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...

Oh this, for sure!

Schools are so pressured these days, the school day has to fit so much in that it feelsl ike quite a pressured environment for staff sometimes. I see visitors coming into school all the time who don't seem to understand this and will want to stand and chat and go into great detail about things unnecessarily and don't seem to hear your phone ringing or the other staff who keep reappearing nearby and hovering checking if you've finished with the visitor yet.

Other teachers or school staff understand usually.

You are quite right, and this is just the students…

I have no idea what kind of job involves visiting school as some kind of supervisor of non teaching staff whilst not being on staff. I also can't imagine how you are able to observe and make a judgement that teachers are rude. Sounds so ludicrous that it must be utter nonsense.

I do see what you mean. I used to teach and have definitely come across rude teachers. I think some people teach because it gives them a sense of control and superiority over others. It’s not all of them by any means. But I’ve worked with teachers who talk to everyone like they’re not good enough, myself, the children, parents, other members of staff. It’s one of the reasons I left teaching after having my son and don’t currently have any plans to go back.

What job do you do op?

The people that come in with clipboards and make shitloads from promising a decent meal in exchange for £2.53 a day, get the contract and then cost the school thousands in insisting upon extensive building and upgrade works, whack the cost of the FSM meal up to £2.80 and promptly replace the decent meal with 0.5 oz of indeterminate 'meat', all of the allergens and about 4 chewy chips for 15-18 year olds. Whilst the staff actually trying to make something edible with the poor quality stuff brought in get NMW.

The teachers (and all staff actually) at both my DDs schools are lovely.
I know a few teachers personally too- they are actually just humans!

I haven't found people to be like this and I've been teaching 10 years in lots of different schools.

This ⬆️

My experience is that teachers never do that. For some reason, lots of people interpret 'My job is stressful' as 'No other jobs are stressful apart from mine'. I can only assume they have poor comprehension skills. Probably because they didn't listen to their teachers.

Are you one of the people who tell us not to stand on chairs? I am sure you are lovely and I am sure that there are teachers who are rude - I've come across them. However, in our defence, as an example, I am broken today as not only can I never go for a wee and have yet another UTI but I have found out I am on a duty at the same time but in two separate places. Likewise I had two periods double booked today on cover. That was a system glitch but nevertheless quite stressful when one is at breaking point. Small things...
I'd love an amble. Can I come and do your job? The teaching part is easy and my students are fabulous but the endless emails and just daily 'stuff' is just too much.

I don't like teachers - didn't like them in school, haven't liked the personality of any I've met as an adult. I think they're rude because most of them don't treat children with respect and they forget they can't treat other adults like that while they're in "teacher mode".

🤦🏼‍♀️

I have the opposite experience.
I visit schools regularly. I have found the teachers & support staff friendly & accommodating in the main. We offer a service that interrupts their days but even so they are lovely.

Oh wow. This is a whole new MN low on how to slate teachers type post.

I’m a teacher. I treat all the staff and adults and children at my school in the same curious way. I hold doors open for them or thank those who open them for me. I smile and say good morning/afternoon when passing. I say please and thank you when making requests to cleaners/maintenance staff etc. And generally all the staff at my school are the same. In a previous school I had a TA who enjoyed being in my class and that o talked to her on the same level as everyone but there were teachers she had come across who did speak down to staff who weren’t teachers but who weren’t management. So some teachers can be rude. However this is not all teachers.

I could probably make the same general sweeping statement about most professions I encounter but o don’t generalise poor interactions and being representative of the wider group. And in general you don’t know what’s going on for them at the time.

What a horrid post. Teachers are some of the kindest, most compassionate and down-to-earth people you will ever meet. They have to work long hours and prioritise all the children under their care, sometimes at the expense of their own families. You need to get back under that rock.

You do realise that they choose to work with children because they care about them and work hard at the job? Or are you lacking intelligence. I guess it’s the latter.

Sounds like you might have been the problem in that situation.

Based on what exactly? You know nothing about me. You’ve never met the people I worked with or heard how they spoke to me. I was a newly qualified teacher. I progressed well and passed all of my observations. I did nothing but work every hour that I possibly could to try and please everyone, and a few (not all) of the more experienced teachers did nothing but put me down because it made them feel superior. Other members of staff (TAs, cleaning staff etc) also felt this way about them and some complained, so it wasn’t just me. Working in that completely toxic working environment ruined my mental health for a long time. Don’t speak about a situation you know nothing about.

Apart from the statutory holiday requirements, teacher holidays are unpaid.

Teachers don’t have time to wait for answers. They have that time to do something before they have to go get the class and then it goes back on the never ending to do list.

it’s perfectly acceptable to walk out mid conversation if you have somewhere to be. Nobody minds.

nobody holds doors any more unless they are older. Young folk are too engrossed in their phone.

so many visitors go round school that you don’t have time to stop and chat.

get over yourself

This is a really weird statement. What evidence is there to suggest that Strawberry was the problem?

I had a very similar experience when I was teaching - worked with some incredible teachers and some who were not nice people at all and should not have been teaching.

I often don't get time to go to the toilet each day, let alone eat my lunch without shoving down in 2 minutes and racing off to duty, or sit with a cup of tea for 5 minutes. I worked in a very high pressure, high responsibility environment managing a large and complex portfolio of clients and a challenging team for many years before I switched to teaching and I can hand on my heart say that nothing compared to the stress, challenge, fast pace, soul-sucking never ending demand of teaching. Forgive us if we don't stop and hold polite conversations with you - we've probably just copped a mouthful from a student, have emails from demanding parents to respond to and admin who don't have our backs. Plus we have to find the time to teach and class starts in a minute across the other side of campus. Be nice.

How long should they have waited for you to finish your chin wag so they could get on with their job?

It’s not like they don’t have to teach children and then do all this additional things in the 2.5 hours a week outside of teaching plus their breaks.

It is their workplace and their timings are fixed because of their lessons.