Why are teachers so rude?

[Van34]

I will preface this by saying I do not have kids and therefore my last interaction with teachers was when I was at school. I'm not going to let my teenage years cloud my judgement.

I have recently taken on a job that involves visiting schools (think cleaning supervisor, but not) I spend a couple of hours walking round with the team, talking about challenges, reviewing paperwork and doing a general checks. I don't have to interact with the teaching staff at all (thank god). But I find them so rude. They think nothing of just butting in mid conversation, no "sorry, I can see your talking, could I just ask X a question" they just start talking. They stare with a frown constantly and consistently. They don't thank you or the children for holding doors open for them. And they never smile back if you smile at them...

It takes me back to being at school all those years ago and now I wonder if it wasn't just me hating the place. I wonder if the teachers were all like that too.

This isn't an isolated incident. I travel to many schools and they are all the same...

Tbh, it kind of sounds like a busy school day. Everyone is just so busy and you don't all catch up in the staff room daily, if you pass the person you need to ask something or clarify you basically go for it on the spot. I'm sure I have interrupted people in this manner but it will definitely have been a situation where I am the way to collect from playground or on way back to class and I will see the site manager or accountant and quickly ask a question or remind them of something.

While floatily, ambling around the school being disturbed in their valuable work by bloody TEACHERS!! In a school of all places!!

I've visited hundreds of schools and I find 99% of teachers to be polite, courteous and helpful.

Any spikiness tends to be in those schools with the most draconian rules, zero tolerance and so forth. My conclusion is that sometimes those teachers must find it hard to get out of 'strict' mode / switch off.

You sound like you think you and your team think they are more important than they are.

Teaching involves lots of rushing around and interrupting! That teacher may only have had two minutes to get that question answered before they had to be in class/ a meeting/ on the phone etc.

It was a yes or no answer- a min or less to do so.

I'm on the fence with this one. I don't condone rudeness in any setting - simply no excuse for it. But I also really feel for teachers - massive expectations on them for very little reward.

Youre getting a lot of flack her OP. Lots of teachers are absolutely amazing, but I do also think it’s fair to say that some really aren’t. I think for some types of personality, demanding respect from everyone you encounter - as teachers pretty much do - isn’t very particularly mentally healthy. Very few people are so busy that they wouldn’t have the time to say ‘sorry to interrupt’ before doing so. Teaching can be a pretty stressful and thankless profession these days, so I think the chances of you encountering a stressed teacher are pretty high if you go into a school, but as for the encounter you’ve described, it’s more the case that some people are rude, and some of those rude people happen to be teachers, than all teachers are rude.

I know a head teacher. She's a nightmare 😱

SidekickSylvia
We're really busy.

This.

Everyone's busy!!!

This.

So am I as an unpaid carer 24/7, dealing with a non verbal teenager, changing nappies of a 14 year old, coping with toddler style tantrums in a child that is big and strong.....longing for just a little break and feeling completely burnt out.
It doesn't mean I disrespect others though.
No matter how stressful my day is, I would never be rude to another person.

Teachers are in generally very stressed and overworked BUT the ones I interact with still mostly manage to be pleasant and polite, even in situations that would probably make me lose my shit.
Having said that there can be a tendancy to speak to people like they are pupils not adults in some cases

I have to say i have to agree. Ive worked in many many schools and have never witnessed anything like you describe. You always get the odd one in any environment

Do you go into classrooms while the pupils are learning? I can’t describe how annoying that is. It really interrupts the flow of the lesson and in my school can cause dysregulated behaviours.

I have recently taken on a job that involves visiting schools

How recently, I wonder?

I have worked in schools for nearly 30 years and don’t recognise this at all.

Lumping all teachers together like some homogeneous group- all with an identical personality is bizarre-teachers are all people. Different people. Asking, ‘why are teachers so rude?’ suggests all of them are the same and all rude. Some people are rude, yes. I’ve met rude doctors, some very rude nurses who point blank ignored me and some very rude people working for the police. I wouldn’t assume all people working in those jobs were the same, though! I’d probably just assumed they were busy. Like many teachers.

I used to work in schools. In an "in the school but not of the school" kind of capacity. I do recognise what you are saying. It's not universal, but there is always that undercurrent. Teachers are doing what they can in an often stressful environment with pressure from all sides and invariably insufficient resources, time and support to achieve it all. Niceties like greetings, social dances like excuse me are all worn away over time. It's not personal. But it does contribute to the worsening environment for all. If schools were such happy places to be, we would not be struggling so much to keep staff and children in them!

I work with the loveliest of teachers and support staff.

I don't really know why everyone's piled in, but you've been perfectly polite

It’s not polite to ask why an entire profession is rude.

I suspect a scrap was exactly what the OP wanted.

I think it's down to lack of time. Teachers literally don't have time to go to the toilet. Unless you've done it, you wouldn't understand the time pressure.

Odds on the OP works for a facilities management outfit - they are likely universally hated within the school.
A school near mine has its estate run by one, the head calls them all sorts of names in staff meetings, the school business manager tells staff they are ripping the LA off, and the staff don't like the set up - therefore anyone visiting from them won't be getting a hug, cuppa and a cake!

I have cause to be in school on occasion through the day. The staff are always polite and pleasant, just in a rush with lots to do.

This. I remember wearing the mask of patience, understanding and fairness then getting to my car at the end of the day and shaking, usually with exhaustion. I’d often been sworn at, usually had at least one item of classroom furniture thrown at me and maybe been spat at. Police would be able to deck the culprit and pepper spray them. I had my voice to talk them down while protecting other kids in the classroom.

And I think behaviour has deteriorated since I retired. At 50 because I was totally exhausted by it all.

*Not all days were this bad.

“Amble? Float in and out merrily?”
Stop goading super busy and purposeful teachers OP.

They are not rude. I meet teachers regularly at work and they are mainly stressed and anxious but not rude

Yep, and some people seem to go around expecting everyone to kiss their arse at every moment as if they are gods gift, and anything below that is perceived as rude.

Oh here we go...