If you could sit in a room with a teacher of your choice from your childhood and tell them anything, what would you say?

[BruhWhy]

I often think about running into my P.E teacher and letting her know that what she didn't know about me was that I was being neglected by my parents, and was ashamed about the way I looked and smelled... also ashamed and worried about the fact I didn't have period products, and that's why I made excuses and forged notes to get out of P.E - I wasn't lazy and stupid, she didn't need to shout at me in front of everyone and say these things, all she needed to do was ask and I'd have told her...

I'd also love to tell my lovely English teacher that him telling me that my essay was the best he'd read that year was the first compliment I'd ever gotten from a teacher, and I still think about the way that made me feel to this day

Der Mr H, As well as being a bad tempered and lazy sod I can now see you were a probable child abuser.

I remember the pornographic photo mags you had lying around in full view, which was apparently ok because they taught techniques.....not that schoolkids would be learning how to take pornographic photos.

I also remember how you befriended one especially pretty girl and her parents and used to do photoshoots with her as the model. I really hope you didn't abuse her but I have my doubts.

Mr C, you ruined a big part of my life. You preyed on an already emotionally damaged and mentally ill 15 year old for your own gratification. I hope you’ve had a shit life since you did your runner, or if you haven’t, I hope it catches up with you.

Mr K, you saved my life. Whether you know it or not, your kindness, your no-questions-asked support when I needed it the most, and ultimately your protection from the aforementioned predator is the only reason I am still alive. Thank you.

I still remember those names, Ms Wyton, Miss Potter and Mr Paul.

Mr Year Six Teacher, it was not OK to massage my shoulders while you leaned over my shoulder to look at my work. Ugh. And Mr Year Nine Extra Maths teacher- it wasn't OK to sit so close when you were tutoring me alone in the classroom before school, and ask me if I'd had a cup of tea that morning because you could smell it on my breath. Ugh ugh.

Ms Amazing A Level English teacher on the other hand, you inspired me so much that I've decided to become an English teacher later in life :)

French teacher: I’d tell him he was a disgusting perv for going round a sixth form class and choosing the prettiest girl and telling us all he thought she was the prettiest.

PE teacher: I’d tell her she was a nasty bully who shouldn’t have been allowed near kids and watching them get showered was not right.

I am sure both of these teachers are long gone now, sadly.
My teacher in the last 2 years of junior school, late 1980s - I still remember the wonderful artwork you would draw in chalk on the massive blackboard to illustrate the poems we copied for handwriting practice. I never really thought about it at the time but your talent for art was so evident in so much of the work you did with us. And the books you would read to us at storytime while the whole class sat quietly listening. Watership Down, Gobbolino the witch's cat, the mouse and his child, Fattypuffs and Thinifers...I still remember them.

And my wonderful O level English teacher, I have always remembered your positive comments about my essays and you urging me to produce more written work. You encouraged me so much by recommending books to read over and above what we studied in class. You introduced me to feminist literature which I would probably never have found on my own. You always welcomed questioning and debate and you were truly an approachable person for any pupil in any sort of trouble. I still have many of the books you recommended and I remember you when I re-read them.

To my French teacher (Irish, young, female teaching the bottom set in an all boys school).

Dear Miss W we weren't all thick and you weren't a bad teacher it's just that if we'd made any progress we'd have moved up to the set taught by the Deputy Head and "Joey" was not a man to mess with. We knew when we were well off.

I know this wasn't a teacher thing but whoever introduced Fletcher Maths when I was in junior school led me to stop enjoying maths and I've never learned to enjoy it again. Until them I got it, after that I didn't.

Fuck me, they have such power don't they? I hope teachers know this nowadays and are better.

I believe I am.

And all of you who were told you were crap at maths, no you were not, unless you have dyscalculia you just were not taught well.

My favorite supply is teaching maths in 16+ classes where students have got grade 1 or G in old money and every so often I hear, "Oh I understand that now, I didn't at school" I may have been known to be unprofessional and do a happy dance (just with my arms) but this is the best part of my job, that time when the penny drops.

French teacher. Why did you hate me? I was really good at your subject, I did my homework, I worked hard in class and I behaved in your lessons. There was no reason for you to throw board rubbers at me for talking (it was never me), there was no need to give me C for attainment and D for effort on every single piece of homework and there was no need to accuse me of cheating on vocal tests if I did well.

I did my GCSE early to escape your classes because I couldn't stand another year of it. You told me there was no way I'd get above a C and I was wasting my time. I'm glad the senior member of staff overruled you. I got an A. I was so, so pleased. I wasn't going to do French in sixth form so it was more than good enough. Why was the first thing that came out of your mouth "I knew you wouldn't get an A*. You need to resit to getting a better mark."

What did I do?

Miss Jefferies, I was telling the truth about the boys who assaulted me on my way to school. They were not "in my imagination" you f###ing bitch.

