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30 Students And Parents Call Out Their Teachers Who Were So Wrong, They Shouldn’t Be Teaching Anyone
Young kids soak up new information like a sponge. That is why educating them is important from an early age. It’s also crucial to have your facts straight before telling them to children—some of them might never forget what they've learned from a teacher. Whether it’s right or wrong.
The AskReddit community discussed statements by their elementary school teachers that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Their examples ranged from blindly denying scientific facts to cases of plain ignorance, all of which prove two things: a) some of the information you learn as a kid sticks for years to come, and b) certain people should be taught rather than teaching.
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#1
I had a teacher try to tell the class that Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus were the only planets known to have rings. I raised my hand and added that Jupiter had rings too, but that they were so faint they were hard to see. She vehemently denied it. When I politely (yes, really) told her that I had just seen it in a book, she gave me detention for trying to correct her in front of the class.
The next day, before class began, she approached me with an encyclopedia opened to a page about Jupiter, and apologized. She told the class I was indeed right, and that it's important to listen and learn from people even when we think we are 100% right. One of the more wholesome moments I can remember from school in my youth.
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#2
That if I didn’t learn my times tables I’d wind up a broke garbage man, never learned then but I’m a garbage man who made 6 figures last year
#3
Sex ed teacher in grade 7 told me that the white stuff that collects in my underwear is semen. I’m a girl.
I learned way later that it’s actually discharge and EVERY vagina does this.
#4
That I won’t always have a calculator in my pocket. F****n liar.
#5
My name's pronunciation. 1st grade 1st day of the year we all told our names, introductions etc. My name is from a SEA country and not even that difficult to say just read differently than its spelled, its even monosyllable. My teacher screeched at me and told me it'll be pronounced the way its phonetically spelled in English which included swapping two middle letters for some reason. The other students went along with it and so did I. Even to this day I still introduce myself by that pronunciation except to people of my own race.
In university I started getting people that wanted to pronounce it correctly which was incredibly kind and they sort of pointed out how messed up it was for that teacher to decide that for me.
#6
People are going to offer you drugs disguised as candy at the park.. Just say no!
20 years later and I still haven’t been offered drugs at the park.
#7
"You shouldn't write 'Xmas' instead of 'Christmas' because you're X-ing out Christ."
The X is really the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ.
#8
My mom told her 1st grade teacher her favorite color was magenta. Her teacher punished her for not picking a real color, and for arguing with her about it. My great-grandma, a painter, sent my mom to school the next day with a tube of magenta paint! Not long after this my mom skipped to the second grade😂
#9
1st grade math
Teacher: what's 2-1
Class: 1
Teacher: What about 1-2
Class: confused
Teacher: See, you can't subtract a smaller number from a bugger number
Me, an intellectual: Hey, wait a minute, that's negative 1
Teacher: Shush, those don't exist til third grade
Blurryface 1 year ago
Hey but this is kinda funny. The teacher didn’t outright deny the existence of negative numbers, just kept all the rest of the kids from getting confused. At least, IMO. :)
#10
That I could avoid a nuclear blast by hiding beneath my school desk.
Silly woman. I saw a movie about this, and now I know to climb into a refrigerator instead.
Paulo Freitas 1 year ago
No, no, it only works with old refrigerators that had a thin lead linning, the new ones have insulting foam, só you may survive the blast lmao, but you Will end up dying from radiation poisoning .... ( And yes i am in fact jocking )
#11
A student in my class asked why we call it the 20th century when the year was 19xx. The teacher explained that most likely that a long time ago probably in the dark ages they made a mistake in printing a calendar, but by the time it was noticed all the calendars had been made and sent out, so they just left it that way.
I heard her say this and knew it was all kinds of bull s**t, but I said nothing because I was a shy 4th grader and she was a hostile nun.
#12
That the moon emits light, just like the sun. As a nerdy kid interested in space I told her that it’s actually reflecting the light of the sun, but she did not believe me.
#13
Never forget it. In 4th grade we were learning about bats. And the teacher asked the class to name as many different types of bats as we could. I raised my hand and said "Vampire Bats," and he said name only real ones please.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_bat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_bat)
They are real, and I knew it. But he made me feel like an a*s.
#14
6th Grade
Me: But what happens when you subtract a negative number *from* a negative number
Teacher: You...can't do that
#15
That I couldn't have blue eyes if my mom had brown eyes. Thus began a life long obsession with genetics so I could prove her an absolute f*****g fool. Bless my mom's single recessive gene she passed to me. I missed the blonde but I'll take the blue eyes.
Remi (He/Him) 1 year ago
That's one we had as an example in biology class. Get one blue gene, one brown gene, your eyes are brown. Your kid will get from you either the blue or the brown and it's 50% chance on which. if both parents have one blue gene and one brown, they both have brown eyes with the 25% chance of a blue eyed kid (getting blue gene from both parents), 50% chance kid will have the one blue one brown combo with brown eyes and 25% chance the kid will have both genes for brown eyes (looks the same as the 50% chance kid, but can't have blue eyed kids, cause both the genes are brown)
#16
Science teacher in 4th grade told us it takes food 45 minutes to get to your stomach after swallowing. Spent an entire class period on it.
He handed us each a piece of cereal to eat at the beginning of class. Halfway through (some 20 minutes later), we had to point to where it likely was in our system. The correct answer, according to him, was somewhere right above our collarbone.
Years later, a bite of too-hot oatmeal told me he was an idiot in all of about four seconds.
#17
I got sent to the principal's office for using the word "plethora." The teacher thought it was a swear word. So did the principal.
EDIT: For those asking about a dictionary, yes, they looked it up. And there is some obscure, arcane definition that means a swelling of a body part. This, of course, is the only definition my teacher knew, not the extremely common one.
