30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School

At the time it may have felt like the most important thing in the world, but most adults probably look back at their school days with some degree of humor. Teachers going on power-trips on the most ridiculous things, dramatic stakes that were not really that important, rules, norms and behaviors that, in retrospect, are just funny.
Someone asked “What is the dumbest thing you got in trouble for at school?” and people shared their most hilarious stories. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.

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30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School Not me but one of my best friends. Was drinking a Snapple at lunch and it slipped out of his hand and shattered. 100% an accident.

But the new vice principal lost her s**t and went off on him accusing him of throwing it as a weapon. He got suspended and his parents had to pull him out of school. He was shocked and crying (dude was NOT a trouble maker, one of the smartest kids in our class at that).

Until about two days later the vice principal checked the security tapes that obviously clearly showed him dropping it by accident. Lots of apologies but he was obviously more than upset. At graduation I heard him tell her to go f**k herself when she was shaking hands and handing out diplomas. Only time I heard him seriously swear. .

zulutbs182 , verry1990 / flickr (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

105points

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Huddo's sister 2 months ago

Why would they suspend him BEFORE checking CCTV?

66points

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30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School I mooed when my grade 8 teacher called us cattle as we left the gym. Two detentions.

Hectordoink , cottonbro studio / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

100points

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Deta Rossiter 2 months ago

THIS is Gold

42points

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I drank water from the fountain next to the classroom door. When the bell rang, I turned to walk in and my 7th grade English teacher slammed the door in my face. I stood around hella confused and knocked and I could hear her taking attendance. Mind you, I had already put my stuff inside. After she took attendance she let me in and told me she marked me tardy for not being inside when the bell rang. Asked her how I was late when she'd seen me walk by her desk and put stuff down and then turn to go to the water fountain, and instead of answering me she just wrote me up for ISS for "being rude." It was the first time I'd even been punished in school for anything.

To top it off, when I told my mother what happened amd being sent to in school suspension, she made me get in the car and drove back to the school. Turns out because of my sickle cell anemia and the need to stay extra hydrated, I'd had a standing note in my file from my pediatric specialist noting that I was to always have the ability to get water when I needed it. My mother verbally dressed down the Principal, VP, and that teacher for what seemed like forever.

luo1304 Report

Final score:

96points

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Nicola Mawson 2 months ago

My mom always had my back

45points

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30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School Blowing my nose. I had a horrible cold so I kept needing tissues and the teacher yelled at me and gave me a detention. So next day I stuffed my bra FULL and aggressively dug in there anytime I needed one.

queenoforeos , Andrea Piacquadio / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

78points

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Judy Reynolds 2 months ago

lol!

21points

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30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School Kid in my high school got suspended for drinking…with his parents…on vacation…in a country where he was doing it legally…again, WITH his parents. Came back from vacation with a picture of him drinking a beer with his folks at dinner. Teacher saw it, reported him. Boom, 5 day suspension. Explanation: “the rules of the school supersede those of the outside world.”.

neddybemis , ELEVATE / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

73points

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StPaul9 2 months ago

The rules of the world supersede you, United States.

56points

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30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School Public nudity. I was in a locked bathroom stall and I was peeing.

I-am-not-a-robot1 , / unsplash (not the actual photo) / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

65points

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Huddo's sister 2 months ago

Did the person that 'caught' them get reported to child protecting for looking? I'm tempted to stop reading this list because all my comments will be 'that's ridiculous'...

44points

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30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School For drinking water in class without asking the teacher.

anon , halfpoint / envato(not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

63points

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Luke Branwen 2 months ago

No teacher should have right / authority to deny children basic human needs like drinking or going to the toilet. "It disrupts the class!!!!" my a$$. If your class can be disrupted by a student quietly doing their thing, then your class must be excruciating.

42points

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30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School Had a teacher who I really didn't get on with in secondary school, and I swear it got personal

I got detention for the following crimes:

*being last in the queue to collect a textbook

*taking my jumper off

*sitting in an alleged sarcastic manner

*getting full marks for homework (allegedly should have been near impossible to do)

*asking for homework not to be given for the next day as I was working that night.

DonaldTrunt , Ron Lach / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

61points

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PewPew 2 months ago

Ok, I really wanna know what "sitting in a sarcastic manner" looks like, lol.

60points

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30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School For responding “no” in elementary school when the teacher asked “are we all ready to move on the next step?”.

Ok-Duty-6377 , Arthur Krijgsman / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

61points

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Bored Potato 2 months ago

What's the point of asking, then?

53points

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#10

30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School I threw a snowball...during a snowball fight...that the teachers started. It was my senior year of HS and I had recently committed to play baseball in college. The teacher who tried to give me detention said I should be smart enough to know not to partake in the fight because I threw too hard and someone would get hurt. (A) I had just lobbed the snowball up in the air and (B) WTF? He was quickly overruled by several other teachers.

