Ask HN: What were your teachers like?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31538626

by taubek • 4 years ago

28 36 4 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I went to primary school in 80s,and I finished high school in 90s. I still remember some of my teachers. Few of them were so good that I ended up as teacher in one part of my life. They really have influenced me a lot.

Some of them were almost like this guy [1].

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/2eg6ax/my_dad_teaching_math_in_southern_california_late/

torvaldenom• 4 years ago

Made an HN account just to reply to this.

I went to school in Kathmandu, Nepal and graduated high school in 2016. Currently I work as a programmer in NYC.

99% of my teachers were sadistic assholes who’d be in prison for child abuse in any first world country. I’d be rountinely beatup physically for not doing homework, for disturbing class, for not doing well in tests etc. Once in 7th grade, I was spanked on my thighs by a teacher so bad I could not walk for 3 days. In 2nd grade by headmaster beat me up with a cricket bat on my shoulders and back for not finishing half of my English homework. And I was one of the better students (average B+ equivalent) , a lot of my fellow classmates had it worse than me. Specially the ones who had a different mothertongue (not Nepali). This is mostly cultural. Often parents would tell teachers to punish kids more because their grades were not good enough. Most parents including mine were equally abusive at home. I remember the utter, frothing rage of teachers who would go fully ballistic at kids for the minorest offense.

Regardless of culture, I believe the system attracted the worst of worst (those who can’t, —- teach) scum of the society who would find pleasure in hurting the helpless. You might think this is an outlier case but this is still the norm for the majority in Nepal and I believe a lot of third world countries.

After attending college in the states, I was diagnosed with ADHD, which no one knows about back home. It has taken me years in therapy to make peace with this and I’m still filled with horror and rage when I think about it. I don’t know what I can do about this, but my heart breaks when I think of hundreds of thousands of kids who are still going through this.

There were a couple (literally 3) teachers I fondly remember who were kind and tried to make their subjects interesting. But they were the exception.

stairlane• 4 years ago

I'm very sorry that you had to go through that. That's awful, and I hope you've managed to find peace in your new home. Here I thought I had bad teachers growing up, but thankfully they never laid a hand directly on me.

You deserve to be happy and to be able to make mistakes without being hurt or punished for them...

t-32• 4 years ago

Reminds me of my dad's stories of being beaten and berated by the principal every day for hitching a ride on the schoolbus that went past his house but didn't stop (it was only for white kids).

rg1112• 4 years ago

How is it nowadays?

Is it still the same, or has it changed?

spacemanmatt• 4 years ago

One of my teachers was so awful, I search the web every year for hints of a trial, in which case I will gleefully testify against him.

cosmodisk• 4 years ago

I had quite a few but only a handful I remember as it was yesterday almost 20 years after finishing the school.

1st English teacher: she was awesome. She was relaxed, cool,and even took us to her allotment on a hot spring day and bought ice-cream for all of us.

2nd English teacher: she was self important, a bit arrogant and claimed that her husband's salary is for the family,while hers is for her only:) Despite all of this,she was a really good teacher.

1st math teacher: she could easily run a battalion, wouldn't take any hostages either. Nobody was messing up with her,she was strict but fair and because of my behaviour I had a permanent seat at the front row for a few years:)

2nd math teacher: was strict but also knew how to throw jokes around.

Russian language teacher: nobody was messing up with her,she knew how to have a complete order in a classroom. Didn't learn shit thought because I hated the language.

Lithuanian language teacher: she was a bitch, toxic and spiteful. Nobody has ever liked her.

Religion studies teacher: whilst the subject was a complete nonsense for a young atheist like me, the teacher was super cool and everyone liked her. A friend once showed up completely drunk for the lesson,she didn't even kick him out.

Physics teacher: he used to come to school wearing flipflops, didn't give a shit about much, showed up drunk at some teachers event and was mocking the higher ups behind their backs. He used to give decent grades to those who just didn't want to study and then focused on those who were interested.

