During the reading and rereading of participant responses, stories that provided rich detail about participants' poorest teachers were identified. From those poorest teachers stories, students who wrote of unprofessional behavior and related traits and characteristics were specifically designated for this study. Of these involved stories, 24 student responses were provided in this study.
The following student stories are grouped thematically. Stories are reproduced directly from the surveys from the handwritten responses by participants. Brief contexual discussion follows each grouping.
“The poorest teacher I had was my second grade teacher. She was very mean with all of her students, and when someone didn’t understand something she wouldn’t care and keep going. At the middle of the semester she was fired, and put to jail because she would put tape in the students’ mouth so they could stop talking. She was the poorest teacher I ever had because she was very mean.” (Hispanic female, 19 years of age, a Nursing major)
“The poorest teacher I had was in Junior High. He was my science teacher. I would always feel uncomfortable around him and he would always stare at me in a weird way. All of a sudden in High School I found out that he was in jail because he had some kind of relationship with a little girl who was there at that time.” (Hispanic female, age 19, Business major)
“She was grouchy. She grabbed students and pinched them with her long fingernails. She humiliated us and made us sit under her desk for running in bathrooms. She was prejudice. Said she couldn’t give everyone As, even though the work was deserving. Because of social status of student. Poor vs. rich.” (Native American female, 55 years old, Education major, first person in family to attend college, currently has children attending school K-12).
“My 2nd grade teacher was stupid. I paided him off so he can pass me without teaching me anything.” (Hispanic male, 20 years of age, no major indicated).
“The poorest teacher I had was algebra teacher from (name of school removed) High School. She never helped students that needed the extra help. She would just point and laugh at us if we didn’t know the answer. Sometimes she would throw rocks at me cause I used to comb my hair funny and because of that my feelings were hurt. I start listening to depeche mode music by myself in they dark (student drew an unhappy face at the end of the story)”. (Hispanic male, 23 years of age, Business management major, first person in family to attend college).
These five particular responses for unprofessional behavior by teachers illustrated some of the most disturbing and negative behavior described by students in this study. Outright illegal behavior, haunting illicit conduct, violent acts perpetrated by teachers, and damaging unethical conduct are all told by students recounting their poorest K-12 teacher. Details of the effects of such behaviors by teachers on the student themselves illustrate the ramifications of unprofessional behavior in the classroom.
Unprofessional behaviors and how the teacher teaches or treats a student permeate throughout the remainder of students’ educational journey and beyond. Revealing the stories by college students of unprofessional behavior by K-12 teachers can aid those persons in the field of education and research. Such information may be useful to persons in area of teacher preparation and development, those persons who create and administer assessment and evaluation methods and instruments, and those persons researching teacher effectiveness, characteristics, and teacher behavior. We believe that the current findings will assist in the continued effort of improving the educational experience for our students.
Illegal conduct by adults serving as educators does not always get addressed by supervisors and other administrators in ways that would prevent such damaging acts from reoccurring. A teacher's misconduct may go unreported, dismissed, or even unrecorded in records. First reported in 1981 in Schweizer's study, a male special education teacher resigned from a position due to a complaint from a student concerning sexual advances. Because the teacher was provided with good references he obtained another teaching position. The unscrupulous educator continued to work with children at different schools while being accused of different types of sexual misconduct for over 15 years until he was finally jailed for sexually assaulting one of his special education students. He was sentenced to 20 years (Schweizer, 1998).
Another example of disturbingly unprofessional behavior is that of an elementary school teacher in San Francisco who "placing her 6-year-old students in a trash can, closing the lid, and kicking the can" (Schweizer, 1998, par. 8). Administrators became aware of the situation but were only able to suspend her once other teachers heard her threatening to "cut off a child's private parts with a pair of scissors. The district was successful in dismissing the individual form their position, though she was able to obtain another position in another distict.
“He was a jerk. He never thought us hand to hand. He made look out the book work. He didn’t helped us when we had a problem. Use to have bad tantums and would sleep the class period.” (Hispanic male, age 20, Digital Imaging major).