#18
That there was no such thing as a black flower. She put a big X through my painting.
#19
That Lincoln was the first American president. I told her she was wrong, it was Washington, and she snapped, saying ‘well why do you know so much about American politics it is pathetic.’ And all the other kids in my class started making fun of me for being stupid.
Reasons why I hate rural Canada.
Ari (they/them) 1 year ago (edited)
Ah yes, the first 15 leaders of American are completely irrelevant. LiNcOlN wAs ThE fIrSt PrEsIdEnT!! /s
#20
Not a teacher but the principal. When I reported one of the school bullies for physically attacking me (plenty of obvious proof), he put the blame on ME, & told me to "grow up". Spineless worm!
#21
"The higher you go up on a mountain the hotter it gets because you're getting closer to the sun" - my 5th grade teacher
#22
That in a court of law we are guilty until proven innocent. She confidently told us that multiple times, pretty sure she got it backwards
Zia Barrett 1 year ago
O.o It being the other way around is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of democracy...
#23
I had a primary school teacher ask the class how many hours were in a day. I proudly put up my hand and said '24'. She said no. So someone else said 12. She said no.
Her answer was 8. There are 8 hours in a say. I still don't know whether she was trying to ask about a work/school day, but asking 8 yr olds doesn't really clarify that, especially when she said in a day.
#25
"You'll never be successful at anything you do."
Adjusted for inflation, I probably make 3 times her salary.
F**k you Mrs G.
#26
I had a religion teacher tell us that humans evolved simultaneously across the world at the same time. This was proof of a "miracle." I insisted we all came from Africa and then spread out.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
the argument that we evolved separately is to try prove we're different species and therefore race is real. not surprising from a religious person.
#27
I remember an elementary school teacher warning us to not accept apples on Halloween, cuz some people put razorblades in them. I mean, wouldnt you see the big fat cut on the apple?
#28
I was told in no uncertain terms that the match in shape between Africa and South America was coincidental.
*edit* That is to say: The match between the Western coastline of Africa and the Eastern coastline of South America.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
I noticed this in kindergarten and pointed it out... If a 5 yearold can figure this out, so can a teacher. Unless she's a young earth creationist. Guessing from these being american posts, I'm going with young earther.
#29
That when you get to middle school and high school, the teachers won’t constantly remind you of assignments that are approaching their due dates, or hunt you down for missing assignments
i_like_boats 1 year ago
When I was little my 1st grade teacher told we would only be allowed to sit a certain way in 2nd grade so we should practice sitting “criss cross applesauce”. Yeah, second grade teacher didn’t care
#30
Not many people know this but the USA bombed Pearl Harbour.
We’re Canadian, but still, an adult should know better.
What do you think ?
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 1 year ago
I’ve told this story before but in kindergarten, I had a teacher tell the entire class that there were no marine mammals and dolphins were fish. My nerdy a*s corrected her, and I got sent to the principal’s office. I got a lecture on you can’t fix stupid, and she got embarrassed by a 5-y/o
crowspectre (he/they) 1 year ago
Wait till she learns about whales. Or seals if you define them as marine
Load More Replies...
What_the_actual_sloth? 1 year ago
Wasn't so much teaching; moreso teacher/student conflict. Im epileptic and often seized in the middle of class in Year4. My teacher (Miss Hodgekins- deserves to be shamed) would yell at me regardless of the fact that I couldn't hear her. She would send letters home stating that I am ignorant and refuse to pay attention and often disrupt the class with weird noises. She called my seizures "daydreams" and my mother was livid. She stormed up the school and tore her a new one. Bear in mind I was 9 years old. This was a PRIMARY SCHOOL. A PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER! Wherever you may be Miss Hodgekins, I hope you step on a lego every day of your life until you do.
Onyx May 1 year ago
Atonic seizures exist. I also got in an argument with a teacher about this
Load More Replies...
Carbonel 1 year ago
From my daughters primary school, only a couple of years ago: that we have Easter eggs because the rock that was in front of Jesus’ tomb was shaped like an egg: that Mary Seacole was not a suitable subject for a project on famous women as the teacher had never heard of her.
Colin 1 year ago
The British Hotel nurse. Teacher probably never heard of the Crimea War either.
Load More Replies... and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 1 year ago
I’ve told this story before but in kindergarten, I had a teacher tell the entire class that there were no marine mammals and dolphins were fish. My nerdy a*s corrected her, and I got sent to the principal’s office. I got a lecture on you can’t fix stupid, and she got embarrassed by a 5-y/o
crowspectre (he/they) 1 year ago
Wait till she learns about whales. Or seals if you define them as marine
Load More Replies... What_the_actual_sloth? 1 year ago
Wasn't so much teaching; moreso teacher/student conflict. Im epileptic and often seized in the middle of class in Year4. My teacher (Miss Hodgekins- deserves to be shamed) would yell at me regardless of the fact that I couldn't hear her. She would send letters home stating that I am ignorant and refuse to pay attention and often disrupt the class with weird noises. She called my seizures "daydreams" and my mother was livid. She stormed up the school and tore her a new one. Bear in mind I was 9 years old. This was a PRIMARY SCHOOL. A PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER! Wherever you may be Miss Hodgekins, I hope you step on a lego every day of your life until you do.
Onyx May 1 year ago
Atonic seizures exist. I also got in an argument with a teacher about this
Load More Replies... Carbonel 1 year ago
From my daughters primary school, only a couple of years ago: that we have Easter eggs because the rock that was in front of Jesus’ tomb was shaped like an egg: that Mary Seacole was not a suitable subject for a project on famous women as the teacher had never heard of her.
Colin 1 year ago
The British Hotel nurse. Teacher probably never heard of the Crimea War either.
Load More Replies...
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