3rd English teacher: this guy was from New Jersey as part of the peace corps. Having an American in your class during '90s was quite something and was really interesting to listen how's life on the other side of the pond. The last time I checked he's doing some missions in Africa nowadays.

d0mine• 4 years ago

The paradox is that if you are enjoying your lessons then you are not learning effectively "The research seems to suggest it’s the struggle that enables us to learn." https://learningspy.co.uk/learning/learning-easy-hard/

frazbin• 4 years ago

Yeah that's okay. Some of the job is getting students excited and inspired so they know why they're studying. Admittedly a weak-minded western concept but it does work after its fashion (source: many of my teachers were kind, intelligent professionals who were good at their job)

willcipriano• 4 years ago

I had one or two the put the effort in but most of them were summer enthusiasts rather than people interested in educating anyone.

To be fair, in recent years they have pulled several pedophiles out of my former high school, my friends and I felt a weird vibe from some of the teachers so I guess at least some of them were more interested in the kids than I originally assumed.

AnIdiotOnTheNet• 4 years ago

As I recall, most of my teachers were passionate about education and really did give it there all. Some of them even succeeded at being genuinely entertaining in the process. There were a few that weren't very good, of course, but overall they were good people.

cafard• 4 years ago

Boomer here. Elementary school had an odd pattern: the odd grades, 1, 3, and 5, had wonderful teachers. Second had a sullen disciplinarian, 4th was OK, and 6th ended up with my parents pulling me out of that school for another. In extenuation of the second-grade teacher's performance, there were fifty-two kids in the class. The fifth to sixth transition was awful, though.

After that, we always had multiple teachers, and they were of course a real mix, some very good, some seemed hardly employable.

pyb3• 4 years ago

Primary school was good. However, in middle and high school, most teachers didn't seem to have much interest in teaching. Too many teachers have picked the wrong profession, and are in denial about it.

pyb3• 4 years ago

What's interesting is that today, when I look up the few teachers who seemed to really care, they had significant activities besides teaching, for instance as activists.

annyeonghada• 4 years ago

As someone who had three activists as teacher during high-school (two literal communist party member and one conservative catholic) I would never, ever want to have an activist teacher in my life, whatever side: they were biased, blinded by their own ideology, hating on each other. What suffered most was lesson quality. They were too occupied to check themselves for ideological purity than for factual knowledge.

nickjj• 4 years ago

Honestly, most of them felt like they were clocking in and out which I'm ok with.

I remember 3 really good teachers in high school. One was my 9th grade English teacher and the other 2 were part of a pilot program to introduce a multi-period general purpose computer class in the late 90s. I still think about them sometimes. What was unique about the 2 running the computer class was since it was a pilot program (first time trying it), there was no rule book. They put together a curriculum but I remember there being a lot of time for self guidance and experimenting (it was a 4 period class every day for 2 years) which was great.

However, I remember taking a job placement test in 6th or 7th grade. That test said I was best suited to be a mortician or a brick layer. I also remember being threatened with detention multiple times when I was 7-10 years old because I didn't want to pledge allegance to the flag every morning. Not because I hate my country or was brought up in a weird way around that, I just didn't like the idea of being forced into doing something I didn't understand.

One of my biggest takeaways from school was that I learned not to depend on anyone for anything that's truly important and being an adult doesn't mean you're always right by default. I have no regrets or issues with that outcome.

skrtskrt• 4 years ago

All except one or two high school teachers were completely useless. I couldn’t wait to get to college… where it turns out your professors openly despise undergrads and teaching in general.

On the plus side I figured out I can learn pretty much anything for a textbook, except for sequences and series and mathematical proofs which still baffle me.

Wyoming23• 4 years ago

The most interesting aspect of my teachers looking back now, is how much my path was shaped by avoiding their discriminatory behavior and the weird gaslighting effect of the teachers all being the power while imagining themselves fighting against it.

Many of my teachers were strongly biased against boys, and this bias was more severe the more stereotypically male you were. A quiet girl arriving to class a minute late would be excused without comment, a boy would be made to explain himself, a boy on the football team would be given a punishment. This extended to all things- grading, treatment during discussions, treatment for absences due to illness, etc.

Many teachers seemed to believe they were characters in an 80s movie where jocks got away with everything, and so in turn they were far more strict and adversarial with students who fit that mold. The reality was living in a system where you were discriminated against, while being told the discriminatory actions were corrective for events that happened to other people before you were born.