To the french teacher who confiscated my book ‘the yearlong’. I was a really good student. I had done the work and my book was hidden. I would have put it in my bag and apologised. You took it and I never saw it again. It meant a lot to me and I am still angry about this 40 years later.

‘Yearling’

@madnessitellyou i had similar experiences. Teachers ahould have to do a module where they confront what might lie in their subconscious and how that might reveal itself in their treatment of students.
I might have been low status at school but i had friends. Some of the teachers let me know that they thought i was dirt. As an adult now, and one who thinks about my rreactions, it is depressing to know that teachers cant rein in their need to be superior. They are the teacher. Do they really need to assert superiority?

A teacher once told a woman I know and like (successful, happy, well liked, attractive) with a husband with a similar open, happy, successful demeanour that their daughter was meek, nearly average and "didnt stand out".

Im sure that was pure jealousy. The ordinary teacher felt bad about herself sitting accross from two more successful, more charismatic people. And she did the one thing she could to make them feel shit.

Teachers are not automatically mature, self aware or conscious. No...

Mrs K who taught me in years 3-5 in primary school.
Why did you hate me so much? What was it I did that got under your skin so that you had to disparage me as much as you did? You made me cry regularly and then laughed about it. I also haven't forgotten how you treated a couple of other kids in the class. They had obvious additional needs and yet you felt the need to call them thick in front of everyone. Thanks to you I assumed I was quite thick until I finally got a new teacher in year 6 who was quite surprised I wasn't as thick as she'd been told I was. Guess who got the top mark in the exam in year 6? Yeah, ME.

In senior school -
Which was mostly a shit show for me with regular bullying which some of the teachers joined in on. Mrs S, you were a ray of light. You actually seemed happy to have the "no hopers" PE group. You never made us run laps or play hockey. Instead you made sure we could swim confidently, even if we were slow and the lifesaving techniques were so much fun to learn. You let us do what we could and never shamed us for not being very good. You also never forced us to use the horrible communal showers and I remember you saying "Can you get your feet wet and leave some footprints around so Mrs P thinks you've showered and doesn't go off on one."
I still enjoy swimming when I get the chance, and that's down to you.

Mrs Macmillan, I confess to pushing the button on the bus. I know it drove you up the wall to not be able find out who it was. It was me, hee hee.

Mrs Higgins when I switched schools from p3 to p4 you told me if I didnt know it by now you wouldnt be teaching me and you didnt you made a point of making fun of me in class because I couldnt do my tables or long division . This being that my previous school had a different syllabus and I hadnt learned enough to be at an equal level in the new school. You embarassed me and let me down and I struggled because of it.

Some of these have brought tears to my eyes.

Here is a general question for all PE teachers, that will probably resonate with most children who were at school in the 80s. Why the fuck did you think it a good idea to let children pick their own teams for team school sports?? It was ALWAYS the same kids left until last, time after time after time. Were you really so unaware of issues around self esteem or did it give you a kick watching the ones left til last over and over again?

Miss Nugent at Stanley Road ….. you were an absolutely evil person who made my life hell because of my religion. I feel the world is a better place now you’re not in it.

@Somethingsnappy

Some of these have brought tears to my eyes.

Here is a general question for all PE teachers, that will probably resonate with most children who were at school in the 80s. Why the fuck did you think it a good idea to let children pick their own teams for team school sports?? It was ALWAYS the same kids left until last, time after time after time. Were you really so unaware of issues around self esteem or did it give you a kick watching the ones left til last over and over again?

This is a great question.

I mostly had lovely teachers and choose to remember them rather than the very few ineffective and uninspiring ones that I struggle to recall their names!

Mrs Monteith was was a teacher (mainly art) in the 70s and wore long dresses and bouffant hair and was very glamorous. She insisted all children and herself had a mid afternoon nap regardless of age or what was going in!

I would like to thank her for that nap time as I have carried it forward to my adult life and a nap whilst frowned on by many is a wonderful way to feel refreshed and keep in a good mood!

My sixth form teachers
Claire, my English lit teacher: we all thought you were an angel, I only heard you get cross once but you somehow kept a perfect balance of order in the class. Thanks for telling me it was okay to write less than everyone else in exams because I was good at it. Turns out I have a disability that means I should have had extra time, but we didn't know at the time and your reassurance meant everything. I doubt I would have got into Oxford without you. I know you have a daughter so maybe you're on here, if so for you.

Spanish teacher: I'm autistic and dyspraxic. That's why I couldn't cope with your unpredictable lessons and setting homework at random. I only got the grades I did because I was good at languages, not because of your teaching. When I completed an assignment exactly as set, you shouldn't have humiliated me for not writing more just because I was clever. If you wanted me to do extension work you should have set some, as it was I spent hours getting that essay down to the word count. Oh and by the way, however infuriating a class may be, it's not acceptable to call a student a cow and slam the door so hard the clock fell off the wall.