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Someone In This Online Group Asked “What Is The Moment When You Realized, ‘My Teacher Is An Idiot?’” And 30 Folks Delivered
When it comes to learning, students have to trust that their teachers are giving them correct knowledge as doing that is the whole point of their profession. Of course, teachers can’t know everything even in their own subject and there are always new things to learn for them too, but you would expect that they know more than you.
That’s not the case everywhere as people on Reddit shared many stories of how their teachers didn’t know elementary things like that a dolphin is a mammal or that jellyfish are living creatures. It’s not clear how these gaps in education formed, but it’s scary as teachers are passing them over to the students. The thread started when A_Purple_Penguins asked “What is the moment when you realized, ‘My teacher is an idiot?’” and more people answered than you would expect.
More info: Reddit
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#1
2nd grade teacher had our class naming the hottest things we could think of. A few kids already said the most obvious, like "sun" and "fire" so the third thing I could think of off the top of my head was "lava". Turns out lava isn't real, then the teacher had the whole class laugh at me for it. Made me feel stupid as hell for years until I learned that lava is real, and my teacher was a d**k.
May 2 years ago
How is this happening? The worst I ever had in school was an English (as a second language) teacher who pronounced 'cute' as 'chute' and a science teacher who argued that both the bible and evolution was right, and that Adam and Eve's kids married people who evolved from monkeys, but he was just religious. Not stupid. How do these people make it through the education system far enough to become teachers?
#2
My biology teacher in high school asked me a question regarding something she was talking about, the answer of which was projected onto the whiteboard with an overhead projector. I looked at the whiteboard, and she placed her left hand over the part that had the answer so as to conceal it. I told her that the text was still projected onto her hand and that I could see it. She was visibly upset, and then she proceeded to place her right hand on top of her left hand. I bursted out with laughter, she kicked me out and called my parents.
#3
My Algebra teacher had us take 10% off a number to find 90%, then to undo it she said take 10% of the 90% and add it back in. That is not how math works. I called her on it and she told me I was mistaken in front of the whole class. After class she admitted I was right but didn't want to confuse everyone else. Lady, doing simple math wrong is what confused everyone else.
#4
Teacher asked what is the language spoken most in the world. I replied Mandarin, he said that's an orange and the correct answer is Spanish.
#5
I was around 5 or 6 years old and drawing pink trees. They were supposed to magnolias: obviously I was too young to remember the name but I did know them from the annual blossom viewing my family did each year, and my neighbours had one in their front garden as well. My teacher looked past and said, "there's no such thing as pink trees." I tried to explain that there are, "even my neighbours have one", etc. but she cut me off and told me to stop lying. I'm still kind of mad about that lol
#6
I had a teacher who told us alligators never attack people because they are vegetarians.
#7
Not my teacher, but my daughter's teacher.
In Science class, they were discussing the scenario of a Skittle dropped into water. Pointing out the red cloud coming from the candy, he asked the class what was happening to the coating in that context.
Student said, "It's dissolving."
He argued, "No, it's going away."
#8
My wife and I were in a birthing prep class...we're both in the medical field, but didn't advertise it to the teacher. She was actively advising parents not to have their babies vaccinated against Hep B as newborns because she thought you get Hep B exclusively from eating contaminated foods, and couldn't see why newborns would need such a thing.
It's one thing to be wrong, and it's another to be wrong and advising a room full of first-time parents with your ignorance.
Snorkeldorf 2 years ago (edited)
At our birthing prep class one of the fathers had a reasonable question. He wanted to know if his wife was given an epidural during labor could it be a problem for the baby because he himself had a severe allergy to one of the medications within an epidural. Her smart *ss reply was "Well you won't be the one getting it, will you?". Very educational.
#9
When I was being bullied almost every day and cried to her for help. She shrugged it off and ignored me.
So i settled it myself with violence by punching the bully square in the eye. He left me alone ever since.
"Violence is never the answer" they said :go to a teacher" they said.
HA
#10
She thought dolphins were fish.
No amount of arguing by third grade me was enough to convince her otherwise.
"They live in the ocean, they're fish."
RandomX123 2 years ago
Take her to show her some "fish" called saltwater crocodile, and take that "crocodiles don't attack" teacher along.
#11
In 2nd grade when she spelled February wrong (as "Febuary") on the board and I went up to her desk to inform her and she explained to me how she was right and I was wrong. This was the beginning of my realization that most people are stupid.
#12
I had a teacher argue with me that "sate" isn't a word. I had to pull out a dictionary to prove them wrong.
Later on I had to do the same thing with die being the singular of dice.
#13
When she wrote “amateur code” on my first project in C++ class. No s**t it’s amateur it was my first program lol.
ShriSha Kamboj 2 years ago
okkk....so how can ANY programming language be amateur??? like I cant program n I find it kinda difficult...scratch that very difficult to make sense of.
#14
Teacher doing basic 10 year old anatomy: “can anyone tell me what this is?”
Me, whose family’s fav show was House: “the trachea?”
Teacher: “no, this is called the wind pipe”
#15
I remember the time my 4th grade teacher tried educating us on what makes an animal. One of the criterion she came up with was all animals have brains.
I asked, “What about jellyfish? They don’t have brains.”
To which she replied, “Well then they aren’t alive, are they?”
