not that your experience wasn’t truly bad; it’s just that my previous experiences have desensitized me a good bit.

  12. Prestigious-Fan3122 Avatar

    Your teacher was ABSOLUTELY wrong!

  13. AzuleStriker Avatar

    No… Teachers and Parents both have the task of raising kids self esteem and self worth. Speaking from experience, saying “don’t do it like this person.” destroys it completely.

  14. Medical_Gate_5721 Avatar

    I’m a teacher and I dislike your teacher. She sounds… unsuited to teaching. Keep your head down and count the days until you’re out of her class. Summer is right around the corner.

  15. CallumMcG19 Avatar

    Severely unprofessional, this is behaviour you could take to HR so the fact that it’s an employee doing it to a student is crazy

  16. Slalom44 Avatar

    It’s unprofessional, and should be reported to the principal by your parents. At a minimum, this needs to be put on the teacher’s record for inappropriate behavior and be required to apologize to you.

  17. Cool-Handle-6573 Avatar

    As a student who has been used as a bad example no because then the student gets embarrassed when all the other kids turn back and look at them or find out through other students and then the principal doesn’t do anything

  18. -imagenotfound Avatar
  19. Strange_Leg2558 Avatar

    I had a similar experience but I was in elementary school. I remember once we had to do a short essay style response, it was like a standardized test thing. Anyways, my teacher did the same thing she decided to use mine as an example of what not to do and I remember everyone was making fun of my story and just like saying how dumb it was. I remember feeling really embarrassed and upset bc I knew that it was mine and being a sensitive kid I just started crying because everyone was making fun of me (she also made me stay during my recess bc I cried). She did that other times too, I remember once I was bored and I was writing my name on a piece of paper in cursive and she said I was ā€œpassing notesā€ and did the same lol made me miss my recess. I also remember her not letting me go use the restroom until I was done with a test we were taking, I just rushed finishing it so that I could pee.

    I think some teachers are just mean. I understand now that these aren’t huge things that she did but as a kid I felt bad about all of it and I think a teacher should understand that about kids. Also, I think some teachers don’t think they owe their students any respect. I feel like too often they see themselves as authority and not people we look to for guidance as well.

  20. gigashadowwolf Avatar

    Nope. Definitely not okay.

    It might not be technically against any rules of you school or local government or anything, but it’s absolutely a horrible thing to do unless you know the student is cool with it, or you don’t use their name.

    To be honest, even praises have a chance of backfiring. Kids can absolutely get bullied for doing well.

    The only real exceptions to this is if it’s a discipline issue at the moment. Like if the kid did something actually wrong in class, people already know who the kid is and what they did, there is nothing wrong then with calling the deed good or bad so other students can learn from example.