A Crafty Bully of a Teacher - What do you make of my 4th grade teacher?

[MysterionMuffles]

I always felt iffy at school, but what pushed my experience further as nearly horrid was the teacher I had in grade 4. Let's call him Mr. RedGreen because he looked like that Canadian lumberjack character [link=http://txtriffidranch.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/rgreen.jpg]Red Green[/link] from the parody handyman show.

Before I slander this teacher, to his credit he is the only reason why I highly value the use of the red pen when writing. It's a good colour to underline and box things in, also because when he taught us gymnastics in gym class, I got to learn how to flip and tumble which was nice. Especially since I got to be top of the pyramid in a school performance, so that's also cool. Oh oh and how could I forget the crafty wood work we got to do when making our own Rosaries?! He really WAS Red Green! Yep in the company of young children, he trusted us to use sanders to brush off the rough edges of our Rosaries fancied out of colourful beads and popsicle sticks for the Crucifix, to which he just engraved with an INRI in blue pen. [:O]

Now onto the corrupted nature of this guy. He had a pretty good sense of humour considering that everyone in my class laughed at what he did to some students. There was this one kid in my class who he constantly made an example out of. This kid used to wear his pants down low like a gangsta, and simply from passing by this teacher, Mr. RedGreen gave him a nice boot to the ass and told him that having your pants on low is just an invitation to get your ass kicked...literally. We all thought it was funny, and so did I because it always eluded me why people would wear their pants in such a way.

This same kid also had this habit of shrugging his shoulders when he didn't know the answer to, so Mr. Red Green also forced him to wear a meter stick around his shoulders in a oddly symbolic kind of crucifix and asked him all the questions we had to answer from our textbooks. The kid would try to shrug and of course he couldn't, again, what a riot huh?

LASTLY...same kid, and I guess this isn't too bad, had a habit of losing his red pen. Mr. Red Green made a point for us to always write in specifically blue and red pen. Blue for everything, and red for underlining the titles and dates of our work. And to show that he was damn serious, he had this GIANT pencil, possibly the size of let's say...three guitar necks in circumfrence? And at the point of it was where you could put a writing utensil in, so Mr. Red Green forced this kid to keep that giant pencil/red pen, and hey what's the problem? How often did he really have to pull the giant thing out to underline stuff right?

Right right, you can see that this man IS a bully, but he is clever and pretty witty in his approach. I would even forgive him a little for the fact that one time we had a lesson on reactivity for whatever subject I can't remember right now. Basically he acted like he was going to throw a ball at me and since I was a scared little kid (due to home shit I won't even have to mention in detail), I held my hands up over my head in defense. Then Mr. Red Green decided to try again at someone else who was just simply ready to catch it. He said something like "yes that is the correct way to react to a ball being thrown your way, not that...chicken stuff he did," in reference me. Something along those lines. Yeah I can forgive him for that because there wasn't really anything to be scared of.

Here's where I feel a little off about this guy completely though, all hilarity aside. In the boys change room there was this scrawny kid, one much scrawnier than I was, which was surprising, who always liked to strip all the way down to just his briefs when he changed his clothes. Some other kids were telling him to get some damn clothes on or go into the washroom because no one wants to see his puny ass. How did I intervene? I didn't. I joined in like an asshole and said "yeah!" and proceeded to kick him square in the ass. He told Mr. Red Green on me and I was sent to the office.

The discomfort in me rose so much more when Mr. Red Green asked me why I kicked that other kid in the ass, and I can specifically remember that moment thinking "well you kicked so and so in the ass before, and did all this other nasty stuff to him, so why am I all of a sudden in trouble for doing the same thing you did?" But...I couldn't muster the courage to say it out loud and I just don't know why.

Anyways, that's my story. I would love to know what your opinion is on this teacher I had because I have a huge amount of ambivelance towards the whole thing.

[Steinhauser]

Oh yeah, I've had teachers like this before. Thankfully, none were quite so bad as this guy. When I was in elementary school (~1994-2003, in suburban Boomer-run southern ON), any kind of overt display of physical aggression was cracked down upon with the full force of, like, the superintendent or diocese overlord whoever runs the Catholic school system.

Bullying or aggressive behaviour is something I often see paired with charisma or glibness. I think people with those kind of crowdpleasing social skills learn early on that when they're in the public eye, they can paint over their negative actions with a veneer of words. The person creates a dichotomy within the social narrative between what's "correct" and what's "cool." Any weight the moral argument might have is more than counterbalanced by the weight of the social pressure on the other side - that feeling of discomfort most people have going against the social norm. It's a risk-reward assessment that people do in every day social situations. Thus, the bully (your teacher) gets used to the power of victimizing others and grinning his way out of it.

I think your locker room example illustrates very well how the desire to fit within the flow of a social narrative often overrides better, objective judgment. Then, when you got in trouble, you didn't immediately call the teacher out on his hipocrasy - why? Because deep down you knew that wasn't an excuse for your actions; you knew he knew that too; and you knew that even if you passed the buck to him, not only would you still be guilty of your own actions, but he would now have special cause to target you in the future. Perhaps not overtly through bullying, but the casual social smoothness that allowed you two to be in the same room or conversation together would never be the same. And at least subconsciously you didn't think the rewards were worth the risk.

These are just my own theories of course.

[MysterionMuffles]

if I could go back in time, I would call him out on the BS.

More stories of corrupted teachers coming soon!

Been thinking about it lately and I'm starting to remember far too many examples where teachers were exercising power over my peers and my self.

[Existing Alternatives]

Have you looked that guy up lately? Maybe you can have an adult chat with him now. Perhaps it will help you with a certain degree of closure.

Bullying, in traditional understanding, is all about approval seeking. In this case, sadly, from a crowd of kids.

This maybe not be the right example, but it reminded me of many History channel documentaries about Hitler, how kind and caring he was towards (Arian, obviously) children.

[MysterionMuffles]

I didn't see bullying that way, thanks for that perspective. I knew it had something to do with a lack of self worth, but I often forget about external approval that contributes to that to some degree.

Hmm, as for seeking him out, I dunno...that seems to be a lot of trouble to go through, but how worth is it? And what would I do? Go back to my old elementary to see if he even work there anymore? Track him down if he doesn't then just say "hey, you probably won't remember me, but you were my 4th grade teacher. You did x y and z and I think that was pretty shitty. Do you still do it? Have you stopped? Why? Can I tear your beard off your face?"

[Existing Alternatives]

 

Hmm, as for seeking him out, I dunno...that seems to be a lot of trouble to go through, but how worth is it? And what would I do? Go back to my old elementary to see if he even work there anymore? Track him down if he doesn't then just say "hey, you probably won't remember me, but you were my 4th grade teacher. You did x y and z and I think that was pretty shitty. Do you still do it? Have you stopped? Why? Can I tear your beard off your face?"

 

I’m just thinking it could be beneficial to you. You seem to harbor some negative feelings towards him. Maybe getting it off your chest will make you feel better. Nothing violent – just a heart-to-heart chat. There is nothing wrong with what you said (short of tearing the beard). And who knows, maybe he will re-evaluate some of his behaviors. This could be a feedback loop that most teachers simply don’t have. If he still teaches, his students would be better off.

As far as tracking him down – teachers don’t move much due to the realities of the government pension-based work. He must have a Facebook page or something. I’m sure most teachers would be thrilled to hear back from their students, unless they are aware of the impacts of their behavior and fear reprisals.