When Authority Becomes Abuse

I will always recognize the impact most teachers made in my life during my educational journey. Teacher's roles in shaping the lives of many in our society through education will always be recognized; most of the teachers left lasting memories in our lives, but then, while some of these memories were great, some were quite unpleasant.

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I believe that in many experiences we had in school, most of us had that one teacher we never liked for one reason or another. As for me, it's hard to forget this particular teacher, who always embarrassed students publicly during classes, during the assembly or seminars hosted in school, and at every given opportunity; he demonstrated his foolishness on people's children.

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As much as I loved his teaching techniques/styles, this one character trait of his made me dislike him. Some people, once they occupy a particular position, will feel like a mini god and use their power to oppress others. The last time I checked, there are more fruitful ways you can correct someone without embarrassing your fellow humans publicly. I understand that people do this due to anger issues, but it's not enough reason. It's bad character that must be recognized and worked upon instead of using our mouths to torture people's emotions.

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So this teacher I am referring to, Mr. Isaac, used to be our biology teacher. He comes to school too early every day and would ensure to punish all latecomers whether he is the teacher on duty for the week or not. Like, his excesses are simply too much, as if he drives joy in punishing students. However, it would have been okay if he stuck with punishment alone, but no, he will insult you and tell you how foolish you are; just think of any bad word in the dictionary, Mr. Isaac used it on the poor students. While he is in the classroom teaching, just ensure to listen attentively; otherwise, failure to answer his questions correctly, he will embarrass you, body shame you, just name it, in the presence of everyone. His attitude back then was already popular. He was popularly known as that teacher who always embarrasses and insults students without thinking twice.

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Sadly, he remained in that school for many years, still treating students in that manner. I was surprised that he lasted that long. I expected the head of the school to at least confront him or get him fired because that was too much punishment from him to the students, but maybe, due to his good teaching skills, the school still retained him. As much as I didn't get into any trouble with him while in school, I expected students who were victims of his negative attitude to report such public embarrassment to their parents; perhaps parents could come in to the school to reset his brain, but nothing like that happened while I was still in the school.

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It became a concern; personally, I wouldn't bottle up if I am treated in such a manner, and to date, I teach and encourage my kids to always open up to me if any teacher or adult treats them in a way that is too unpleasant.

This post is in response to the Hive Ghana's weekly prompt on the topic titled, THAT TEACHER.

Images were taken from canva