ShriSha Kamboj 2 years ago
she a jellyfish in disguise??.......anyways she must just have known it that time
#16
I had a teacher who gave a lecture he had already given, word for word. He asked a question which I answered correctly. He asked how I got the answer and I said "I wrote it down the last time you gave this lecture"
#17
I had a substitute ask me to stop reading and "pay attention" while the rest of the class ran roughshod over them--jumping on chairs, throwing things, talking over them. But no, I was the problem for pulling out a book from my bag and reading quietly, waiting for the teacher to regain control of the class.
Spikey boi 2 years ago
She most likely called on you because you were quietly reading a book instead of being all crazy, making you look like an easier target, she wanted to make an easy example out of you.
#18
"WWII was started when Hawaii bombed California" -My 9th grade english teacher
#19
Gave me an F for plagiarism, I didn’t steal anything and she refused to show me her proof because this was high school and I wrote at a “University level” her words… she stated she didn’t need to show me the proof when I requested it.
Lawrence Clark 2 years ago
similar thing happened to me! i spent ages writing this short play about something or other - parents got called in , teacher was trying to get me kicked out of the school as I 'must have copied it word for word off a real play' - at which point my mum produces all of my notes - rewrites, drafts etc etc from her handbag. She is a LEGEND. i kinda took it as the highest form of praise but the teacher was still a t***t , either way
#20
After a substitute chemistry teacher heated a test tube over a Bunsen burner:
While securing it in a test tube holder, he absent-mindedly handed the red hot test tube to a student standing nearest to his demonstration.
The boy, trusting that "it must be okay," got his hand badly burned and, of course, the glass test tube shattered on the floor.
#21
When my ENGLISH teacher (I’m from Italy so we have English as a second language) said “lettoochay” instead of lettuce. She was also one of the worst teachers and ended up getting replaced.
#22
My eighth grade social studies teacher thought Panama was a part of Canada. Why? Because in the geography textbook we were using, Panama and Canada were colored in with the same shade of pink.
ShriSha Kamboj 2 years ago
arent like lakes inside a country and the oceans outside the same color too?
#23
My English teacher asked when Woodrow Wilson was president, we were reading scarlet ibis and it mentioned him, so I raise my hand. I replied both his election dates, 1912 and 1916 if I’m not mistaken. She tells me no. I assumed I got the dates wrong and it was actually 1914 and 1918 or something. Then some girl raises her hand and answers “Nine teen hundreds” and she says yes.
#24
He would brag about how many people fail his class
#25
Had my high school geography teacher insist that Antarctica is a country.
I lost points on the test because of it…
#26
My geography teacher when he explained that self checkouts had something to do with the mark of the beast and the end times. I don't remember all the details.
Spikey boi 2 years ago
Those self checkouts are very evil, those screens, and the ability to check your own groceries, almost, satanic.... (/s)
#27
when she started showing medieval Europe’s trade routes on a South America map
#28
I had an English teacher in high school who was obsessed with poetry, and one afternoon she got into an argument with half the class over a poem because she was reading the word written and printed "noone" (no one) as "noon" and refused to believe it could possibly be "no one" even though that was the only way the line in the poem made remotely any sense.
#29
My science lecturer said that water in a kettle boils at 60 degrees Celsius. BOILS!!
Snorkeldorf 2 years ago
I did not know that but I never realized my lack of knowledge could have gotten me a teaching job. Heck.....with all the things I don't know, I could have been a biochemist!
#30
She said since we were learning about the formation of democracy that she will let the class vote whether I passed or failed a presentation.
What do you think ?
Walking On Sunshine 2 years ago
As a child in the 5th grade, my teacher told us that oranges were green on the tree and were injected with orange dye to make them orange. It was in Texas, where I had moved after growing up in California. I was confused because I grew up watching orange groves next to where I lived. My grandmother was so angry she went to the school and chastised my teacher for telling her granddaughter a fallacy. Classic grandma, miss you every day.
Girl Anachronism 2 years ago
This is hilarious and horrifying at the same time.
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Girl Anachronism 2 years ago
This is my own gaffe, and it's funny. Kinda unrelated, but we had a Scottish art teacher in primary school. I could have sworn she said, 'what is the difference between a lion and a sheep?'. My maybe grade 3 self put my hand up confidently. 'A lion says 'rawr' and a sheep says 'baa'.' Turns out she was actually saying, 'what is the difference between a line and a shape'. I hope it still makes her laugh to this day as it does me.
Ryan Deschanel 2 years ago (edited)
At least, they do all the research, compiling and selection for us.
Load More Replies...
Walking On Sunshine 2 years ago
As a child in the 5th grade, my teacher told us that oranges were green on the tree and were injected with orange dye to make them orange. It was in Texas, where I had moved after growing up in California. I was confused because I grew up watching orange groves next to where I lived. My grandmother was so angry she went to the school and chastised my teacher for telling her granddaughter a fallacy. Classic grandma, miss you every day.
Girl Anachronism 2 years ago
This is hilarious and horrifying at the same time.
Load More Replies... Girl Anachronism 2 years ago
This is my own gaffe, and it's funny. Kinda unrelated, but we had a Scottish art teacher in primary school. I could have sworn she said, 'what is the difference between a lion and a sheep?'. My maybe grade 3 self put my hand up confidently. 'A lion says 'rawr' and a sheep says 'baa'.' Turns out she was actually saying, 'what is the difference between a line and a shape'. I hope it still makes her laugh to this day as it does me.
Ryan Deschanel 2 years ago (edited)
At least, they do all the research, compiling and selection for us.
Load More Replies...
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