EnglishInvader wrote:
You can't legislate for human prejudice. Teachers will always have students that they favour and students that they dislike. Sometimes that prejudice is justified, sometimes it isn't; that's life.
"That's life?" You are helping to legitimize bad behavior. I realize that teachers are only human & they can be just as prejudiced as the next person but they should always know better than to bully or abuse any student....even if that student has problems or is difficult to deal with. If he/she can't deal with a particular student, another teacher should be found. That's what should have happened in this story. This child should have been put with a different teacher, instead of being bullied for years before the parents caught on.
I've been there myself. I was one of those special needs kids who was singled out by my peers & by teachers & other authority figures. I've been interogated at the age of 7 or so by my principal due to lies that were spread about me. He kept telling me I was lying & wanted me to change my story. I nearly had a nervous breakdown in his office. I was blamed for protecting myself when I was cornered by 3 boys in 6th grade. Because the adults in charge didn't see the entire incident, I was punished. Also in 6th grade, I was sad & depressed & crying, & my special needs teacher forced me to stare at myself in a mirror "until I put on a happy face." She had no clue that I was abused at home, bullied/teased at home, my neighborhood, & at school. Nor did she know that I was also being sexually abused by a friend of my parents. Why didn't she know? She never bothered to find out why I was so moody & sad all the time. She just got tired of seeing my sullen ugly face. I had a teacher in 7th grade who hated me. When another student hit me over the head with a large wooden ruler, & then blamed me, I was the one who got in trouble. Not the girl who hit me, she was favored by the teacher.
In all honesty, all teachers should have better training to detect bullying & so they don't ridicule the children who parents entrust to their care. No teacher should ever make a child feel bad or guilty for having problems.
Tomboy
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If I do something right, no one remembers. If I do something
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Aspie Score: 173/200, NT score 31/200: very likely an Aspie
5/18/11: New Aspie test: 72/72
DX: Anxiety plus ADHD/Aspergers: inconclusive