BTW, the teacher who angrily embarrassed me in front of the class and ruined my entire high school…read moreexperience was Mr. David Knight. There, I said it.
My mom and I literally moved houses (she bought and sold her house) so I could go to Uni High because we had heard it was a better education. And you ruined that experience for me with no compassion. You jumped straight to conclusions instead of giving a student privacy, hearing them out, or giving them the benefit of the doubt. There was no emotional intelligence in the way you handled it. It was completely out of line. You went on a power trip. You're an employee, sir.
He should have been more mature and considered how deeply his actions could affect a student, especially when that student did NOT blatantly cheat on purpose.
I could always feel an ego on him, and honestly, I was kind of scared of him. He also gave me a little bit of a bully vibe rather than a nurturing or supportive one. That made being publicly embarrassed by him even more upsetting.
Control your emotions, grow up, and set a better example. Age doesn't determine wisdom, maturity, or good judgment, and being a teacher doesn't automatically make someone an example of any of those things.
And honestly, this made me notice what feels like a much bigger pattern among some AP and Honors teachers at Uni High: the feeling that because they teach the "smart" or "elite" classes, they can go on power trips, treat students however they want, and forget that they're still educators dealing with young people who deserve basic compassion, privacy, and respect.
Adults sometimes don't realize how deeply these experiences can affect a teenager's self-esteem. You can be a smart, capable kid and still come out of an environment like Uni High feeling stupid or like you're not good enough.
When you're in highly competitive classes where grades are based on a bell curve, you're essentially competing against the people around you. You can be genuinely great at something, but if someone else performs better, you can still receive a C. That doesn't necessarily mean you aren't capable or didn't understand the material. But when you're constantly being compared to other high-achieving students and rarely receive praise or encouragement, it can really distort how you see yourself.
You can be highly capable and still grow up feeling like you're not smart enough because of the environment you were in and how certain teachers treated you.
What happens to you during those formative years can become part of how you see yourself and who you become as an adult, even if you're not consciously aware of it. You remember what happened that one time, and years later, you might find yourself doubting yourself, feeling intimidated, or becoming afraid in a similar situation without even realizing where that feeling came from.
Those experiences don't necessarily just disappear because you grew up. They can become part of how you see yourself and how you respond to the world.
So, to the teachers at Uni High: please be gentler with all of your sweet, nice students. You can hold students to high standards without being unnecessarily harsh, critical, or intimidating. Sometimes it's not even what you say, but your attitude and the way you make a student feel.
Please be more positive and encouraging. Being constantly negative or overly critical isn't necessarily going to prepare students better for the real world and is, in fact, quite toxic. In the workforce, being able to communicate positively, work well with others, give constructive feedback, and contribute to a healthy environment are valuable skills too.
These are teenagers, not machines. They're still developing their confidence and figuring out who they are. A little more compassion, encouragement, and understanding can go a long way. You never know how something you say or do might stay with a student for years.