I pursued STEM because grading was objective in those classes, it didn't matter if the math teacher disliked you if you solved the problem correctly, whereas no matter how good your English assignment was a teacher could arbitrarily deduct points.

Similarly, I learned to code switch into a more docile, sensitive and deferential persona around liberal arts teachers to maintain the ability to earn an A.

DaveExeter• 4 years ago

What years were you in school? In some ways my experience mirrors your own, but it was us who were watching the 80s movies (we just called them "movies" :-).

reactjavascript• 4 years ago

At the time I thought they were mean and strict. And I thought they were forcing us to do too much work. But now I realize these were really great teachers and being pushed is exactly what I needed at that time.

bravetraveler• 4 years ago

The vast majority of mine were unremarkable. I graduated in 08

There are a couple teachers that I vaguely remember because they were stretched particularly thin.

As an adult I can tell they cared/tried... but none of them left an impression

Edit: I grew up in a very low income area in Appalachia. I consider myself lucky for learning much of anything

carapace• 4 years ago

Most of my teachers were unremarkable. The consensus among my high school clique was that about half of our teachers were visibly insane.

The teacher who I remember with love and respect to this day was one Mr. E who taught at the elementary school I attended. He had such a dignity and gravitas. I don't recall ever seeing him smile, nor did he ever raise his voice in anger, yet he commanded universal obedience and respect, not out of fear of him, but out of love and a fear of disappointing him.

Here's what I mean: One day some kids were running around in the hall goofing off. A visiting parent was there and told them to stop. The kids ignored her. She says, "I'll tell your teacher." they keep running and yelling. "I'll tell the principal." Nothing, they keep playing. "I'll tell Mr. E." snap! As though a switch were thrown the kids immediately stop running and shouting, straighten up (literally), and transform into little angels. Mr E wasn't even anywhere around. The invocation of his name alone was enough to remind the kids to behave properly.

Decades later, I've still never met anyone like him. I hear he's retired, gone into farming, and still visits the school from time to time.

gradschool• 4 years ago

My fourth grade teacher was memorable for being gorgeous-looking with a fiery Italian temper. The curriculum was boring to begin with and like many here on HN I was precociously bright, which made it even more boring, so there wasn't much to do all day but study her instead. When her annoyance reached a boiling point, which I learned to predict a few minutes in advance, her manner would shift abruptly between one sentence and the next, and she'd be stroppy with everyone for the rest of the day with no chance of redemption. However, if a colleague came to the classroom door to talk about something, she would be perfectly polite and pleasant mannered until the moment the door closed. I was amazed to see such a perfect effortlessly executed context switch with no preparation and presumably no training on her part. Can all women do that and are they in better control of their emotions than they'd have us believe? She gave my young mind loads of food for thought.

globular-toast• 4 years ago

I've had a fairly interesting journey through school. Changed schools too many times and at difficult times. I went to terrible schools (literally worst in the country), bad schools and good schools. I got lucky because I ended up in the good school for my last few years. I owe a lot to the wonderful teachers I had in those last couple of years. I benefitted also from tiny class sizes due to choosing the geeky stuff. Most of my classes were 100% male too.

My maths teacher was a young woman. Very attractive actually, but I didn't look at her in that way. Just effortlessly brilliant and made me love maths after finding it totally boring (too easy) through most of school.

My other teachers were really great and I think loved teaching the last couple of years with only the smart and determined kids left. I felt sorry for all the teachers before that who had to put up with the less smart ones. There's not much more satisfying than teaching smart people.

renewiltord• 4 years ago

They were fine. Neither exceptional nor terrible. They did not change my worldview. However, other adults in my parents' circle did. I am exceptional because of the exceptional people I met through my parents.

incomingpain• 4 years ago

Up to about grade 3 I feel like my teachers genuinely tried, helped, and were good.

Grade 4 was my first experience of a bad teacher. Quite often late to class. Wouldn't teach, we were given the book and told 'read chapter X today.' and no noise was allowed. assigned seats you couldn't leave until you were allowed. You basically couldn't talk until recess/lunch.

Grade 5? Same teacher. Normally you get a new teacher each year but... it took virtually no effort to pass his tests. "What is the name of the author, William __________?" A, red, B, true, C, Shakespeare, D, banana.