“The poorest teacher I remember I consider her the poorest due she would scream @ us and did not really care if we understood her lessons. There were certain students she preferred and got along with and some were excluded.” (Hispanic female, 22 years of age, Business Administration major, currently has children attending school K-12).
Overly emotional behavior such as yelling, screaming, and tantrums by the teachers left a negative impression on students. In the above two stories, students describe negative characteristics, such as being uncaring, unhelpful, and indifferent along with the unprofessional behaviors of yelling and screaming at students by teachers. Verbal abuse and emotional abuse by teachers can leave bruises and scars on children that go unseen.
One example of how unprofessional characteristics such as yelling and other overly emotional behavior affects children both academically and psychologically is that of a young girl in Suburban Maryland (Mathews, 2005). The student seemed to love going to her elementary school until fourth grade. Once the school year began “she began to cry every morning and beg her mother not to make her go” (Mathews, 2005, par. 1). Because of the dramatic change in her daughter’s attitude towards her education, the mother investigated the situation. The mother soon found out that the teacher would often yell at the children for misbehavior, punish the students by not allowing recess or other non instructional activities, and was not instructing the students or providing any type of lessons at all. Unfortunately, the student, along with her classmates, suffered emotionally and was cheated out of an education (Mathews, 2005).
“The poorest teacher I’ve had in school was the teacher who would get to class, write page numbers on the board and questions to do and sat at her desk talked on her cellphone, not letting us concentrate on our work, while putting makeup. Having this teacher in particular was a total disaster because I strongly feel that I did not gain no knowledge what so ever from that class in particular.” (Hispanic male, 19 years of age, Civil Drafting major)
“My poorest teacher was in high school. He was a football coach and also my government teacher. All he could think about was the football games on Friday and how our team was going to be the other and I hated that because I love the subject of government and I really wanted to know was much as possibly. I would hate it sometimes going to his class because one he would hardly do anything in class and just goofy off all the time.” (Hispanic male, 19 years of age, Radiology major)
“In my freshman year I had this teacher that taught World History and was the POOREST! Teacher I have ever had. He never taught us anything. He would just give us our work and we had to do it ourselves. If there was a fit in the classroom would just watch and do nothing about it. In the last 2 months of that class I did not go because I had problems with one of the student. The other student would do the attendance and would count me absent and I got in an argument with her and the teacher wouldn’t do nothing and would tell him that it was not her job to do the attendance it was his job, and so I talk to one of the principals and I did not have to go back to that class.” (Hispanic female, age 20, Engineering major)
“He gave us class work and never explained the material. When we asked questions he asked us to look for it on the book and he was always playing in the computer instead of giving the class.” (Hispanic female, age 21, Paralegal major, first person in family to attend college).
“Teacher was a heavy smoker person, she was always grouchy. If she had not smoked she would rush through the material to give us free time so she could take us to recesses, (it was a long time ago).” (Hispanic female, 33 years of age, Education major, currently has children attending school K-12).
“Basically it was my sophomore year in high-school. He was a football coach but he also taught history. He was just walk in, read the newspaper and would put us to do definitions.” (Hispanic female, age 23, Education major).
“It would have to be my senior English teacher. We literally did nothing in her class. We would go sit down and just talk and play board games. Sometimes she never even showed up to class. Most the time she was on medication for ADD. She rarely taught us English by some how she passed us all to graduate.” (Hispanic female, 18 years of age, Biology major).
“Did not care for the class sometimes would fall asleep in class. Very boring.” (Hispanic male, 34 years old, Criminal Justice major, first person in family to attend college, currently has children attending school K-12).
“I had several real poorest teachers in my Middle School. This was also when I studied in Mexico. I had an English, History, Art teachers completely lazy. We never did something on any of these classes. They always released us like ten minutes after the class started. They just passed the class (indistinguishable) and that is it.” (Hispanic female, 18 years of age, Criminal Justice major).