HoopOnPoop , Cami Henry / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

61points

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Luke Branwen 2 months ago

One of The Incidents™ at our elementary school was when a couple of guys from my class were throwing icy snowballs, one of which hit and injured a young (like 2nd grade) girl. Their punishment was to rewrite the school rules, by hand, several times. They were done somewhere at the end of the school year.

21points

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#11

30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School Whispering “stop it” to a kid who kept throwing paper balls at me. I guess the sub thought I was a troublemaker because I was in the back of the room? I got sent to another class for the rest of the period to set an example.

Jokes on him, I was the “smart kid” and sending a big nerd out of the room doesn’t really send a useful message to the class.

thatpearlgirl , Max Fischer / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

58points

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keyboardtek 2 months ago

I went to catholic elementary school. The nuns were notorious for punishing me because I told the bully to stop doing his c**p. He never got punished once. The lack of compassion and understanding in religious schools is sickening.

13points

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#12

30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School Literally got a 2hr after school detention for saying “what” bc I didn’t hear the teacher.

Acceptable_Ad_4958 , Thirdman / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

58points

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Huddo's sister 2 months ago

But you should have said 'pardon' like...not even most retired people would these days...

4points

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#13

30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School Reading my own copy of Romeo and Juliet in the library while we were studying it instead of a school library copy.

External-Day962 , Oladimeji Ajegbile / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

56points

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Michael Largey 2 months ago

Betting the school library edition had the naughty bits of R&J edited out.

31points

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#14

I kid you not, I got in trouble for LITERALLY HAVING A SEIZURE

They banned me from all football games because I “traumatized the students” by having a grand mal. Also nobody was around ?? It was after the game when almost everyone left, I stayed behind to meet up w a friend.

But the VP walked by during my seizure and I s**t you not she tried to yell at me right then and there (I’ve been told) but the paramedics told her to leave.

Anyway. I was banned from all future games, not allowed to participate in any extracurricular for the rest of the year, and for three days detention.

That VP and I go wayyyy back she hates me and it’s mutual 💀.

Mac8cheeseenthusiast Report

Final score:

55points

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Depressed Lesbian(she/they/he) 2 months ago

The audacity. Control your seizures better(/s)

35points

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#15

30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School I was in the hospital for five days. When I came back, I was unable to keep up with all the work I missed and my high school expelled me.

RockVonCleveland , Marcelo Leal / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

51points

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cherry~ 2 months ago

@Jonas they were in the hospital. They had no choice to do homework or not to do it. And in high school, losing 5 days can be a LOT of homework! Most teachers would be reasonable and understand the situation, while this clearly wasn't the case.

20points

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#16

30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School I got in trouble for calling my dad after school to organize a pickup. We were not supposed to use our phones on site, no exceptions. My dad was pretty pissed that he had to park and come to the principal’s office.

anon , vozdvizhenskayadina / envato (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

45points

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KittyGaming 2 months ago

I say it should be fine after final bell, since you need to call your parents/partner/whatever

29points

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#17

We were practicing for our year six graduation and the teacher asked if everyone understood where they were meant to stand. I said no, because, well, I didn't understand. I got lunch time detention for being "purposely insubordinate".

contact-stupiditis Report

Final score:

45points

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Huddo's sister 2 months ago

Why do teachers ask questions if they don't want answers?

42points

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#18

30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School OOooohhh i will take the cake with this one.

So i got in trouble, and got a weeks worth detention because, and here it comes....

Because i didn't talk back to a teacher while another student was. They where going at eachothers throats while i sat there quietly trying to not garther any attention. Afterwards he called me a sneaky bastard (best translation i could think off). And the other guy didn't get in any trouble.

Now i can hear you asking what did i do for him to mad at me? Because i didn't speak up. That's why i got a weeks worth of detention...

poobboob , Kenny Eliason / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

44points

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Brenda 2 months ago

Please tell me your parents gave them hell about this

28points

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#19

30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School Playing Magic the Gathering at the lunch table. The teachers thought it was “gambling”.

undrtke316 , Wayne Low / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

43points

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Stannous Flouride 2 months ago

Silly. Everyone knows it's Witchcraft and used to summon the Dark Lord. /s

59points

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#20

My kindergarten teacher sent me for a timeout (that reason was legitimate) and placed me in the art supply closet for it. Got in more trouble for playing with the art supplies but my defense is your honor what was she expecting?

hypo-osmotic Report

Final score:

42points

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Brenda 2 months ago

She put you in a closet!?!