Grade 6, Not perfect teacher but was overly positive and enthusiastic. everyone got a playful positive nickname.

7? Same teacher as 4 and 5. Seriously. He even admitted he was helping us by not being too difficult he would threaten us with tests. Rarely actually happened.

Grade 8? Everyday sports. New teacher but they didn't want anything to do with anything that wasn't sports. We followed many sports in class. We would get tested on NHL stuff every year. For other subjects, he would literally just read the textbook to us. Never asked us questions, never tested us. BUT he got facts into everyone's brains. omg everyone really got everything he taught. He put everything in terms of sports and making everyone understand.

High school?

Suddenly we were at the big games. Our teachers actually taught. culture shock! even gave us tests. Even more shocking, it seems like other elementary schools were also bad.

But now we had personality problems. Grade 9 english, she just got divorced. Told us that all the boys in class will be failing. Not that we can't try but we weren't smart enough to possibly pass. She assigned seats such that a girl is sitting next to each boy. She said the girls weren't being punished, it's just the only chance the boys might be able to cheat off the girls and maybe pass. Each boy ended up with 51% final score. The ultra smart asian boys who probably had 100% got 51% and we beat by their parents.

Religion teacher was gone for a month. He used his coat and his hand to describe what the foreskin of a penis was like and how it gets erect. Never did find out but he got into some serious shit. the community was losing their mind over it lol. Religion class became sex ed, but imagine a catholic priest coming to class to teach sex ed to 'correct us' ya well what you're imagining is not even close to how bad it actually was.

math is my favourite though. First month was 'review' of what we should know from elementary school. I never once opened the textbook and I did no homework. teacher never said anything. The day before the test was a summary coverage of maths. At the end the teacher just goes off on me. Calling me a loser who hasn't done anything and when I fail the test he will have me removed from the class. He never let me say anything.

We did the test and next day we get the results back. I was the last one to get the test back who got the 2 bonus questions right scoring above 100% and he immediately grabbed me by the arm after realizing it was me and dragged me to the principal for cheating. Principal was like, 'how'd he cheat?' like obviously i didnt copy a neighbour. Teacher stormed out of the office when he didn't know how i cheated.

Couple weeks later.. geography test had bonus question that used the coordinate system. It's a trivial question but apparently it was a 'cheater testing question' nobody else was able to answer the question correctly. So I was accused for a second time for cheating. I didnt find out until years later the teachers were friends and they were just being abusive.

Pigalowda• 4 years ago

I feared this man but he was by far the best teacher I’ve had in my life. (6th grade English/Literature).

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/obituaries/2015/01/10/j-j-co...

stolenmerch• 4 years ago

Grew up in a small, dying midwestern town. Most of my teachers were either burned out, severe alcoholics, or both. Most seemed absolutely defeated and did little besides the bare minimum. I had a guidance counselor that drank on the job and literally let students drop required courses for graduation. I had many teachers who were so petty and vindictive they would flat out lie about you to your parents just to see you punished even more.

t-32• 4 years ago

Some of them were really bad, a few were really great. One of my high-school history teachers was awesome, every class was like storytime, and it made the history interesting and relatable, most others were not as good. The drafting/machine shop teacher played Johnny Cash and let us explore and have fun, and I ended up learning more math in three years of drafting and CAD than any of the "real" math classes.

One of my elementary school math teachers became a middle school teacher, but ended up having a nervous breakdown and leaving halfway through the year.

A science teacher in middle school put me in detention practically every other day, for reasons from not doing my homework to "not supporting the troops" or calling a kid who was ranting about how "we need to start slaughtering all the ragheads" a bigot.

aiyen• 4 years ago

I had some good teachers but not good enough to make an impact. I went to a poor, inner-city high school in the US, in a poor neighborhood where gun shots were heard every other night. High school security guards and teachers treated us like potential criminals. The security guards were there to discipline the students, not protect us. Biology class was run by the PE coach who had no interest in teaching. We watched movies and shows every day. I learned nothing. French teacher was surprised if anyone got a grade higher than a C on tests and constantly accused us of cheating. There were hardly any opportunities and guidance. We were not set up for success. It took years, but I was able to eventually get out of that neighborhood — no thanks to any of my past teachers. That school has been getting better over the years at least.

he11ow• 4 years ago

I had amazing teachers. Some in primary and middle school, then most of the high-school ones, and then a really outstanding amount at University. I owe so much of who I am today to all these people, it's really humbling.