Unprofessional behavior by K-12 teachers includes teachers who are uninterested in the success and wellbeing of their students, teachers who are unwilling to teach, and even those teachers who seem too busy with other things to teach. Such attitudes can transfer to students who do not feel motivated to do well in school or even attend school. Students who may have been engaged with previous teachers or in prior subjects may become disengaged and often suffer academically. Additionally, as illustrated quite well in the stories above, there are teachers who do the absolute minimum to get through the school day yet still receive a paycheck and are rehired for the following year. These behaviors model a less than desirable work ethic for children and young adults.
Students can be critically affected by poor teachers, as sub par teaching damages a student academically and personally. Students who are interested and eager to learn and participate in class may become deflated and discouraged by disconnected and unmotivated educators. Often, poor performing teachers are not thoroughly evaluated or, due to the lack of quality numbers in new hires, are moved from classroom to classroom or school to school. Few states have probationary periods for teachers longer than two years. Often, teachers can achieve a permanent status less than three years after certification, though some state legislative bodies are considering a change (Weeding Out Bad Teachers, 2005).
“This teacher was mean. Very insulting and would use punishment if I didn’t understand my work. She, instead of helping, would insult me and would make fun of me or any other student that was a slow learner.” (Hispanic female, 35 years of age, Education major, currently has children attending school K-12)
“My fourth grade teacher. I told her about a problem happening in school and she told the whole classroom. I had to drop out of the school.” (Hispanic female, age 25, Dental Hygiene major, first person in family to attend college, currently has children attending school K-12).
“My English teacher in 10th grade. He would always put me down because I was pregnant and married at the age of fifteen. My appearance after being absent would just make him so mad and always had something negative to say, until I told him if he had something to say to me to talk to me instead of saying negative thing to the class. He didn’t keep me from graduating high school.” (Hispanic female, 31 years of age, Education major, first person in family to attend college, currently has children attending school K-12).
Respect for others is a trait seen as desirable in society and is even taught in schools. Yet, as described in the stories above, many teachers disregard their students and even outright disrespect them. Teachers who show contempt in the classroom may foster a hostile environment for a student or even an entire class. Behaviors such as making fun of students, breeching the bond of trust with a student, and calling students names by teachers are poor role modeling and often manifest into larger issues as seen above.
Disrespectful behavior on the part of teachers towards their students can take many forms, including embarrassment, humiliation, disregard for a students’ beliefs, and harassment. As Mathews (2005) reported in 2003, the family of a female student in the Washington D.C. public school system notified the girl’s teacher that she would be staying home on the designated day to observe Yom Kippur. The mother of the student explains how when the daughter provided the teacher with the note, the teacher “in front of the entire social studies class asked [the daughter] in a very critical voice which she thought was more important: Yom Kippur or getting an education” (Mathews, 2005, par. 23). Such disrespectful behavior on the part of the teacher hurts students’ feelings and affects student motivation to learn.
“In my years in high school their was one teacher did not teach me anything. Economics was the subject and the teacher tied teaching yet students did not care much less him. I passed that class but because he passed all of us. He would let students do what they want and that time it was fun but now that I realize it was not I should have learned what I could in high school.” (Hispanic male, 22 years old, Pharmacy major, first person in family to attend college).
Viewed through the eyes of a child a classroom with no enforced rules and no structure for learning might be considered fun and cool at the time. However, whether in the next year of school or later as an adult, the student may realize no learning actually took place and the inaction of the teacher was to their detriment. How a teacher manages a classroom, and therefore the behavior and learning of the students in the classroom, seems connected to a students’ perception of professional behavior on the part of a teacher.
Education majors and pre-service teachers go through many hurdles and batteries of tests to achieve their teaching certification. Not all individuals qualify to teach children. Yet, even with the system designed to weed out poorly qualified individuals there are those persons who make it to the classroom lacking the specific skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to deal with such a multidimensional position (Blair, 2001).
