RE: Bullying
Dear Editor:
I’d like to address a problem in my school (and many others) — tolerance of teachers bullying and harassing students.
While in most schools bullying is a very well-known problem between students, I, and many of my peers, feel that bullying between teacher and student is a major problem as well.
Not only is it more common than most think, but it’s ignored in most schools. Our teachers can disrespect, talk down to students and even verbally abuse us and get in no sort of trouble except a slap on the wrist. The schools are constantly making excuses for teachers to abuse their students in the name of discipline.
A few years ago, I was a new student in my school. I was put in (let’s call him Mr. F)’s class. He seemed really nice and I was happy he was my teacher.
As the year went on, he proved to be different. While this stuff happened regularly in his classes, I’ll use my friend as an example. He was overweight at the time and insecure about his body. My friends and I loved him. He was such a great guy and fun to be around.
Mr. F. always made fun of his weight, saying he had “Man boobs” and would even go so far as to not let him eat his snack in class for his “ own good” and let the rest of us eat. He used to tell me how he hated going to Mr. F’s class because he was always ridiculed for his weight. He wasn’t the only one either.
Mr. F constantly made homophobic, sexist and racial jokes in class. I have a form of ADD and, sometimes, I can’t understand things as easy as others and get sidetracked in class. All I need is a little extra help and I understand, but he ALWAYS made a point to make me answer questions when I clearly was lost and not understanding the lesson.
I tried going to his class before school and at lunch for some extra help, but he never showed up to help me or my friends. Then, he made fun of us for not understanding in class.
He pointed out our flaws constantly, used horrible language and slurs toward us and always tried to make everyone look stupid and feel horrible about ourselves.
He went into fits and rages, throwing things (desks, chairs, books) and yelled so loud the teacher from next door would check on us.
I, and COUNTLESS others, have gone to the administration, principal, counselors and out of school directors trying to find help. I’ve talked to so many people and nobody does much.
I just found out he will be teaching this year and they aren’t going to fire him.
Teens my age have very low self esteem, as we’re going through puberty and we’re sensitive. We are insecure about our bodies and we don’t need anyone to make us feel worse about ourselves.
People are going through hard times and, at school, we need nothing but support from our teachers. We should be able to trust them and feel respected.
We might be teenagers, but we are people, too, and deserve respect at school, from our peers AND teachers.
Nobody should have to go through what me and my friends have gone through.
Alexandra Sullivan
Boca Raton