I should say, not everyone around me felt the same about the school. There were always people who felt they're too cool for school, or did that teenagery thing where picking faults somehow makes you feel grown up. Also, it's not like every minute of every single class was pure rapture. There were lots of boring bits, and exam stress, and just having to get on with things. They're teachers, not entertainers.

But all these people taught me how to learn hard stuff. They taught me that learning itself is fun, even when the nitty gritty of learning isn't necessarily so. Many of them modeled it by being curious and interested. They treated us with respect, which clearly wasn't based on how much we knew.

And I guess it definitely left a mark as, even though I'm not a teacher, I do spend a lot of time thinking how to add value through educating. Both in, like, blogging, but also in business. I know how it feels to be empowered by knowledge, so I like being able to offer it to others.

Tainnor• 4 years ago

I went to school in the 90s and early 2000s in Switzerland

Most teachers that I had were fairly average to good. Some were outright bad (I had a geography teacher who was so in over his head that he was replaced after a year; I had a German teacher for two years who would just assign us projects and go drink coffee most of the time).

But I did have some absolutely amazing teachers that have probably influenced me more than I realise it.

One was my third to fourth grade teacher. An awesome person who really loved kids, made sure to teach us valuable lessons and a very creative person (we made two theater performances that I still remember fondly).

Another was my German and French teacher in the last 4 years of school who opened up the world of literature to me like no one else. She was rigorous and demanding but also kind and understanding.

rg1112• 4 years ago

I had a mixed bag.

Primary school years were not formative years of my life.

I was sent to a private school because it had pupils from households that mirrored our socio-economic status (Middle class as opposed to outright poor).

Teachers were poorly qualified with training in teaching. Neither they had degrees in fields. But they did do their job.

Teachers doing their jobs in public schools was unheard of. So, as opposed to neglect, I had teachers who actually did their jobs. Albeit poorly. That's it.

Some were rude. Some were gentle.

Middle and High Schools had really great humanity teachers. Really really great. They cared about students, they knew their business. One was an active and acclaimed researcher in local history. Had a really good, world class humanities education up to High School. Minus the modern wokeness, of course.

I learned how to write, how to actually read literature, how to think about and analyze literary pieces. I remember the literature syllabus being good and thoughtful.

It also formed my base and I am mote into literature now. I can appreciate art. I am very thankful.

Cannot say the same about Science education.

Science education was mediocre. The syllabus was covered. Heuristics of solving math problems were taught, not the reason or how stuff came. Physics, Chem, and Bio were taught the same way. Heuristics were taught, definitions- we were supposed to memorize.

My science education took off when in HS, I came in touch with the Internet, and it turned my life around.

I always got A+ in Science subjects, but learned real science only through the internet and textbooks suggested in the internet.

MIT OCW Calculus class was a life changer.

Despite all their folly, both humanities and science teachers encouraged participation in science fairs, cultural programs, and encouraged questioning. And they answered questions patiently.

I am thankful for that.

4/5 out of 40 or so teachers were outright idiots.

7952• 4 years ago

I had this teacher in middle school. We would do long term projects where we picked a subject and then gave a presentation on it. You could make models, do experiments, read books as research, do art around your chosen subject etc. It was really fun and engaging and just tore up the idea of subjects and curriculum. He was the first teacher I had who seemed to actually like children and had real curiosity about the world.

dontbenebby• 4 years ago

Most of them just used their words, one split my head open so badly I need stitches, and another who used to to hurl racial slurs does TV spots for the democrats.

I one day hope to achieve the special type of antisocial but not crazy that allows you to get a PA teaching credential.

(This was my middle school, Cory doesn't return my emails because I made too many jokes about his love of... cartoons): https://boingboing.net/2013/01/05/pedagogyofthedepressed.htm...

JaneYe• 4 years ago

This question reminds me of my primary school teacher, who, like my mother, helped me a lot in both study and life. She also led me to appreciate the charm of poetry and writing and opened the door to literature for me. I believe that part of my character building now comes from the literature she brought to me as a child.

Ask HN: What were your teachers like?

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