28points

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#21

I dropped out due to ableism and mistreatment by staff. I was gossiped about by the assistant principal when she thought I was gone, my English teacher was verbally abusive, and the school psychologist refused to evaluate me for autism because a non-mental health professional, some random staff member, said I made eye contact. Then, my parents were blamed for not knowing about resources we were never informed about and we’d been seeking help for…Oh, I don’t know, A DECADE. I had mental breakdowns all the time at school and have been invalidated for my severe anxiety since I was around 8. Rather than helping me, I was constantly scolded even though I did nothing that should get me in trouble. I was made to feel wrong for my mere existence for the majority of my days in school and rather than helping with the 504 plan or IEP, they basically labeled me an enigma and forced me to fend for myself. Since dropping out, my dreams have come true. I’m a professional musician now and I’m a lot happier too.

parosmaniac Report

Final score:

41points

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OneWithRatsAndKefir 2 months ago

Ohh boy; I was one of those stereotypical ‘high-functioning girl who masks too well’. If I had been forced to rely on my teachers, both primary and secondary, for an ASD diagnosis, I wouldn’t have one! The strange thing is my secondary school even said they had put in a referral for an ASD assessment in (probably) my third year after some behavioural troubles, but it never happened (I honestly doubt if they ever actually made one). I only got diagnosed a few years later because the lockdown caused my mental health to plummet and circumstances revealing, ‘hey, so you DO actually have that ASD!’.

24points

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#22

The clothes I wore didn't meet their standards. I went to a school where at least 80% were rich kids, and my parents broke their budget to pay for our tuition, so we didn't have the money to buy the right clothes.

I had my older sisters' cast offs, and I did manage to sew some clothes for myself, even though I just figured it out on my own, so I wasn't very good at it. They couldn't even afford to buy me the material or patterns to sew more clothes. It was really embarrassing!

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Final score:

41points

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Dragon mama 2 months ago

Some schools near me use a very simple uniform code and I love it. Khaki pants and a polo shirt (blue or white) can be found a million places. They get the benefits of a dress code without the huge expense

31points

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#23

Out of nowhere in 11th grade, I got pulled out of class by the principal and was told that “they knew I hacked the school’s firewall.” They said some kind of proxy had been run off of my student login and was accessing…..

Facebook. I was being threatened with expulsion because someone had bypassed the firewall to go on Facebook.

Long story short, I ended up asking the librarian for help, and she was able to see that all of the logins came from a classroom that I had never been in.

Some people in the programming class (there was only one) randomly started getting into other peoples’ student logins and loading something from a flash drive to bypass the firewall, and yep, go on Facebook.

She stood up for me to the principal, and I was off the hook. I never heard if the people who’d actually done it were caught.

Years later, that principal saw me at the grocery store and tried to come up and be buddy buddy with me. I told him to f**k off and walked away. Legit the only time I’ve ever been mean to a school employee, but that was beyond ridiculous. Certain grudges are worth holding.

MrLanesLament Report

Final score:

39points

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Huddo's sister 2 months ago

When I was in year 12 there was one guy who had managed to bypass the firewall to use sites like facebook on the school computers and his laptop. I think he charged people to do the same on their devices. I didn't have a laptop or facebook at the time, or any real need to use any blacklisted sites so I'm not 100% on the details.

11points

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#24

30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School Drawing a hamster smoking a cigarette.

Paintguin , cottonbro studio / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

36points

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StPaul9 2 months ago

OK, I want to see the drawing.

31points

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#25

I was always in trouble because my pants were "too tight."

Look, I had a 25 inch waist and a big a*s - the only way those f*****s were staying up was if they werw tight across my a*s.

LizardPossum Report

Final score:

35points

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Brenda 2 months ago

When my daughter was in 1st or 2nd grade, I got a call from the school asking me to bring another pair of pants for her. As I had just folded laundry, I grabbed a pair of sweats. Then,when she came home, she had a note for me from her teacher saying that she was breaking the dress code. Because she had on leggings. She was very thin with very long legs. The only pants that fit her were leggings. I paired them with tunic tops, which came down past her butt. Told the teacher this. The next day, another call (I wasn't home to bring her anything) another note. Responded with the same answers. Third day (again, not home), the note threatened suspension if it happened again. I raised hell with the school in the morning. You buy her clothes, you can decide what she wears! Turns out the no leggings rule was intended for HS students. I demanded an apology to both myself and my kid.

35points

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#26

Filling up my water bottle at a water fountain. It was in between classes when every student was walking from one class to the next. If i remember correct i was given detention or possibly even suspension.

gnarlsson Report

Final score:

34points

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Depressed Lesbian(she/they/he) 2 months ago

How dare you fulfil a basic human need?!

22points

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#27

Yawning.

To be fair, I sound like a Whoose (whale/moose), and this was in study hall. I get yawn streaks that can last 10+ yawns in a row. I can’t really stop it, and the teacher wouldn’t let anyone leave the room for the period.