One possibility for problems with classroom management and other pedagogical issues is that teacher preparation programs teach a subject but not necessarily teach the teachers how to teach. In the State of Texas, a "state law, implemented in 1991, prohibits prospective teachers from taking more than 18 hours of pedagogical coursework - including student teaching - in an attempt to emphasize subject-area knowledge" (Blair, 2001, Par. 89). Another hindrance to potentiall well-trained teachers in the classroom is that in the State Of Texas teachers may work in public schools up to two years lacking their permanent licence.
“My Pre Cal teacher because I did NOT learn anything!!! She was absent the first 3 months then finally came in and left as she got hired somewhere else. We got another teacher who didn’t teach us anything. I lost a whole year of math. Now I hate it.” (Hispanic female, 20 years of age, Communications major).
“The poorest teacher I had was when I was a senior in high school. She was always complaining that she had family problems. We always had a substitute and gave special attention and preference to people that would “suck up to her”. She was never available if I had any questions and would be mad if we didn’t understand something.” (Hispanic female, 20 years of age, Criminal Justice major, first person in family to attend college).
There are times that being absent from a job cannot be avoided. A teacher’s absence can have a negative impact on a student’s learning and their connection to the classroom. As seen in this study unprofessional behavior by teachers and excessive and long-term absences are connected in the perceptions of students. Being late, leaving early, or not showing up at all models qualities not desired in society. Some teachers might abuse the system. One teacher from Chicago repeatedly showed up late in the morning to teach her classes. She would arrive just before the time deadline that her contract deemed her supervisor able to reduce her pay or even fire her (Weele, 1994). Unpredictability and lack of a teacher in the classroom potentially created an environment not conducive to learning.
“The worst teacher was my third grade Spanish teacher. She always showed favoritism to the richest children. She always put me down and talked about me to a colleague loud enough so that I would hear her. Other students that picked on me never got in trouble. To this day I never learned anything in her class.” (Hispanic female, 18 years of age, Business major)
“The worst teacher was a person who the only thing would do was give us the work and tell us to read the book for examples. And tell us that college was like that. When we were only in middle school. And talk about how she would hate the Mexican people who would come to the Valley only to ask for help.” (Hispanic male, 23 years old, Psychology major, first person in family to attend college).
Inclusion and acceptance are sought out by children and adults alike. Favoritism by teachers of students may negative affect students academically as well as emotionally. Teachers who swap grages for favors not only model unprofessional and unethical behavior but set students up to fail. A St. Louis algebra teacher would give A's to students "who would bring her Big Gulps and Snickers bars" (Schweizer, 1998, Par. 21). In these situations students did not receive the necessary instruction, learn the correct information, nor accumulate the skills necessary for the next level. Once in their next class, it would be easy to surmise that the students who were passed unscrupulously had difficulties academically.
A 2006 lawsuit filled by Native American families in South Dakota claimed schools in the Winner school district discriminated against Native American students. In Antoine et al v. Winner School District the plaintiffs stated that “the schools discriminated against Native American students in disciplining them, were hostile toward Native American families, and took statements from students involved in disciplinary matters that were later used to prosecute them in juvenile and criminal courts” (Native American Families and Winner School District Announce Settlement in Case Alleging Discrimination, 2007, par. 5). Just over a year later the lawsuit was settled through judge led mediation (Native American Families and Winner School District Announce Settlement in Case Alleging Discrimination, 2007).
Being singled out by teachers because of race, ethnicity, nationality, or socio-economic status could humiliate and alienate a student. A student might shut down academically due to harmful remarks from a teacher. Hurt feelings can grow into emotional scars that follow a student through their academic career and beyond. Animosity felt towards a racist or prejudiced teacher could in turn push the student to be, at the very least, weary of other individuals similar to the educator’s race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion, or socio-economic status. As illustrated by the stories above, students do not easily forget incidents of racism, prejudice, and favoritism practiced by teachers.