Reading the word yawn, hearing someone yawn, someone says yawn, or just thinking about yawning makes me yawn. I can’t escape it.

If a serial killer was chasing me and got tired, I’d be dead in minutes because they’d find me wherever I was hiding.

People look at me like I’m crazy; this cryptid howl out of a tiny girl, louder than you’d think capable from such a small lung capacity.

I wish I was joking. I can’t even count how many times someone’s gotten mad, told me to shut up, all because of several very loud bellowing yawns in quick succession.

I’ve been yawning even as I type this. It’s hard to see the keyboard when all you can do is yawn.
I can’t even use voice to text, it would come out as gfidnrjtjddnfndirejgdbej.

Btw, this is all true and even my kids yell at me to shut up 😅.

sexywallposter Report

Final score:

34points

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StPaul9 2 months ago

Again, I'd like a drawing of a whoose.

36points

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#28

30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School Telling a teacher he was giving me a headache because he was just yelling while teaching.

Shawty43 , Craig Adderley / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

29points

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Jonas Fisher 2 months ago

Teacher here. If the class is being loud, or there is a lot of noise in the vicinity, or I'm just trying to get the class pumped up, I can be loud. If a student -- in the middle of my explaining something about the subject -- interrupts with some snide "Can you keep it down? You're giving me a headache," I'd be tempted to hand out a detention, too.

13points

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#29

There's this local festival every year in spring in my town. My 9th grade girlfriend and I spent all weekend outside at this festival that year. She got a bad sunburn. The following Monday morning we were in the Commons area of the school hanging with friends before class started. I was standing there blowing in her sunburnt shoulders. Harmless. A teacher walked around the corner and saw me and took us both to the vice principal's office and had us wrote up for public display of affection. He said I was standing there kissing on her neck and feeling her up. Me, her, and 2 of my friends told the vice principal what was happening and she acted like she understood and dismissed us both. No write up or anything. About an hour or so later we got called back to the office at separate times. She got off with nothing and I was given 2 days of asr (3 hours detention after school).

Also not me but a friend of mine got a 1 hour dentition after school one time for saying "poopy in my pants" lol.

CaptainCreepwork Report

Final score:

28points

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char 2 months ago

that's a pretty weird thing to be doing, but even weirder that the teacher somehow saw it as "kissing on her neck and feeling her up" tf

15points

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#30

30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School I got kicked out of 6th grade English class for trying to woo a girl by quietly reading lines to her from a paperback copy of The Hobbit. .

Playful_Dot_537 , Madalyn Cox / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

28points

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Jonas Fisher 2 months ago

This seems fair. Completely distracted and trying to actively distract another student during class.

33points

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Note: this post originally had 69 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

What do you think ?

Crescent 3 2 months ago

In 3rd grade my teacher, Mrs. Penn, called for a conference with my parents because I wouldn't eat the macaroni and cheese at lunch. My Mom didn't drive and my Dad worked second shift at his factory job, so they had to cut into his sleep time to come up to the school. Mrs. Penn was upset that since we were paying for lunch, my refusing to eat the mac and cheese (which, for some reason, they always served with peanut butter sandwiches) was wasting money. My, loving and gentle mother wanted to slap her. Instead, she said: "He doesn't like macaroni and cheese. He doesn't eat it when I make it at home. What makes you think he'll eat the slop you serve here? It's our money. If it's wasted, it's wasted." Then stormed out. They came home and Dad got about an hour of sleep before going to work.

Grazina Strolia 2 months ago

I was screamed at by my 5th-grade teacher because she forgot me. On the first day of school, she had us all line up in the front of the class, and she'd call us one by one and assign us a seat. She got through everyone else, and I was the last person standing. She had her back to me. When she started talking about opening our textbooks, we all realized she'd forgotten me. And there was more than one empty seat, so I couldn't even just go sit. So I said "Excuse me?" from behind her. She FLIPPED OUT. WHY ARE YOU INTERRUPTING ME? WHY AREN'T YOU SITTING? WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING THERE??? Everyone in the class was telling her she'd skipped me. I guess she was embarrassed, because she went out of her way to make my year miserable. She called me a "troublemaker", and anytime anyone near me did *anything* wrong, she'd take points off of *my* grade. Not theirs. The only way I passed 5th grade was because of her extra-credit handwriting assignments. I did them ALL. Each one worth 5 extra points.

8points

Nikole 2 months ago

My fifth grade teacher was an idiot (like, actually stupid) and hated girls. She would always talk about her five male sons like they were made of diamonds. Mrs. White.

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SCP 4666 2 months ago

We're those teachers all on a power trip or just sociopathic tyrants?

Yes.

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30 Of The Dumbest Reasons Why Students Got In Trouble In School

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